by Dr James Morehen, Performance Nutritionist

As a rugby player (or other professional athlete) think about how much milk you consume over the course of the day and subsequently over the week. Do you increase or decrease this in line with your training week and or when you are playing games?

According to rugby performance nutritionist James Morehen, from Bristol Bears Rugby, milk is a brilliant drink to be consuming daily to help with individual player goals and is one of the most nutritionally complete foods on the market today!

“Milk has many benefits for us as rugby players. It is full of vitamins and minerals that the body needs to not only be healthy but to support our body during heavy training blocks or games”. All the fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) are found in milk in addition to the B complex vitamins and Vitamin C. Key minerals included are Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc among others which are fundamental for healthy bone growth especially considering our sport is a high impact collision sport we want to look after our bones!

Milk is also full of protein and carbohydrates, and this can be great if you are looking for some extra protein to help increase your total amount over the course of the day and carbohydrates to replenish your energy following a training session”

Last season, Tom Parker Creamery was instrumental in supporting my post-match nutrition strategy for the players. Rob and Niki supplied Tom Parker Creamery flavoured milks each week and we would take these all over the UK with us. Following a match, the players would drink one of the milks and this would really kick start the recovery from the match. Due to the nature of the sport, rugby players experience both exercise induced and impact induced muscle damage from the running distances and physical collisions respectively. I studied this during my PhD and recovery from match play is a key area which rugby players have to get right to ensure they present back into training on Monday. The milks are so handy, travel well and taste amazing, the boys loved them!

Morehen strongly advocates having a glass of milk pre-bed due to the composite profile of milk being 80% Casein and 20% whey protein meaning that it will help support, recover and grown our lean tissue mass whilst we sleep.

To add even more protein pre-bed, why not try Morehen’s late night smoothie recipe to give yourself a boost of muscle building macro- and micro-nutrients before you shut the eye lids off:

Recipe:
200ml milk
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp flaxseeds
1 serving of protein powder
2 tbsp of 0% Greek Yoghurt
1/3 avocado

Do:
Always consume protein pre-bed on heavy training days and after playing a game to help the body recovery.