Whether you’re looking to improve your cycling performance, get in better shape, or want to take a more athletic approach to your eating, the Essential Guide to Cycling Nutrition is designed to help you achieve your goals.
Essential Guide to Cycling Nutrition 2024
Welcome
FUELLING FUNDAMENTALS
Foundations of Fuelling • As an athlete it’s important you fuel properly. We explain the three key nutritional elements to help you train stronger and recover faster
01 The Power Of Protein
PICK YOUR PROTEIN • The rise in popularity of veganism has massively expanded the range of ‘meats’ available these days, so as well as traditional animal proteins, there are now a huge range of alternative sources…
02 All-conquering carbs
THE GLYCAEMIC INDEX (GI) • The highs and lows of carbs
WHAT CARBS TO EAT WHEN
CARB CONVERSION
03 Fuelled by fats
Why you should eat a rainbow • Sports nutritionist Emma Barraclough extols the virtues of a colourful diet
FAD–FIT • Forget gimmicky diets - we’ll show you how to reach and maintain your ideal riding weight quickly and healthily
3 ISSUES FOR JUST £5
BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY • A heavy bout of training plus a smattering of sportives will leave you lean and potentially fast – if you’re not undone by colds and infection. Here, we reveal the proven methods to bolster your defences…
Green energy • Giving up meat could boost your health and help save the planet, but can a plant-based diet really fuel a hungry cyclist? We explore the rise of vegetarian and vegan diets, and reveal how they could help to maximise your performance
PEAK PERFORMANCE
FUELLING A GRAND TOUR • Want to know what a World Tour rider eats at the Tour de France? You’ve come to the right place…
THE ULTIMATE NUTRITION PLAN • Many of us simply eat on ‘feel’ and fall back on old faithfuls like tuna and pasta. But your fuelling strategy should be a shifting picture, reflecting your cycling journey and the time of year. It’s about time you got periodised…
BASE PHASE • With a low training intensity, the three-month base phase is an ideal time to shed those Christmas pounds with a diet of protein and good fats
BUILD PHASE • As the intensity of your sessions increases, it’s time to up your carbohydrate intake for the two-month build period
COMPETITION PHASE • The sportive season is so close you can spot registration. Time then to adapt your diet to your racing needs and start the taper
TRANSITION PHASE • Starting immediately after your final sportive of the season, your body needs all the macronutrients – and maybe rest!
EAT MORE LOSE WEIGHT • It sounds like an impossible dream, but if you’re cutting calories without paying attention to where you get them from, you could be starving yourself to no great effect. Losing weight without losing power is as much about what you eat as how little… and you may well need to eat more
BUNCH OF FIVES • Will’s five foods to ‘fill yer boots’ on and five to think twice about…
THE FAST SHOW? • Restrictive pro-cycling diets can unleash big performance gains but they can also be bad for your health if done incorrectly. We explore the pro-peloton’s dietary tactics to reveal what is – and isn’t – right for you
LOW-FIBRE DIET
FASTED TRAINING
LOW-CARB TRAINING
GUT INSTINCT • Pro cyclists now perform strategic ‘gut training’ to boost their energy production, stomach comfort and athletic performance. We reveal how it could help you too
ON-THE-BIKE FEEDING
FUELLING BiG RiDES • Nutritional intake – or a lack of – can make or break your next big ride. Here’s EF Pro Cycling’s Will Girling on how to perfect your endurance...
