Football is a sport where it is essential to combine elements of speed, strength, endurance and recovery to achieve optimum performance, as the game itself involves sudden changes of direction, intense sprints and regular high-intensity physical activity. It may seem to us that lately the bag has been bursting with various nutritional supplements that are guaranteed to improve athletes “abilities once taken. Of course, in many cases this is just clever marketing or placebo, but some supplements can actually be proven to have a positive effect on athletes” performance. Today we’ll take a closer look at a couple of these supplements that are among the most frequently mentioned in the literature, namely: creatine, caffeine and bicarbonate.
Before we begin, it’s very important to note that none of these substances work like the “Magic Druid Drink” from the Asterix & Obelix tales, so in order to see the desired effects of supplemental nutrition, it needs to be combined with honest training and proper dosing & timing.
Creatine
Creatine is one of the supplements that is probably known to the general public, as it is one of the most researched supplements in the world, and its effects on the human body and performance are well documented. Creatine works at a molecular level as it increases the availability of phosphocreatine in muscle tissues, resulting in an acceleration of the formation of new ATP (adenosine triphosphate) molecules, which our body then uses to create energy (not only) during movement. So, in simple terms, higher levels of creatine help the body to more quickly restore an energy source that can then be converted into power. Numerous studies from the academic literature confirm the positive impact of creatine on high-intensity performance, for example in the form of improved jump height, force production during repeated sprints, or even more time-efficient muscle mass formation in athletes. Precisely because of the improvement of both exlotive strength and the ability to recover more efficiently between high-intensity intervals of physical activity, creatine is often a very attractive and affordable supplement for football players as well. However, studies equally show that creatine supplementation alone without any training does not provide any added performance benefits.
Creatine dosing typically involves an initial phase consisting of 20g of creatine (divided into 4x5g doses) for the first week and a subsequent maintenance phase with consumption of 5g of creatine per day.
Caffeine
Another frequently used dietary supplement is the well-known and naturally occurring alkaloid caffeine. The benefits of caffeine lie mainly in its stimulatory effects on the central nervous system (brain), as it blocks adenosine receptors, leading to increased alertness and reduced perception of fatigue. The benefits of caffeine use for soccer players consist mainly of improved endurance, faster reaction time or delayed onset of fatigue, which is particularly desirable in the later minutes of the match and physical activity. In terms of dosage, the recommended dose of caffeine is 5-6mg per kilogram of the athlete’s weight, and this dose should ideally be taken 30-60 minutes before the planned physical activity, as this is the time it takes on average for caffeine to be absorbed into our circulatory system and begin to take active effect. In recent years, caffeine tablets or powders in particular have been gaining in popularity, as they allow for easier dosing than more traditional coffee drinking and, if handled correctly, can also reduce the risk of side effects of excessive caffeine ingestion such as shivering, diuretic effects or sleep problems, which in turn also negatively affect recovery.
Sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate or sodium bicarbonate, more commonly known as baking soda, is a powerful dietary supplement that can help improve the ability of muscles to cope with acids (especially lactic acid) that are produced as a by-product of the body in the muscles during intense exercise.
In simple terms, during intense physical activity, the body produces acidic substances in the muscles, and these acids are associated with the onset of fatigue and muscle soreness, which affects subsequent performance. Sodium bicarbonate has the ability to dampen the increase in the concentration of just these acidic substances in the muscle, helping to extend the time during which high-intensity physical activity can be repeatedly performed, in the case of football in particular repeated sprints.
If you are dismayed by the idea of regularly consuming not-so-tasty baking soda before every game, don’t panic, it can easily be replaced with capsules that are easy to wash down and tasteless. The optimal dose of bicarbonate is usually around 0.3g per kilogram of body weight taken 60-90 minutes before physical activity, however, with this supplement, more care needs to be taken to observe your body’s response to the dosage as side effects include stomach upset or water retention, which can also affect weight.
Marek Petrík MSc.
Sources:
Apostolidis, A., Mougios, V., Smilios, I., Frangous, M., & Hadjicharalambous, M. (2020). Caffeine supplementation is ergogenic in soccer players independent of cardiorespiratory or neuromuscular fitness levels. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 17(1), 31.
Izquierdo, M. I. K. E. L., Ibanez, J. A. V. I. E. R., González-Badillo, J. J., & Gorostiaga, E. M. (2002). Effects of creatine supplementation on muscle power, endurance, and sprint performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 34(2), 332-343.
Tiller, N. B., Roberts, J. D., Beasley, L., Chapman, S., Pinto, J. M., Smith, L., … & Bannock, L. (2019). International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Sodium bicarbonate and Exercise Performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, (1).
Volek, J. S., Duncan, N. D., Mazzetti, S. A., Staron, R. S., Putukian, M., Gomez, A. L., … & Kraemer, W. J. (1999). Performance and muscle fiber adaptations to creatine supplementation and heavy resistance training. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 31(8), 1147-1156.
