Everyone who wants to improve at badminton tends to focus on endless drills and match experience. Of course, this is a key element. But not many players actually consider badminton nutrition.
We are going to cover at a basic level what nutrition is and why it’s important for your badminton. The right nutrition will allow the body to perform optimally, both in training and matches.
What is Nutrition?
In a nutshell, nutrients are the essential foods one must consume. Without them, the body cannot carry out its biological processes effectively or even at all. Therefore nutrition is about ensuring we are getting the right amount of nutrients to keep our bodies running efficiently.
However, it’s not just whether you’re getting those nutrients. It’s also important to consider what sources you are getting your nutrients from. For example, are you getting your protein from a turkey breast or from KFC? Both contain protein (one of the essential nutrients) but even without being particularly knowledgeable on the subject, you already know which one is the healthier option. This is the essence of nutrition.
Depending on your lifestyle, age and other factors, the required nutrients do not change, but the quantities of these nutrients may vary. For example, a badminton player may require higher carbohydrates and proteins. Very active lifestyles need to be supported by the right food sources.
Nutrition Vs Diet
Nutrition and diet are sometimes used interchangeably. They as they both concerned with what we are eating, but they are not the same thing!
A diet can mean several things. Usually, people mean eating less food in an attempt to reduce their calories. It’s basically a conscious effort to avoid “bad foods.” In doing so, the end goal is often to lose weight/fat. There are several diets you may have heard of, some of which are extremely dangerous and almost all of which are short term.
Good nutrition, as mentioned above, is more concerned with the quality of the foods that you consume.
A diet does not always provide the right nutrition. Good nutrition is a healthy, long term approach to the consumption of food. It effectively becomes a lifestyle and habitual. Badminton players should always strive to eat well, to fuel their bodies during training and on the court. A diet is not the answer if you’re looking for ways to increase your energy and output on the court in the long term.
What Are The Required Nutrients?
Now hopefully you understand a little more about what nutrition is, we should probably mention what they are. I will cover them quite generally here. In future posts, I will cover in detail each nutrient, their role in the body and what it means for you as a player.
Carbohydrates: This is the main energy source of the body. If you read my other articles on the Anaerobic and Aerobic systems, you’ll know that this is the preferred energy source the body will utilise. For badminton players, it’s one of the most important nutrients!
Proteins: These are the building blocks of muscle. Consider how much of your body is muscle and you’ll have a rough idea of the importance of this nutrient! It is key for growth and cell/tissue repair and therefore important in terms of recovery from strength training for example.
Fats: Also produce energy. In fact, fats contain more energy than carbohydrates. However, the rate at which they provide energy is slower because, in order to convert it to energy, oxygen is required. Because fats are so energy abundant, the body loves to store it. Fats are necessary for the aerobic system and to help with other bodily functions.
Vitamins and Minerals: Vitamins and minerals are required by the body in much smaller proportions but are vital for certain processes in the body. Lack of vitamins and minerals (or too much!) can lead to medical issues, some of which are very severe.
Water: The source of all life. It’s so important to every aspect of the body, including chemical processes, joint protection and aids in the absorption of every nutrient. Without sufficient water, our bodies will not be able to perform at all, let alone efficiently on the court!
Why Badminton Nutrition Is Important
Badminton is a highly demanding sport. Just as you train specifically for badminton, you should consume the right amount of nutrients from the right sources which benefit your game. Therefore it’s important to fuel the body with enough nutrients in order to keep playing at an optimal level.
For example, badminton requires a lot of energy. This uses carbohydrates. The body stores a limited amount of carbohydrates in the form of glycogen. Therefore it’s important to aid to refill these stores by consuming carbohydrate-rich foods in order to aid recovery and help to replenish your glycogen stores.
After a particularly intense session, you might notice your legs. or other muscles are sore the next day. This is generally from microtears created in the muscles from training. Protein is required to facilitate the recovery of the muscles as the amino acids help to repair the tears.
These are just a couple of examples of why good nutrition is important to a badminton player. We will be exploring each nutrient separately and why they are important to a player’s development and recovery, and the impact each nutrient has on training and match fitness.
What About Calories?
You might hear people say, “There’s a lot of calories in that.” Calories are a measurement of energy. A gram of fat, for example, contains about 9 calories while carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram. There are calories in all nutrients except water.
So when the body uses energy sources in the body to fuel its activity the output of that energy is measured in calories. The body will use a certain amount of energy every day just on maintenance. The number will vary on a number of factors such as muscle mass, fat levels, age, gender etc.
So simply, if you provide the body with as much energy as you burn, you’ll roughly maintain the same body composition. When you eat “bad foods” such as junk food regularly and maintain a sedentary lifestyle, you are consuming more calories than you use. The body, being energy efficient(!), Will take the excess energy and store it for a later date in the form of fat. This is what leads to weight gain.
Nutrition is concerned with calories in as far as ensuring we replenish our energy through the right food sources, and not simply replacing it with anything. Junk food typically has very little nutritional value. Badminton nutrition is key to long term successful performance on the court.
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