Sports Nutrition Basics for Endurance Athletes
Sports nutrition basics are the foundation of athletic performance, recovery and long-term health. This complete guide brings together four in-depth video lessons covering the essential principles of sports nutrition. You’ll learn how the body produces energy, the role of nutrients, hydration strategies, and nutrition before, during and after exercise. Whether you’re a runner, cyclist, triathlete or coach, these evidence-based lessons will help you build a solid understanding of sports nutrition basics and apply them to your training.
(1) Sports Nutrition Basics : Very simple, but highly complex !
🏃 Sports Nutrition Basics – Video 1 Overview
Introduction to the fundamentals of sports nutrition, focusing on how athletes use food to fuel performance and recovery.
Key concept: nutrition is “simple in theory, complex in practice”.
⚡ Performance Foundations
- The 3 pillars of performance:
- Training
- Recovery
- Nutrition
- How they interact to support athletic performance
🔋 Energy Systems & Metabolism
- ATP: the body’s main energy source
- Aerobic vs anaerobic metabolism
- How energy production changes with intensity
- Specific demands of endurance athletes
- Real examples of energy intake across sports (gender & discipline comparisons)
🍎 Nutrients & Practical Nutrition
- Introduction to macronutrients
- Role of food in energy production and performance
- Basic understanding of athlete nutrition choices
📝 Practical Application
- Homework: track all food intake over 7 days
- Objective: increase awareness of real eating habits
❓ Q&A Highlights
- Dairy products: pros and debates
- Fried foods and performance impact
- Carbohydrates in endurance events
- Hunger and brain function
- How athletes choose the right foods in practice
🎯 Conclusion
- Overview of upcoming module lessons
- Focus on practical, applied sports nutrition
- Link between science, daily habits, and performance outcomes
(2) Basics of Sport Nutrition : The Nutrients
🥤Sports Nutrition Basics – Nutrients (Video Overview)
Focus on the main nutrients essential for performance, hydration, energy production, and recovery.
💧 Water & Hydration
- Water as the first essential nutrient
- How to know if you are well hydrated (simple markers)
- Beverage Hydration Index: how different drinks hydrate the body
🍞 Carbohydrates
- Role of carbohydrates as primary energy source
- Glycaemic index of carbs
- Regulation of blood glucose (glycaemia)
🥛 Guest Expert
- Special contribution from guest speaker: Hannele Steyn
- Applied insights on nutrition and performance
🥩 Proteins
- Role in muscle repair and recovery
- Importance for athletes across training cycles
🥑 Fats
- Role in long-term energy supply
- Importance in overall metabolic balance
🧂 Micronutrients
- Minerals: key functions in performance and health
- Magnesium deficiency: main signs and impacts
- Vitamins: essential roles in recovery and immune function
📝 Practical Application
- Homework: estimate and quantify daily sugar intake
- Objective: increase awareness of hidden sugars in diet
❓ Q&A Highlights
- Effects of not drinking water during high-intensity training
- Alcohol (beer) and performance myths
- Milk vs recovery drinks: why it is often used as reference
- Risk of overhydration
- Preview of next course session
🎯 Conclusion
- Full overview of essential nutrients
- Link between hydration, energy, recovery, and performance
- Practical focus on real-life athlete nutrition habits
(3) Basics of Sport Nutrition : Hydration
💧Sports Nutrition Basics – Hydration (Video Overview)
Discover the science of hydration and learn how proper fluid intake supports health, endurance, recovery, and athletic performance.
💦 Hydration Fundamentals
- Why hydration is simple in theory but complex in practice
- Homeostasis and fluid balance
- Body fluid compartments
- Body water distribution and composition
🧬 How Water Moves Through the Body
- Cell osmosis (passive transport)
- Sodium–Potassium (Na⁺/K⁺) ATPase pump (active transport)
- Why these mechanisms are essential for performance and health
🏃 Exercise & Dehydration
- How exercise causes dehydration
- Effects of fluid loss on performance
- Real-life example of elite ultrarunner Rachid El Morabity
- Hydration challenges during endurance events
🎯 Hydration Strategies
- Main goals of hydration
- Hydration before exercise
- Hydration during exercise
- Hydration after exercise
- Preventing dehydration and hyponatremia
⚖️ Sweat & Electrolytes
- Sweat rates across different sports
- Electrolytes lost through sweat
- Replacing fluids and minerals effectively
❓ Q&A Highlights
- Eating immediately after intense exercise
- Electrolytes before competition
- How much to drink before a race
- Tea and coffee before exercise
- What defines a “long” endurance activity
- Coca-Cola at the finish line: useful or not?
- Sparkling water during exercise
- Best drinks during recovery
- Milk, dairy products, and calcium
- The three main causes of food intolerances
📝 Practical Application
- Homework: calculate your personal sweat rate
- Objective: develop an individual hydration strategy based on your own fluid losses
🎯 Conclusion
- Understand how hydration affects performance, health, and recovery
- Learn practical hydration strategies for training and racing
- Apply evidence-based recommendations to optimise fluid and electrolyte intake
(4) Basics of Sport Nutrition : Before-During-After exercise
🍽️Sports Nutrition Basics – Before, During & After Exercise (Video Overview)
Learn how to fuel your body at every stage of training and competition to maximise performance, delay fatigue, and optimise recovery.
🎯 The Goals of Sports Nutrition
- The five main objectives of sports nutrition
- Understanding performance fatigue vs perceived fatigue
- Central fatigue and peripheral fatigue
🍽️ Nutrition Before Exercise
- Preparing the body for training and racing
- Pre-race nutrition strategies
- Example of meals during the final three days before competition
- The ideal pre-race meal
- Understanding reactive hypoglycaemia
- What to eat before an early morning race
🚀 Evidence-Based Performance Nutrition
- The five scientifically proven ergogenic foods
- How they improve athletic performance
- Beetroot juice and its effects on endurance, intermittent exercise, and cognitive function
🚴 Nutrition During Exercise
- Main goals of race nutrition
- Fueling strategies during exercise
- Carbohydrate intake according to exercise duration
- Relationship between carbohydrate intake and endurance performance
- Practical examples from professional cyclists
- Three additional foods with potential ergogenic benefits
- The effects of caffeine on performance
🔄 Nutrition After Exercise
- What happens to the body after exhausting exercise
- Recovery nutrition timeline
- When and what to eat after training or racing
🍎 Practical Nutrition Ideas
- Real examples of sports nutrition meals and snacks
- Practical advice from endurance legend Hannele Steyn
- Inspiration from her nutrition brand Passion 4 Wholeness
🎯 Conclusion
- Build an effective nutrition strategy before, during, and after exercise
- Apply evidence-based recommendations to improve performance, recovery, and long-term adaptation
- Turn sports nutrition science into practical habits for training and racing
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