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FFN Blog

Evidence-Based Nutrition Advice for Strength Athletes
Getting you stronger faster

4 ways to quickly improve your strength

1/24/2022

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Rarely are there quick fixes to getting stronger faster, EXCEPT when you don’t have all of these dialed in. ⁣⁣​
When we start implementing change around these 4 things with our athletes, AMAZING things begin to happen. ⁣
​
1. Get 7-9 hours of sleep every night
If this is hard for you, take a look at your sleep hygiene:
  • Wake up and go to bed at roughly the same time every day
  • Avoid electronics and screens an hour before bed
  • Avoid caffeine 8-10 hours before bedtime.  Even if you can fall asleep after a pot of coffee or an energy drink, research shows us the caffeine does impact the quality of our sleep and makes it less restful.
  • Expose yourself to sunlight within 30 minutes to an hour of waking.  if you wake up before the sun rises, turn on bright lights in your house, and then go outside for a few minutes once the sun comes up
​
2. Prioritize your pre and post-training meals
There's been some debate in the nutrition world about whether or not nutrient timing matters.  I think those debates are missing one key element: just because something is "okay" doesn't mean it's optimal for increasing performance.  Another issue that is missed in the literature is the timeframe referred to as the pre-training meal time.  But that's a topic for another discussion.
  • Eating at least 3 hours before training is always going to lead to higher quality training that not eating at all.  Aim for a high carbohydrate meal, a serving of protein, and limit fats in the hour before training.
  • Your post-training meal represents an opportunity to immediately begin the recovery process. The better you recover, the better your next training session will be.  Imagine those wins stacked on top of each other time and time again!
3. Eat enough food
One of the biggest mistakes lifters have been making when they get to us is chronic undereating, and most of the time it's completely unintentional.
  • The IOC recommends athletes consume 45 calories per kg of fat free body mass as an ideal caloric intake.  Not there?  Work with a nutritionist who specializes in helping athletes bring their caloric intake up without gaining weight (this is something we are experts at, you can apply to work with us here).​
4. Manage your stress
Training is a stressor on our body.  So is mental stress.  Our body can't distinguish the difference.  The greater the stress (physical or mental) the more your body has to overcome to recover properly.  It is very common for us to see a slight decline in recovery and performance metrics when athletes are under more work or life stress.  

By developing a daily stress management routine, you can mitigate a lot of the effects stress can have on your body and gym performance.  These are some of our favorite techniques:
  • Guided meditations (you can find them on YouTube, Spotify, or various meditation apps)
  • Walking outside
  • Reading a book
  • Connecting with a friend
Give these a try for a month and watch your strength, energy, and recovery EXPLODE!!!

We utilize all of these methods, and more, within our nutrition coaching programs.  You can fill out an application to see if we're a good fit for your goals! 
1 Comment

Creatine: Should you use it?

12/29/2021

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We get asked about creatine supplementation on a pretty regular basis.  Rightly so, it’s been a player in sports nutrition supplementation for a long time now and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.  
​

Creatine monohydrate is THE most researched supplement in the world of sports nutrition, and it’s one of the few that, time and time again, has been shown to be not only safe, but rather effective, too.  
So what does it actually do?
According to a 2011 article published in the Journal of Exercise Nutrition & Biochemistry, creatine monohydrate:
  • Increased single and repetitive sprint performance
  • Increased work performed during sets of maximal effort muscle contractions
  • Increased muscle mass & strength adaptations during training
  • Enhanced glycogen synthesis
  • Increased anaerobic threshold
  • Possible enhancement of aerobic capacity via greater shuttling of ATP from mitochondria
  • ​Increased work capacity
  • Enhanced recovery
  • Greater training tolerance
(Kreider RB, Jung YP, 2011)

What is the proper dosage?
According to the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand on the safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine:
“The quickest method of increasing muscle creatine stores may be to consume ~0.3 g/kg/day of creatine monohydrate for 5–7-days followed by 3–5 g/day thereafter to maintain elevated stores. Initially, ingesting smaller amounts of creatine monohydrate (e.g., 3–5 g/day) will increase muscle creatine stores over a 3–4 week period, however, the initial performance effects of this method of supplementation are less supported.”
Are some brands of creatine better than others?
My favorite site for comparing the quality of different brand of supplements is www.labdoor.com.  I don’t get any sort of compensation for telling you that, I just really like that site and they are constantly adding new supplements to it. It’s certainly not all inclusive, but it’s a good place to start.  For those that are subject to WADA drug-testing, you can also search for products that have been tested for over 200 banned substances.
To answer the initial question, should you use creatine?
Given the evidence supporting both the benefits of supplementing with creatine and the lack of side-effects, creatine appears to be a very effective way increase strength and work capacity.  It should be noted that proper diet, sleep, and stress management should be in line before the addition of supplements.  If you need help getting started with performance nutrition, you can apply to work with our team here or to learn more about our services, go here.

