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South Durham And Cleveland Mercury, Friday, 17 November 1905.

 

HINTS ON TRAINING.

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WHAT FOOTBALL PLAYERS OUGHT TO EAT AND DRINK.

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By  E.  C.  Bredin

 

    I will commence these remarks on training for footballers by observing that as long as a healthy appetite is present during the period of training there need be no fear of the exercise taken being excessive. Should the body be overtaxed Nature will immediately give a timely warning to the athlete by a loss of appetite and a feeling of indolence. In such cases a couple of days rest will prove a simple remedy. Secondly, as training creates muscle and changes fat into solid flesh, very shortly after its commencement bodily weight should increase, the only exception to this rule being a small class of men who run to flesh whenever they cease vigorous exercise. However, we may take it as a golden rule that a relish for plain food and additional weight are the amplest proofs that the work being undergone is leading to the condition desired -- the maximum of health and strength.

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Start before Breakfast.

    Taken at the beginning of training, a couple of Turkish baths are to be recommended, and three days should be allowed to supervene between the first and second bath. The day’s training itself is well commenced by a walk before breakfast of about 20 minutes’ duration. By so doing, the lungs are filled with fresh air, and a healthy appetite created for that meal, which can consist of chop or beefsteak, with eggs; in fact any ordinary plain fare. Toast should be eaten with all meals in preference to bread. Neither tea nor coffee contains nutriment beneficial to the man in training. Cocoa is much to be preferred. During the couple of hours following the first meal it is well to take matters easily; the daily papers or a book can aid in passing the time before a move is made in the direction of the field. Should the latter be surrounded by or near a running track, a desirable increase of pac can be obtained by three or four bursts of about 40 yards each in length, allowing a few minutes’ interval between each one. It is pleasant, and certainly most beneficial, when several men can arrange a sprint together.

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Liable to Catch Cold.

    A running track not being available, the turf must be used as a substitute; but there can be little doubt that using running shoes and practicing on cinders will tend to a greater development of pace than can be obtained when wearing boots and practicing on grass. In addition to an increase of pace, the practice of sprinting will prove most useful to the footballer through accustoming him to start suddenly, and be therefore quickly moving at his top speed, which is naturally of the utmost importance. This form of training might well be practiced on alternate mornings. One month is by no means too long a period of time to allow wherein to get fit before the date of the first important match. At the conclusion of all violent exercises a thorough drying and rubbing is both strengthening and refreshing, and at the same time helps to do away with a certain amount of stiffness, which also follows, to a greater or lesser degree, the commencement of hard training. Should stiffness be excessive, a little neat spirits well rubbed into the parts afflicted will greatly aid in getting rid of the sore feeling. All clothing worn at work ought to be taken home after use on each occasion and thoroughly dried. The fitter a man becomes the more liable he is to catch a cold, and is especially liable so to do from anything that is damp worn next to the skin. Flannel shirts (as they absorb perspiration) are preferable to linen ones.

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The After-Dinner Nap.

    The mid-day meal can consist of a cut from the joint, or rump steak, with poultry occasionally by way of variety. Vegetables should be partaken of plentifully, with the exception of potatoes, turnips, and carrots, which are watery and fattening. Milk pudding may follow the meat course, and stewed prunes or figs are useful medicinally, besides being nutritious. Both pastry and cheese it is well to dispense with during training, and, in fact the whole of the football season. A rest should always follow the mid-day meal, and this can best be obtained by reclining on a sofa or bed. If the athlete in training feels drowsy at this time, half an hour’s nap will be found most refreshing. At least two hours in the afternoon should be spent in a brief walk; little benefit accrues from a leisurely stroll. A distance of over nine miles can easily be covered during that space of time without the least attempt at road-racing. Of the various exercises for the footballer in training, walking I should consider to be the healthiest and most strengthening.

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Five o’Clock Tea.

    For those who are accustomed to a meal at five o’clock, fish, eggs, with meat in moderation, will prove a pleasant change from the previous day’s meals. Any green food that can be obtained, such as water-cress, can be highly recommended. Personally, I preferred the last meal of the day taking place about seven o’clock. The ordinary meat tea at five left me with too great an appetite as bedtime approached, and I think that the hours passed without food, from five until next morning’s breakfast, are somewhat too numerous. After the last meal, whatever hour it may be taken, a walk should (weather permitting) finish, as it began, the day’s training. Ten o’clock is quite late enough at night for anyone in training to be under the bedclothes and little difficulty will then be experienced falling into a healthy sleep after the day’s work in the open air.

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Skipping will Benefit.

    During the ordinary British winter there will be many days in which, owing to rain, frost, and snow, work out of doors will be either impossible or of little benefit. Most Association football clubs provide ample space indoors, where, at such times, exercise can be advantageously taken. The best form of indoor training is skipping, as it brings into use the muscles of the legs, back, and arms. Ball punching is also a fine exercise. To cure colds, trainers, especially of the old school, speak very highly of the merits of hollands gin, and where there is the slightest symptom of cold in the kidneys I can thoroughly recommend this cure. Swollen limbs, caused by kicks or strains, the latter usually termed breakdowns, are frequently very annoying to the footballer. At the earliest opportunity they should be treated with fomentations of water as hot as can be borne. Cold water must never be applied until all symptoms of swelling have departed.

E. C. BREDIN.