Links & Resources

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

Join our NEW Competition Season Nutrition Clinic-- Jan 5 & 6th for female level 6-10/elite gymnasts + parents!

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+&: 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

Join our NEW Competition Season Nutrition Clinic-- Jan 5 & 6th for female level 6-10/elite gymnasts + parents!

Episode 131-Episode- Dec 23-Team “no days off” and why this is keeping your gymnast stuck + struggling “No days off”? The fastest way to ruin your kids gymnast’s career

A lot of the young, high level gymnasts we work with these days were just babies a few years ago during COVID. So, they don’t understand one of the most valuable lessons that came out of COVID, and that lesson was that even with extensive time out of the gym, gymnasts came out for the better.

There’s such a pervasive “no days off” mentality in the gymnastics world, and while there’s nothing wrong with being driven and dedicated...this mentality + underfueling is a huge reason why so many gymnasts are broken + burnt out.

And I see a LOT of gymnasts doing extra S&C, extra workouts, etc on top of their existing 25-30+ hours a week and it just makes me cringe inside.

Why are gymnast so afraid of taking time off?

They’ve been told if they take time off they’ll...

-Lose their skills

-Fall behind their teammates or competition

-Get “Fat”

Here are 3 things I want you to consider before you sign your gymnast up for those extra privates, strength & conditioning, etc (when you could be using those funds to learn how to actually fuel them).

1. Growing, developing gymnasts aren’t the same as mid-20 professional athletes.
2. Does your gymnast really need more training, more private lessons, or does she just need to show up fully fueled and able to engage with the training?
3. Does your gymnast need to worry about her body or nutrition intake when taking days off the gym?

Links & Resources

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts
• Episode 128: Does your gymnast need to "manager her weight" while injured or out of the gym?
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com