By Mike Roussell, PhD

Nutrition is a funny thing for your athletes. They don’t pay enough attention to it. You don’t have the time or resources to address it and it could arguable make the biggest impact on their performance. So how can you use the little time you have to talk nutrition and make the biggest impact possible.

Talk actions and behaviors.

Nutritionist love to talk about grams of this, percent calories of that…try telling a 18 year old running back that he needs to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. It doesn’t work. It isn’t tangible enough for them. So they’ll end up saying ‘okay coach’ going home and continuing doing what they always do. Fortunately breaking the nutrition barrier with your athletes isn’t that tough if you give them specific actions and things to do. Here are 3 simple and actionable things your athletes can do.

Have something right after exercise – A sports drink is good. A sports drink with a little protein is a little better. This is the highest impact single thing they can do. Fortunately sports drinks are easier to find than water in some places so no one should have trouble doing this. Getting in liquid nutrition right away will

Eat Breakfast that contains protein – Many young athletes skip breakfast and then when they do have breakfast, they’ll opt for a bagel or cereals – both less than idea. Have your athletes 1. Eat breakfast and 2. Make sure it has some protein. This will improve the quality of what they are eating (eggs, greek yogurt, etc).

Eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal - If you look at the top 5 sources of calories in the American diet, vegetables are non-existent. Have your athletes commit to eating a fruit or vegetable at every meal. It is a very simple thing for them to do and it will make a big difference in the quality of their diets.

Have you athletes do all three or just get them to do one for a week and then add one more. Simple actionable changes that they can stick to will make a difference and improve their performance.

If this kind of action based approach rings true to you then check out my newly released Peak Diet & Training Design home study course while also grabbing 2.0 NSCA CEUs.

Mike Roussell, PhD
Science Advisory Board: LiveStrong.com
Columnist: Bodybuilding.com, Shape.com

For more information on Mike Roussell and his programs Click Here

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One of the new layers I’m adding to my program this upcoming season is a specific and consistent emphasis on nutrition.

Athletes will eat better if your advice makes sense and is extremely easy for them to figure out.

So I’ll give them some simple handouts and just spot check their progress.

You’ve got enough to do in practice. So it’s worth 5 minutes a day to help your athletes help themselves. Because I’m all about doing what I can to get better performances without having to do extra work.

And the bottom line is, if your athletes:

…drink more water, they’ll be happier and perform better.
…develop consistent sleep habits, they’ll be happier and perform better.
…eat a healthy breakfast, they’ll be happier and perform better.
…eat every 3 hours, they’ll be happier and perform better.
…understand sports supplements, they’ll be safer and perform better.

I think you get the idea.

So I’ll just be blunt. If you don’t want your athletes to shit the bed at the end of practice/workouts/games/meets/races/the season,  then click on this link, read Jeff’s article, then purchase Teen
Sports Nurition Blueprint. It’s what I use, what I’ll continue to use and what I recommend you use.

http://tinyurl.com/6nutritionquestions

To your success,

Latif Thomas

P.S. There are certain programs and resources I strongly believe in. Because they’ll help you. And help your athletes. That’s why I promote them early and often. Teen Sports Nutrition Blueprint is one of them. It will help you and your athletes perform better on *and* off the track or playing field. I know I have to spend a little money to make my athletes better. Of course, you don’t have to. But there’s truth to the saying ‘you get what you pay for’.

http://www.SportsNutritionBlueprint.com

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As you may know, I’ve been involved in the release of NFL Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Duane Carlisle’s new program Total Football Training.

We get so many questions from people asking about a comprehensive speed, strength and conditioning program specifically for football players that I’m glad I can finally suggest something that I feel good about.

I’m not going to write a big long story here. But I do recommend go take a look at the program, read the page and watch the video.

Every football player and team needs to be faster, stronger and in better overall shape. People take football so seriously and spend so much playing, watching and coaching it, I can’t see how anyone involved in the sport *wouldn’t* grab this program while they can get the launch price.

Especially when I *know* there are still some high school programs that claim to be serious, but don’t even lift or train for speed before and during the season…

(I know it sounds hard to believe.)

It’s not a perfect program. There’s no such thing. But I know what kind of information, format and structure people want when they invest in a program. Keeping that in mind, it is, without question, the best football training program I’ve ever seen.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

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By now, I don’t need to explain to you that your athletes’ performance has a pretty low glass ceiling if nutrition isn’t a focus both in and out of practice and competition.

Or that they aren’t going to address this issue with any consistency without your help.

Because when you’re a teenager, fast food and ice cream seems like a pretty good idea.

And it tastes good.

You just can’t take it to the next level when the dollar menu is one of the staples of your diet.

Being a successful coach isn’t *only* about knowing which workouts to run and when, how much to lift or which offensive and defensive schemes best fit your current crop of talent.

(Though it’s not a bad place to start…)

You’ve got to add nutrition to the mix.

Last night I was at our indoor track banquet talking to a group of athletes and nutrition came up.

 My best hurdler, a New England Championships finalist last spring, said:

 ”I used to drink soda every day. Now look what you’ve done to me!”

 …as she holds out an empty bottle of water.

A member of my school record setting (by 2.51 seconds), runner up at All States 4×200m relay team said:

 “You’ve got me eating healthy now. I was eating an apple on the way here and I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing? Why am I eating this?’”

 What’s my point?

This stuff matters. And your athletes will buy into it if you give them easy answers and simple solutions to their nutritional questions.

Mine have. And the results are clear and undeniable.

Now, I’m no expert on sports nutrition.

But I’ve found a resource that allows me to give solid, factual options and ideas to my athletes without having to do a bunch of extra work that I don’t have time for.

 And that is Jeff Cavaliere’s Teen Sports Nutrition Blueprint.

 http://www.sportsnutritionblueprint.com

If I had to dream up a sports nutrition resource that would give me and my athletes everything we need to do and know without adding more than 10 minutes to my day, this would be it.

If you haven’t invested in a copy yet, I highly recommend you do.

Jeff’s launch ends tonight at 11:59pm Pacific time, so if you want to save over 33% on what is, in my opinion, the best sports nutrition resource on the market, you would be wise to grab your copy now.

http://www.sportsnutritionblueprint.com

 To your success,

 Latif Thomas

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