【TA】足球运动员为何在比赛中使用能量胶？

Why are footballers using energy gels during games?足球运动员为何在比赛中使用能量胶？

Liam TharmeDec. 3, 2025

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With 78 minutes on the clock and Brentford 3-1 up at home to Liverpool in late October, Keane Lewis-Potter was being readied to come on.

十月下旬的一场比赛中，当时时钟指向第78分钟，布伦特福德在主场以3-1领先利物浦，基恩·刘易斯-波特正准备替补登场。

Assistant first-team coach Mehmet Ali gave him some last-minute tactical instructions, before Ted Munson, the Brentford nutritionist, handed Lewis-Potter an energy gel.

一线队助理教练穆罕默德·阿里给了他一些最后的战术指示，随后布伦特福德的营养师泰德·芒森递给了刘易斯-波特一包能量胶。

He passed that gel to left-back Kristoffer Ajer, with Brentford bracing to defend a Liverpool surge. Despite a Mohamed Salah goal on 89 minutes, Keith Andrews' side held on for a statement win, dealing with a barrage of Liverpool crosses (15) and shots (11) in the second half.

他将能量胶递给了左后卫克里斯托弗·阿耶尔，此时布伦特福德正准备抵御利物浦的反扑。尽管穆罕默德·萨拉赫在第89分钟攻入一球，但基思·安德鲁斯率领的球队顶住压力，取得了一场标志性的胜利，他们在下半场应对了利物浦如潮水般的传中（15次）和射门（11次）。

The victory owed to well-executed tactics and, in no small part, to their in-game fuelling.

这场胜利归功于战术执行得当，同时，比赛中的能量补给也功不可没。

To be clear, this is not a new thing. Brentford have a partnership with Science in Sport (SiS), a leading manufacturer of sports-specific nutrition products, which dates back to their Championship days in 2019. Tottenham Hotspur and New York City FC also have partnerships with SiS from the early 2020s.

需要明确的是，这并非新鲜事。布伦特福德与运动科学营养品牌（SiS）建立了合作关系，这是一家领先的运动专用营养产品制造商，合作关系可追溯到2019年他们在英冠联赛的时期。托特纳姆热刺和纽约城足球俱乐部也从2020年代初开始与SiS合作。

At the 2019 World Cup, the England women's team made gels a key part of their second-half strategy. They dotted them around the pitch (in blacked-out sachets to avoid any issues around marketing) for players to grab during breaks of play.

在2019年女足世界杯上，英格兰女队将能量胶作为下半场策略的关键部分。她们将能量胶（装在黑色不透明小袋中以避免营销相关问题）分散放置在球场各处，供球员在比赛间隙取用。

Eagle-eyed fans will see players, at various points of all Premier League matches, consuming gels. Often there are electrolyte drinks as well, while grassroots players of the 2000s grew up with orange slices and Jaffa Cakes to refuel. Just last weekend, television viewers of the Crystal Palace versus Manchester United game were shown a number of items in Dean Henderson's goal: a cap (to ward off the low winter sun), some water, some vaseline (which goalkeepers use on their gloves) and... an energy gel.

眼尖的球迷会发现，在英超联赛的各个时段，都有球员在食用能量胶。通常还会搭配电解质饮料，而2000年代的草根球员则是吃着橙子片和佳发蛋糕来补充能量。就在上周末，观看水晶宫对阵曼联比赛的电视观众看到了迪恩·亨德森把守的球门里放着的几样东西：一顶帽子（用来遮挡冬天低角度的阳光）、一些水、一些凡士林（守门员用于手套）……以及一包能量胶。

Gels are something that cyclists, marathoners and triathletes have been using for years. These are liquid (often quite gooey) sachets of a high-carbohydrate solution. Some contain caffeine.

能量胶是自行车手、马拉松运动员和铁人三项运动员使用多年的东西。这是一种高碳水化合物溶液（通常相当粘稠）的液体小袋。有些含有咖啡因。

Pete Bell, a nutritionist who works with athletes, footballers and boxers, and was previously at the English Institute of Sport, says "you need to appreciate what the sport entails" for why players are taking on gels.

