Beware of the rule of scale! Football players and athletes generally fear the extra weight that they might accumulate upon resumption of activity, due to the quarantine period that led to a reduction in physical activity due to an outbreak of the Corona virus emerging.
And if the stomachs of the stars of the likes of Argentine Diego Maradona, Brazilian Adriano, French Pierre-Andre Geninac or Italian Antonio Cassano are still fresh, it is expected that some players who will suffer from extra weight when they return to their exercises are expected.
But the reason for this this time will not be due to the late night nights, but to the sweetness of the family kitchen, as summarized by Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey, saying, "I follow a work program sent to us by the club, but it is different from group training. I have to pay attention and not to accumulate weight." Plus, my wife loves to cook, and I love eating, so this is a dangerous mixture. At home we have a lot of biscuits for children and I eat them every time I drink tea. "
In parallel to reducing physical activity and increasing calories, athletes face the risk of losing muscle mass versus increasing fat, which worries the physical stomach, such as Xavier Frieza who works with professional footballers.
"Athletes do a lot of exercise, so they follow a rich diet linked to their specialty," he says. "If their activity shrinks, which is happening now, and they maintain the same diet, this is dangerous because they face weight gain in parallel with their declining level of fitness."
The risk appears to be more serious for athletes who follow certain diets to follow very demanding training exercises such as swimmers.
"The biggest problem for me is food because I am bored to eat," French swimmer Florent Manado told AFP. "I would like to keep my fitness because I am completely aware that in the opposite case it will be difficult to return to the water."
- "Good management" - Yves Touillet, a nutrition specialist at the National Institute of Sport in France, says "At the moment (the athletes) are doing well, the weight index remains stable. They all have a sports program and I have no indications of concern about the impact on their psychological condition or behavior." .
"We will see after a while what will happen the moment they go out, because the most important thing is not weight per se, but the distribution between muscle mass and fat that can lead to an imbalance without seeing it on the weight machine. This may lead to greater risks of injuries to athletes.
As for Jean-Jacques Monouet, doctor of the Arkia Samsec cycling team, riders must maintain “an adequate weight when the races resume,” adding, “But I allow an increase of two or three kilograms because I am aware that we can gradually restore the appropriate weight within the 5 or 6 weeks that will precede the return of races.” ".
Quarantine is considered to be the imposed leave that permits the exploitation of more diversified nutrition than those adopted by riders during the period of competitions where they eat pork, pasta and turkey.
"Here I am trying to get them to discover new types of vegetables, and new recipes. Some antioxidants, zinc, some vitamins, especially vitamin D + because it boosts immunity."
But Yves Toulete warns against the opposite excess by saying, "Some people want to use this period to dry up somewhat, and therefore the message that I can send to these people is attention. We are well aware that the decline in energy and vitality can weaken the immune system, so the time is not right now." .