WITH JUST OVER a fortnight to go until the Guinness Pro14 campaign begins, Munster are nearing the end of their pre-season preparations.
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At their High Performance Centre at the University of Limerick, performance nutritionist Emma Tester has been playing an important role in getting the players ready for the 2017-18 season by overseeing their food intake.
“The training load is increased and players need to meet that in terms of fuelling that appropriately,” she explains. “Otherwise they run the risk of their weight dropping off and they pick up kind of illnesses and injuries a bit quicker, so fuelling their performance is really important during pre-season.”
In the video above, produced by Munster Rugby, Tester provides an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the kind of grub the players have been tucking into, with beef stir fry, pulled pork and bacon and cabbage among their favourites.
“Overall energy intake really does vary,” she says. “What they should be doing is matching it to what they’re doing. Calorie-wise, you could be looking at sort of 3,500 for a light player on a light day, to upwards of 4,500, 5,000 calories on a day that’s heavy in terms of training load and maybe for our bigger guys as well, because it can be a struggle to maintain that mass.
“But the lads have done a great job in making sure that their weight is up, it’s holding up and hopefully we’ll see that stay throughout the season as well.”
Munster travel to face Worcester Warriors in a friendly on Thursday, 24 August before welcoming Benetton Treviso to Musgrave Park for their Pro14 opener on Friday, 1 September.
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5,000 calories a day: The fuel that's getting Munster through pre-season
WITH JUST OVER a fortnight to go until the Guinness Pro14 campaign begins, Munster are nearing the end of their pre-season preparations.
At their High Performance Centre at the University of Limerick, performance nutritionist Emma Tester has been playing an important role in getting the players ready for the 2017-18 season by overseeing their food intake.
“The training load is increased and players need to meet that in terms of fuelling that appropriately,” she explains. “Otherwise they run the risk of their weight dropping off and they pick up kind of illnesses and injuries a bit quicker, so fuelling their performance is really important during pre-season.”
In the video above, produced by Munster Rugby, Tester provides an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the kind of grub the players have been tucking into, with beef stir fry, pulled pork and bacon and cabbage among their favourites.
“Overall energy intake really does vary,” she says. “What they should be doing is matching it to what they’re doing. Calorie-wise, you could be looking at sort of 3,500 for a light player on a light day, to upwards of 4,500, 5,000 calories on a day that’s heavy in terms of training load and maybe for our bigger guys as well, because it can be a struggle to maintain that mass.
“But the lads have done a great job in making sure that their weight is up, it’s holding up and hopefully we’ll see that stay throughout the season as well.”
Munster travel to face Worcester Warriors in a friendly on Thursday, 24 August before welcoming Benetton Treviso to Musgrave Park for their Pro14 opener on Friday, 1 September.
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