曾就职于英国体育学院、现与运动员、足球运动员和拳击手合作的营养师皮特·贝尔表示，要理解球员为何使用能量胶，“你需要理解这项运动的要求”。

"Think about the distances covered, around 10, 11, 12, 13km per game, depending on your position, and how many sprints that can equate to --- a ridiculous amount. It's like 50+ sprints for a top midfielder.

“想想一场比赛覆盖的距离，根据位置不同大约在10、11、12、13公里，以及这相当于多少次冲刺——这是一个惊人的数字。对于顶级中场来说，可能超过50次冲刺。”

"We've got to understand the demands. How is that midfielder producing that energy to do those sprints? To do those jumps? To dive into those tackles? It's predominantly through glycogen."

“我们必须理解这种需求。那名中场球员如何产生能量来进行那些冲刺、跳跃和拼抢？主要就是通过糖原。”

Glycogen is glucose stored primarily in the muscles and also in the liver. During exercise, glycogen stores are broken down and oxidised to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is energy.

糖原是主要储存在肌肉和肝脏中的葡萄糖。运动期间，糖原储存被分解并氧化，产生三磷酸腺苷（ATP），这就是能量。

"Football is a sport where aerobic (with oxygen) metabolism dominates total energy expenditure; it is the driving force behind the 90 minutes," says Jose Blesa, the head of nutrition at Moscow's CSKA, who previously worked at Al Nassr and FC Basel.

莫斯科中央陆军的营养主管何塞·布莱萨说：“足球是一项有氧代谢占总能量消耗主导地位的运动；它是90分钟比赛的驱动力。”他此前曾在阿尔纳斯尔和巴塞尔足球俱乐部工作。

"Around 70 to 90 per cent of total energy expenditure comes from this aerobic metabolism, so a footballer without good aerobic capacity will tire sooner and be able to repeat fewer explosive actions.

“大约70%到90%的总能量消耗来自这种有氧代谢，因此，一个有氧能力不佳的足球运动员会更早疲劳，能够重复的爆发性动作也更少。”

"These actions occur from the very first minute, and the fuel needed to carry them out is carbohydrates. Players must have a full tank of fuel to delay fatigue and reduce performance during the match."

“这些动作从第一分钟就开始了，而执行它们所需的燃料是碳水化合物。球员必须有充足的燃料储备，以延缓疲劳并在比赛中减少表现下滑。”

Football, though, is what sports scientists call 'intermittent', because long periods of walking and jogging are interspersed with high-intensity running and sprints.

然而，足球被运动科学家称为“间歇性”运动，因为长时间的行走和慢跑中穿插着高强度跑动和冲刺。

Blesa cites a paper from British researchers published in 2023, in which running trends were analysed in the Premier League between 2014-15 and 2018-19.

布莱萨引用了英国研究人员2023年发表的一篇论文，该论文分析了2014-15赛季至2018-19赛季英超联赛的跑动趋势。

They found "small to moderate increases" in total distance covered, high-intensity and sprint distances, continuing a trend of football becoming ever more athletic.

他们发现总跑动距离、高强度跑动和冲刺距离均有“小幅至中度的增长”，这延续了足球运动对体能要求越来越高的趋势。

"What really matters is not just running fast, but being able to repeat those efforts many times," Blesa says. "The ability to recover between explosive efforts is as important as the ability to perform them."

布莱萨说：“真正重要的不仅仅是跑得快，而是能够多次重复这些努力。在爆发性努力之间的恢复能力与执行它们的能力同等重要。”

And while sports science has evolved massively in the past two decades, the physical demands in football are rising at a rate faster than human biology can catch up.

尽管运动科学在过去二十年取得了巨大进步，但足球对身体的要求正以超越人体生理适应能力的速度提高。

"As we are playing, we are depleting our muscle glycogen," Bell explains. "It will vary, depending on the individual, how much muscle they've got, (but) on average, we might have around 300g of glycogen stored in our legs. Throughout that game, we are rinsing through it."

