Eating before tournament

You want to max out your glycogen stores days before the tournament and not eat too heavy the night before / morning of the tournament.
Being a high intensity sport badminton operates much more in the anaerobic, and thus has much less of a requirement on fat burning like endurance sports too. Glycogen stores can provide energy for anywhere between 20 mins to 1 hour of exercise before they empty, and you need to start refuelling to perform.

If you google "carb loading" this is effectively what you are doing. I will say you want to be raising your carbohydrate intake according to your bodyweight 48- 24hrs before. This can be in the form of liquid carbohydrates too like energy drinks etc.


The night before and morning of the tournament, you want to be eating carbohydrate and not too much fibre/ salads. Too much fibre will increase bloodflow to stomach and decrease your athletic performance. Try not to eat anything too spicy or too much meat, this will also have a detrimental effect.

Also remember not to eat too much, it is much better to eat little and often to avoid having too much weight due to overeating the night before and making you feel sluggish.

The most common mistakes are people having massive meals the night before,or not eating regularly enough during exercise.

After each match you need to replenish at least some of your glycogen, with simple carbs like pasta or fruits and energy drinks, again try to avoid heavier foodstuffs that are harder to digest unless you have a few hours between.

 

For tournaments I often take my homemade small gluten-free pancakes with a very small amount of maple syrup with me. Easy to eat within 30 seconds and a good mix of different carbs and a small amout of fat and protein. My XD partner often make somewraps with salad and some vegetables. Not much sauce or cheese and other fatty things. Normally I eat a small amount of both when I come from court and sip water with a tiny shot of fruit juice (100%). Some Bananas are also great to take with you. During the tournament I drink sometimes 2-3 small Beer with zero alcohol.

I normally don't play 2-3 days before the tournament. I try to be active without tearing down. Some Yoga, Black roll exercise, going out for a walk, cycle at low intensity instead of training or playing.

The days before the tournament I eat normal and don't stuff. I normaly avoid to consume much sugar and normally tolerate it fruitrelated. I normally cook by my own in the evening. I recommend to eat healthy the whole year instead of changing something before a tournament. But as a ceremony I eat often my gluten-free pizza with many vegetables and a small amount of cheese 1-2 days before the tournament or baked potatoes, spinach and 1-2 sunny side-up eggs.

 

I'd like to add a little personal tip for during the tournament or even during the an exhausting match: Honey water.
I came across an article on the Victor homepage (http://www.victorsport.com/badmintonaz/8552) and tried it successfully afterwards. Especially in hard 3 game matches it's the perfect thing to quickly give you a little boost during the in-between game breaks.

 

My intention is following: If I get closer to the tournament the previous games become more import and relevant for my confidence. Normally the tournaments are on the weekend here. Let's imagine: I'm confident when I played monday and wednesday, everything went smooth. I can sleep very well and looking forward relaxed. Now we all have an off-day, bad day. We can't time when it happen. Let's imagine I feel confident on wednesday. Now I play friday, I take myself back to not exhaust and to be fit for the tournament. If you have serious games and no play around, you will perform mostly not good. This is my experience. So I have a serious game with friends and need to play on eggs. This will not give me confidence for the tournament, I will doubt about myself and will do a bit more and then I end up exhausted. Maybe others are different, but to me it is important to start confident into a tournament and have a tough session 2-3 days before to prove me with everything instead of on eggs. Just to do some hitting and 1-2 loose and relaxed games are okay, but serious games 24hours before a tournament don't work well for me. That are my thoughts why I do so.

 

I am not a big breakfast person and I'm nervous so usually I can only do a protein shake (with a banana mixed in) for breakfast. The problem with tournaments is they can go on forever even if you aren't playing. But you never want to really fill up to being full, but you wanna keep the hunger at bay. Basically more bananas, haha, and things like chocolate covered almonds. There is always a ton of bread and rolls around from other people but I find it makes me feel too stuffed. For me playing hungry is much better than playing full.

I also like to watch a pro game the night before of the same game type I will be playing in the tournament. (For me mixed doubles.) I actively watch it, usually paying attention to one specific person and how she moves her feet and what-not. Then the next day I pretend I'm her. I know that's kinda weird, but I think it helps. It's having a strong mental representation in your brain which can help your body move more int he right way and watching a pro game the night before helps me with that.

 

I do not have a proper answer but I have rather a question. (Sorry for asking in someone else's thread)

I normally don't feel hungry and don't feel like eating anything during a 5/6 hours tournament, while I see almost everyone else eating something mostly a banana or a wrap. Is this a good idea not to eat anything or I lose the energy subconsciously and it would actually help to have something in bewteen?
Thanks!

 

It's up to everybody. I also didn't eat on tournaments in the past. I mostly drunk isotonic drinks with a carb mix to not loose energy. Some people are sensitive. Now, I eat just very small amounts at tournaments now, because you don't know when you must be ready. I also see people at tournaments people who finish a bowl of noodles, a few rolls, kebap, Schnitzel or sweets in one go. Some stated nuts and chocolate, but I would feel sick if I consume them and need to play. Also too much fruits or oat bars would also lead to same problems for me. Everybody is different and tolerant to some meals or not. This is the reason why I eat gluten-free on tournament day. Give a training day a go and you will discover what work and get a feel for the right amount. I think you can start with some drinks.

 

Thanks for the reply. Will try it next time.

 

90% same for me (other 10% is that glutenfree stuff, i dont care )

I also cannot eat before or between sports..I will eat a lot of pasta the day before and on gameday only few bananas and few buns. Its unbelievable for me to see ppl eating bowls of pasta and then 15min later play badminton..what on earth i would not be able to breathe or move...it would take me HOURS to be fit) so its very individual and everbody must findout for himself! But the tips here are of course very helpful for finding ideas what one can try out

 

Hmm I always wonder about the psychological difficulties of many people...Just go on court and be hungry to win! Its very easy (well...for me)...The hungriness is most important imho.
Our season is over now and I can proudly say that I lost one game out of 28 games which I could have won..(doubles and partner did not help the case), else I won every single game that was in my power to win; and I won a handful of games vs clearly better players because I can bring my A+-Game to the table if it matters, my opponents couldnt.
I never get the negativity of others...if my last practice before the leaguegame was bad then Im happy that my bad day was on practice and next time (league/tournament day) will be good
If i play well then Im happy because im in good shape for the upcoming leaguegame
So maybe be more positive and selfconfident?

Also in a match...if you have a bad touch..bad run....slow down every point! Give yourself time to surpass the bad phase! Crawl back with safe shots. I have won a lot of matches because I actively crawled back into form in a match instead of crying what a bad day I have and surrender to the "bad day". I see that surrender very often...

 

You have a great attitude. I'm still on my way to work on me. I think too much and have a bad sleep before a tournament. Can't help I'm a nervous person with insomnia. I'm not happy with the mechanism of my mind set, but always try to find ways to be confident. Your setting is my aim, but I'm not there. I'm hungry to win, too but playing exclusively doubles you get a relation to others. You give control to partners and for a controlfreak like me, it is hell.

To be on topic: Frankly I was last year due family issues invited to an opulent chinese dinner, couldn't get out and enjoyed it without alcohol. Tournament on the next day and tbh I performed very well. Nutrition is not everything.

 

Alright you play doubles, well i got to admit that its easier for me to focus in singles than in doubles. Its easier to get in the zone in singles because its all about yourself and you can control the rallies a little bit more. The control to partners thing I have no experience with tho. Looks like I do not wanna know about more either

I could write a lot more but its offtopic so @chinese dinner: that sounds perfect to me =)

 

Glad I read this as I have my first club tournament coming up.