Haha, ok this is a funny thing. I've never been hungry when I played badminton before. At most I would feel hungry after I've played, usually thats when I eat dinner. However, one week, I felt hungry and eventually this hunger made me weak. The following week, I was going to make sure that wouldn't happen again, so I ate up on something about 2 hours before the game. The hunger still hit at about the same time as last time. So whats wrong now? Is my body requiring more energy now than last time or something? Has it something to do with stamina?
sounds familiar...tough games of badminton can completely drain me...Though that's always after 90+ minutes of gametime... what to eat: - 2hours before, or more: fibres, healthy stuff, etc. Bread, meat, you name it. - 1 hour to 30minutes prior: the focus is on sugar and other fast digesting foods. Bananas, winegums, sugars in general. -30 minutes- 0 minutes: make sure you're full, and drink enough. some people drink about a liter of water 30 min prior to a match. after that, you should be fully stuffed and loaded (though not exploding) and it's just a matter of drinking enough during play. even so, even when I'm completly stuffed, and eat all day long...I could barely stand on my feet last week: I played 3 quarterfinals, 2 semi-finals and 2 finals (winning 1) in one day... No matter how much you eat, you'll be hungry at some point
Wow, that's pretty hard core! I'm surprised you could even stand after that, let alone win anything. Congrats though!
err, yeah..was a rough day I'd say I was feeling pretty good all the way to my singles-final. But that turned out to be something like 21-18, 19-21, 21-17...I was completly trashed... the last final was a doublesmatch, lost with 14-21 20-22... Though eating enough/ much sugary stuff really helped!
Before I go to the gym for weight training, I have something starchy/fibrous such as white bread or cereal 90 mins beforehand, and something sugary like chocolate or Skittles about 45 mins before. That way, the sugars kick in right when I start off, and the slower-release carbs can keep me going once all the sugars have been burnt off. As for fluids, as long as the amount you take in doesn't make you nauseous, you can't drink too much. About a litre an hour works for me during a 2 hr weights sessions as long as it's taken in gradually (rather than in basking-shark gulps). I would eat as soon as possible after playing as well to give your body a huge leg-up for recovery. A jacket potato works for this.
I'd recommend pasta 2-3 hours before playing, and bring bananas, chocolate, jelly, energy drinks (not fizzy drinks) for the competition. It's not how much you eat, it's how much carbohydrates you eat. Unfortunately although vegetables and salads may be healthy, they do not give you much energy =p so eating them before the match will not do much good except fill your stomach up. Don't drink too much water before you play, it'll just bloat you up and weigh you down, drink it during the match ie. when you switch ends and inbetween games.
