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Nutrition in the Off-Season: Top Priorities

Updated: Jun 10

Pairing smart nutritional practices with top-quality training will help to take you to the next level this off-season.


Introduction

As we explained in a previous article, the off-season should be viewed as a sort of pre-pre-season. Keeping sharp during this period will help you to avoid detraining, and prepare your body for the pre-season. This reduces the likelihood of injury upon return to full training and sets you up for success. In addition, the off-season is a perfect time to focus on parts of your game that don’t get as much attention during pre-season and the competitive season.


Because most players come into the off-season after some time away on holidays, it can be tough on the body getting back into fitness. This is why it’s crucial to be smart with your nutrition and lifestyle during this time—the last thing you want is to pick up an injury. This article is designed to help you to understand the nutritional practices you need to focus on in order to adapt to your training this off-season and to set yourself up for the pre-season.



It is important to note that all players should take at least a couple of weeks off at the end of the season, and this is especially true for elite players who face a highly demanding competitive schedule. However, taking the entire off-season off is counter-productive.



The 4Rs

The 4Rs framework for sports nutrition hits upon the most important nutritional and lifestyle elements to meet in order to perform and recover your best (Figure 1) (1,2). The 4Rs are: Rehydrate, Refuel, Repair, and Rest (1,2). While a relatively simple framework, meeting recommendations in each domain is a powerful way to aid recovery and to support optimal performance by balancing allostatic load.



Allostatic load can be defined as the ‘cost’ that a biological system must pay in order to reset its physiological parameters during the adaptation (to training) process (2,3). In simpler terms, it's the wear and tear on the body that builds up as it works hard to recover and adjust to physical stress like exercise.



The 4Rs framework for sports nutrition.

Figure 1. The 4Rs framework for sports nutrition (2).


Rehydrate

It is vital to rehydrate properly after hard training. The recommendation for adequate hydration is to drink 1.5 litres of fluid for every kilogram (kg) of body weight lost through exercise (2,4). Because we lose salt through heavy sweating, electrolyte drinks can be more effective than water for rehydration, as they replace the salt (sodium) lost through sweating (4). However, bear in mind that water is usually sufficient for most activities, especially when paired with a post-exercise meal which will help to replenish lost electrolytes (5). However, for very heavy training and/or training done in the heat, electrolyte drinks can be useful to replace sodium lost through heavy sweating (5).



It’s a good idea to weigh yourself right before certain sessions and then again right afterwards, in order to figure out how much body weight you typically lose during sessions of varying intensity. This should then inform the amount of fluids you take on board after different session types.



Refuel

If you are a long-time reader of the Training121 Blog, you’ll know that carbohydrates are king for fuelling sports performance. This means that you should be fuelling up with carbohydrates before you train, and refuelling with them immediately afterwards. In practical terms, eating about 30–50 grams (g) of carbohydrates (i.e., a large banana and/or an apple) 30-minutes post workout is advised, as well as eating up to 1.2 grams of carbs per kilogram of body weight per hour for up to four hours post-exercise (2,4). This is to ensure that you restock your muscles full of glycogen, so that you can recover fast and be ready to train again soon thereafter.


Repair

Protein is crucial for the repair of damaged tissues (e.g., muscle, bone, connective tissues). Therefore, it’s important to get enough protein into your diet if you want to perform your best. Protein needs for athletes can range (4); however, eating 1.6 grams for every kg of body weight per day seems to be the sweet spot for optimal muscle and strength gains (7,8), and more than this is unlikely beneficial. While meeting your total daily protein target is most important (9), spreading intakes across the day in three or four main meals containing 0.3–0.5 g per kg of body weight—including your post-exercise meal—is likely ideal (2).



If you’re 70 kg, your protein needs should be 112 grams per day if you seek optimal muscle size/strength gains (70 x 1.6 = 112). This could be spread over four main meals throughout the day, each containing 28 grams of protein (70 x 0.4 = 28).



Rest

Proper sleep is crucial to reduce allostatic load and promote optimal recovery (10). This means getting 7–9 hours of sleep, and establishing a consistent sleep-wake schedule (10). This is easier said than done, so if you struggle with this, check out our previous article on this topic. In addition to sleep, avoiding alcohol is important to promote recovery, and avoiding consuming caffeine after lunch time is another strategy that can promote better sleep (2,10). Eating a protein-rich meal or consuming a protein shake before bed can also promote muscle recovery during the night (2).


Sleep hygiene practices.

Sleep hygiene practices. Image source: verywellmind.com.


