Mastering Sports Nutrition w/ Registered Dietitian & CNS Jaclyn Sklaver

Jaclyn IG - athleatsnutrition 
Unlock the secrets of sports nutrition as Jackie, a seasoned sports nutritionist, takes us into the world of professional athletes. Jackie reveals the art of crafting personalized nutrition plans by working closely with chefs, coaches, and athletes themselves. Her journey underscores the importance of tailoring approaches to meet individual needs, highlighting how her involvement shifts based on an athlete's lifestyle and demands. Jackie also shares her entrepreneurial journey, emphasizing the power of networking and the dedication required to build a trusted brand within the sports industry.

We'll explore the dynamic relationship between trainers and nutritionists, focusing on how the Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) role enriches the sports nutrition field. I open up about my experiences balancing graduate studies and practical work in bustling cities like Atlanta and New York, showcasing how a robust network of trainers, coaches, and experts can amplify client results. Our conversation underscores the value of collaboration and different financial models that streamline and enhance the client experience, ultimately providing a holistic approach to health and performance.

Join us as we navigate the nuanced realm of professional credentialing for fitness and nutrition experts. We dissect popular certifications, such as Precision Nutrition, and their role in broadening a trainer's understanding without overstepping professional boundaries. We stress the need for further education and cooperation with licensed dietitians and nutritionists, ensuring clients receive safe and effective guidance. Additionally, I share insights on maintaining a remote clientele, proving that geographic borders need not limit access to qualified nutrition support. Connect with me and my team of dietitians on social media as we continue to support the fitness community with informed, professional guidance.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry one qualified trainer at a time, with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy everybody and welcome back to the Show Up Fitness podcast. I'm your favorite trainer with a belt buckle, and today we have Jackie, your favorite sports nutritionist. So thank you very much for showing up today. Jackie, thank you for having me Excited to be here.

Speaker 1 0:44

And you got some. You got some cool stuff that you're doing right now. Not only do you have a team that you work with under you, but you work with professional athletes and love to learn more about what your day-to-day looks like working with those athletes. And then we'll talk about the life of a dietitian and working with trainers.

Speaker 2 1:01

Sure. So working with professional athletes is it's different for everybody. It's different depending on the time of year. Are we in season, out of season, what sport are they playing, where are they located and how much they want to be involved in their life. So it really varies athlete to athlete. Um, it's definitely intense. Uh, you're very, very hands on and involved in the day-to-day activities of everything that's going into their body. And for me, with my full-time athletes, I communicate with their chef, their strength and conditioning coach, their manager, their physical therapist and the team. I like to talk on a daily basis. I think I might annoy some people, but I need to know what's going on, because unless I know what is actually going into the athlete's body or not, then I can't really help to the fullest capacity. So I try to be as involved as I can, but every athlete is different on the level that they want you involved and you just learn to taper and know what your athlete wants or doesn't want and you go along with that.

Speaker 1 1:55

That's crazy. So you're really, really involved on a daily basis. So what does that life look like? What are the conversations around? Is it like nuances, like I don't like this food, or is it not eating enough? I know it's, it's broad, but what are some of the things that you you see on a daily basis?

Speaker 2 2:14

By the time I am working with an athlete one-on-one I already know what types of foods they like and don't like. Now, usually it can take a little bit of time, especially if it's the first season I've worked with somebody, because a lot of what I do is help them when they're on the road and travel as well, whether it be on season, whether it be out of season or in season. I have to learn what I would do if I were them looking at a menu, and so I have to. Really, I really understand what they like and don't like by the time we're rolling, so that is kind of I don't have to talk to them on a daily basis.

Speaker 2 2:41

Now, don't get me wrong. I have some athletes that are really involved and they want to know and they want to learn and they have questions and they reach out. And then I have some athletes where I'm talking more to the team around them their support staff than I am speaking to them on a daily basis. Obviously, I'll send them messages if I need to, or remind them or checking in with them once a week and getting on a or some athletes like to Zoom. Everyone's very different, so it really varies person to person, but ultimately I have to. Just like I do with my non-athletes, I try to take myself and put them into their shoes and like step into their life and their body, while I'm making decisions and helping them.