“随着比赛的进行，我们正在消耗肌肉中的糖原，”贝尔解释道。“这因人而异，取决于个人肌肉量，但平均而言，我们腿部可能储存着大约300克糖原。整场比赛，我们都在迅速消耗它。”

Fat, while a rich energy source, is not used because the process (ketosis) is too slow at this level of intensity. "Whereas to use carbohydrates, we can do that pretty quickly. That's the quickest (aerobic) way we can do it," says Bell, who uses the analogy of comparing a microwave (carbs) to an oven (fat) for energy production.

脂肪虽然是丰富的能量来源，但在此强度水平下未被使用，因为（生酮）过程太慢。“而使用碳水化合物，我们可以非常快地做到。这是我们能做到的最快（有氧）方式，”贝尔说道，他用微波炉（碳水）和烤箱（脂肪）来类比能量产生。

He explains that to solve the problem of fatigue and glycogen depletion, fuelling needs to happen early.

他解释说，为了解决疲劳和糖原耗尽的问题，必须尽早进行能量补给。

"You get to half-time in an elite game, particularly with the style of football these days --- the ridiculous pressing, you're running, running, running --- and loads of fast-twitch muscle fibres are going to be exhausted of their glycogen (these fibres have higher stores than slow twitch ones because they use greater amounts to produce higher energy for more forceful contractions).

“在一场高水平的比赛中，特别是考虑到当今足球的风格——高强度压迫，你不断地跑、跑、跑——到了中场休息时，大量快肌纤维的糖原将被耗尽（这些纤维比慢肌纤维储存更多糖原，因为它们需要消耗更多以产生更高的能量来进行更有力的收缩）。”

"We know from tons of research, when you've got somebody who's got their glycogen stores depleted, they're not going to be able to run as fast, produce the same force, or kick a ball as well.

“我们从大量研究中得知，当一个人的糖原储备耗尽时，他们将无法跑得那么快，产生同样的力量，或者踢球的效果也会变差。”

"So if we don't consider in-game nutrition, you're going to go out to the second half and not be able to do the same amount of intensity or to perform the same amount of sprints at the same level, because you have not obviously got the glycogen to do so."

“所以，如果我们不考虑比赛中的营养补给，你下半场出场后将无法保持同样的强度，或者以同样的水平完成同样次数的冲刺，因为你显然没有足够的糖原来支撑。”

This is particularly important, Blesa points out, for players whose clubs are in multiple competitions, and will often be playing three matches in a seven-day period: "We know that it takes 72 hours to recover, when we use all the recovery strategies available to us properly. In many cases, players do not have enough time to recover, which increases the risk of chronic fatigue, poorer performance, and more frequent injuries."

布莱萨指出，对于那些所在俱乐部参加多项赛事、经常在七天内踢三场比赛的球员来说，这一点尤为重要：“我们知道，在妥善运用所有可用的恢复策略的情况下，恢复需要72小时。在许多情况下，球员没有足够的时间恢复，这增加了慢性疲劳、表现不佳和更频繁受伤的风险。”

So why not just consume an electrolyte drink --- such as a Lucozade or Gatorade --- or sweets or candy mid-match?

那么，为什么不直接喝电解质饮料——比如葡萄适或佳得乐——或者在比赛中吃糖或糖果呢？

"Their impact on performance is different. The gel is faster, easier to digest, safer, and more effective," Blesa says. Gels are smaller, so players do not have to deal with the uncomfortable feeling of liquid sloshing around while running.

“它们对表现的影响不同。能量胶更快、更易消化、更安全、更有效，”布莱萨说。能量胶体积更小，因此球员在跑动时无需忍受液体在胃里晃荡的不适感。

Bell, who has an analogy for everything, simplifies gels to using a powerbank while watching a movie on your phone during a flight: "When we have this energy gel at half-time, we're not improving our glycogen stores. We're still 'watching the film', we're still playing football, we're still running. But the battery is not being chewed into for those 15 minutes --- it's a way of preserving energy."

