When you work hard behind the scenes to perhaps see if you can’t advance a bit in your career, the universe seems to listen and open up some doors for you. That was certainly the case with me as I was lucky enough to get invited to a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into running a professional football club, particularly the exercise and fitness part of the equation. Shadowing the players of a professional Belgian club while they were over here in the UK only really served to reinforce all which I already know about the industry I’m active in, which is that there is an entire science behind exercising effectively.
From selecting the right supplements to counting on the players to be professional about elements such as how much rest and sleep they get, the science which goes on behind the scenes all comes together on the field when it’s officially game-day. If players aren’t professional about what they’re required to do behind the scenes, it ultimately shows on the field through the results.
Nutrition
Nutrition plays a big role in the science behind effective exercise and fortunately for those exercise bunnies who aren’t operating within professional structures such as that of a professional football club, a huge portion of this part of the science is taken care of for you. Can you imagine where or how on earth you’d otherwise get information such as how much of a certain nutritional supplement you must take in order to realise your specific fitness goals? This is otherwise duly taken care of by simply reading the labels of just about all UK supplements you can get your hands on, as the constituents should always be clearly disclosed as per the regulations surrounding consumer goods.
With supplements it all comes down to ensuring you get the right nutrition, in the right doses to aid the process of working towards your fitness goals.
The Belgian football club I had the pleasure of shadowing takes the nutritional science of their players very seriously, with an open supplement tin left at the change-room door, I suppose this particular one to aid in recovery and to provide energy, since players are expected to load up on it before and after training and before and after a match.
Naturally a professional outfit such as this would go deeper than merely reading the label with the nutritional side of the science behind effective exercise, with sports scientists making up part of the team and a dedicated chef as well.
Exercise
Information about which exercises to do for specific fitness goals is very easy to come by these days, even though Googling it might have you needing to sort through a few advertisements and sales material. You could work with a private dietitian if you feel like some outside support and personalised help would aid you in reaching your goals. Otherwise even glossy magazines publish science-backed programmes and regimes to implement alongside a good nutritional plan, so it’s simply a matter of picking out and designing a programme that works for you and then sticking to it so that the science behind it all starts kicking in.
