As the new school year kicks off, gymnasts everywhere are gearing up for long days packed with school, practice, and sometimes even extracurriculars. Adjusting to this busy schedule can be tough, and many gymnasts find themselves feeling extra tired, having trouble focusing, and struggling to keep their energy up through training.
One of the biggest reasons gymnasts have a hard time keeping up during the school year? Nutrition!
Gymnasts have much higher energy and nutrient needs than their peers, thanks to the hours they spend in the gym and the demands of recovery and muscle growth. But getting enough food during the school day can be a real challenge—especially at lunchtime.
Lunch is an important fueling opportunity for all gymnasts for getting enough energy and nutrients in! For those practicing in the morning, it serves as the first opportunity to refuel after a workout. For those practice in the afternoon or evening, lunch is the pre-workout meal that will help energize the long practice ahead. And yet, so many gymnasts struggle to eat enough (or anything at all) in the middle of the day.
Here’s a look at four common lunchtime fueling challenges for gymnasts and how you can tackle them like a pro.
5 Lunchtime Fueling Challenges for Gymnasts This Back-to-School Season (Solved by a Registered Dietitian)
1. Meeting Energy Demands
The biggest challenge with school lunches? Making sure gymnasts get enough energy and nutrients to power through the rest of the day and into practice. Gymnasts often rush straight to practice after school with little or no time to eat, so lunch becomes their pre-workout meal. It needs to be balanced and satisfying enough to keep them going late into the evening.
Solution: Follow The Athlete’s Plate Guidelines
To build a strong lunch, focus on these essentials:
Energizing starches: Grains and starchy vegetables provide the energy a gymnast needs to keep their muscles and brain powered
Powerful proteins: Lean meats, poultry, fish, legumes, nuts, nut butters, seeds, dairy or tofu help with muscle repair and growth.
Colorful fruits and veggies: These add essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber help with fullness as well as body repair and recovery
Healthy fats: Avocados, nuts, and seeds keep you feeling full and provide a concentrated energy source.
Hydration: Include something to drink to head into the second half of your day hydrated
Stick to a performance plate blueprint and your gymnast will be well-fueled, energized, and ready to thrive both in school and the gym.
2. Balancing Timing and Nutrition
Another challenge? Timing. Gymnasts often have limited time to eat (I've heard as little as 15 minutes) or lunch is scheduled at a weird time (either awkwardly early when they’re just not hungry or so late that they've been hungry and lost focus). This can leave them low on energy, which hurts both their schoolwork and their training sessions.
Solution: Pack Quick, Easy-To-Eat, and Energy-Dense Foods
If your gymnast struggles to eat at their designated lunchtime, pack them low-volume energy dense foods like dried fruit, nuts, seeds, nut butters, energy dense dips like guacamole and hummus, and nutrient dense drinks like milk, juice, and smoothies so they can get more energy into their body with each bite they're able to take.
All-in-one type meals like sandwiches, wraps, and bowls are often quicker for gymnasts to eat compared to a salad or bento-box style lunch where many bites have to be taken.
Additionally, most gymnasts will benefit during the school day from an additional snack when allowed (something they can eat early if they have a late lunch or something they can eat mid-afternoon if their lunch time is earlier in the morning). Think about portable, nutrient-rich options that gymnasts can grab and eat on the go, like protein bars or bites, trail mix (or DIY snack mix), smoothies, drinkable yogurts, pouches, shelf stable chocolate milk or protein drinks.
Refueling during short breaks between classes helps align with their schedule and keeps their energy up.
3. Meal Planning and Preparation
Meal planning and preparation can feel like a daunting task, especially with the demands of school, activities, and training. Parents and gymnasts often struggle to balance the need for fueling lunches with the convenience needed for busy schedules. And so often, gymnasts get into a rut of packing the same lunch over and over again.
Solution: Prep Grab-and-Go Options
Plan on options that require minimal to no time to prep gives no excuse for gymnasts not to have a balanced lunch at school.
