RJ Performance Nutrition

24/04/2026

Fuel Fix Friday: Broccoli sprout shots for performance? 🌱

There’s been growing interest in supplements claiming to lower lactate and improve endurance performance.

The physiology is interesting. Compounds such as sulforaphane may influence antioxidant pathways, mitochondrial function, and how the body responds to exercise stress.

But importantly:

Plausible mechanisms do not automatically equal tangible performance gains.

Current human research is still limited:
• small sample sizes
• short interventions
• mixed findings
• some commercial involvement

A few studies have shown slightly lower blood lactate during exercise.

However, lower lactate does not automatically mean improved lactate threshold, faster race times, or better endurance performance.

Lactate itself is also commonly misunderstood. It is not simply a waste product — it can be reused as fuel during exercise.

My professional view:

Interesting concept, but evidence remains early.

If your goal is improving threshold or endurance, the biggest returns still tend to come from:

✔️ Structured training
✔️ Carbohydrate availability
✔️ Recovery and sleep
✔️ Consistency over time
✔️ Evidence-based supplements only after foundations are in place

Performance is usually built through habits before supplements.

19/04/2026

Low energy availability often isn’t obvious.

In many athletes, early signs are subtle: persistent fatigue, slow recovery, plateaued performance, recurrent niggles or illnesses, or changes in mood and motivation.

These symptoms are often normalised as part of training, particularly when load is high, but they often actually reflect that fuelling is not fully meeting the combined demands of exercise and energy requirements for daily life and basic physiological functions.

If you’re concerned about low energy availability, practical considerations include:
• overall energy intake
• carbohydrate availability
• fuelling around, during and after sessions
• avoiding long gaps without intake

Importantly, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Requirements will always be individual and are influenced by numerous dynamic factors.

If you’re worried about under-fuelling then professional support is advisable to identify individual needs and support nutrition, alongside other interrelated factors (i.e. clinical, training etc), to avoid longer term impacts.

17/04/2026

Nutrition for performance, recovery, and long-term health.

If you’re struggling with energy, fuelling, fatigue, or training nutrition, I offer evidence-based, effective support.

Work with me here: https://www.rjperformancenutrition.com/work-with-me

13/04/2026

10/04/2026

Awareness of amenorrhoea and associated factors in athletes has improved recently - which is positive. However, menstrual disturbance associated with low energy availability exists on a spectrum.

Hormonal disruption typically begins earlier,
sometimes while menstrual bleeding still appears regular. This is often described as subclinical ovarian dysfunction, which may involve anovulatory cycles, altered hormone profiles and correspondingly shortened luteal phase.

Because reproductive hormones fluctuate across the menstrual cycle and may be subtle, these changes may not always be detected on routine blood tests.

Recognising and acting upon early signs can help protect bone health, recovery and long-term athlete wellbeing.

Cycle changes can also occur for many other reasons, including peri-menopause, but low energy availability can be mistaken for these or co-exist. In athletes it is important to consider whether under-fuelling may be contributing.

06/04/2026

Gut training and daily nutrition 👇

Many athletes practice race fuelling in training but overlook the role of daily nutrition in gut training.

Regular carbohydrate intake and diet composition help the digestive system adapt to tolerate fuel during exercise.

If you regularly experience GI symptoms during training or races, it may be worth reviewing both your daily nutrition and your fuelling strategy.

More in the blog post: https://www.rjperformancenutrition.com/blog/gut-training-endurance-sport

Want practical, effective support to manage GI issues in sport? I can help - DM or see link in bio to enquire.

27/03/2026

You’re dialled in with your training. Hitting sessions consistently - but still not seeing the progress you expect? Race day results not reflecting the work you’ve put in?

For a lot of endurance athletes - the issue lies in fuelling. Not eating “badly” — just not eating to match the demands of your training and optimise the outcomes.

How you eat daily, in and around sessions all contributes to training readiness, adaptations, recovery and progress.

“Adequate” nutrition can still fall short of optimal performance fuelling - and it’s easy to miss because your bodies good at compensating where it can.

If you’re not confident your nutrition matches your training load then you’re potentially limiting your performance, albeit unintentionally.

01/03/2026

Ergogenic aids are techniques, processes or substances that enhance sports performance.

Energy availability, diet composition (carb, protein, fat and vitamins/trace elements) and nutrient timing are essential to good performance - and are powerful ergogenic aids. BUT are often overlooked in favour of a market saturated with ‘performance supplements’.

A small number of supplements have been evidenced to contribute towards marginal performance benefits (1-3%) when used appropriately. ☝️

They’re not shortcuts - and are most likely to be effective when nutrition fundamentals are dialled in (food first!)

This post specifically covers direct performance gains - with recovery to follow.

-anyone with underlying health conditions should seek advice from qualified medical/nutrition professionals before implementing sports supplements.

17/02/2026

but with a sports fuel twist.
High carb, quick digesting - top with honey to fuel up pre-training, or add nuts/PB/berries for anti-oxidants and healthy fats to recover & replenish glycogen stores.
1 serve (more for you!), 105g carbs and 25g protein.
Most importantly - tasty and definitely not just for pancake day.

10/02/2026

Relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs) affects multiple body systems and can present without weight loss or low BMI.

REDs awareness is increasing, but remains limited amongst athletes and professionals. This potential for under recognition is particularly pronounced concerning male athletes - potentially due to historical conceptions of the ‘female athletes triad’, alongside a lack of more tangible signs (I.e. changes to menstrual cycles).

Unrecognised and therefore unaddressed REDs can compromise long-term health, in addition to performance related impacts.

You can read the full blog via the link in bio.

27/01/2026

We would really appreciate it if you could share this post. Tell your mates too.
Every race we get emails texts phone calls from people saying they have just discovered we have a race at the weekend. Then asking to enter after entries have close or when we are full. We hate to think anyone is missing out.
So would appreciate a post share to try and avoid any disappointment.
30 place left.
We had 10 enter the other night so they might not last long.
See you there