ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of sports nutrition issues that are the most relevant to strength and conditioning coaches. The classification of carbohydrates (CHOs) purely as simple or complex is too simplistic given that both CHO types can induce similar post-prandial responses. It is difficult in this text to provide exact recommendations for daily CHO intake given that readers will work across different sports, all likely to have different energy requirements for training as well as variations in competition schedule. A Premiership footballer, for example, may have two games per week, together with a moderate-intensity and duration of daily training loads, whereas a professional jockey is in competition every day, but the energy demands associated with racing and training are much lower. The general consensus from studies in this area is that pre-exercise CHO provision improves performance or capacity compared with commencing exercise in fasted conditions.
