BCAA use Pre/Post soccer training and competition

[GudeMN]

Hi Jordan,

First off, I really find the information you provide to be very valuable and appreciate the time you take to back up your recommendations with science and patiently explain yourself to a knuckleheads like me on the forum and the other venues where you post.

I am the assistant coach to a girls' varsity high school soccer team and have a question regarding BCAA supplementation for recovery and warding off injury. Am I correct to think implementing a BCAA schedule in line with what you suggest for "training days" (10g pre/post, coupled with 5g between meals) when strength training, would have the similar affect on sparing muscle tissue, reducing DOMS, and enhancing recovery in a soccer player? The two activities are obviously very different but the repeated sprinting and eccentric loading of decelerating to slow down and change direction in soccer, on top of the duration of play (80 mins in our league), is why I ask.

Once our High School season begins, the number of games we play is ridiculous considering the time frame at our disposal. My squad took 3rd place in our State Tournament last year, which means we played 24 games in 12 weeks. Those games are accompanied by 40-ish practices. Typical professional schedules generally call for 1 game a week. From the latest data I've seen injury rates increase by 60% when 2 games are played in a 7 day period. We are usually forced to play 3 games in a 7 day period at least once a season. We will have to play a couple games on consecutive evenings and we often play games with only 1 or 2 days in between. The BCAA supplementation is a recovery factor I could control by having it available pre and post game/training.

Am I on the right track? Any other insight you provide would be appreciated as well. Thanks ahead of time.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

So mechanism of injury aside, the biggest things you're going to be facing are cumulative fatigue affecting muscular function (thus increased injury rates) and hydration status. BCAAs won't spare muscle tissue during any type of training or exercise, but they do provide a nice fuel source and tend to improve recovery. I think having BCAAs before and after a match is reasonable. During a game, gatorade cut 50/50 with water may be useful to maintain hydration status. This, of course, ignores the fact that young girls will not eat or sleep properly as a general rule. That's a big thing that you probably cannot control, you know?

Other than that, you're kind of at the mercy of the training that's already been done to get the girls strong (from an injury and recovery capacity perspective).

[GudeMN]

The fact they will not eat and or sleep is no secret. I am hoping the BCAA chugging will be easy enough for compliance that a few of our workhorses will buy in.

The good news is I am in charge of many of their efforts to get strong. I have those who sign on, squatting, pressing, and pulling each summer. The bad news is for the majority of the team, the 8 weeks we work together in the summer is the only strength training they will see in a calendar year. I've eliminated the majority of the junk "conditioning" the team used to perform before I joined the staff but it's still touch and go dealing with the cumulative effects of their club soccer season. They literally started club training 2 days after our last game in 2015. Club soccer finishes about 8 days before our try outs this August. It's youth professionalism at its worst....unfortunately I contribute to it.
Now that I think about it, I will suggest/demand they supplement the BCAAs pre/post training sessions too. Recovery is gold. Might as well help them as much as possible.

Thanks Jordan.