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OK so my ex girlfriend's 14 year old son has been doing 2 a days all week in freshman football practice. First week of it, and he's playing both ways RB/WR and LB/SS so he's dog tired and sore as hell every night. I'm telling his mom to use bio freeze or icy hot, take a really long hot shower first, and to bring him over to my place so we can use the townhouse complex hot tub. Anybody have any other suggestions?
They still have just over 20 kids on the team so 2 a days having to play both ways are just exhausting for the kids. Just trying to help him a bit if possible.
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Sodium Bicarbonate
Energy production via anaerobic glycolysis, which is particularly important for events lasting between 30 seconds and 15 minutes, increases the acidity inside the muscle cells, and very soon after does the same to the blood. It is this increase in acidity within the muscle cells that is a major factor in producing fatigue in such events. If there was some way to reduce the acidity within the muscle cells, one could theoretically delay fatigue and thus continue exercising at a very high intensity for longer.
Sodium bicarbonate is an alkalising agent and therefore reduces the acidity of the blood (known as a buffering action). By buffering acidity in the blood, bicarbonate may be able to draw more of the acid produced within the muscle cells out into the blood and thus reduce the level of acidity within the muscle cells themselves. This could delay the onset of fatigue.
Who might benefit?
The specific athletes who might stand to benefit from bicarb supplementation will typically compete in events that last between one and seven minutes, i.e. 400 metres to 1500 metres running, 100 metres to 400 metres swimming, most rowing competitions, and many team sports with their repeated nature of high intensity exercise which stresses the anaerobic glycolysis system significantly and produces a lot of acidity.
A practical approach
Before using either bicarbonate, it is wise to cheek with the governing body of your sport that the substance is not contrary to doping regulations. The most important practical point is the need to experiment with the supplement during training. Typically, an 800 metre runner, may perform a time trial on a particular day after a couple of days of light training. A further couple of days later, after only more light training, he/she can repeat the time trial in a similar environment after bicarbonate supplementation. The exact protocol would be to ingest 0.3 grms of sodium bicarbonate per kg body weight approximately one to two hours before the time trial. That is, for a 66kg runner, consume 20 grms of sodium bicarbonate (about four teaspoons) and, yes, the commonly found bicarb of soda is exactly the substance needed. This experimenting, if repeated several times, should reveal whether bicarb supplementation is likely to produce any benefit and whether the athlete concerned is susceptible to any side effects.
It is likely that large individual differences do exist as far as response to supplementation is concerned. It has been suggested that the more highly trained athletes are less likely to benefit from it because their body's natural buffering systems are already so well developed, but so far this is just speculation. It has also been shown that sprinters build up more acidity within their muscles than endurance runners in response to the same exercise, and so may be more likely to benefit from the buffering effect. From the scientific research, it appears that the size of the dose is quite important, and that taking only 0.2 grms per kg is less likely to be beneficial than 0.3 grms per kg, although no evidence exists suggesting that an even greater dose is better still.
Side effects
As for the side-effects, these may take the form of pain, cramping, diarrhoea or a feeling of being bloated, the athlete who suffers must try to eliminate them. Drinking up to a litre of water with the dose is often effective and should be carried out as standard. Breaking up the bicarbonate dose into, say, four equal portions taken over the course of an hour may also help.
There are potential side effects to taking higher than normal levels of Sodium Bicarbonate so consult with your doctor first.
__________________ All Hell is breakin loose!!!!!
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Are HS kids allowed to take creatine? Stuff has worked like a dream for me.
A-Bomb
I don't want to encourage him to do stuff like that, I know creatine is widely used and legal but I know there are some studies that show an increase in muscle pulls, and there is concern of long term damage to kidneys but I'm not sure anybody has really proven that yet.
As Pariah said, it will get better as his body gets used to it, I was just figuring there might be other ways to help him get through it. 2 a days in 90+ heat playing both ways is all brand new for him.
The technical name for this is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and is common in early season workouts in the athletic population. DOMS is also common in the normal population during the early stages of beginning a workout program.
Sports medicine research states that there are no cures for DOMS and the things the kid has been doing are good for temporary, minor relief. The research shows that exercise and light stretching brings the most relief. He should feel much better after about a week.
Like Harley Rider said - If it was easy everybody would do it.
Remind him that the soreness is why sissies don't play the game.
Classic.
I already told his mom soreness is normal but she's concerned because she's never seen him this tired. It's a pretty intense change for him as late as 2 years ago he had almost no interest in sports beyond playing soccer which for him was just an excuse to hang with his friends.
I'm not sure where this all came from this is the same kid that used to tell me "I don't watch football" when I'd try to watch a game when he was over and now he's talking ball with me and stuff. Pretty cool. His mom assumes it came from hanging around me because he doesn't see his real father and every guy she's dated since me has not had an interest in sports. So really I'm the only male influence in his life who follows sports. It either came from me or from his friends at school.
One minute he had no interest, the next he was signing up for wrestling and talking about how he couldn't wait for football in highschool.
OK so my ex girlfriend's 14 year old son has been doing 2 a days all week in freshman football practice. First week of it, and he's playing both ways RB/WR and LB/SS so he's dog tired and sore as hell every night. I'm telling his mom to use bio freeze or icy hot, take a really long hot shower first, and to bring him over to my place so we can use the townhouse complex hot tub. Anybody have any other suggestions?
They still have just over 20 kids on the team so 2 a days having to play both ways are just exhausting for the kids. Just trying to help him a bit if possible.
Okay, firstly:
#1) FOOD IS THE MOST ANABOLIC THING OUT THERE! THIS WILL DECREASE SORENESS INFINITELY OVER ALL OTHER FACTORS!!!
#2) He needs to be doing warm-ups and warm-downs after each practice. Drinking water is of PARAMOUNT importance, as is supplementing potassium/magnesium/sodium (assuming he is on a very clean diet sodium intake will be lower than needed).
#3) Stretching before AND after training will help keep nutrient partitioning high, as well as keep tendon/ligament strength good.
#4) Massages help, particularly deep tissue massage.
#5) Keeping the muscle warm will help keep blood flow in the sore area better, so recovery will come quicker.
#6) GPP (General Physical Preparedness) work will improve the conditioning of the athlete.
#7) Persistant DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) will have a cumulative effect on the CNS (Central Nervous System) that will cause overtraining, and raise the risk of injury to a dangerously high level.
Last edited by BodybuildingCardsFan; August 28th, 2005 at 05:22 AM.
Moon Lander Champion!
All Hell is breakin loose!!!!!
We've missed you around here Brian! It's nice to have you back. 
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