喜欢用比喻的贝尔将能量胶简单类比为在飞机上用手机看电影时使用充电宝：“当我们在中场休息时食用能量胶，我们并不是在增加糖原储存。我们仍然在‘看电影’，我们仍然在踢球，在跑动。但在那15分钟里，电池没有被消耗——这是一种保存能量的方式。”

This is because gels are "fast-acting", Bell explains. "They pass through the gut very, very quickly. They go from the oesophagus into the stomach, small intestine, and then they get absorbed through that small intestine into the blood."

这是因为能量胶是“速效的”，贝尔解释道。“它们非常、非常快地通过肠道。从食道进入胃、小肠，然后通过小肠被吸收进入血液。”

That absorption happens through carrier proteins that Bell --- time for another analogy --- describes like taxis.

这种吸收是通过载体蛋白发生的——贝尔又用了个比喻——他将其描述为出租车。

"Glucose can only go in a blue taxi. We can only use roughly 60g of glucose per hour. At that (limit), all the taxis are taken. You cannot physically get any more glucose through your intestines.

“葡萄糖只能上蓝色的出租车。我们每小时大约只能利用60克葡萄糖。达到这个（极限）时，所有出租车都被占用了。你无法通过肠道吸收更多葡萄糖。”

"But fructose, another type of sugar, that can use a red taxi (a different carrier protein), and you can take around 30g per hour of that. If we use fructose, we can add an additional 30g of carbohydrate, so, instead of 60g per hour, we can now get 90g --- you're able to absorb more."

“但果糖，另一种糖，可以上红色的出租车（另一种载体蛋白），你每小时可以吸收大约30克果糖。如果我们使用果糖，就可以额外增加30克碳水化合物的吸收量，这样，我们从每小时60克变成了90克——你能吸收得更多。”

This is why gels, with a hyperfocus on their glucose and fructose ratios, have become such a key part of endurance events such as marathons. Professional cyclists have been experimenting with ingesting 120g-150g of carbs per hour, while triathlete Cameron Wurf reportedly used 200g per hour during the bike leg of an Ironman event earlier this year.

这就是为什么能量胶，因其高度关注葡萄糖和果糖的比例，已成为马拉松等耐力项目的关键部分。职业自行车手一直在尝试每小时摄入120-150克碳水化合物，而有报道称，铁人三项运动员卡梅隆·沃夫在今年早些时候的一场铁人三项赛事自行车赛段中，每小时摄入了200克。

As a 90-minute intermittent sport, football performance is not as contingent on fuelling, but it certainly matters, Bell says.

贝尔说，作为一项90分钟的间歇性运动，足球表现不像耐力运动那样完全依赖能量补给，但这当然很重要。

"It's going back to thinking, towards the end of the game, 'What can we do to maximise our glycogen stores?'. When we do that (take a gel), you're going to increase your blood glucose, and because you're using that, there's more available, you're going to use less of your muscle glycogen. So it's just preserving it."

“这回到了比赛临近结束时我们要思考的问题：‘我们能做些什么来最大化我们的糖原储备？’。当我们这样做（摄入能量胶）时，你的血糖会升高，并且因为你在使用它，有更多的葡萄糖可用，你就会消耗更少的肌肉糖原。所以这只是在保存它。”

The key period this affects is late in games, where a disproportionate number of goals are scored (compared to earlier during matches) and results can flip.

这影响的关键时段是比赛后期，此时进球比例异常高（与比赛前半段相比），并且比赛结果可能逆转。

"Your brain uses glucose," Bell continues. "So if you're completely rinsing your carbohydrate stores and, importantly here, liver glycogen, you're actually taking away glucose from the brain. So then, as you get in the latter stages of a game, well, guess what? You're not going to be as mentally sharp.

“你的大脑需要葡萄糖，”贝尔继续说道。“所以，如果你完全耗尽了碳水储备，尤其是肝脏糖原，你实际上是在剥夺大脑的葡萄糖。那么，当你进入比赛后期，猜猜会怎样？你的思维就不会像开始时那样敏锐。”

"People never talk about this --- they just talk about the sprints and how much of an engine they've got for it --- about how lethargic you can get, because your brain's suffering because it hasn't got the glucose that it had at the start of the game."

