Episode 132: Competition Nutrition Strategies from Level 6 through Elite/NCAA gymnastics

With the 2025 competition season upon us, today's episode focuses on the varying needs for competition nutrition strategies for gymnastics at the different levels. 

Every new level brings with it new challenges and opportunities. It's easy to get distracted with things your gymnast doesn't need yet. Or spend years (and money!) on things that aren't what they really need in the long run. From marathon long meets, to weird session times, to nerves and pressure kicking in, there's a lot more than just gymnastics to navigate come competition time. 

Let's compare/contrast the challenges at each level with fueling, performance, staying healthy, etc. What kind of competition nutrition strategies does your athlete need at their current level of gymnastics?

 In this episode you'll hear about: 

• Level 6+7: Navigating new competition challenges
• Level 8: The importance of having a nutrition strategy 
• Level 9: Adapting to new competition dynamics: being flexible!
• Level 10: Mastering nutrition for peak performance
• Elite/college: Advanced competition nutrition strategies for gymnastics

  Links & Resources    

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Episode 77: Gymnast Nervous Stomach and Competition Nutrition
• Episode 124: [Fueled Gymnast Fall] How to keep your gymnast from imploding this competition season
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

Transcript

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You're listening to episode 132 of the Gymnast Nutritionist Podcast. Hello and welcome back. It is our final episode for 2024, and this is a really good one. I want to share with you what I feel like is appropriate and what I think the challenges are at each optional level stage when it comes to competition fueling performance and staying healthy. So without further ado, we're going to dive into level six, seven. And when I was a gymnast, level seven was the first optional level. But in recent years, they've added level six. I know a lot of gyms, you know, their gymnasts go from level four to six, level five to seven, you know, that kind of level five, six. It just depends if you want to do it by the text and compete compulsory, or if you want to jump into optionals to give a little bit more freedom, or maybe you're working around mental blocks or so on and so forth. So when it comes specifically to competition fueling for level six and sevens, I think that those gymnasts can experience nerves just like any other gymnast. I think those gymnasts are starting to get to the age and stage where just with their brain development, they are more aware of just competition and nerves and anxiety. And so that alone can make competition fueling a lot more difficult than say it was when they were just a little baby level three and literally couldn't care, you know, less, right? Like they ate whatever you fed them. They had a great time at gymnastics, but you know, now it's level six, seven, it's a lot more serious, especially because you know you've got some level six, sevens who are also doing tops. You know, normally every year there's like the level seven judges cup, right? And so um there can definitely be challenges in that way. As far as the competitions go, I think sometimes they can be at really random times of day that your gymnast is not used to training at. And so maybe that's an 8 a.m. session or that kind of awkward 10:30 or 11 o'clock session where you're like, oh, you know, what do we do? Do we sleep in and just have breakfast and then go to the meet? Or do I wake them up early enough to have breakfast, but then do I also feed them lunch, but then it's too early, or they say they're not hungry? Like, how do we, how do we manage that, right? I think oftentimes these level six sessions are marathon long, you know, three to four plus hour sessions just because of the sheer volume of gymnasts at this age and stage. And so when it comes to intra-competition fueling, um, your gymnast probably doesn't need a snack in the sense of like, oh, it's so long you're gonna get hungry unless the meat just runs really long. But they might need some intra-competition nutrition just from more of a fueling perspective. And while these, you know, level of gymnasts, you know, it's not as intensive skills and routines as it is at level nine, 10, and elite, they're often younger pre-pubescent gymnasts and their bodies just can't hang on to fuel, especially carbohydrates, the same as post-pubescent gymnasts. And so while they may not need a snack because of hunger, they may need a little bit of fuel intercompetition just to keep their brain working, their muscles, and really keep their mood and emotions in check, which if we were in a room together, I'd probably see a lot of parent heads nodding right now. We're gonna jump to level eight, because I think that's where nutrition really starts to ramp up in terms of competition nutrition. And one of my very first clients years ago probably still has just the best story as to why having a competition nutrition strategy is so important. Um, this was a first-year level eight gymnast. She was pretty young. I think she was maybe 10 or 11 years old. And we had been working together for a few weeks. Um, so far, we had really just talked about her normal like practice nutrition, and she was doing great. Like we had optimized things. She was crushing it, she was feeling better. And so we really hadn't