Professional Supplements for Wise Athletes

Author of over 30 books on running & endurance

Matt Fitzgerald, a certified sports nutritionist, started running on April 19, 1983, one day after watching his father complete the Boston Marathon. This began a lifelong love affair with the sport. Having completed 50 marathons of his own, authored more than 30 books, cofounded the world’s largest online provider of endurance training resources, and coached dozens of his fellow runners to their goals, Matt lives by the motto, “Let your passion, not your ability, decide how far you go.” That’s why he created Dream Run Camp–to enable runners of all abilities who share his passion for the sport to see just how far they can go.

How do you know what you are capable of doing if you don't try? Matt Fitzgerald trains athletes of all ages, including older athletes, but he doesn't have "older athlete training plans". Matt says everyone has limiters...you have to choose to go at them or around them, or let them define you. Older athletes often self-limit themselves to play it safe but with careful attention to building up capacity, older athletes are proving themselves to be capable of more speed, more strength and more endurance than ever before.

Our talk today is about how can the older athlete avoid settling for being older...how to find compensations and motivations and expert tricks for retaining or regaining the athletic capacity of yesteryear.

Some important notes:

• Don’t let the expectations of declining athletic capacity turn. Into a self fulfilling prophecy
• …”not every man truly lives”
• You have to push the envelope regularly or the envelope shrinks in on you
• Focus on the big rocks: training hard frequently (finding your own way that works for you), keeping the joy in it, setting and reaching for big goals )
• Everyone has limiters. They are unique to the individual and they change over time. You have to treat the training process as an open ended experiment. You have to identify the limiters and then work towards or around them. But find out what they really are not what you think they are because you are older.
• Keep moving. But use different forms of movement to spread the load.
• Scale back the volume but maintain the intensity
• Treat “niggles” with care. Incremental Retreat — backed progressively to be careful without being fearful and losing big chunks of fitness.
• Training as treatment - ryan whited. Motion is lotion.
• Disadvantages AND advantages of being older: youth is wasted on the young.
• Compensate for losing some athletic capacity by tightening down the lifestyle that you couldn’t bother to do when younger. Diet, sleep, better training protocols.
• Diet: eat enough of a wide range of whole foods with enough of all macros. Avoid processed foods.
• Avoid reductionist rabbit holes.
• Supplements: case by case. Most people can benefit from: fish oil , iron (if you need it), creatine
• Cross training: lifting weights, physical skill acquisition, balance and coordination, don’t stop playing
• Periodization is a good practice. Weekly / monthly / seasonal cycles

• Stronger, Faster, Older

Professional Grade Supplements for Wise Athletes

Trevor Connor is an exercise physiologist, endurance sports coach, and former professional cyclist with nearly 20 years of racing experience. He has coached at national performance centers in both Canada and the U.S., managed teams such as Team Rio Grande, and holds a master's degree in exercise bioenergetics and nutrition. He is also the co-host of the Fast Talk podcast, which focuses on the science of endurance performance.

Trevor earned his master's degree in exercise bioenergetics and nutrition from Colorado State University, where he was the final graduate student of Dr. Loren Cordain, the originator of the Paleo Diet. His research focused on the effects of a Paleo-style diet on autoimmune conditions, including multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease

• CEO of The Paleo Diet, LLC: Since 2018, Connor has led the company, overseeing its programs, certifications, and branding initiatives
• Co-founder and CEO of Fast Talk Laboratories: He co-founded this platform dedicated to endurance sports science, offering resources on training, nutrition, and performance
• Cycling Career: A former semi-professional cyclist, Connor trained at the Canadian National Center and managed Team Rio Grande, a top-ranked amateur team in the U.S.

The Paleo Diet. Initially skeptical of the Paleo Diet, Connor's perspective shifted after personal experimentation led to improved health and a return to competitive cycling at age 40. He now advocates for whole-food nutrition and challenges traditional high-carbohydrate sports diets, emphasizing the benefits of healthy fats and reduced sugar intake

Our talk today is mostly about how can the older athlete get the most out of the Paleo Diet and how to personalize it to make it work for each of us. What are the most important guidelines of the Paleo Diet that should guide and simplify our food decision-making. Foods to emphasize and minimize. Eating (and not eating) patterns that matter.

Some important notes:

• Macronutrient based diets are hard to get right because there are healthy and unhealthy versions of all macronutrient diets. Paleo is not about macros, but instead about whole foods that mimics the food supply 10,000 years ago. Fruits, vegetables, naturally grown meat and fish, and nuts and seeds sparingly. Limit grains and minimize dairy. Some people should also limit legumes (beans / pulses / lentils / etc)
• Eating whole foods means not just getting the vitamins and minerals and macronutrients but also the food matrix....all the other stuff in things that were once alive. Everything provides some benefit as long as we don't overdo it. But eating processed foods without the food matrix is a poor health choice.
• An ancestral diet is hard to define exactly and impossible to replicate today, but some features can be mimicked: not eating the same things all the time or out of season, not eating the full daily calorie requirements every single day, eating foods that were recently alive are hard to chew (good for oral health and is satiating), not over-eating foods that didn't exist (dairy, processed food) or were in short supply (grains, beans).
• Eat more potassium and less sodium (people generally get too much sodium; avoid processed food with sodium)
• Eat more magnesium and less dairy (less calcium). Target 2:1 calcium to magnesium; most people are 4:1 calcium to magnesium.
• Supplements recommended by Trevor: Vitamin D, Fish Oil (EPA/DHA), Magnesium (especially if consuming dairy: heavy calcium source), Taurine (especiall...

Professional Grade Supplements for WiseAthletes

The TriDoc Podcast is a bi-weekly show hosted by Dr. Jeff Sankoff, the host of the TriDoc podcast, is an emergency physician, Ironman triathlete, certified coach, and older athlete (58). Dr Sankoff is the exact type of expert for the Wise Athletes podcast. Dr Sankoff specializes in providing athletes with evidence-based insights into health, wellness, and training, and helping us all distinguish scientific facts from marketing hype.

• TriDoc Podcast
• TriDoc Coaching
• Tempo Talks Podcast

• OTC Drugs -- impact on exercise performance -- aspirin, ibuprofen, Tylenol, anti-histamines
• Pharmacutical Drugs - impact on exercise performance -- cholesterol, BP, heart rhythm, prostate meds, ED meds
• Jeff's 3 Supplements

• Episode 36 | Dr Jeff Sankoff is the TriDoc

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*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Episode 36 | Dr Jeff Sankoff is the Tri-Doc