Thomond Park will start to empty as the final whistle sounds tomorrow afternoon when referee JP Doyle calls time on Munster’s European showdown with Castres.
Thoughts for many will soon turn towards food and sustenance and visits to pubs and chippers may well form part of the post-game itinerary.
Yet as soon as that whistle blows, Munster’s head of performance nutrition, Emma Tester, has already sprung into action to implement a very different kind of refuelling plan for the players. Forget chips and pints, the Munster way involves tart cherries and cold-pressed turmeric juice.
As well as using tart cherries Munster also use a turmeric cold-pressed juice. Turmeric is really potent and beneficial from an anti-inflammatory point of view. Picture: Getty
Recovery from both games and training sessions has been a priority focus for Tester since she joined Munster Rugby in 2016 after previous performance nutrition posts with Leicester City, Leeds Carnegie RFC and the England RFU U20 side.
Yet she is quick to point out that it is the aspect of exercise and physical exertion that can most easily be overlooked.
“One of my key thoughts around recovery is that it can be the first thing that’s forgotten,” Tester told the Irish Examiner.
Tester was able to share some insights into post-game and post-session recovery when she took part in a recent “Sports Nutrition Live” event at Munster’s High Performance Centre in Limerick to launch the province’s new relationship with Optimum Nutrition as its “Official Nutrition Partner”.
Sharing a platform with Optimum’s head of science and education Dr Crionna Tobin as well as players CJ Stander, John Ryan and Bill Johnston, Tester found an attentive audience of athletes, nutrition and strength and conditioning practitioners, students and academics eager to tap into the secrets that keep Munster well fed and ready to perform to the highest levels.
Munster’s Key Elements For Post-Game Recovery
Rehydration
“This is our primary focus from the minute the lads come off the pitch,” Tester said. They are given sports drinks and water to start the rehydration process.
Munster’s performance nutritionist Emma Tester hopes partnership with Optimum can deliver a programme for players and coaches.
“Sometimes I think the assumption is that refuelling should come first and rehydration after but actually when they immediately come off the pitch, the lads’ appetite is suppressed. They don’t want to eat something straight away and they might not want to drink something overly dense or calorific like milks and smoothies. They don’t necessarily want that straight away. So we rehydrate first and when the appetite has reset and rebalanced, then we target refuelling.
Refuelling
“This is our second priority. It should be a case of simply replenishing what the lads have done in that session. The priority is making sure they are fuelled appropriately beforehand and if they get their refuelling right then recovery is a case of topping up, as opposed to doing anything overly drastic and dramatic. When we are back in the changing rooms the lads will be given milks to kickstart the refuelling process, 500ml, and it’s usually a chocolate or flavoured milk. Generally, if the lads like the taste they are more likely to have it so again it’s a nudge in the right direction.”
The Cute Stuff
“We’ll do some cute stuff around the game when we’ll supplement them with tart cherries, a really concentrated tart cherry to help reduce inflammation. The ones we buy in have to be batch-tested and come with a certificate of testing so while a lot of companies produce them we are a bit more limited when it comes to accessing certain products, so we use tested companies not just ones you could pick up at, say, a health food shop. “There are different concentrations as well when it comes to these things and our primary consideration is the safety of products.
“As well as using tart cherries we’ve also in the last few weeks started to use a turmeric cold-pressed juice. Turmeric is really potent and beneficial from an anti-inflammatory point of view and is really popular in the world of nutrition at the minute. There is a lot of research into it from a recovery point of view and also its beneficial effects for recovery from concussion and for improved sleep.
“At the minute our focus is looking at what can it do for recovery around a game but if it does improve players’ sleep….
“It’s a food product and you can buy it already made in shops, you don’t raid your spice cabinet and make it yourself.
“We are able to utilise it as is it so much more convenient for the players to use.”
The Post-Match Meal
“The first hour after the final whistle has gone is when the recovery will start and the post-match meal comes ideally 30 or 40 minutes after they get back into the dressing room, they’ve showered and got changed.
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“After that, it’s a case of when the lads leave, they have got to make the right decisions in terms of the rest of the refuelling they do. They are very switched on because they know, especially on weeks when they have a shorter turnaround, they haven’t got the opportunities to not recover. They have to do it, there are no extreme nights off while they are in a run of games.
“They do get opportunities to be a normal person. They’re rugby players not nutritionists or chefs but they are a lot more educated and switched on as to when is it an appropriate time to be a normal and relaxed person. But for 90 per cent of the season they are athletes and they know that so their general behaviours outside of the club in terms of their nutrition are what they need to do.”
So no trips to the chipper on the way home from Thomond Park tomorrow afternoon then?
“They’d probably catch me in there if they did,” says Tester. “I’m human too!
“We’re all human, I just know a little bit more about food than they do.”
Optimum Nutrition – Official Nutrition Partner to Munster Rugby. The makers of the World’s No.1 selling protein – Gold Standard 100% Whey – are also partners to Leinster Rugby, Irish Sailing Performance Team, Tom Barr and World Champions Gary and Paul O’Donovan.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
