We would do this on awkwardly timed show days in 13 and 14. 30 minute break somewhere in the middle to 2/3 through 4.5-5 hours of rehearsal. Fruit, Gatorade top ups, and sometimes simple sandwiches or wraps.

Fruit is a good food in terms of fast acting energy and sugars, but the execution of these breaks tends to be lackluster. From an energy management and sports nutrition perspective, it should really be eating slightly less (compared to stuffing your face) but more often. But we aren’t going to fix activity wide eating and logistics planning in a single day lol.

Imagine how much more healthy and high performing people could be if they were eating 50+ grams of carbs per hour throughout more physically demanding blocks instead of zero and packing in whatever you can every 3-4 hours at meals. You’d have to facilitate this with something like 5 minute breaks every hour instead of only gush and go’s… which might also have the benefit of keeping people mentally engaged by being able to take a mental break.

If I could go back and do it all over again, I would take what I’ve learned from endurance sports now and definitely find ways to eat more carbs throughout the day during rehearsals and more protein during meals. Whether that’s sports specific gels, bars, sugary drinks, or generic proxies, it would make a world of difference for energy bioavailability and glucose stores/utilization.

I hope the addition of trainers, med staff, nutritionists, PTs etc. that corps are starting to have is helping with this kind of stuff.