THE FUEL PROTOCOL: EAT LIKE THE WORK DEMANDS IT

Training breaks you down. Nutrition builds you back. Get the order wrong and you're just accumulating fatigue with nothing to show for it. This isn't about eating perfectly. It's about hitting a handful of targets consistently enough that your body has what it needs to adapt. Everything else is noise.

Protein first, because it's non-negotiable. Aim for 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight daily. A 90kg lifter lands between 144 and 198 grams. Spread it across 3-5 meals with 30-40 grams each. Your muscles don't care if it's chicken, whey, or lentils. They care about total grams landing consistently, day after day, week after week. Chase the weekly average, not the perfect meal.

Creatine monohydrate is the most studied supplement in sports science and it works. 5 grams daily, every day, no loading phase required. Timing doesn't matter — pre, post, whenever, just don't skip it. It saturates muscle stores over 3-4 weeks and supports power output, strength, and training volume. Cheap, boring, effective. That's the whole pitch.

Hydration gets ignored until it costs you a set. Losing just 2% of bodyweight in fluid can measurably drop strength and endurance output. Baseline target: half your bodyweight in ounces of water daily, more on training days. During sessions over 60 minutes, especially in heat, add electrolytes — sodium is the one that matters most. Weigh yourself before and after a hard session. Every pound lost is roughly 16 ounces you need to replace before the next one.

Meal timing around training isn't about a mythical 30-minute window. It's about not showing up empty and not leaving yourself depleted for hours after. Eat a mixed meal with carbs and protein 1-3 hours before training — enough time to digest, enough fuel to perform. For sessions past 90 minutes, especially conditioning or endurance work, take in 30-60 grams of carbs per hour to hold output steady. After training, eat within a few hours. Not because the window slams shut, but because delaying it repeatedly across weeks adds up to worse recovery and stalled progress.

Carbs are still the primary fuel for hard training, and cutting them too low kills output before it kills bodyfat. If you're training with intensity — heavy lifting, sprint work, high-volume conditioning — your body runs on glycogen. Starve that system and your numbers drop, even if your diet looks clean on paper. Match carb intake to training demand. Heavier days, more carbs. Lighter days, pull back. This isn't complicated. It's just rarely done with any discipline.

None of this replaces sleep, none of it replaces training hard, and none of it works if you're inconsistent. Sports nutrition isn't a supplement stack or a meal timing hack. It's showing up with enough protein, enough fluid, enough fuel, day after day, so the training you're already doing actually pays off. Get the boring stuff right. The results follow.