The RL diet: London Broncos captain Will Lovell tells us his daily eating routine

Drew Darbyshire 01 Feb 2020 11:30 AM

The rugby league diet is our new feature where we give you an insight in to the eating habits of your favourite professional players, in partnership with Heaven ‘N’ Health.

London Broncos captain Will Lovell is our latest guest…

Talk to us about your diet…

“As a professional athlete, most of the guys adhere to a strict diet. Our strength and conditioning coach is very on board with that side of things so we have food plans sent out to us that we abide by and adhere to.

“Leading up to a game, I personally don’t like being too heavy – the last thing I want to be is feeling heavy for a game so I try and eat as little as possible but in small amounts like the carbs and protein.”

What is your game day meal?

“It is always spag bol. It is standard in rugby league, speak to any player and most of them will say they have spag bol the night before and then you have that on the day as well. I’ll have some porridge on the morning of the game to get some carbs in, I’ll take plenty of water on board and then I’ll load up on caffeine towards kick-off.”

How much water do you drink a day?

“I try to get through a 1.5 litre bottle throughout a morning and then I’ll slow it down towards the game because I don’t want to be peeing all the time!”

Do you drink protein shakes?

“I have them daily and post game. We’ll get our shakes down us at the end of gym sessions and then we’ll go and have an ice bath.”

What do you tend to have for breakfast?

“We share like a canteen with the Ealing Rugby Union lads at training and it is usually a full fry up which is outstanding. Some of the union lads have gone a bit veggie so they have started to cut some meat out, so some days it is a veggie option and other days it is a full meat option. We’ll have bacon, sausage, egg, beans and then they’ve got granola pots with yoghurt, fruit, bananas and apples.”

Do you have dinner at training as well?

“For lunch, it is usually chillis, spag bols, chicken, lasagnes and rice – they’ll bring it out and it is different every day really.”

Are you much of a cook yourself?

“My missus doesn’t cook so I have to cook for us. She loves fajitas so that is my go-to with her but I do a chicken chasseur, which is a bit of a French dish that she likes. I don’t go too out there with it but I can make lasagne, chilli and stuff like that.”