Nutrition

Interview: Martin McCann and Spain’s Footballing Philosophy

Those of you who watched the England v Spain game on Saturday past would have been disappointed that the performance of the World Champions did not reach the heights that we have become accustomed to in recent years. One thing was firmly intact however, the philosophy. Spain, and many Spanish teams in general deploy a tactic that has become colloquially known as tiqui-taca. This style has become commonly considered to be the epitome of good football. The Spanish footballing ideal has not developed overnight, but it has been product of many years of structural development and devotion to key principles. Recently, University of Ulster’s Martin McCann travelled to visit four clubs (Villarreal … Continue reading →

The Benefit of Sports Drinks

It has been well documented that the ingestion of “sports drinks” has a positive impact on exercise performance. Global products such as Powerade and Lucozade have dominated sporting preparation this century, with similar drinks such as Gatorade having been introduced as early as 46 years ago. But to what extent do these isotonic fluids benefit an athlete? And can drinking a bottle of Lucozade actually help sport-specific skills? After all, there are as many as 8,000 indigenous sports and sporting games on this planet – it is difficult to believe that just one drink can improve performers in each of these, simply due to the introduction of 6–8 grams of carbohydrates. Besides, … Continue reading →