Bowling Advice: Food for Thought
Scott PohlDescription
From training to equipment choices, preparing for bowling competition is extensive. What fuels your body matters and will affect your bowling performance either negatively or positively.
Adding nutrition preparation to your bowling routine will reward you in many ways. It will help keep your focus sharp, energy levels up, and in conjunction with exercise, your body will be ready for competition.
In this free video, Scott Pohl, owner of On Track Pro Shop, provides food recommendations and warns of foods to avoid to help increase energy and stamina.
Recommended Foods
If you are bowling a long format tournament, eating pasta the night before is the way to go. This will raise energy levels the day of and help you rest the night before.
On the day of the event, salads are always a good choice and can be found on most bowling centers’ menus. Sandwiches with lunch meat are another good option. Try to avoid the add-ons and stick with the basics.
Water is always a good choice. Staying hydrated helps fuel your energy while bowling and makes recovery time easier afterwards.
Preparing a protein shake and consuming it before you enter the bowling center will keep your energy at a high level.
Foods to Avoid
Bowling centers have a limited menu, but these energy-killing items are filled with empty calories and can leave you dehydrated:
• Fried foods
• Salty foods
• Sugary foods and drinks
Preparation is key. If you make a plan, avoiding energy killers becomes easier and just another part of your preparation routine.
For more on preparing for your next league night or tournament, check out the articles below to help better your results:
Tournament Prep: Equipment
Tournament Prep: Physical Game
Tournament Prep: Lane Play
Hi, Scott Pohl here. Four-time Team USA member. What we learned being on Team USA is how to prepare with the right food and have very good nutrition. Well, sometimes you don't have a lot of time before an event. What we can have in our bodies. What I'd recommend, definitely plan ahead. If you can, pack a certain lunch, snack, to have before you compete. When you get to the bowling center, a lot of the time there's only a limited menu. What you don't want to have are the fried foods. The foods that are high in salt, sugar, caffeine, sodas. Why? What do these do to you? Well, number one, they're energy killers. They're also bad calories. They also dehydrate you, high in cholesterol. Long-term of life won't be as good. The foods I would recommend, if you can get there ahead of time, well, salads are good. Sandwiches, Lunch meats. Be careful, though, with all the extra ad-ons, you might want to avoid for instance mayonnaise and the bad salad dressings. I know this is a lot to take in, but hopefully you can avoid these situations. So what can we consume to help? Water, very important. You can also have Gatorade. Okay? Excellent. Keeps you hydrated, a lot of good energy. What are another thing? Well, protein shakes, if you can bring one of those. Low in sugar, preferably. Those are going to help your energy stay at a high level. All right. Well, what if we need a quick boost? If we have a possibility of a candy machine around, an energy Snickers Bar, isn't bad. There is a little bit of protein in there, so there are some good ways of getting that. What else? Well, the day before a big event, if you have a lot of games that you're going to bowl, on a long format, I would recommend getting some good carbs. Where do we get this from? Pasta. That's going to help your energy level be up, and you'll play well.
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