West Ham’s Matt Jones offers nutrition insight at a Premier League club | Football news

When Matt Jones tore his anterior cruciate ligament twice before the age of 20, all hopes of a career as an elite sportsman were dashed.

Luckily for him, the silver bra was right in front of him. This industry has not been cut off forever with him.

“During my second phase of recovery, I started reading about nutrition because I was being treated by physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches and even discussed with psychologists. logic, but no one told me what to eat,” he said. Sports sky.

“After that, I noticed I was gaining weight pretty quickly because I was going from extremely high energy expenditure to extremely low energy expenditure while on crutches.

“I was fascinated by the impact of nutrition on health, performance, recovery and injury. In those days – about 15 years ago – sports nutrition wasn’t really a thing, so I was went on to do my undergraduate degree in sports science, which is pretty broad and general, and then I did my master’s in nutritional science, because that sports science degree really forged the house that nutrition sport is what I care about.”

Having built a reputation for himself over the past decade, Jones has worked in Brazil, UAE, Saudi Arabia and the US, but since the summer of 2019 he has worked as a consultant. sports nutrition in the Premier League with West Ham.

He spends two days a week at Hammers’ Rush Green training ground, working as part of the performance and medical team. So what exactly does the role involve?

“I like to spend time on the many different areas where nutrition can impact,” he explains. “What I usually do is a theory session as a group, which can be like a traditional class with a presentation. Sometimes I’ll take a video and share it with the whole group.

“That will be the first week of a month-long cycle and the second week will be a more practical application session, maybe in the dining room. We can talk about carbohydrates for fuel and how you have a little gas tank in your muscles fills up when you eat carbohydrates and when you do any vigorous activity the fuel tank goes down.

“For example, after 70-75 minutes of intense football play, the fuel tank is empty and that’s when the players will feel tired. Consuming more carbohydrates in the days before the game will ensure that full gas tank In the dining room, I’m going to point out different carbohydrate options and talk about servings and such.

“In the third week, I’ll probably be on the pitch with the players, pointing out the stressful actions, you’ve just done a 10m sprint, so your gas tank has just dropped x percent. It’s an opportunity to think about how to quickly refuel during halftime or during breaks, such as gels, or use carbohydrates to refill those fuel tanks.

“Next month, I’ll take another thread and do the same process.

“Recovery is also a big part of what I do. If you picture a pyramid of importance, the foundation would probably be sleep. The second layer could be nutrition, regeneration. volume, repair damaged muscle, reduce inflammation, and rehydrate.

“We try and encourage the players to prioritize rehydration as soon as they wake up. You can get a little dehydrated in your sleep, but we don’t want them to wake up in the middle of the night and start drinking.

“Before their big toe touches planet Earth in the morning, they need to drink 500ml of water, for example. One of the first signs of dehydration is lethargy and fatigue. That’s behavior. the first basic vi that we need for players.”

In a grand scheme of things, the idea of ​​focusing on nutrition and its impact on performance and recovery – among many other aspects – in football is still in its infancy. “When I first started, I was there to help people lose weight. Now it’s about conditioning athletes,” says Jones.

As a result, his work, at this stage, relies heavily on education. And to be able to successfully educate, it is necessary to have support from the players themselves.

“Buying in is huge,” he added. “That ultimately comes down to the relationship you build with the players and the trust you build.

“Behavior change requires three important things; opportunity, motivation and competence. Opportunity comes from environment, education and in some cases, persuasion. Motivation is the reason to do it. Competence is about giving them the skills and shaping the environment to change those behaviors.

“In the early days, I realized I needed to have a solid philosophy that I could come back to all the time, almost like a litmus test. My philosophy was simple, meaningful, and meaningful. purpose.

“I was fortunate enough to come and work in Brazil with Flamengo and they didn’t know what I was talking about, so I quickly realized that everything had to be simplified and it also had to be in the language of football and football. Rather than talking about 30g of protein, you have to speak in the language of food and say a chicken breast or a salmon fillet.

“Players in Brazil just want to play football, so it has to be in the language of football too, so carbohydrates will allow you to run 10 minutes more and play 10 minutes longer.

“People are more emphasizing and appreciating the impact of nutrition today. There are models within and outside of clubs in football in general, like Cristiano Ronaldo for example. Back in the day, Nutrition can change body weight a bit, but now people really understand the real impact of nutrition.

“Now I have 18-, 19-year-olds – even 16-year-olds – coming in and asking how they can eat better to enhance their performance. Then you have more time to help them. because you can help foster new behaviors and new habits at a really young age that will put them in a really good position in the future.

“It also comes from ex-players becoming coaches. They’ve had the experience of working with sports nutritionists, felt the difference for themselves, started to take it seriously and then started taking it. applied in the clubs they manage. They are the cultural architects.”

Fascinatingly, the work doesn’t stop at the end of the workday for Jones. “It’s a good job, I love what I do because WhatsApp messages start around 4-5pm!” he sarcastic.

Players are left to their own devices as soon as they leave the training ground or the stadium after a game, with many private chefs hired to prepare meals for them in their own homes.

It is his relationships with these individuals, often forged after hours, that can prove important in reinforcing the work he and his colleagues had done earlier in the day.

“We are in direct contact most weeks, if not most days as they are a really important part of how we deliver nutrition plans and interventions to the players. .

“We have a list of club-approved chefs, but ultimately it’s up to the players as the chefs will have specific dishes they specialize in, so we try to link them in that way.. literal meaning.

“Salmon is always a good choice after the game because it’s an excellent source of omega-3s, which help reduce inflammation, soreness and muscle damage. Combining curcumin and turmeric can also be beneficial, then.” are polyphenols like berries, cherries, dark chocolate, and pomegranates.”

In the end, however, the part-time job certainly contributed to the greater good.

This is Jones’ fourth season working for the east London club and in the last two seasons they finished sixth and seventh in the Premier League.

“It’s amazing,” he added. “Working as part of the performing and medical departments, you work hard and want to see that the hard work is having an impact.

“It’s very difficult to objectively quantify the work you’re doing, so the performance on the pitch, individually and collectively, is one of the best we’ve had.”