Articles

Today we examine the impact of two different meal frequencies in athletes looking to gain mass! Ultimately, athletes require an energy surplus to maximise their muscle growth potential. A common problem in athletes (not all) is being able to consume adequate calories to (1) support day-day movement, (2) fuel their sport specific training, and to (3)

Today, we look at nutrition for the prevention and treatment of injuries in athletes. It’s been reported that most athletes will unfortunately sustain Injuries to the muscle, bone, tendon and ligaments over the course of their career. Knowing this, it’s important that we put interventions in motion to reduce the likeliness of injury, and to have strategies

Today, we explore the putative role of Omega-3 fatty acids as a neuroprotective strategy to mitigate brain damage and promote recovery from head injury in contact based sports. As the demand and physicality of contact based sports such as rugby and American football increase, head injuries (concussion) and exposure to repetitive sub-concussive head impacts (RHI) are

This week, we look at the latest recommendations from Ruiz-Castellano (2021) for athletes who wish to drop body fat whilst retaining fat free mass (FFM – i.e. weight that isn’t fat). 1) Calorie intake: The aggressiveness of a calorie deficit will dictate how an athlete performs. In light of this, evidence suggests that larger calorie deficits

As we know, carbohydrates drive physical performance and having low carbohydrate availability, i.e. low amount of carbs in the diet and carbs stored within the muscle, liver and blood can be detrimental to performance.⁣⁣In footballers, carb intake on game day is very much dependent on two main factors:⁣⁣1) Intensity of the game.⁣2) Number of minutes

Previously, we discovered that rugby players have a heightened caloric demand after game day (GD). More precisely, it was shown that a players resting metabolic rate increase by ~10% from GD-1 to GD+3 (~231kcal). The players increase in RMR was a result of elevated muscle damage that’d been caused by contact. i.e. the breakdown of muscle

Muscle growth can be broken down into three simple factors: 1) Progressive weight training.2) An energy surplus.3) Adequate protein. If one of these three factors is not met, it can be said that rates of muscle growth will become blunted. However, athletes have the pursuit of gaining the maximum amount of muscle mass whilst minimising gains in fat

This week, we explore the best approach to build your custom nutrition programme to drop body fat. With regards to the approaches, the two common methods are: 1) Flexible dieting (IIFYM)2) Rigid Dieting (Diet Plans) There’s been much debate as to what method is considered to be the most effective for fat loss success whilst being able to

Offsetting fluid loss during exercise is believed to be an important recommendation to maintain athletic performance.There’s much debate as to whether an athlete should drink to thirst or whether a prescribed hydration strategy is warranted to negate dehydration. To add further insight to this question (drinking to thirst vs prescribed), de Melo-Marins et al (2018) examined

Following on from last week’s #D2EW where we investigated the link between creatine supplementation, water retention and weight gain. This week, we’re looking at whether creatine leads to dehydration and cramping. As covered last week, creatine supplementation increases the creatine pool within the muscle. Creatine is also an osmotically active substance which attracts water and therefore has

It’s been widely accepted that creatine supplementation always increases body mass. This notion originated from early research showing that supplementing with creatine (20g/day x 6 days) increased water retention. Further research then showed that total body water (TBW), extracellular (outside the cell) and intracellular (inside the cell) water increased after only three days of supplementation (Antonio et

This week, we look at the heightened calorie demand pro rugby players experience from playing competitive games. As you’re highly aware, rugby is a contact based sport where collisions during tackles, breakdown and set piece can result in muscle damage and perceived muscle soreness. Knowing this, players need to adjust their nutrition intake to meet the elevated

This week, we look at the potential association of body fat percentage with muscle damage from heavy eccentric exercise Ultimately, when athletes are exposed to a stimulus they’re unaccustomed to, they’re gonna be sore. As you know, the intensity of competitions isn’t always controlled. Therefore, the large spikes in workload cause higher amounts of muscle

Sleep, diet and exercise has been coined as the three pillars to peak health and performance. Furthermore, ignoring one pillar can cause the other two to suffer (Vitale et al, 2019). Traditionally, exercise and nutrition have been given greatest attention, where sleep falls by the wayside. As you’d know, sleep deprivation can negatively impact physical performance, mental

It’s very well established that fluid intake has both a positive and negative impact on cycling performances. When you, the athlete remains in a relatively hydrated state (<2% loss in body mass), thermal and cardiovascular strain is reduced, and power output is subsequently maintained to have improved performances over your dehydrated counterparts. Knowing the exact amount needed