Short Course in Integrative Sport and Exercise Nutrition

Integrative body systems in sport

We begin the course with an introduction to integrative sport and exercise nutrition, looking at the personalised health of an athlete’s physiological body systems within a sporting context.

Lecture content

Session 1 presentations focus on the following body systems: gastrointestinal, detoxification, immune, neuroendocrine, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and bioenergetics. In particular, it is demonstrated how all our physiological systems interact, and are interdependent upon one another: when one system is unduly pressured by exercise training, the entire health of an athlete can be impeded.

In addition to a tour of the integrative body systems, lectures will focus specifically on:

• Gastrointestinal (GI) health for athletes, including an understanding of the digestive cascade, the gut-axes throughout the body, the microbiome, GI challenges for athletes, and useful nutrition GI strategies.
• Musculoskeletal (MS) health for athletes, including an understanding of structure and function of MS tissues, inflammatory and recovery dynamics after training, and useful nutrition MS strategies.
• Polyphenols, an important group of antioxidant-rich nutrients, are used to illustrate an incredible interconnectivity of body systems; this one nutrient can positively nourish all body systems mentioned above, supporting the importance of a nature-made, whole-food diet.

Workshop case study

Live course participants will be engaged in a discussion that asks how we apply these integrative health considerations to an athlete. In particular, you’ll be introduced to William:

• A 23-year old runner who’s aiming for an upcoming half-marathon race.
• He’s attempting a vegan diet, but has been struggling with gastrointestinal and fatigue issues for the past few months.
• After discussion with your peers, you’ll take part in supporting William with appropriate dietary and lifestyle advice.
• If you pursue the self-paced learning option, we supply you with an engaging case study to read and digest in your own time.

Reflection exercise

• Your personal reflection exercise for session 1 involves filling in a nutrition-focused health questionnaire, and presenting your own signs and symptoms, along with lifestyle observations, in a neatly organised note sheet.
• You will then reflect on potentially interrelated health imbalances, and beneficial changes you could make in your nutrition, exercise, stress management, and sleep patterns.

Applied performance nutrition

Physical performance is the focus of session 2, which encompasses a presentation of performance-oriented nutrition practices, still through a ‘personalised health’ lens.

Lecture content

Session 2 begins with a presentation of the use of calories within sports nutrition, in particular emphasising the many limitations involved in this quantitive way of assessing an athlete’s nutritional needs. We then offer alternative, and more personalised, body-system health strategies for supporting an athlete’s body composition.

In addition to calories in sport, and body composition, lectures focus specifically on:

• Macronutrients, including the prominent carb-fat debate in sports nutrition, along with protein needs for hypertrophy.
• Nutrient timing can make the difference between a podium finish and a ‘*bonk’. This topic is discussed from a perspective of the original research and how this might be alternatively done with healthy ingredients.
• DIY sports and recovery drinks are discussed, with practical suggestions so you can make healthy versions of store-bought products, and teach your clients to do the same.

Workshop case study

Live course participants will be engaged in a discussion that asks the question: how do we maximise training returns and performance outcomes in endurance-oriented athletic individuals? In particular, you’ll be introduced to Tessie:

• A 34-year-old Olympic distance triathlete who’s aiming to finish her professional career off strongly.
• She’s currently experiencing imbalanced female hormones, post-viral fatigue, and an upward drift in her body fat.
• After discussion with your peers, you’ll take part in supporting Tessie with appropriate dietary and lifestyle advice.
• If you pursue the self-paced learning option, we supply you with an engaging case study to read and digest in your own time.

Reflection exercise

• Your personal reflection exercise for session 2 involves, in a performance nutrition context, considering how you supported yourself nutritionally when you undertook a recent high-intensity and/or high-volume training session.
• In this exercise, with learnings from the week’s lectures, you need to consider the nutrient needs of the particular training session; what you did well, what you could improve on, and what you learned about nutritionally supporting yourself during training.

*’bonk’ – a cycling term for running low in glycogen, consequently with poor performance

Specialty sports nutrition

Specialty topics are the focus of session 3; in particular research contextualisation, hypertrophy in sport, including the gut-muscle axis, and overtraining in sport.

Lecture content

Session 3 focuses firmly on applied sporting practice, and begins with a lecture on the contextualisation of research in an active setting. Just because a research study concludes particular findings doesn’t mean that it is applicable to the individual sitting in front of us; to be good practitioners, we must combine research evidence with clinical experience, and the client’s personal story.

In addition, the other presentations focus on these specialist topics:

• Hypertrophy in sport, including a discussion of protein amounts and timing, mTOR signalling, and the gut-muscle axis.
• Overtraining, including an explanation of the HPA-axis, hormone dysregulation, and monitoring strategies to decrease it’s occurrence.

Workshop case study

Live course participants will be engaged in a discussion that asks the question: how do we support athletes who are pursuing strength and power gains, but who also have a lot of life demands? In particular, you’ll be introduced to Barbara:

• A 53-year old oral hygienist, who competes in masters Powerlifting competitions; she has the goal of qualifying for the British Championships.
• She’s currently experiencing perimenopause, raised cholesterol, sluggish weight loss, and compromised recovery between sessions.
• After discussion with your peers, you’ll take part in supporting Barbara with appropriate dietary and lifestyle advice.
• If you pursue the self-paced learning option, we supply you with an engaging case study to read and digest in your own time.

Reflection exercise

• Your personal reflection exercise for session 3 involves, in a professional context, asking yourself: what more do you need to learn and practice to be the best sports nutrition practitioner that you can be?
• This is an open-ended question, one that we hope all sports nutrition practitioners will continue to ask themselves over time, resulting in an ever-evolving nutrition practice.

A one-on-one session with your tutor

The final session is a 30-minute one-on-one session with your allocated tutor, giving you the opportunity to discuss any topic that you’d like to explore further. For example:

• You may have a particular topic that you’d like to discuss, and obtain further resources on.
• You may wish to talk through your ongoing interests within the sports nutrition field, including options for continuing education.
• You may have a challenging case that you’d like some help with.
• Or, you may wish to obtain input on setting up a new client business and increase your exposure to potential clients.

Whatever your interest at the time, this is a fantastic opportunity to receive personalised support for your professional sports nutrition needs – a feature that greatly boosts the value of this short course.