​AUTHOR: DR. KRISTIN LANDER, DC, CISSN

​Kristin has competed internationally in both powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting.  She is a lover of all things barbell, nature, and nerdiness.  She has helped hundreds of athletes over the last decade reach the highest level in their sport through her evidence-based performance nutrition methods, careful attention to detail, and individualized approach.  ​

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This 1 key thing MAY BE THE TICKET TO IMPROVED PERFORMANCE FOR BUSY ATHLETES...

11/9/2021

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 You ready for it?

Okay, I’m gonna tell you, but you’ve got to keep reading to let me explain.

DO LESS!!!

What?! Ok, I know some of you just exited out and are no longer reading because that sounds insane.
"[HUSTLE CULTURE] TAKEN TO THE EXTREME CAN LEAVE YOU FEELING RUN DOWN, SICK, INJURED, AND FEELING LIKE A FAILURE FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO GRIND ALL DAY EVERY DAY."
Even my podcast co-host, 11x world powerlifting champion, Jen Thompson shared with me on a recent episode (below) that when she’s feeling burned out, or training just feels like too much, she pushes her training to another day or does less sets in training, or an entirely different workout all together.
I work with really busy athletes. They are juggling demanding careers, families, and social lives all while training at a high level.

During periods of high stress these athletes recovery starts to dwindle and shows up as:
  • Moodiness/irritability
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Loss of desire to do anything not related to work or training
  • Persistent fatigue
  • Unexplained weight gain or weight loss
  • Loss of enjoyment in other hobbies

All of the proper nutrition in the world is not going to help these athletes when things get to this point.

The answer here is to drop training volume or intensity for a little while. Training is a stressor on your body. If you can’t cut out work/school/family stress, this is the only place to reduce stress.

I’ve had great success with athletes dropping a training day and replacing it with other low intensity activities such as long walks, hiking, or biking.

Hustle culture is rampant in strength sports.

​To a degree this is helpful in that it helps new athletes learn how to work hard and push themselves. But taken to the extreme it can leave you feeling run down, sick, injured, and feeling like a failure for not being able to grind all day every day.
If you're looking for an expert in sports nutrition and recovery for strength athletes to help you feel great and perform to the best of your abilities, you can apply to work with one of our coaches here.

AUTHOR: DR. KRISTIN LANDER, DC, CISSN

​Kristin has competed on the international stage in both powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting.  She is a lover of all things barbell, nature, and nerdiness.  She has helped hundreds of athletes over the last decade reach the highest level in their sport through her evidence-based nutrition methods, careful attention to detail, and individualized approach.  

1 Comment

HOW FAST IS TOO FAST FOR WEIGHT LOSS IN STRENGTH ATHLeTES?

8/6/2021

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To answer this question, we're going to look at a study published in 2011.

The aim of this study was to compare changes in :
  • body composition
  • Strength
  • power 
During either:
  • Fast weight loss (1% of body weight per week)
  • Slower weight loss (0.7% of body weight per week)

All athletes included 4 resistance-training sessions/wk in their usual training regimen

The average amount of weight lost was 4.2kg for both groups.  The fast weight loss group did it in 5.3 weeks, the slower group took 8.5 weeks.

Let's looks at some specific results now.
Changes in lean body mass:
  • Slower group: gained 2.1% of lean body mass
  • Fast group: lost 0.2% of lean body mass
This suggests that the fast group may have lost muscle mass

Change in fat mass:
  • Slower group: lost 21% of their fat mass
  • Fast group: lost 31% of their fat mass

Changes in performance:
  • 40m sprint
    • Fast group: no change
    • Slow group: no change
  • Counter movement jump
    • Fast group: no change
    • Slow group: increased 7%
  • 1RM  press
    • Fast group: 6.4%  increase
    • Slow group: 13.6%  increase
  • 1RM pull
    • Fast group: 4% increase
    • Slow group: 10.3% increase
  • 1RM squat
    • Fast group: 8.9% increase
    • Slow group: 11.9% increase

While both groups lost the same amount of body weight, their body composition changes were significantly different.  This study suggests that slower rates of body weight reduction are better for preserving/gaining muscle mass as well as losing more body fat.  
In terms of performance, we saw an increase in performance for both groups for most of the tests, as we should.  These are elite athletes that are continuing to train, so improvements are expected.  However,  the percent increase in performance across all measures was significantly higher in the slower weight loss group.  

This suggests that quick weight loss does not allow for as much athletic improvement as does slower weight loss.  If your goal is to continue to improve while in a caloric deficit, you are much better off losing weight at a slower rate.  

I will argue that I still think 0.7% of body weight loss per week is still a bit aggressive for most athletes, particularly strength athletes.  In my experience, I start seeing a decline in performance for most people above 0.6% loss per week, and for some strength athletes, even that is too aggressive and we have to go with a more conservative 0.4% of body weight lost per week.  

