How often do you have to deal with athletes who crush it in the gym, but outside they eat like a toddler? It's an all-too-common scenario, and this is even more extreme when you're dealing with players that have practice every day and games a couple of times a week.
Jess Isaacs is a nutritionist working in D1 basketball, and she understands the importance of meeting athletes where they are. This is something Jess and I discuss on this episode of Cheeky Midweeky. Even at the collegiate level, Jess highlights the lack of basic nutrition education. To give you just one example of how low the bar is, even just encouraging them to incorporate vegetables into their diet and avoid fast food can make a huge difference.
Jess and I also discuss the importance of respecting established routines, especially game-day rituals, and incrementally introducing changes to avoid disrupting performance. This, like all coaching endeavors, involves building trust and empowering athletes to understand their own bodies.
Another factor to consider is that the nature of basketball schedules presents another challenge. Practice and game times can change frequently, requiring flexibility in meal timing. Therefore, Jess builds on the importance of principles and understanding the "why" behind nutritional strategies, enabling the athletes to make more informed decisions. Such as the importance of consistent protein intake and strategically adjusting calorie intake based on training load and lifestyle factors.
An area that does require sufficient energy intake is practice, and how to fuel intra-training and games. This can involve things such as applesauce packets and fruit chews. Jess also discusses the benefits of sports drinks with carbohydrates for simultaneous hydration and energy replenishment.
Travel is another area that dominates college athletes' lives, and Jess goes into detail on how she not only prepares the athletes to travel but also builds in education into the process so they can begin to take control of their own nutrition, and strategies to deal with jet lag and recovery.
Addressing common nutrition misconceptions is a significant part of Jess's work. She notes that some strength coaches, influenced by popular media, can be overly focused on eliminating sugar, potentially leading to carbohydrate avoidance among athletes. Jess stresses the importance of understanding the nuances of carbohydrates and explaining to athletes that sugar consumed around training is used for energy and is not detrimental to performance or body composition in that context.
Finally, Jess offers advice for strength coaches who may need to step in and provide basic nutrition guidance in the absence of a dedicated nutritionist. She recommends prioritizing protein intake and considering protein supplements as a starting point. Creatine is another supplement she recommends, while collagen is lower on her priority list. She emphasizes the importance of a "food-first" approach, recognizing that convenience foods will inevitably be part of a college athlete's diet.
If you want anyone on the podcast, drop me a comment.
