Sports Nutrition 101: The Need-To-Know for Personal Trainers

Eating habits and nutrition are arguably one of the most important elements of a client’s health, fitness, and performance goals. The food an individual consumes is information for their body’s cells and the energy needed for their body’s basic functions, training, recovery, and peak performance.

The average personal training client is typically striving to lose weight. Oftentimes, the foundation of the average client’s nutrition goals involves learning to eat less food, consuming the right foods, and improving their eating patterns and nutrition knowledge. Athletes (and more active clients), however, require intricate nutrition and hydration strategies in both training and recovery to ensure their body can consistently function and perform at a high level.

Proper sports nutrition is crucial for athletes. And although it’s not within the scope of practice for a Certified Personal Trainer to design meal plans, it is essential for all fitness professionals to have a strong foundation of nutrition knowledge to help guide their clients.

Follow along as we explore some nutrition considerations for performance-based clients. But, keep in mind, the nutrition needs of an athlete are unique to that individual, and those needs can and will change throughout the different phases of their training and competition season as well as the different stages of their life.

Sports Nutrition Foundations

When you’re working with athletes, a proper nutrition strategy is the key to fueling their training, recovery, and performance. A fitness professional should have a strong understanding of their unique nutrient, calorie, and hydration needs as they are crucial to an athlete’s success and are the core of sports nutrition.

Macronutrients

The term “macronutrients” is a word associated with the three energy sources for the human body (i.e., carbohydrates, protein, and fat). In comparison to the average weight loss client, active or performance-based clients typically need a larger quantity of all three of these macronutrients.

Carbohydrate

As the primary energy source for the body, carbohydrates (carbs) are crucial. It is recommended that athletes typically consume between 3.0-5.0 kilograms per pound of bodyweight but could require between 8.0-12.0 kilograms per body weight (1).

It’s important to note that the type of carb, foods it’s paired with, and timing of carb consumption can be important for an athlete’s performance nutrition plan as well.

Protein

Although protein isn’t typically a preferred energy source for the body, it is essential for muscle and tissue building, repair, and maintenance.

While the daily reference intake (DRI) for protein is 0.8 kilograms per pound of body weight, it’s suggested that some athletes may need as much as 1.2 to 2.0 kilograms of protein per pound of body weight. And in some cases, an excess of 2.0 kilograms per pound may be needed (2).

Fat

The recommended percent for fat consumption as a part of a healthy diet is similar for all types of clients (including athletes). Many leading organizations recommend no more than 20%-35% of daily calories come from fat (3)(2). In addition, it’s suggested that all individuals ensure they are consuming NO LESS than 15% and 20% of their daily calories from fat for men and women respectively (4).

Don’t Forget the Micronutrients

Micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) are an essential component of an optimal sports nutrition plan too. Although macronutrients are the source of energy for the body, the micronutrients are vital in utilizing that energy (in addition to many other body processes). Micronutrients are crucial for optimal health, function, and athletic performance. So, high-quality, nutrient-dense foods are essential when optimizing sports nutrition.

Caloric Intake

Athletes typically need more calories than your average client, but energy balance is still crucial. Not consuming enough calories can be a serious concern for active or performance-based clients. However, consuming too many calories and putting on extra weight is problematic for this type of client as well. So, it’s essential for athletes to understand how to calculate their total daily energy expenditure (TDEE)to determine their daily caloric needs.

There are various equations an individual can use to determine their energy needs. However, the following three items are important when calculating caloric expenditure:

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) or Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Although they are slightly different, RMR is sometimes used synonymously with BMR. Generally speaking, a person’s RMR is the basic caloric needs at rest (i.e., calories needed to sustain basic functions like breathing and circulation). RMR can be impacted by things like hormones, health status, genetics, and muscle mass, and is often the greatest contributor to a person’s calorie needs throughout the day—between 38%-80% of total daily calories (5).

Thermic Effect of Food

An individual’s thermic effect of food (TEF) is the amount of energy associated with the consumption, digestion, and absorption of the food they eat throughout the day. It doesn’t contribute to calorie needs as much as an individual’s RMR (around 3%-10%) (6); however, it is still a contributing factor.

