CSCS nutrition, fueling and its limits

An athlete with type 1 diabetes asks the strength and conditioning professional to design a meal plan to manage his blood glucose around training. What is the appropriate response?

1. Provide a plan from general guidelines
   A plan built from general guidelines is still an individualized meal plan for a medical condition, which falls outside the strength coach's scope.
2. Refer him to a registered dietitian
   Designing a meal plan to manage blood glucose in type 1 diabetes is medical nutrition therapy, so the right move is referral to a registered dietitian.
3. Advise a low-carbohydrate diet plan
   Recommending a low-carbohydrate plan prescribes diet for a disease and risks hypoglycemia around training.

A 176-lb (80.0-kg) athlete weighs 78.5 kg after practice. During the session she drank 1.0 L of fluid and produced 0.4 L of urine. What is her estimated sweat loss?

1. 2.5 L
   2.5 L adds the fluid intake but forgets to subtract the urine.
2. 2.1 L
   Sweat loss = 1.5 kg body-mass loss + 1.0 L drunk − 0.4 L urine = 2.1 L.
3. 1.5 L
   1.5 L counts only the body-mass change and ignores the fluid she drank and the urine she produced.

A supplement label lists "Energy Focus Blend (caffeine, taurine, synephrine) 1.8 g" with no individual amounts. What is the MAIN obstacle to judging the product's safety?

1. Taurine is a banned stimulant
   Taurine is an amino acid, not a stimulant, and it is not on banned lists.
2. It has 1.8 g of caffeine
   The 1.8 g is the weight of the whole blend, not of caffeine alone, so reading it as caffeine misreads the label.
3. Stimulant doses are not disclosed
   A proprietary blend lists only the total, so the dose of each stimulant is unknown and its safety cannot be judged.

A 193-lb (87.5-kg) male athlete with 20% body fat consumes 2,800 kcal per day and expends 700 kcal per day in exercise. What is his energy availability?

1. 30 kcal/kg FFM
   Fat-free mass is 87.5 kg × 0.80 = 70 kg, and (2,800 − 700) ÷ 70 = 30 kcal/kg FFM.
2. 40 kcal/kg FFM
   40 kcal/kg uses total intake without subtracting the exercise energy expenditure.
3. 24 kcal/kg FFM
   24 kcal/kg divides by total body mass instead of fat-free mass.

A collegiate athlete whose diet is mostly fast food with few fruits or vegetables asks about starting creatine because he feels low on energy in training. What is the MOST appropriate first recommendation?

1. Improve his diet quality
   A low-quality diet is the most likely cause of low energy, so fixing food choices comes before any supplement is considered.
2. Add a daily multivitamin
   A multivitamin cannot replace the energy, carbohydrate and other nutrients missing from a fast-food diet.
3. Begin a creatine loading phase
   Creatine loading targets high-intensity performance and does nothing to correct the diet that is draining his energy.

An athlete asks what a third-party "Certified for Sport" seal on a supplement actually verifies. Which answer is accurate?

1. Tested for banned substances
   A third-party sport certification seal means batches have been tested for banned substances and contaminants.
2. Approved by the FDA for sale
   The FDA does not approve dietary supplements before sale, so no seal can mean FDA approval.
3. Proven to improve performance
   A certification seal says nothing about whether the product works; it covers contents and contaminants only.

A football player who trains for 90 minutes in the heat reports frequent muscle cramps and white, salty residue on his clothing after sessions. Which hydration change is MOST appropriate?

1. Drink only when he feels thirsty
   Drinking only when thirsty lags behind sweat losses in long, hot sessions and does nothing to restore sodium.
2. Add sodium to his fluids and meals
   Cramping and salt-crusted clothing point to large sodium losses, so adding sodium to his drinks and meals replaces what he sweats out.
3. Drink more plain water in sessions
   More plain water replaces fluid but not sodium, and in a salty sweater it can dilute blood sodium further.

A vegetarian distance runner with low-normal ferritin has been cleared by her physician to improve iron intake through diet. Which strategy BEST increases iron absorption from plant foods?