The 4Rs App

The research team behind the 4Rs framework for sports nutrition created the 4Rs app to help athletes achieve the 4Rs (2). This is a really helpful tool, as you can input your body weight, your sport, and your exercise intensity level, and the app will give you bespoke recommendations to achieve the 4Rs. In addition, this app allows practitioners working with elite athletes to calculate an allostatic load index—providing insights into athlete recovery status and wellbeing that may help to guide training and recovery protocols (2). Finally, this app helps you to understand whether certain supplements are likely to be safe and effective. I encourage you to check this app out, here: https://dbss.shinyapps.io/4RsApp/.


Summary

If you take the 4Rs of Rehydrate, Refuel, Repair, and Rest seriously, there’ll be no stopping you this off-season. As always, progress is more important than perfection, so if you’re nowhere near meeting the 4Rs, start by trying to meet one before moving on to meeting the next.


If you are interested in levelling up your football skills this off-season with Training121—just like the pros—contact us at admin@training121.com to book in with our coaches for a session. And remember to sign up to our mailing list to be notified when a new blog article drops.


Thanks so much for reading!


Patrick Elliott, BSc, MPH

Health and Nutrition Science Communication Officer at Training121

Twitter/X: @PatrickElliott0


References

(1) Bonilla DA, Pérez-Idárraga A, Odriozola-Martínez A, Kreider RB. The 4R's Framework of Nutritional Strategies for Post-Exercise Recovery: A Review with Emphasis on New Generation of Carbohydrates. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;18(1):103. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/103


(2) Bonilla DA, Stout JR, Gleeson M, Campbell BI, Escalante G, Rojas-Valverde D, Petro JL, Kreider RB, Odriozola-Martínez A. The 4Rs Framework of Sports Nutrition: An Update with Recommendations to Evaluate Allostatic Load in Athletes. Life. 2025;15(6):867. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/6/867


(3) McEwen BS. Stress, adaptation, and disease. Allostasis and allostatic load. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1998;840:33–44. Available at: https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb09546.x


(4) Thomas DT, Erdman KA, Burke LM. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and Athletic Performance. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016;116(3):501–28. Available at: https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2016/03000/Nutrition_and_Athletic_Performance.25.aspx


(5) Collins J, Maughan RJ, Gleeson M, et al. UEFA expert group statement on nutrition in elite football. Current evidence to inform practical recommendations and guide future research. Br J Sports Med. 2021;55(8):416. Available at: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/8/416.long


(6) Barnes KA, Anderson ML, Stofan JR, et al. Normative data for sweating rate, sweat sodium concentration, and sweat sodium loss in athletes: An update and analysis by sport. J Sports Sci. 2019;37(20):2356–66. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2019.1633159


(7) Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, Schoenfeld BJ, Henselmans M, Helms E, Aragon AA, Devries MC, Banfield L, Krieger JW, Phillips SM. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med. 2018;52(6):376–84. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5867436/


(8) Nunes EA, Colenso-Semple L, McKellar SR, Yau T, Ali MU, Fitzpatrick-Lewis D, Sherifali D, Gaudichon C, Tomé D, Atherton PJ, Robles MC, Naranjo-Modad S, Braun M, Landi F, Phillips SM. Systematic review and meta-analysis of protein intake to support muscle mass and function in healthy adults. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2022;13(2):795–810. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcsm.12922


(9) Schoenfeld BJ, Aragon AA, Krieger JW. The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2013;10(1):53. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879660/


(10) Vitale KC, Owens R, Hopkins SR, Malhotra A. Sleep Hygiene for Optimizing Recovery in Athletes: Review and Recommendations. Int J Sports Med. 2019;40(8):535–43. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6988893/


Technical Terms

Detraining: This refers to when one loses the physiological adaptations (e.g., fitness, strength, muscle size) that were developed through regular training. Becoming ‘detrained’ is explained by the principle of training reversibility, which states that while physical training results in several physiological adaptations, stopping or drastically reducing training reduces the physiological adaptations we developed, either partially or completely.


Allostatic load: the ‘cost’ that a biological system must pay in order to reset its physiological parameters during the adaptation (to training) process. In simpler terms, it's the wear and tear on the body that builds up as it works hard to recover and adjust to physical stress like exercise.


Electrolytes: Minerals that carry an electrical charge when dissolved in water (e.g., sodium, potassium, magnesium). When we sweat, we lose electrolytes, and must replace them via fluids or food. Electrolyte (sodium) losses are not of huge concern in lower intensity exercise, but become more important the longer and more intense the exercise, and especially in hot conditions.


Glycogen: The stored version of carbohydrates (glucose). When we eat carbohydrates, most is stored as glycogen in our muscles and liver.

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