talked yet about competition day nutrition because I think, you know, she had one of those really early December competitions that they just hadn't really told me about, right? And so um I had a follow-up session towards the end of December, early January, and they told me that she had her first meet of the year. And I was like, oh, how'd it go? And she and mom looked at each other and they were like, not good. And I was like, okay, well, you know, tell me what happened. It was an 8 a.m. session, first level eight meet, right? We already were pretty nervous about that series on the beam and flipping the vault, right? All the things. And she started on vault and literally imploded. Mom said that the coach told her it just looked like watching her kid run in slow motion down the raw runway. And the kid corroborated the story. And I was like, okay, well, what did you offer breakfast? And that's that's the fatal mistake that they made. They did not have the same kind of breakfast that they normally do. It was not adequate in terms of just overall energy and kind of the right amounts of carbs, protein, and fat. Um, the timing was off. And obviously, it is so hard, you know, to have 8 a.m. comps and how early you have to get up and then how much earlier you need to get up to fuel appropriately. And then if you throw nerves into the mix, it can make things even more challenging. But it was a really hard lesson that I promise you they never made again because it was definitely a really rough meet. And so this is why, you know, we talk a lot about optimal fueling, not just performance-based, but also because of safety, right? And I can say as a judge, um, if you don't know this, I've been judging um developmental program gymnastics for I think 16 or 17 years now. I'm losing track at this point. I've been a nationally rated judge, which is the highest that you can go besides Brevet, which is Olympic level, that you have to be invited to, and you have to be a former elite or I've coached elite. So that will never be me. Um, but yeah, I've been a national judge for three years now, and I've been judging college for probably five or six. And so I can say as a judge, you know, when you're watching that level eight, the little babies that are trying to flip the vaults, um sometimes you want to put your head under the table because they can just be really scary. And one way to avoid that is obviously proper coaching, proper training, proper progression, um, scratching kids if they're not ready yet. But then the other part of it is just fueling. And, you know, I know a lot of great coaches that, yeah, if you're not doing it safely in practice, you're not gonna compete it. But let's say that practice every day is from 48 to 8 p.m. and the kid shows up to practice every day having eaten decently, and so they do a good job with the vault, yet then come the competition and it's now 8 a.m. and the kid is not fueled appropriately. And as a coach, you might be watching something in warmups that you're like, what is happening here? Right. And I know sometimes, you know, even in warmups, a coach will scratch a gymnast if they feel like they're not safe. But then I think sometimes that's a hard call to make because they're like, okay, maybe the warmup was just a little bit off, but they'll be fine when they're competing, right? Like coaches don't want to unnecessarily scratch gymnasts because obviously the gymnast is upset and sometimes parents are more upset. But again, a really good, I think important lesson in that, yeah, even at level eight, that fueling, the timing of the fueling and the adequacy of fueling is so, so important. I will also say at level eight, what's more important than fueling the day of the competition is just adequate fueling the other 364 days of the year because this is the age and stage where most gymnasts are training 20 to 25 hours a week. There's a lot of pounding, there's a lot of arching, there's just a lot of repetitive motion. And a lot of these gymnasts are also kind of pre-pubescent or going through puberty. And so it's just the perfect stage for underfueling overuse-related injuries. And so I know some of you listening to this podcast have a gymnast at this age and stage, and they are not even competing because they are injured again. And for a lot of gymnasts at level eight, this is not their first injury. We are seeing major, major injuries at even level six and seven right now. I mean, it's it's absolutely crazy. And a lot of it just goes back to years of unintentional underfueling that even stem back to like level four and five. All right, fast forward to level nine. This is your first year where the 10.0 start value is not an automatic. It is a whole new world in terms of talking about bonus and start values and composition. This is a big jump for a lot of gymnasts. And I feel like a lot of gymnasts will do two years of level eight to then be really prepared for nine, or if they go from eight to nine, sometimes they're not really ready. It's just, it's just a long, um, it's a bigger jump. And I will say that meat sessions for level nine are sometimes longer again, even though they have smaller groups. Um, they just take a long time because of timed warmups. And then sometimes the groups are a little bit uneven and there's nothing the meat director can do about it because, like obviously, your gym's coaches need to be able to be with their gymnasts, right? So it's not like they can split up the rotation groups, you know, super, super