What have your experiences been with weight loss as an athlete?  Have you seen a decrease in strength and performance? 

At FFN we specialize in managing weight cuts for athletes to preserve their strength (and usually gain strength during the process).  If you want expert help with your next weight cut, you can work with us here!




Author: Dr. Kristin Lander

A lifelong athlete, Kristin has competed at the international level in both weightlifting and powerlifting.  She specializes in helping strength athletes reach their full potential through evidence-based nutrition methods.  

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Pre/Post-Training Carbs: How to Become a Superhero in 3 Easy Steps!

6/21/2020

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PictureDo you think he skips his carbs?!
Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite thing: CARBS!!!! We work with athletes to help them improve their performance in the gym as well as improve their physique (usually either fat loss or muscle gain, often both).  To do both of these things at the same time we have to implement a whole lot of science; and guess what?!?!  SCIENCE WORKS!!!!!  We're a huge fans of giving our athletes ALL the carbs, and lucky for them, there’s a lot of evidence to support doing so.  It has to be done at the appropriate times for it to be favorable for performance as well as body composition.

If you follow me us Instagram, you might know that I ask all my athletes to strive for 30% of their allotted carb intake in the 1-2 hours prior to training, and another 30% starting during training (if needed) and up to 2 hours after training.  This means that 60% of your carbs will be surrounding your workouts.  I call this the 30-30 rule.  This is where the science comes in.  Sugar is your muscles’ preferred energy source.  We all know that carbs are broken down into SUGAR, hence why everyone freaked out in the 90’s and 2000’s and went on crazy low carb diets.  This was favorable for body composition for the average person, but it greatly hindered athletic performance.  As I was saying, your muscles prefer to use sugar as energy, especially quickly digestible sugars so that your body can do little to no digesting and use all that energy to making you a badass during training. 

Ok, so that’s why I want 30% of my carbs before I train.  But why on earth would I want that AFTER I train?!?!?  Are you trying to make me fat?! Unused sugar gets stored as fat, according to bro-science,”
 I know that’s what you are thinking right now!


Short answer: NO!  I mean, unless you don’t care about your recovery or if you perform as well as a wet noodle during tomorrow’s training session.
                                                                      A la, this guy:

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If that’s what you want, then yes, please skip the post-training carbs.  

Oh what’s that?  You are trying to IMPROVE your sports performance?  Well yeah, then you need to learn about this sneaky substance called cortisol that your body likes to produce when it’s under stress.  Even though training is good for your body, it still sees it as a stressor and loves to release cortisol at that time.  Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal cortex (the outer portion of the adrenal gland which is situated on top of the kidneys)  in response to physical and emotional stress.  For athletes, this happens during training which is AWESOME because it stimulates the making of new glucose in the liver (gluconeogenisis) AND the breakdown of glycogen stored in muscle cells (glycogenolysis).  On top of which, cortisol causes all the sugar that has just been created or released to be free floating in the bloodstream for easy use, due to the way cortisol inhibits insulin from bringing the glucose into the cells.  Basically, this means that cortisol released during training directly provides you with more energy to train hard!  Pretty awesome, right?!  

The downside, is that chronically elevated cortisol lowers immune function, limits muscle recovery, decreases bone density, raises blood pressure, and causes you to retain water.  Not to mention that long-term effects can cause reproductive problems, decreased testosterone, and adrenal fatigue.  So, we definitely want to minimize cortisol IMMEDIATELY following training.  How do we so that?  By eating simple sugars (carbs) immediately following training.  You also want to replenish glycogen supplies (stored sugar in your muscles) following training so that you can live to fight another day.  

Here’s an example of pre and post training meals using the 30-30 rule:
  • 2 hours pre: shredded chicken + white rice
  • 1 hour pre: Rice cake + powdered peanut butter (like PB2) + banana
  • Intra-training (when training exceeds 2 hours or if you start feeling flat): sour patch strawberries, rice cake, or dextrose powder
  • Immediately post: whey protein with a carb source (for lactose-free protein, I love Atomic Nutrition Fuelx30) + rice cake
  • Up to 2 hours post: lean meat + rice, pasta, or sweet potato

Notice these are all high-glycemic carbs.  Eating these away from training doesn’t go a long ways to stabilizing your blood sugar and keeping you full, but that is not the point of peri-training carbs!  One last note: you want the meals surrounding your training to be low in fat to maximize uptake of the carbs and protein.




​[This post contains an affiliate link. This means that when you click through to buy the product, a portion of the sale goes to me.  I never recommend products I don’t use and love!]

Author: Dr. Kristin Lander

Kristin is head sports nutritionist at Fiercely Fueled and has been coaching athletes on proper nutrition for a decade, she is also an accomplished Olympic weightlifter and elite powerlifter.  

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