“人们从不谈论这一点——他们只谈论冲刺以及他们为此有多大的‘引擎’——从不谈论你可能会变得多么迟钝，因为你的大脑正在受苦，因为它没有比赛开始时拥有的葡萄糖了。”

He picks out examples of Liverpool's late match-winning goals in the opening rounds of this season, and Manchester City back in their title-winning campaign of 2023-24, when they scored 41 goals from the 60th minute and beyond.

他列举了本赛季开局阶段利物浦的绝杀进球，以及曼城在2023-24赛季夺冠征程中的例子，他们在第60分钟及之后攻入了41个进球。

"They're (Liverpool and City) pinging the ball around, exhausting the opposition and, in those last 10, 15 minutes, yes, opponents are physically depleted, but also cognitively, they're fried. Small percentages really add up towards the end and they just can't perform to the same level."

“他们（利物浦和曼城）不断传球，消耗对手，在最后10、15分钟，没错，对手在体力上被耗尽，同时在认知上，他们也‘宕机’了。微小的百分比优势在最后阶段累积起来，他们就无法保持同样的水平了。”

Like any form of training, over time, the body can build a tolerance to gels, allowing players to take more on. For instance, in Arsenal's 1-0 away win over Fulham in mid-October --- during a run of five matches in 14 days --- right-back Jurrien Timber took a gel on 30 minutes.

就像任何形式的训练一样，随着时间的推移，身体可以对能量胶产生耐受性，从而允许球员摄入更多。例如，在阿森纳十月中旬1-0客场战胜富勒姆的比赛中——那是在14天内踢5场比赛的赛程期间——右后卫廷贝尔在第30分钟就服用了一包能量胶。

"It is quite important that you tailor it to you," says Glenn Murray, a former Premier League footballer for Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion who played well into his thirties, after rising up through the English football pyramid in the 2000s. "You can get your in-game diet wrong and you can crash sometimes, which can be a problem, or it can give you stomach cramps."

曾效力于水晶宫和布莱顿、从2000年代起通过英格兰足球金字塔体系一路攀升、职业生涯延续到三十多岁的前英超球员格伦·默里说：“根据自身情况调整非常重要。你可能搞错比赛中的饮食，有时会导致体力崩溃，这可能会是个问题，或者引起胃痉挛。”

He had problems sometimes post-match after drinking too much cold fluid. "On occasions, I found having a warm sugary drink at half-time was more beneficial."

他有时在赛后因喝了太多冷饮而出现问题。“有时候，我发现中场休息时喝一杯温热的含糖饮料更有益。”

Sports nutrition has come a long way. "It's more advanced," Bell says. Plenty of brands now offer bespoke gels for footballers, which tend to include moderate sodium levels (salt) and potassium to try to reduce muscle cramps.

运动营养学已经取得了长足进步。“它更先进了，”贝尔说。现在许多品牌为足球运动员提供定制能量胶，通常会含有适量的钠（盐）和钾，以尝试减少肌肉痉挛。

With the potential for high heat and extreme conditions at the men's World Cup next summer in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and the compounding effect of the heightened physical demands of the modern game within the current calendar, gels become even more important.

考虑到明年夏天在美国、加拿大和墨西哥举行的男足世界杯可能出现的高温和极端条件，以及现代足球在现有赛程内对体能要求提高的叠加效应，能量胶变得更加重要。

To have such a focus on pre- and in-game nutrition "was almost frowned upon maybe 10, 20 years ago," Bell recalls. "'Just go out and play. What are you worried about?', people would say."

贝尔回忆道，如此关注赛前和赛中营养“在10年、20年前几乎是遭人白眼的”。“‘上场踢就是了。你担心什么？’人们会这么说。”

Now professional clubs have in-house nutritionists, and refuelling has become another piece of the performance puzzle.

现在职业俱乐部都有内部营养师，能量补充已成为提升表现拼图中的另一块。