Nutrition is the New Competitive Advantage in Basketball

Coaching basketball is a very challenging and rewarding profession. Getting a job as a basketball coach on any level is also very competitive. No matter the level of play there is a demand on the coaches to produce results. Even at the high school level a coach will not survive long if their program continues to lose. Coaches are always looking for a way to get a competitive edge. Coaches will pay large amounts of money to go to coaching clinics or will study new coaching schemes. Yet, one of the areas that coaches haven’t explored is the nutritional factor of their athletes.

Coaches will always do everything they can to get the best workout for their players. They will also look to get them into a weight lifting regiment. Yet, when it comes to what the players are putting into their bodies the coaches usually leave that decision up to the individual player. At some point each player has to take personal responsibility for making themselves into a better player. One of those responsibilities is to have a healthy diet.

It is very hard to force anyone to eat a certain diet; however, there is an easier way for coaches to increase the nutritional advantage that their players have. Increase the amount of protein that their players have in their diet. An increase in protein allows the players to create more lean muscle, which will increase their performance on the court, durability during a season, and over all endurance. The body almost never converts protein into fat, taking away any worry that a player would be getting too much protein in their diet.

There is also a simple metric for how much protein a player needs in their diet. The amount of protein that someone who is actively training should intake is equal to half of their body weight in grams. For example a person that weighs 180 pounds should have 90 grams worth of protein in their daily diet. That amount of protein is very difficult to accomplish through pure dieting.

Providing your players with whey protein is a very simple solution to improve the nutritional conditioning of your team. Whey protein is very cost effective, with good supplements providing at least 19 grams a serving. Isolated whey protein is also very low in fats, and consists of 90% pure protein. Whey protein is produced with dairy products that make it easier to metabolize than soy based protein products. Whey protein is very easy to use. There isn’t any cycles or timetables that players need to follow. The players just need to take a certain number of servings per day depending on their weight.

This nutritional advantage is something that professional coaching staffs take very seriously, and a coach that will use the power of protein to their advantage will get a competitive edge over their competition. It is easy, legal and effective. Coaches should start to use protein to their advantage to gain a nutritional edge.