Perform Ep 15: Jordan Sullivan: Fueling for Sports Performance & Body Composition

In this episode, my guest is Jordan Sullivan, APD, a registered sports dietitian and the founder of The Fight Dietitian (TFD), whose clients include UFC world champions, Olympians, and ultra-endurance athletes. We discuss performance nutrition, focusing on how to strategically use diet and nutrition to optimize an athlete’s physical performance, recovery, and overall health while aligning with their training intensity and volume. We take a holistic view of nutrition, considering individualized goals, lifestyle factors, training schedules, and meal frequency.We also cover core nutrition principles for non-elite athletes, including calorie estimates, macronutrient thresholds, and how to estimate calorie deficits for sustainable weight loss. Additionally, we explore different fuel sources used during exercise and how they shape an effective nutrition strategy for training and competition. Finally, we discuss pre-competition nutrition for endurance athletes, hydration, electrolytes, and extreme weight cutting.

Articles

• Low carbohydrate, high fat diet impairs exercise economy and negates the performance benefit from intensified training in elite race walkers (The Physiological Society)

Other Resources

• Harris-Benedict Equation – Basal Energy Expenditure (Cornell)
• Calorie Calculator (Mayo Clinic)
• Cunningham Equation (Nutrium)
• Nedd Brockmann Runs Across Australia (CNN)
• Nix Biosensors
• TFD Meal Plans, Guides & Courses

People Mentioned

• Kai Kara-France: New Zealand mixed martial artist
• Alexander Volkanovski: Australian mixed martial artist
• Israel Adesanya: Nigerian mixed martial artist
• Leon Edwards: English mixed martial artist
• Stuart Phillips: professor of kinesiology, McMaster University
• Graeme Close: professor of sport and exercise science, Liverpool John Moores University
• Nedd Brockmann: Australian ultramarathon athlete
• David Costill: Professor Emeritus, human bioenergetics, Ball State University
• Steve Prefontaine: American long-distance runner
• Frank Shorter: American long-distance runner
• Haile Gebrselassie: Ethiopian long-distance runner