FCBARCELONA.CAT

30.07.2009 17:05

Jet-lag the first opponent

David Saura (special correspondent)

After a 12-hour flight across the Atlantic the first obstacle the players will have to overcome is jet-lag. Club doctors have prepared a series of measures to counteract the effects.

The main objective is to adapt as soon as possible to the West Coast time zone (9 hours behind Barcelona). On this first day of the tour, about 25 hours have passed since getting up in Barcelona and going to sleep in Los Angeles. For the players it must have seemed that Wednesday was never going to end.

However, this kind of intercontinental flight is customary for the FC Barcelona senior squad so the procedures to mitigate the unwanted side effects are ready to go into action.

Carbohydrates to help sleep

In this case, one hour and a half after taking off from Barcelona, the players enjoyed a meal high in Carbohydrates consisting of pasta, chicken, rice pudding and fruit to help the players sleep. The recommendation was to sleep for three hours after eating.

The sleep period was followed by a snack of cereals, yogurt, toast and fresh fruit followed by another two hours of rest. From here on the player were encouraged to stay awake until the LA nightime. To help them do this they were served a protein rich meal of roast beef, pureed potatoes, chicken and rice salad to keep them going until touchdown at 2 pm local time.

Daylight and exercise

On landing the players transferred to the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills with instructions to stay as much as possible in daylight and limit any naps to no more than an hour. A training session had been scheduled at UCLA, which served to stretch their muscles.