Speaker 1 3:16

Now, the life of a dietician outside of a hospital is not this. You know, it's a little different, right? You are an entrepreneur, you are building your brand, you're grinding and how do you get your clients? It's not like you know, lebron James is walking on the street and you go hey, work with me. How did you build?

Speaker 2 3:33

this Years and years of building and networking and that is one thing I've done since day one is put myself in the right rooms. I went to NFL Combine for years in a row by myself and NBA Summer League by myself. I went to. I go everywhere you need to be Super Bowl week to all the events networking. I also know a lot of strength and conditioning coaches and physical therapists and there is a big part of that because it's a very one-on-one referral. It's who you know, also what you know, but who you know. So relationships are really important and I spent a good time and I still do. I spent a good time of my career and a lot of money because these events are very expensive to attend, to be in the right rooms with the right people.

Speaker 2 4:13

I remember my first couple of years going to NFL Combine. I was so nervous, I knew nobody. I would just go and I'd like hang out in the hotel lobbies or hang out around Before COVID. You know you could actually be. There was more networking, you could be at the convention center.

Speaker 2 4:25

But now when I go it's like a family reunion. You know, I know everyone, I see everybody. It's a lot. It's not less nerve wracking than it used to be. So you really you have to go out of your comfort zone and put yourself in the right places and establish relationships, and your work speaks for itself too, right. So, with me having started with some athletes, you know I interned at an NFL off season facility in Atlanta and, having been there and showing up once again every day, even when my contract was over, I still showed up. I said, can I still come in? Do you mind if I show up here? And they were like, of course, and I did. You know, I showed up every day and started to work with the athletes and once they see your work then they will start to talk.

Speaker 1 5:00

I'm going to cut that up and put it on Instagram, cause I think you said show up about 10 times, right there.

Speaker 2 5:06

Yeah, oh, yeah, and that's your thing. Yeah, no, you really. That's the bottom line. People don't understand that it really is. Even though I work remotely and I work from home now and that's changed a lot after COVID, where I used to be in the facilities Um, I will still travel to see my athletes and I do always want to meet their strength and conditioning coach and their chef and their team. A lot of it's working from home, but you do still have to put yourself in the right places to be in front of people in person, because, even though I don't need to be in front of these people to make things happen, you do need to be in front of people to establish relationships.

Speaker 1 5:38

There's a lot to unpack right there and I want to start with what you said earlier. It's what you know, but also who you know, and I think there's a lot of parallels with trainers, because they want it just handed to them. They're not willing to go invest and go fly somewhere to be around the best and work with coaches and network with individuals, and so I really think it's important for nutrition coaches and trainers to understand first off, what it takes to become a dietitian. So can you just tell us again what it looks like from undergrad master's dietetic internship? There's a lot of commitment there and a lot to learn.

Maximizing Trainer-Nutritionist Relationships

Speaker 2 6:13

Yeah, absolutely so. First of all I'm a CNS, which is different than RD same path, both licensed dietitian. So for me it was a little bit different. I went and got my master's degree in human nutrition and I did an internship in Atlanta, down in Atlanta working with professional athletes, and then also I was going back and forth. I used to fly back and forth to New York. So a lot of my hours I didn't do my clinical hours at a hospital. I had to do a thousand hours, but they were all hands-on with patients and with athletes and so different than an RD where they have to do clinical rotations.

Speaker 2 6:47

I've supervised some so I've seen how that works for. And we do still have sections Like you have to do GI and then you have to do adrenal and you have to, you have to check all the same boxes. But for me it was really cool because I got to do it with athletes and I got to help them with their health. So I did that and I really put in. Like I said, I was still in grad school. I used to fly from New York City to Atlanta on the weekends, from Atlanta to New York City on the weekends to go to school. So I put in a lot of work there and then from there I was lucky because I used to be a personal trainer in New York City. I had a lot of connections with trainers so I was the go-to person. If their client needed nutrition, they sent them to me.

Speaker 1 7:27

So that really helped me start my business off in New York for sure. I love that. I interviewed a sports dietitian and she said put the tit back in dietitian. I always say trainers will email dietitians and they'll spell it C-I-A-N and that pisses dietitians off more right.

