Prove your physical presence

The modern footballer is strong, powerful and lean. Strong players maintain a regular first team place and suffer fewer injuries than weaker players. Strength training, with an added focus on improving the core muscles, is the secret weapon to staying strong on the ball and proving your physical presence.

Simple exercises such as planks, press-up holds, crunches and back extensions can be tagged onto the end of all your training sessions and will transform your ability to shrug off an opponent and stay balanced in possession. However, to really see the benefit of all that hard work, you need the support of a good nutritional strategy.

Protein helps the growth and maintenance of muscle and is therefore key to assisting strength development and recovery from training. However, there are many myths surrounding its use. Here is where we put the record straight and help guide you towards physical domination!

# 1 Timing of protein intake is key

Protein cannot be stored in the body so timing is essential - little and often is the key. In addition, protein breakdown increases after exercise so make sure you stick a protein snack such as a Lucozade Sport Pro Muscle bar in your kit bag for straight after a match, training or weights session.

#2 Less is more

There is a limit to the amount of protein our bodies can utilise to build muscle. Even though your daily protein requirements will be slightly higher than the average couch potato, it is more than likely your current diet already meets those needs. Instead, concentrate on dividing your intake up, starting with 15-20 g of good quality protein consumed straight after exercise and then at regular intervals throughout the day. Any more than this and you are wasting your money!

#3 It's not how much that counts, it's all about quality

When time allows, you should look to get your protein intake from a variety of sources. Great sources include eggs, milk, cheese, chicken and tuna as well as wholemeal bread, pasta, rice, baked beans and nuts. If you are short on time and don't want to throw 3 large eggs into your kit bag, why not try the Lucozade Sport Pro Muscle Shake, perfectly designed to help build lean muscle mass and help you to prove your physical presence.

- Lucozade Sport Science Team

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