evenly if there's only so many coaches. And I got roasted a few years ago on social media for saying that your gymnast has to know how to fuel themselves when competing at 9 30 at in the night. And this is still 100% true, right? Like we routinely have gymnasts who are in that last session that maybe doesn't start until 6, 6.30, 7 o'clock. And then if the meet's running late, um, they might be running right up against that sanction. And it's actually uh a rule within USA gymnastics that meets cannot go later than 10 p.m., which I think is great. I don't think anyone needs to be doing gymnastics at 10:30, 11 p.m. at night. Uh, but 9:30 is a long time. Like most gymnasts are not still training at 9:30 p.m. And they have probably been up for, you know, 12 plus hours. And it just makes for a really long day where you have to be really strategic with nutrition. And so uh your level nine might be competing in an evening session, you know, especially in like a smaller um invitational. If it's a really big meet, I feel like they're probably in the morning or in the middle of the day, but you never know. And at this age and stage, we need to be flexible. We need to know exactly how to fuel whether we're competing at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 7 p.m., 2 p.m., like doesn't matter. I will say at this age and stage, uh the nerves often start to really creep in because again, we're kind of at that prepubescent, pubescent agent stage where the brain is just um developed more and so it's much more aware of some of the nerves and just really the risk involved in a lot of what they're doing. And it's all the more reason to make sure your gymnast is fueled adequately because the underfed brain is an anxious brain. And if your gymnast is already stressed out about the comp, their body's already in fight or flight. If they're also underfueled, it's just gonna make it that more difficult. And they're not gonna have the energy that their brain needs to help regulate mood and emotion. And so whether that means your gymnast is just terrified and super nervous and get can't get through her routines, or she's an emotional basket case because she can't keep it together. Like I'm not saying that nutrition is gonna fix all of those issues, but um it's definitely essential for your gymnast to feel her best, to be able to think her clearest and the most quickly, and also to be able to use and engage with the mental tools that she's learned in the gym, with her, you know, psychologists, so on and so forth. At level 10, at this age and stage, your gymnast needs to know exactly how to fuel herself. Her nutrition strategy for during gym days, for competition days, it should be 100% dialed in. You have been in this sport for a long time, and it is unfortunate if you don't know how to fuel your kid. If you don't, you're not alone. So no judgment. Uh, but I promise your gymnast could perform better. And while a lot of gymnasts at this age and stage will tell you exactly what they like to eat pre-competition, it's usually not the right thing. I cannot tell you how many of my 16-year-old level tom gymnasts want a Caesar salad before a competition. And I'm like, that is really the last thing that you need before a competition. It has not enough carbs, it's got a good amount of protein, which plus or minus, um a bunch of fiber from the lettuce and fat from the dressing. Like, that's just not the right mix of what you want pre-competition. And it's either that or it's just all carbs. Like it's only a bagel or only, you know, pancakes or only whatever. And it's like, no, no, like you do need carbs, but you also need a little bit of protein. And it's really timing is the biggest piece. And I think a lot of these gymnasts, their timing is completely off. A lot of these gymnasts at level 10, they are competing at five, six, seven o'clock at night. And a lot of them hate it. And because of that, they'll try to sleep in as late as possible just to try to shorten the day or shorten the time leading up to the competition. They often get really nervous before the competition. So then, you know, after lunch, they don't want to eat anything. And if the last thing they've eaten is at, you know, two o'clock and they don't compete until six o'clock and they're competing until 9:30, that just makes for a really long day and them essentially going into that competition underfueled. Obviously, they don't need as much nutrition for a competition compared to a normal, you know, four to six hour workout just because they're not doing as much exercise. But level 10 is hard, right? And there's a lot of time spent warming up, time warmups, touches, so on and so forth. And then we also just have like the nerves that creep in. There's more pressure with trying to make it to regionals and nationals, more pressure with college coaches, scouting them out, you know, so on and so forth. And so if your kid has made it to level 10 and you have never invested in fueling support, this is your time. And I don't care if you have a 12-year-old level 10 or you have an 18-year-old level 10. There is so much more for them in terms of performance, in terms of just mood and emotional stability, in terms of resiliency and longevity. And more than likely, if your kid is at level 10, they're trying to do elite or they're trying to get to college gymnastics. And so this is where fueling can really either make or break it for them. The last group I want to touch on is elite and probably college