Speaker 2 7:43

I actually saw a dietitian post something the other day and spelled it that way and I sent it to my other friend. I'm like is this person serious? How do you spell what your career is wrong? I think it comes from Europe, because they do use a C and I think also in like England they use a C. I don't know, but we're here.

Speaker 1 8:00

That professionalism is huge and something that we're trying to accomplish at Show Up is connecting trainers more with dietitians and unfortunately, you know, I make fun of trainers all the time, being a trainer but we go outside of our scope and we think we know everything or we're entitled to the fact that, oh, I eat. It's not that hard to know this stuff. But there's something about connecting with the professional, what not only builds your team but your confidence and your network. So talk to us more about that. The community is so important to build with trainers and coaches and athletic trainers and dieticians.

Speaker 2 8:38

Yeah, absolutely, especially if you're in private practice. We all need each other and so you want to have a network. The bigger network you have, the more valuable you are to your client, right? So if you are one of the top trainers and you say you know, not just do you work with me, but you also have access to Jackie she's one of the top sports nutritionists in the country and and you and I have you know these referrals for physical therapists, or I know these people I mean then your client is going to want to work with you and look at you as much more valuable because you have this network for them.

Speaker 2 9:05

Because I can almost say nobody wants to come to you just for training. They want to know everything else that you have around you, because they don't know about this stuff. People are going to their offices and working in their own field and they want to hire us to take that off their plate. They want, they want the accountability. They want you to work through a workout. They want you to tell them about who they need for nutrition, who they need for this, where to get their sports clothes, everything right. They want to come to you for everything.

Speaker 2 9:26

So the more you know, and the better your network, the more valuable you are. And then we refer off of each other too. You know I send people referrals to the trainers I know in various cities and the bottom line is results right. You want your client or your athlete to get the best results and the more tools that you have for them and the more you can offer them, the better results they're going to get. So if you start like I have somebody in Atlanta who every time a new client signs up with him, I'm brought on board right away because he knows he's going to get better results, he knows that they're going to be there long-term, he knows that they're going to feel like this is worthwhile, and he always every single person. That's been going on for years, where once he signs a new client, I'm on board and I do an intake with them and I get them rolling on nutrition.

Speaker 1 10:09

I love that. The specifics, though, is it is he contracting you, or is it just like a handoff and then they pay you? How does that work from a financial?

Speaker 2 10:18

aspect. So in his situation he pays me. Most situations it's just transferred over to me where they're saying okay, here's Jackie, she's going to work with you. You figure out what you guys need in his situation, cause he does yearly packages with a lot of his clients, or six month packages. That's how he works. He includes it in and I understand that, cause do that sometimes too with. I work with some meal prep chefs where some clients just want to see what's the number going to be to get everything done, and so I do that. I'll contract with some chefs and I just I handle everything. Everything's paid through me. I pay the chef and my client has what they need. So it all depends on what they want to look at from a business perspective. But most of the time trainers just you know, referring me, connecting me in an email, connecting me in a text that's pretty much how they do it.

Speaker 1 11:06

Unless they're doing a more concierge service. That's interesting, cause that concierge is a big thing right now, and I'd be curious to see where psychology falls under your realm. Do you have a therapist that you consult with with when to the hospital?

Speaker 2 11:17

I have a psychologist but because I take a holistic approach, one of the areas we definitely look we focus on is mindset.

Speaker 2 11:23

So I'm really big on meditation. I have a Reiki and meditation coach that I work with as well, depending on what people need and where they're at and, believe it or not, a lot of athletes do need that and breath work. So breath work, meditation, mindset those are all areas that we're going to focus on because I do functional medicine, nutrition and all the pieces kind of need to be working together to get the best results. And so if we're looking at your stress or we're looking at fight or flight or your inability to eat before a game or your inability, you know some people can't sleep and when you talk to athletes a lot, they will open up to you more, so you get to hear what else is going on, and so I look at it as a more holistic and comprehensive approach. I'm not doing it all myself, I'm not an expert in those areas, but I know enough and I know that it's needed and I practice it myself so I can refer you out.