Thermic Effect of Activity

A client’s thermic effect of activity (TEA) can contribute a little or a lot to their daily energy needs depending on their physical activity level. For athletes, TEA is a significant contributor to their calorie expenditure.

Hydration

Because water is a large portion of the body’s design and water is needed for numerous body processes, dehydration is incredibly detrimental to training, athletic performance, and health. Dehydration can negatively impact focus, muscle strength, muscle cramps (7), and impact short-term memory and attention (8).

Although things like sweat rate, temperature, activity, and intensity play a huge role in how much an individual sweats, most athletes lose a significant amount of water during athletic performance and training.

And although sweat rate and water needs vary from client to client, adequate water consumption before, during, and after exercise is crucial for every person.

General guidelines regarding water intake for athletes are as follows:

• Before exercise: 12-20 oz of water (or sport drink)

• During exercise: 16-20 oz of water (or sport drink) every 15-30 minutes

• After exercise: 16-20 oz of fluid for every pound lost (1)

Other Considerations for Sports Nutrition

In addition to calories, nutrients, and hydration, there are a couple other things an athlete should consider when designing the appropriate sports nutrition plan to support their training and sports performance.

Supplementation

Although it’s not within the scope of practice for a Certified Personal Trainer to recommend supplementation for athletes (or any client), there may be times where an athlete or performance-based client may want to consider certain supplements to support gaps in their nutrition, aid in recovery, or support optimal performance. When appropriate, an athlete should consult their doctor and a registered dietitian or nutrition counseling professional for proper guidance.

Nutrient Timing

Training or competing on a full stomach isn’t an ideal scenario for athletes. Properly timing the right macronutrients prior to activity is critical for energy supply as well as allowing enough time for adequate digestion. However, there is also a heavily debated post-exercise window that may also be crucial for proper macronutrient consumption as well. Altering the timing of nutrients may facilitate recovery, replenish muscle glycogen, minimize muscle damage, and support a healthy body composition (9).

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References

1. Bytomski JR. Fueling for Performance. Sports Health. 2018 Jan/Feb;10(1):47-53.

2. Potgieter S. Sport nutrition: a review of the latest guidelines for exercise and sport nutrition from the American College of Sport Nutrition, the International Olympic Committee and the International Society for Sports Nutrition. S Afr J Clin Nutr. 2013;26:6-16.

3. Liu AG, Ford NA, Hu FB, Zelman KM, Mozaffarian D, Kris-Etherton PM. A healthy approach to dietary fats: understanding the science and taking action to reduce consumer confusion. Nutr J. 2017 Aug 30;16(1):53.

4. Fats and fatty acids in human nutrition Report of an expert consultation. FAO Food Nutr Pap. 2010;91:1–166

5. Manore M, Thompson J. Energy requirements of the athlete: assessment and evidence of energy efficiency. In: Burke L, Deakin V. eds. Clinical Sports Nutrition. 5th ed. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: McGraw-Hill; 2015:114-139.

6. Reed GW, Hill JO. Measuring the thermic effect of food. Am J Clin Nutr. 1996;63:164-169.

7. Shaheen NA, Alqahtani AA, Assiri H, Alkhodair R, Hussein MA. Public knowledge of dehydration and fluid intake practices: variation by participants' characteristics. BMC Public Health. 2018 Dec 5;18(1):1346.

8. Zhang N, Du SM, Zhang JF, Ma GS. Effects of Dehydration and Rehydration on Cognitive Performance and Mood among Male College Students in Cangzhou, China: A Self-Controlled Trial. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 May 29;16(11):1891.

9. Kerksick CM, Arent S, Schoenfeld BJ, Stout JR, Campbell B, Wilborn CD, Taylor L, Kalman D, Smith-Ryan AE, Kreider RB, Willoughby D, Arciero PJ, VanDusseldorp TA, Ormsbee MJ, Wildman R, Greenwood M, Ziegenfuss TN, Aragon AA, Antonio J. International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017 Aug 29;14:33.