gymnasts. And I'll say that fueling for these competitions is a whole different animal in and of itself. Um, these competitions are long and they often have podium training. So, you know, practice training like on the actual race podium. Um, you know, warmups might be several hours before the competition starts. And there's often like five, six, seven plus hours between the last meal and actually like starting on your first event. And sometimes that is just how it is. Like you don't necessarily have time to go get something between warmups and the competition, and there's not necessarily enough time for like a full meal. So it's definitely um a whole different strategy compared to like dev program gymnastics competitions. I will say that along with this level of competition often comes cross-country or international travel with different time zones, altitudes, and climates. And so this is a whole topic in and of itself that we go super deep on in our fueling for comp season workshop. Um, it's definitely something I go really nitty-gritty with all of our gymnasts, especially our elites, because you want to perform like you practice, right? Um, I have a bunch of elites that are competing in Colorado Springs in January at Pike's Peak. And if you're not familiar, Colorado Springs is like 7,000 feet elevation. So if you're from anywhere lower than that, especially if you're from like sea level, uh, it'll be a rude awakening in terms of just your ability to breathe and your endurance just because of the altitude. And while acclimating is one of the best things you can do, and that certainly takes time. Often when you're traveling to a meet, you know, you're only there for so many days, right? Because it's already super expensive to travel there and pay for the coaches and the hotels and the food and all the stuff. So you're probably just trying to get in and get out. Um, but there are definitely things that you can do with your nutrition, with the timing of nutrition, with your minerals, with hydration, electrolytes, your sleep. There's a lot of things that you can do to try to help your body, you know, get back online so that your gymnast can feel their best. I will say at this elite college level, um, nerves often crop up, which I mean, hopefully at this point your gymnast has some really good mental coaching and mental support to help with that. But often the pressure is just that much higher, especially if we're competing for Team USA internationally or we're competing at the Olympic trials, or we're, you know, trying to help our college team make it to NCAA nationals. And then they're just generally long competitions in big arenas. Um, you're probably there for days on end just because of training and podium training and travel. So you're not at your house, you don't have your pantry, you're not in your bed, right? Like there's just a lot of factors that can throw your gymnast off their game. And having a really solid competition fueling plan that begins as soon as you leave for the airport, that is one of the best ways to help your gymnasts feel calm and confident and perform like they practice. So if any of this has sparked your interest, I am super, super excited to announce that we are doing a brand new two-day workshop called our competition season nutrition clinic. This is for level six through eight, nine and ten elite gymnasts and parents, where we're gonna teach you what you need to know about checking in on your gymnast's current nutrition habits and figuring out what's working and what's not. You're gonna walk away from this two evening workshop, understanding what it really matters in terms of your gymnast nutrition, what you can start on working immediately. That can help them right now at the beginning of comp season, then things that might take a little bit longer. And we're gonna talk a lot about how your gymnast goals relate to nutrition, which will also help them to buy in. It is just a two-day workshop. We'll meet for 45 minutes on Sunday night and then 45 minutes on Monday night. This will be recorded, although we do have some pretty sweet giveaways for all those who commit to showing up live. Um, the link for more information and to register is in the show notes. It is a paid two-day workshop. It is just $25. Why is it not free? Because what I'm gonna teach you inside this workshop are things that we include in our paid balanced gymnast program. And we want to honor those who are currently working with us. So, with that, I hope this episode has been helpful. I'm super excited to ring in the new year. And if you have any questions, any concerns, if this has sparked your interest, if you are wanting custom nutrition support for your gymnast, uh please shoot us a message on Instagram and we will chat there. All right, bye for now. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Gymnast Nutritionist Podcast, sponsored by the Balanced Gymnast Method course. Make sure to hit the subscriber follow button so you don't miss out on any episodes. You can find any links that we mentioned in the show notes of the episode and also how you can work with us. If you're looking to learn to fuel your gymnast for optimal performance without the stress or overwhelm, feel free to email us if you have any questions. You can reach us at support at Christinaandersonrdn.com, share what's going on, and we'll get back to you. Or you can learn more about our programs by going to our website, Christinaandersonrdn.comslash work with us. Bye for now.