For example, sandwiches and veggies with hummus paired with a fruit cup and box of milk can all be bought in advance beforehand and still provide the gymnasts with a balanced yet satiating lunch that requires no preparation time
Solution: Supermarket Shortcuts
The reality is, often time gym families just don't have time to meal prep (especially once you start traveling for meets on the weekends). If parents are struggling with time to cook, don't be afraid to consider options such as microwave rice and grains, frozen vegetable packs, jarred sauces, pre-cooked proteins, and pre-sliced produce to help reduce the cooking and preparation time.
By ensuring these staples are readily available at all times, it can help eliminate a lot of the preparation time while still being able to make nutritious and balanced meals
Solution: Batch Cook Staples
Lunch does not have to always be fancy or novel every single day. Many gym families often “cook once eat twice” for items like grilled chicken, taco meat, roasted vegetables, pasta, and more.
Or, lunches can be leftovers! Parents can cook extra servings at dinner the night before, and save leftovers for gymnasts to have for lunch the next day.
Additionally, every gymnast should have lunchtime fueling essentials, including insulated lunchboxes that allow for safe cold holding as well as thermoses and other containers that allow for safe hot holding. By being able to safely pack not only shelf-stable foods, but also hot and cold options allows for a much greater variety of food options.
4. Navigating Social Aspects of School Lunch
More and more frequently, I have been hearing such sad stories of gymnasts being afraid to bring or eat their food at school because they have been teased, bullied, or ostracized by their peers. It can feel really tricky for a young gymnast to navigate the social landscape of school, trying to be seen as "cool" and just fit in. But, as a gymnast, your body is using a lot of energy (for school and gym and recovery and growth and development and more) and lunch is a super important opportunity for you to fuel your body.
Solution: Have Hard Conversations
As a competitive gymnast, while it can feel hard to open up, an important step to gaining understanding and acceptance from your friends at school is to share! Don't be afraid to tell them more about your sport and what it takes. Most of them would be shocked to know how many hours you train each night and just how intense those practices are!
Let them know that being adequately fueled is an important part of your training. That it helps you have more energy, be faster and more powerful, be better focused, and keeps you safer.
And know if they're commenting on what or how much you're eating, it's more of a reflection on their own unsureness and insecurities than on you. Please eat lunch no matter what other kids may say, you need to be fueled in order to reach your gymnastics goals!
5. Navigating Dietary Preferences and Restrictions
Dealing with picky eaters, food allergies, or specific dietary choices can make school lunch even tougher. Any limitation makes it even harder to get a gymnast an adequate lunch that will set them up for a successful practice.
Solution: Work with a Registered Dietitian
A registered dietitian can help you and your family support and guidance for any of the fueling challenges you and your gymnast face. They can guide you in creating lunches that meet your gymnast’s needs while keeping things tasty and varied. By tailoring meals to fit individual preferences and restrictions, you’ll support your gymnast’s health and foster a positive relationship with food.
Back-to-school season can make creating fueling, nutritious lunches for gymnasts feel like a huge task. From meeting energy demands to balancing timing and nutrition, meal planning, and accommodating dietary preferences, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But with a little guidance from a registered dietitian, you can tackle these challenges head-on. A dietitian can help you craft meal plans that fuel your gymnast’s energy needs, offer time-saving meal prep tips, and provide solutions for dietary restrictions.
Proper nutrition is a cornerstone of success for any gymnasts heading back to school. By prioritizing balanced meals, nutrient timing, and hydration, gymnasts can optimize their performance and continue to make progress getting ready for the upcoming competition season.
When you skip meals and snacks, avoid foods, and don't make performance fueling and recovery a priority, you can't expect make the most progress in the gym this fall (and beyond). It's not just about giving 100% when you're in the gym, but also making what you do outside of the gym a priority. It's not too late to get your nutrition sorted out and see major improvements this summer!
The Fueled Gymnast Academy is the is the simplest way for busy gymnast (and those who feed them) to learn the ins and outs of fueling their body as a high level gymnast so they can
have more energy, reduce the risk of injury, and perform their best
AND
feel confident and empowered to make their own food choices (and not just have someone tell them what they have to eat).
Fueling your body doesn't have to be a guessing game. And you don't have to figure it out on your own.
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