Brannigan Watson | Reporter

Have you ever wondered how much the tall, buff football players eat each day? The Echo decided to find out with juniors Addison Batton and Dan Bowles. This is what we found out:

​Breakfast:

The football team members said that they eat very different breakfast diets.

“Sometimes I don’t eat, but sometimes I can eat 10 eggs or two bowls of cereal,” Batton said.

Bowles said that he eats a very similar breakfast almost everyday.

“I usually eat a bagel with cream cheese, along with some kind of lunch meat,” Bowles said.

Lunch:

Batton said that he normally packs a similar lunch everyday for school.

“It usually includes grilled chicken, some type of nuts with cheese, Greek yogurt and some kind of fruit,” Batton said.

Bowles said that he normally packs his school lunch but if he doesn’t he will head to the grab-and-go lunch line.

“I’ll bring my own lunch consisting of a sandwich with some fruit. If not I’ll get the grab-and-go lunch, being the cold sandwich they have,” Bowles said.

Dinner:

Both Bowles and Batton said that they eat whatever their families are eating for dinner after football practice.

“I usually just eat whatever my family eats for dinner because we have practice and need some extra calories,” Batton said.

Both football players said that their coaches encourage them to maintain a healthy weight.

“All of my coaches encourage me to work on my weight and composition,” Bowles said.

Batton said that exercise is important for keeping up their bodies.

“We practice every day except Friday and Sunday and in the off season we have workouts about four days a week. We maintain [our form] through practice in addition to lifting during Advanced Physical Conditioning class,” Batton said.

Bowles said that exercise should take place daily to maintain their form.

“I would say that constant activity for at least an hour or more a day is what keeps your body at its strongest,” Bowles said.

Batton said that their coach may encourage a different diet to meet a certain weight range.

“Coach JJ wants us to stay in a certain weight range, so during the off-season we go on a low carb diet and lose about 10-15 pounds,” Batton said.

Bowles said that losing this weight can be done through different kinds of diets that may be suggested by a coach.

“Depending on what mark we need to get to it might be a carb free diet or a calorie watching diet,” Bowles said.

Although both students have different diets and routines, they are both able to play effectively and contribute well to their team. Overall, diets and exercising efficiently are important aspects of performing well; without a healthy lifestyle, they wouldn’t be the athletes they are today.

 

 

Photo by Zoe Wang.