Speaker 1 12:09

I fucking love that, because I don't know what it is with trainers. They try to be a jack of all trade. I'm going to do your corrective exercise and your rehab, prehab. And I'm also going to do the mindset stuff where if you take a step back, you're looking out for the person in front of you and when you build that team, that's so cool to see that you just your life almost becomes easier too because you have that expert. You can just say go see them, go see them, and it's going to be optimized.

Speaker 2 12:34

You're really doing your client a disservice by acting like you can do everything. You just are. And you know, I work with a lot of athletic trainers and physical therapists and when I see people doing body work that's out of their scope of practice, it really drives me crazy because I feel like you know you're doing a disservice to your client. That's not. You know, just because you have a bachelor's degree in exercise physiology does not mean that you have the right to manipulate or rehab or prehab or put your hands on somebody in that manner. You could be a trainer if you have a certification, but you actually have to go to school for a master's degree, if not more, to be able to do any of the other modalities that people are practicing.

Speaker 1 13:11

I love that even more. And let's clarify for the trainers and coaches listening what are those things that you see trainers doing that they can't, oh gosh.

Speaker 2 13:23

So I see a lot of people outside their scope of practice with nutrition. Now I see it with these lab tests and with hormone testing and stuff which is so complex. I mean, I study metabolic pathways of nutrition, metabolic pathways of your entire body, all the time. I study in grad school and I study it now it's like a hobby of mine and I still feel like I'm not an expert. So if you think that you have not taken a single class and you can just, you know, read someone's hormones or listen to somebody on Instagram, that's not ever going to happen. You know it's pretty complex stuff that we have going on here.

Speaker 1 13:53

And, but when it comes to nutrition, though, can trainers. So it's like that. Oh, it's almost like that gray area, because your clients are. We are at the front line of the defense. Client comes in and says hey, chris, I want to lose 10 pounds, I'm going to try keto, and they want that nutrition advice. And we are big fans of just saying work with our teammates, but what are things that you see trainers doing that you're like oh, actually, you can't be talking about that? That Like, oh, actually you can't be talking about that, that's out of your scope.

Speaker 2 14:19

Everything. I mean, like I said, unless you're telling somebody that you know here's your calories and macros, and even then I often see it being wrong. People think, like, a lot of times people call me and they're like oh well, you know, I count my, I track my macros, I count my calories. I mean, listen, if that me, that are like you know my, my, my trainer gave me macros, okay, but it's not working because you're calling me right. You're like there's something that it can work in the beginning.

Speaker 2 14:49

Listen, anyone who's novice, who never counted macros, you put them, you give them calories and macros and give them my fitness pal fitness pal. And I'm sure if they're strict to it, they'll. They'll lose some weight. Is it the right amount? Is it going to serve them correctly? Is it going to cause too much weight loss? Is it affecting their training? Are they able to build muscle on it? How are they feeling psychologically outside of it? How long can they stick to it? Is there other underlying health issues, like? There's so many things around it. So, unless somebody is having those conversations with them which we do on a regular basis, you can't just say here, follow my fitness pal.

Speaker 1 15:19

That's great and what we had a great question in class the other day because we are big into reaching out and building that team and so when trainers do reach out, they were curious. So I'm in California and you're in Florida. Would you be able to work with my clients here in Santa Monica remotely?

Speaker 2 15:35

Yeah, absolutely. We work with people internationally and all over the country. You know we're all licensed dietitians and that pretty much covers us in every state, and California is actually a state where you don't even have to be licensed, but we do have our coverage in every state. And, like I said, we also work internationally with athletes. So we work remotely. Very rarely am I in person. I'm in person if somebody happens to be training in Miami and I go and watch them at like a session, just to meet them and their coaches. But we work fully remotely. So, yeah, I have quite a few clients in California too.

Speaker 1 16:04

It can be a little challenging because all dietitians are nutritionists but all nutritionists are not dietitians, and so when you're reaching out to nutritionists, nutrition experts, are there some pointers that you have for trainers when it comes to kind of vetting to see if that's someone they want to work with?