1. Drink tea or coffee with meals
   The polyphenols in tea and coffee bind non-heme iron and lower its absorption when taken with meals.
2. Add vitamin C–rich foods to meals
   Vitamin C turns non-heme iron into a form that is easier to absorb, so pairing it with plant iron sources raises uptake.
3. Eat them with dairy foods
   Calcium competes with iron for absorption, so eating plant iron with dairy reduces how much is taken up.

After a match, a rugby player plans to drink several beers instead of eating a recovery meal. Which effect on his recovery is MOST likely?

1. Better rehydration from the fluid
   Alcohol increases urine output, so the fluid in beer does not rehydrate well.
2. Faster glycogen resynthesis
   Beer replaces carbohydrate-rich food and alcohol interferes with storage, so glycogen recovery is slower, not faster.
3. Reduced muscle protein synthesis
   Alcohol, especially in place of a meal, blunts muscle protein synthesis after exercise and slows repair.

A 198-lb (90-kg) wrestler begins a 4-week caloric restriction phase to reduce body fat while preserving lean mass. Which daily protein intake is MOST appropriate?

1. 108 g
   108 g is 1.2 g/kg, the low end of the range for athletes in energy balance, and a deficit calls for more.
2. 72 g
   72 g is 0.8 g/kg, the minimum for sedentary adults, which is far too little to protect lean mass while dieting.
3. 180 g
   During a calorie deficit, protein moves to the high end of the athlete range; 2.0 g/kg × 90 kg = 180 g per day.

A 220-lb (100-kg) American football lineman is in a heavy preseason training block. Using the guideline for strength and power athletes of 1.4–2.0 g/kg per day, what is his daily protein range?

1. 140–200 g
   Multiplying 100 kg by 1.4 and by 2.0 gives 140–200 g of protein per day.
2. 308–440 g
   308–440 g applies the g/kg range to body weight in pounds, roughly doubling the target.
3. 100–140 g
   100–140 g corresponds to 1.0–1.4 g/kg, which starts below the stated guideline.

During a hot outdoor practice, a 154-lb (70-kg) athlete loses 1.2 kg of body mass. Approximately how much fluid should she drink over the following hours to fully rehydrate?

1. 1.0–1.2 L
   Drinking only 1.0–1.2 L matches the loss one-for-one and ignores the urine produced while rehydrating.
2. 2.4–3.0 L
   2.4–3.0 L is about double the recommended volume for a 1.2-kg loss.
3. 1.5–1.8 L
   Full rehydration takes about 1.25–1.5 L for each kilogram lost, so 1.2 kg calls for about 1.5–1.8 L.

An athlete finishes a 2-hour conditioning session at 10:00 AM and has a strength session at 4:00 PM. Which post-exercise nutrition strategy BEST restores muscle glycogen in this 6-hour window?

1. Low-GI carbohydrate only
   Low-GI carbohydrate is absorbed slowly, so less glycogen is restored in a short window.
2. Protein alone
   Protein alone supports repair but supplies too little substrate to rebuild glycogen.
3. Early high-GI carbohydrate
   With only six hours between sessions, eating high-glycemic carbohydrate soon after exercise restores glycogen at the fastest rate.

Three athletes are weighed before and after a high-intensity session: Athlete A 100.0 kg → 98.4 kg; Athlete B 60.0 kg → 58.6 kg; Athlete C 75.0 kg → 73.9 kg. Which athlete exceeded the dehydration level at which performance is typically impaired?

1. Athlete A only
   Athlete A lost the most kilograms, but 1.6 kg of 100 kg is only 1.6% of body mass.
2. Athlete B only
   Athlete B lost 1.4 kg of 60 kg, about 2.3%, the only loss above the roughly 2% level at which performance suffers.
3. Athletes A and B
   Athlete A stays below the 2% level once the loss is expressed relative to body mass, so only B crosses it.

A 220-lb (100-kg) athlete needs 160 g of protein per day. Which meal pattern BEST meets this total while optimizing muscle protein synthesis across the day?

1. 4 meals of 40 g
   Four servings of about 40 g (roughly 0.4 g/kg) spread through the day each stimulate muscle protein synthesis and reach 160 g.
2. 2 meals of 80 g
   Two 80-g servings reach the total but give only two feeding opportunities, so muscle protein synthesis is stimulated fewer times across the day.
3. 10 meals of 16 g
   Ten 16-g doses are each too small to stimulate muscle protein synthesis fully in a 100-kg athlete.