First of all, THANK YOU so very much to everyone who took the time to help make www.HockeyTrainingPro.com better by filling out the survey I sent last week. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your help and how it actually made me do a 180 degree about face on the product I have been working on over the last two months.
Yes, it is a bit of a bummer to ‘flush’ all that work, but it is more important that I am providing the products that you want and need. I spent Friday and all day Sunday working on the new product that I will launch by the end of April. Then I have two other products to follow that, but this next one will have a direct impact on your off-season training, so that will be the priority project for now.
The WINNER is…
The winner of all of my goalie training products ($350 value) is Greg Williams! Greg, check your email inbox, you should have an email from me with the registration links before the end of today (April 2nd). Thanks again to everyone who helped.
Nutrition Review for You.
I did a post last week on nutrition for hockey players and why you should not be eating like a supermodel. I got a request from a reader to review his weekly nutrition since it is something he has been working on as a goal for 2012. In fact he has totally eliminated soda pop from his diet in 2012. This young goalie is so polite and respectful that I wanted to help him out, so I figured I would turn it into a blog post.
I do this with all of the athletes I train at Revolution Conditioning and the players in my Elite Goalie Strength & Conditioning program so hopefully this gives you some ideas for your own nutrition planning. I will add my comments below in bold so they will stand out for you…
Monday March 19th, 2012:
Breakfast: Banana, Raspberries, Blackberries, Shredded Wheat, Milk – Not much protein here, a lot of carbs. I would love to see some yogurt or an egg.
Lunch: Bread, Roast Beef, Swiss Cheese, Cottage Cheese, Green Apple – I love this – you have protein, carbs, fibre and some fat – awesome.
Dinner: Spaghetti, Anaheim Pepper, Spinach, Sausage – Guessing there was probably a tomato sauce with this which is great for anti-oxidants, nice rich coloured vegetables and some protein. Sausage can actually be quite lean or very fatty, so you want to be a bit careful the type of sausage you include, but I have found great tasting turkey sausages that still have a nice spice.
Snacks: Tuna, Banana, Dark Zone(protein bar), Orange, Vitamin Water – again, I like this – protein (tuna), carbs (banana), fibre (orange). I am okay with one Vitamin Water in this case – great snacks.
Water in take for the day 72 oz.
Tuesday March 20th, 2012:
Breakfast: Blueberries, Raspberries, Banana, Orange Juice, Shredded Wheat, Milk – again add a protein source here (cottage cheese, yogurt, egg)
Lunch: Anaheim Pepper, Almonds, Pumpkin Seeds, Cashews, Cottage Cheese – great – rich coloured vegetable, healthy fats + protein from the nuts and seeds, protein+carb from the cottage cheese.
Dinner: Brown Rice, Spinach, Chicken – carb source with fibre, rich coloured leafy green and a lean protein. Not sure how the chicken was prepared, but a grilled chicken breast with a nice seasoning would go great with this meal. For this young athlete I would look to have his plate split in thirds – 1/3 chicken, 1/3 rice, 1/3 spinach
Snacks: refried Beans, Grapes, Dark Zone, Spaghetti – look fine, not sure exactly how they were combined, but I would like to see the protein combined with the carbs, so refried beans+spaghetti or grapes+protein bar.
water in take for the day 72 oz.
Wednesday March 21st, 2012:
Breakfast: Milk, Shredded Wheat, raspberries, Blackberries, Banana, 2x Hard Boil Eggs – Yeah! Protein!
Lunch: Pumpkin Seeds, Cashews, Almonds, Roast Beef, Bread, Swiss Cheese – Love it!
Dinner: 3x 93% Lean Ground Beef Hamburger – Again, for a young athlete who is involved in practice, training, etc I am okay with the occassional hamburger feast. As always you need to be a little careful what condiments you put on there – some of those can be really high in sugar. I would like to see some good veggies added to this meal. So maybe two hamburgers + 2 cups of broccoli or green salad.
Snacks: 2x Dark Zone, Refried Beans, Honey Nut Cheerios, Milk, Orange Juice – go a little easy on the Zone bars, think of them as emergency food when you do not have the time to prepare a whole food snack. I would try to go with only one per day. I would also look for a cereal that is a little higher in fibre than Honey Nut Cheerios – I like Kashi Go Lean Crunch for example.
water in take for the day 72 oz.
Thursday March 22nd, 2012:
Breakfast: Banana, Milk, Shredded Wheat, Orange Juice, Raspberries, Blackberries – yep, you guessed it – protein
Lunch: Roast Beef, Bread, Swiss Cheese Dark Zone, Almonds, Cashews, Raspberries – great!
Dinner: Spaghetti, Corn – protein needed!
Snacks: Tuna, Lemon, Vitamin Water – great!
water in take for the day 96 oz.
Friday March 23th, 2012: Game Day, Result 7-1 W stopped 18 of 19 shots – WoooHOOOOO!
Breakfast: Raspberries, Blueberries, Milk, Shredded Wheat, Pineapple – protein
Lunch: Bread, Roast Beef, Swiss Cheese – veg or fruit?
Dinner: Spaghetti – protein needed + veg
Snacks: Banana, Dark Zone, 2x Oranges, Orange Juice, Vitamin Water, Cookies (went over to grandma’s house after the game) – a little high in carbs, but like you said it was after the game, so your body needs the carbs, this is okay. Not sure how many grams of protein are in the Dark Zone bars, but your goal is to get about 20g of Protein after the game or workout and 40g of carbs. You can’t say no to Grandma’s cookies, that is for sure!
Water in take for the day 64 oz.
Saturday March 24th, 2012: Game Day, Result 6-2 W stopped 20 of 22 shots – Wow! Another great outing!
Breakfast: Blueberries, Raspberries, Milk, shredded Wheat, Pineapple, Orange Juice, Banana – protein?
Lunch: Bread, Roast Beef, Swiss Cheese, Dark Zone, 2x Oranges – Nice
Dinner; Spaghetti – need protein + veg
Snacks: Vitamin water, orange juice, bread, banana – need a protein here – tuna, cottage cheese, yogurt
Water in take for the day 72 oz.
Sunday March 25th, 2012: FREE DAY – great idea to give yourself a break!
What is perfect?
How impressive was that? How many high school players eat that well every week. Was it perfect? I don’t know what ‘perfect’ nutrition is – there certainly is a lot of debate about that among my colleagues, but I think this player is certainly on the right track. Overall, I think more lean protein would help this player maintain or add more muscle mass and help him repair tissue and recover between games, practices and workouts.
He eats a great breakfast – something I fight to get the young players I train at Revolution to do better, so thumbs up for that, just add a protein source to this every day.
Have a great day gang!
M