Championship nutrition mistakes | Avoiding heavy legs | Truth about carb-loading

<p>Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&amp;C, Performance and Coaching newsletter: <a href="https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter⁠</a></p><p><br /></p><p>What should carb-loading actually look like for a GAA player? Can dehydration really explain calf cramps? And what should you eat after a late training session when you have no appetite?</p><p><br /></p><p>Performance dietitian Eva Hoey (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/evahoeynutrition/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">@evahoeynutrition</a>) joins Kevin to explain how players can fuel properly during the club championship.</p><p><br /></p><p>Eva has worked with Dublin hurlers, Ballyboden St Enda’s, Scotstown and other top sides, while also supporting athletes individually through her online nutrition practice.</p><p><br /></p><p>She explains why many players focus too heavily on match day while under-fuelling throughout the rest of the week, leaving them flat for training and struggling to recover between championship games.</p><p><br /></p><p>In this episode, we also cover:</p><p>• Why nutrition information is useless without practical application<br />• The most common fuelling mistakes made by GAA players<br />• How work, travel and late training affect a player’s nutrition<br />• What carb-loading should look like in the 24 hours before a match<br />• Why eating considerably more food can leave players feeling heavy<br />• How nerves can affect appetite and digestion before championship games<br />• The possible causes of calf cramping<br />• Whether regular coffee drinkers still benefit from caffeine on match day<br />• The best half-time fuelling options<br />• Sports drinks, gels, wine gums and Jaffa Cakes<br />• What to eat after a late training session<br />• Eva’s path from clinical dietetics into performance nutrition<br />• What she learned while working with Daniel Davey<br />• The realities of delivering nutrition support within a county setup</p><p><br /></p><p>Whether you are preparing for a championship match, struggling with energy at training or unsure how to recover between games, this episode offers a practical approach to fuelling your performance.</p><p><br /></p><p>We’ve got some great guests coming up. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any episodes.</p><p><strong>Stay Connected</strong></p><p>Subscribe to the Humans of Gaelic podcast wherever you’re listening.</p><p>⭐ Leave a Review: If you found value in this episode, please give it a rating and review. It helps us hugely!</p><p>📢 Share the Episode: Know someone who’d benefit from this? Share it to help us spread the word!</p><p><strong>Follow Along</strong></p><p>📍 Website: humansofgaelic.com<br />📸 Instagram: @humansofgaelic<br />📘 Facebook: Humans of Gaelic<br />🎥 TikTok: @humansofgaelic</p>