Speaker 2 16:23

Well, first of all they need to be a licensed dietitian. I understand that some people, like some States, like I think it's Arizona and California you don't have to be licensed to practice. So I would just see, like, do they have a master's degree in nutrition? That's going to answer you right there, because maybe they live in California and they have their master's degree but they never got their licensure. So then they have to either be an RD or a CNS. Those are the only two pathways that had to do a master's degree and their clinical hours and that were supervised and went through like years of training. Anything else they're not going to fit the bill. So whether it says licensed or not is not as important as are they an RD or are they a CNS. Those are the only two areas that have actually gone through all of the schooling and training.

Speaker 1 17:04

Okay.

Speaker 2 17:05

And that we're qualified to do medical nutrition therapy If that comes up.

Nutrition and Fitness Professional Credentialing

Speaker 1 17:09

Is. Are there acronyms that you see, like nutritionist, or when trainers put other? You know what are your thoughts on precision nutrition or other coaching programs that trainers will put in their bio, thinking it's going to give them the credibility, but in actuality, in the true professional's eyes, you're like, oh, that person's a wanker.

Speaker 2 17:30

Well, I think that if all of the people always ask me like, hey, jackie, I'm looking to get a certification, what do you recommend? And I think precision nutrition is probably the best, because they do take a holistic approach. He teaches a lot of really great coaching skills as far as nutrition is concerned, and so I think it's good to have that under your belt, because then you do have some idea of what you're talking about, right? Like everybody, myself and everybody who works with me is either a CSCS or a personal trainer, because we can't look at your training and you're like we're not making your workouts and your training, but we do know what we're looking at and we have the education to understand it. And I think it should go the other way around.

Speaker 2 18:04

If you're a trainer, I'm not saying that you should be making nutrition programs, but you should have a good idea when you'd be able to hold a conversation with your client about it. So I think precision nutrition is probably one of the best programs out there, um, but it doesn't mean that you're qualified to be writing nutrition programs all time. And I don't know about you, but I know like I'm really busy doing what I'm great at and I wouldn't have time to delve into all that. For other people, like I used to write workout programs back in the day. It's not now. I'm like, oh, I know a great trainer or training coach that I can collaborate with, who can write your programs.

Speaker 2 18:34

So I think that if you're doing your job as a trainer, then you're not really going to have time to be a full nutritionist unless you. You know, there are a couple of people that have a licensure in both. So I think the precision nutrition is probably great to have it under your belt. But all the other things, like I mean, it gets a little tricky because you know CNS is certified nutrition specialist. So technically, you know, we've always asked the board all the time like, can we change that Cause it sounds like, oh well, I'm a certified nutrition specialist, but that is our licensure through our board certification. So yeah, it gets a little tricky when you start looking at these words.

Speaker 1 19:07

For sure, I think PN1 is good, but the fact that you're not able to ask questions that's something that I I wish that trainers could get clarity on what's going on in their mind, because they may not be able to understand what they're reading and there isn't a great pathway for them to ask questions. Get clarity.

Speaker 2 19:26

Yeah, that's true, cause I took that many years ago, but I was already in school for nutrition, so it's hard from my perspective. I kind of knew, um, well, actually, you know, I even had I personally hired a tutor, like when I was studying for my CSCS, because those were things that I didn't go to school, like. I don't have a master's degree in kinesiology, so I had to get a tutor. And I feel like when I was doing a little bit of PN1, I also had a biochem tutor at the time. So I think if you don't have, if you do have questions and you're really interested, it can't hurt to pay, you know, a few dollars to get a tutor.

Speaker 1 19:56

Absolutely. I think that's great. Now, Jackie, where can people find you on social media?

Speaker 2 20:01

At athletes nutrition. It's spelled A-T-H-L-E-A-T-S like eats. Athletes nutrition is on Instagram. That's really my most active area of social media, so I'd suggest going there, you're going to get a potentially some trainers reaching out to you.

Speaker 1 20:15

Are you open to taking on more clients in your team?

Speaker 2 20:18

Yeah, absolutely. I have four dietitians that work with me, so there's always room to take on new people.

Speaker 1 20:28

So we always welcome referrals. Love that, so we'll put that into the show notes and we'll also post this. Thank you for your time today and we're looking forward to sending you some business.

Speaker 2 20:33

Thank you.