Eat Like An Athlete

Keen to borrow the nutrition principles of the worlds fittest bodies? Turns out time is your new secret weapon.

- Roisin Dervish - O'Kane

Ever downed a protein shake straight after your workout, before you’d even left the gym? Perhaps you’ve forgone the banana and done your HIIT class hungry because fasted workouts are a thing, right? You, friend, have been dipping your toe into the pool of nutrient timing: the idea that it’s not just about what and how much you eat, it’s when that makes all the difference.

While it’s a newish concept to most of us, nutrient timing (often referred to as nutrient cycling) has been around since the early ’00s; based on some 50 years of research into the myriad ways different macronutrients – protein, carbs and fat – affect your body. The principles were first applied at elite sporting level, where they helped the world’s fittest get shredded, and then followed the inevitable dissemination into gym culture. Experts reckon this method could be the key to the body composition – and performance – you’ve always wanted.

The most common iteration of nutrient timing doing the rounds? Carb cycling. “It essentially means scaling your carbohydrate intake up and down in accordance with your activity levels,” explains performance nutritionist Liam Holmes. He uses the principles of nutrient timing to get elite athletes and CrossFit enthusiasts to their leanest before competitions. “If you’re training for an event – be it a cycling race or the CrossFit open games – you’re going to want to shed those last few percentage points of body fat,” says Holmes. “Not only can excess fat hold athletes back from their preferred weight category, it makes bodyweight exercises, like pull-ups, that much harder.”

RACE AGAINST TIME