Certificate in Sports Nutrition

Optimize athletic performance and recovery through energy balance, glycogen replenishment, and balanced calories, macronutrients, micronutrients, hydration, and nutrient timing.

Explore how athletes define and distinguish themselves across recreational, amateur, and professional levels through participation, training, motivation, performance, and health benefits.

Explore the types of sports—individual, partner, team, and extreme—and how energy systems and micronutrients and macronutrients relate to sports items and energy management.

Explore endurance based sports, distinguishing aerobic and anaerobic endurance, and learn how energy systems, training, nutrition, and recovery support prolonged performance in running, cycling, swimming, and triathlon.

Define strength as the muscle's ability to generate force against resistance. Differentiate strength-based from power-based sports, where power combines strength with speed for rapid force.

Explore intermittent based sports that blend strength, endurance, agility, and speed through intervals of activity and rest, emphasizing high intensity efforts, recovery, VO2 max, and lactic acid removal.

Explore how athletes' energy requirements vary by sport and goals, guided by total daily energy expenditure and the three energy systems, plus carbohydrate, protein, fat, hydration, and meal timing.

Explore how the phosphocreatine system provides rapid ATP via creatine phosphate for short, high-intensity efforts and how recovery replenishes this energy source.

Explore the glycolytic or lactic acid system, an anaerobic pathway that rapidly converts glycogen and glucose to ATP and lactate for high intensity efforts up to two minutes.

Explore the aerobic energy system, where carbohydrates, fats, and proteins fuel ATP production through aerobic glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and the electron transport chain using oxygen for endurance exercise.

Explore the three energy systems—the phosphagen, lactic acid (anaerobic glycolysis), and aerobic system—and how their ATP production, duration, and efficiency drive sprint to endurance performance.

Navigate cardio zones from one to five to optimize warming up, recovery, endurance, and high intensity work, supporting weight loss and cardiovascular health.

Learn how to calculate heart rate zones using 220 minus age, resting heart rate, and heart rate reserve; identify target zone intensities from zone one to zone five for training.

Explore total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) by examining the components—BMR, thermic effect of food, and activity, including non-exercise activity and exercise levels—and learn how to calculate daily calories.

This module presents case study two on calculating daily energy expenditure using BMR and activity multipliers for an american football player, Varun, to tailor caloric needs for athletic performance.

Examine case study three in module two to estimate Zara's energy needs using BMR, activity levels such as Zumba and yoga, and percentage of MHR for tailored calorie recommendations.

Explore a case study applying TDE and BMR calculations to determine energy burn for a CrossFit athlete training two hours daily with HIIT, highlighting activity multipliers and caloric needs.

Learn protein requirements for athletes, including amino acids, muscle repair, growth, and energy use, plus ranges from 0.8 g/kg to 1.4–2 g/kg and complete versus incomplete proteins.

Explore how carbohydrates fuel athletic performance, classify simple and complex carbs, and manage glycogen stores to delay fatigue during endurance and team sports.

Fat is the primary fuel for light to moderate exercise, with intake around 20–35% of calories. Prioritize unsaturated fats and essential fatty acids, and limit saturated and trans fats.

Discover how hydration affects athletic performance, including dehydration risks and the role of fluid replenishment. Learn practical guidelines for pre-, during-, and post-workout water and electrolytes.

Explore fluid requirements for athletes, compare water and sports drinks, and examine electrolytes like sodium and potassium. Learn how carbohydrate levels and timing support workouts up to 90 minutes.

Compare Gatorade, Powerade, and Accelerate; analyze carbohydrate, sodium, potassium, and electrolytes; consider organic cane sugar vs dextrose and HFCS, plus coconut water and diluted fruit juice for hydration and recovery.

Explore nutrient timing in sports nutrition by ranking macronutrients, distributing intake, and applying the cupcake analogy to optimize meals, timing, and supplements for performance and recovery.

Explore pre-workout nutrition for strength and power athletes, focusing on glycogen management, liver and muscle glycogen, and meal timing to prevent glycogen depletion.

Explore nutrient timing for athletic performance by highlighting foods like leafy greens, salmon, chicken, whole grains, almonds, sweet potatoes, and beet juice to fuel training and recovery.

Explore how glycemic index shapes blood glucose and insulin responses, and learn pre- and post-exercise fueling strategies with low and high glycemic carbohydrates for sports performance and recovery.

Discover post-workout nutrition for strength and power athletes to establish positive protein balance, optimize glycogen replenishment, and boost protein synthesis via timely carbohydrates and whey within the window of opportunity.

Explore post-workout nutrition for strength athletes, detailing 20–40 g protein every 3 hours and high-quality protein within two hours to maximize muscle growth and glycogen resynthesis.

Explore a case study on protein timing for lean body mass, calculating LBM from body fat and applying 26–33 g protein per pre- and post-workout meal within 3–4 hour windows.

Explore nutrient timing and fueling strategies for endurance, focusing on half marathon preparation, protein needs, and carb-loading protocols to optimize glycogen stores and race day performance.

Discover race-day nutrition timings, from hourly hydration and a breakfast of oats with milk, honey, banana, and nuts, to mid-race carbs, fluid strategies, and caffeine use.

Explore muscle building supplements, including glutamine, amino acids, and BCAAs, with guidance on vegan protein options, weight-gain aids, zinc–magnesium support (ZMA), and multivitamin use.

Evaluate supplements for muscle building, including protein powders, creatine, glutamine, BCAA, weight gainers, multivitamins, vegan protein options, and whey protein varieties from grass-fed cows with safe processing considerations.

Learn how creatine, a dietary supplement, boosts performance and strength by increasing muscle phosphocreatine stores to rapidly regenerate ATP during high-intensity exercise, with dosage, hydration, and vegetarian considerations.

Explore supplements for performance and strength, focusing on caffeine and pre-workout ingredients like creatine. Examine omega-3 fatty acids from fish and their role in brain function, inflammation, and heart health.

Explore fundamentals of sports nutrition and prepare for an online examination, with 50 questions, multiple choice and an oral component, worth 100 marks in one hour.