The Gymnast Nutritionist® Podcast - Episode 125: [Fueled Gymnast Fall] How to help your gymnast with nutrition if they’re stuck, struggling, or injured

Episode 125: [Fueled Gymnast Fall] How to help your gymnast with nutrition if they’re stuck, struggling, or injured

11/25/24 • 20 min

At this point of the year, parents ask if nutrition is something their gymnast should focus on while they're injured.
A lot of gymnasts are injured right now and won’t even have a competition season. Or some are in the process of coming back and things feel uncertain. Or others are currently in pain but in are denial and hoping it will go away.
It's easy to assume there are other things an injured gymnast should focus on besides nutrition. However, the bottom line is the best time to work on your gymnast’s nutrition was 2 years ago (or even earlier).
BUT, the next best time to work on nutrition is NOW. And it can sometimes be easier to work on nutrition because a gymnast has MORE time. Sometimes it's hard to jump in with a gymnast training 20, 30 hours a week and get their nutrition where it needs to be (which is sometimes double their current intake). When a gymnast is not at gym or only partially, it’s less challenging and then we can ramp things back up as they progress in the gym.
Welcome to the fourth episode of our series, Fueled Gymnast Fall. Now is the time to make changes and adjustments before competition season. Especially if your gymnast is injured and has never focused on nutrition.
In this episode you'll hear about:

How to take an honest look at their growth/development and nutrition.
Importance of having a honest conversation about what's going on in the gym
Why you need to address the aches and pains now

Links & Resources

The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts
Episode 24: Using Nutrition to Optimize Injury Recovery for the Gymnast
Enter the Fueled Gymnast Fall Podcast Giveaway
Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or [email protected]

How to take an honest look at their growth/development and nutrition.
Importance of having a honest conversation about what's going on in the gym
Why you need to address the aches and pains now

Links & Resources

The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts
Episode 24: Using Nutrition to Optimize Injury Recovery for the Gymnast
Enter the Fueled Gymnast Fall Podcast Giveaway
Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or [email protected]

Previous Episode

Episode 124: [Fueled Gymnast Fall] How to keep your gymnast from imploding this competition season

Is your gymnast ready to crush it? Or will your gymnast implode part way through this competition season? Is there a way to predict or prevent it from happening?

Preparing for competition season begins the day after the last season ended, right? There's no real "time off" in gymnastics. And each season brings it's own challenges and struggles to focus on. "Off season" is filled with camps, upgrades, extra conditioning. And then preseason rolls around and things start really ramping up. Now, at this point of the year, gymnasts are putting together routines, working on 1st and 2nd halves, wondering if the skills are going to all come together. Wondering if they have the endurance to even make it through whole routines.

Welcome to the third episode of our series, Fueled Gymnast Fall. It's been great taking the time to address a handful of specific issues that could be affecting your gymnast at this point of the year. Now is the time to make changes and adjustments before competition season is upon us.

It's so easy during the craziness of the year for nutrition to take a back seat. Some parents and gymnasts just don't know it could be the reason they struggle during competition season. Or others think there's plenty of time to figure it out...there's just more important things to focus on first...

Until it's too late to harness the power of performance nutrition to support your gymnast reaching her full potential during competition season. Or it's too late to heal injuries or endurance issues and the season is over before it starts. But it doesn't have to be this way!

Listen to today's episode to hear the next episode in our series, Fueled Gymnast Fall.
In this episode you'll hear about:

Is your gymnast closing the recovery gap?
The link between immune health and sleep - and how nutrition supports this
How to be proactive rather than reactive with your gymnast's nutrition this competition season

Links & Resources

T he Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts
Sleep and Immunity
Enter the Fueled Gymnast Fall Podcast Giveaway
Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or [email protected]

Next Episode

Episode 126: Origin Story- TGN® Team Melissa Wallinga DCN, MS, RDN, CSPCC

A LONG overdue episode, on the podcast today I'm introducing you all to dietitian Melissa Wallinga. One of The Gymnast Nutritionist® team pediatric/adolescent sports dietitians who supports our gymnasts + parents inside The Balanced Gymnast® Program.

She is a former NCAA athlete, current peds/adolescent sports dietitian (and super smart clinical dietitian with her doctorate--- that's Dr. Melissa to you), and mom of two darling girlies (one of which is a L6/7 gymnast).

We're discussing how important her pediatric and adolescent clinical background is when helping our clients navigating not only sports nutrition, but everything that goes along with healthy growth and development. Young gymnasts aren't just small adults! A young, growing gymnast has specific needs from her sports dietitian and that's where Melissa comes in.

In this episode you'll hear us touch on case studies involving: