Track cycling is a unique discipline whereby events take place on a velodrome using fixed-gear bicycles. Events cover a spectrum of durations ranging from <11s through to ∼60min. Therefore, diverse and specialized physiological attributes are required to meet the specific demands of competition. Nutrition has a fundamental role in optimizing athlete performance through maintaining overall health, fueling training to develop the required physiological characteristics for success and enabling athletes to meet the energy demands of competition. This review will focus on how nutrition can be optimized to best support the training periodization and competition requirements and provide practical recommendations on fueling strategies for track cycling.

The fundamental goal of nutrition for training is to provide the required energy and substrate to sustain the target training volume and intensity that is necessary to induce desired physiological adaptations. However, aside from fueling and recovery, it is now recognized that nutrient availability also modulates the activation of cell signaling pathways that regulate adaptations associated with both endurance and strength training. Such developments are the guiding principles underpinning "nutritional periodization" wherein energy, macronutrient, and micronutrient availability are deliberately manipulated across the microcycle, mesocycle, and macrocycle with the strategic goal to promote training adaptations, support recovery, manipulate body composition, and optimize competition performance. In addition to total "daily" nutrient intake, the elite athlete must, therefore, adjust their energy and carbohydrate intake in a meal-by-meal and day-by-day manner (i.e.,carbohydrate periodization) in accordance with the energetic demands and training objectives of each specific training session. In addition to fueling (and refueling) for the work required, daily protein intake should at least be 1.6-2.1g·kg-1·day-1 not only to account for amino acid oxidation during exercise but also, importantly, to promote tissue remodeling, notably skeletal muscle. Emerging evidence also supports the rationale for nutraceuticals to promote recovery and sleep, though the potential effect of such compounds in blunting training adaptation should also be considered. Taken together, it is increasingly clear that nutrition is a critical enabler to successful training outcomes, and as such, the sport nutritionist should be considered an integral member of an athlete's coaching and performance support team.

Bicycle motorcross racing is a unique sprint cycling discipline that takes place on a 300- to 450-m outdoor track with an 8-m start hill. A single race is 30-40s in duration, and athletes can compete in up to seven races per day. Athletes require highly specific physiological attributes to meet the training and competition demands, and successful riders can produce high peak power outputs and demonstrate technical and tactical superiority over their opponents. Nutrition has a key role in optimizing athlete health, training adaptations, and overall athlete performance. This review will focus on the training and race demands for bicycle motorcross race and fueling strategies to support training and racing outcomes.

This article provides a recap of the 10 Questions/10 Experts session at the 2025 American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting. Each of the speakers considered the validity of common "myths" while providing evidence-based opinions to support or bust myths addressing the following questions: (a)Do people get enough dietary creatine from everyday foods? (b)Are nonsugar sweeteners an effective way to reduce energy intake in athletes? (c)Do beef jerky or chocolate milk provide enough leucine, making branched-chain amino acid supplementation unnecessary? (d)Can honey, applesauce, or other foods effectively replace carbohydrate gels for fueling exercise? (e)Is a homemade sports drink made from juice and a bit of salt just as effective as a commercially available sports drink? (f)Do vegetarians need to supplement carnosine and carnitine? (g)Is teff grain a rich source of iron? (h)Is coconut water a sufficient replacement for electrolyte drinks? (i)Can B vitamins influence the accuracy of urine color scoring to determine a low versus high urine concentration as a marker of hydration status? and (j)What is the impact of preexercise food-sourced calcium intake on acute bone metabolism in response to exercise? This article describes the content of each of the presentations including the most important outcomes and conclusions drawn by the presenters.

We investigated the effects of 8-weeks of eccentric resistance exercise (RE) with hydrolyzed collagen supplementation on patellar tendon (PT) cross-sectional area (CSA), vastus lateralis (VL)muscle size, maximum voluntary force (MVF), and peak rate of force development (pRFD) in international female field hockey Master athletes. Twenty-two premenopausal women (37 ± 2years, 68.9 ± 8.0kg, and 1.68 ± 0.04m) were randomly assigned to collagen (COL; n = 10) and placebo (PLA; n = 12) cohorts in a triple-blind design. They completed three eccentric RE sessions per week for 8weeks in addition to their regular hockey training. Before each RE session, participants ingested 30g hydrolyzed COL or 32.9g maltodextrin (PLA), together with 500mg vitamin C. Pre- and postintervention, we assessed MVF and pRFD during a voluntary multijoint isometric muscle contraction and countermovement jump height, and VL thickness and PT CSA were measured with ultrasonography. MVF increased from 892 ± 366 to 1,011 ± 420N (p = .020) and VL thickness increased from 21 ± 3 to 22 ± 3mm (p = .015), with no Group × Time interactions (p > .05), whereas countermovement jump height did not change (p = .238). PT CSA increased in both groups (p < .001) but more in COL (116 ± 12 to 121 ± 13mm2) than PLA (109 ± 22 to 111 ± 22mm2, p = .014). Similarly, pRFD increased in both groups (p = .002) but more in COL (7.9 ± 1.3 to 10.1 ± 2.4kN/s) than PLA (8.2 ± 2.4 to 9.6 ± 2.9kN/s, p = .039). Therefore, hydrolyzed collagen supplementation enhanced gains in PT CSA and pRFD following 8weeks of eccentric RE in elite female field hockey Master athletes, thus providing an effective strategy to improve physical performance in this underresearched population.

Caffeine (CAF) mouth rinsing has been considered a practical nutritional strategy among athletes. Recent studies indicate that this nutritional strategy's efficacy may depend on the athlete's prandial state. Therefore, the main aim of the current study is to determine the effect of CAF mouth rinsing on a battery of soccer-specific tests of soccer players in fasted (FST) or fed states (FED). Thirteen male soccer players (age: 18.1 ± 0.9years, body mass: 60.1 ± 8.4kg, height: 174.2 ± 7.3cm, and body mass index: 20.14 ± 2.7kg/m2) randomly participated in a randomized, double-blind, Latin square study design. Participants completed four experimental trials while performing eight serial mouth rinses of 750-mg CAF or a taste-matched placebo (PLA) for 15s and then immediately expectorated. Two trials commenced 2hr after a high-carbohydrate breakfast (FED), and two trials were performed after an overnight fast (FST). Following the final mouth rinse, sprint test, countermovement jump, Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1, and rating of perceived exertion were measured, respectively. There was a main effect of condition for Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1 performance (p = .021), while interaction between Condition × Prandial (p = .671) and the main effect of prandial state (p = .437) was not significant for Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1 (CAF-FST = 2,155 ± 484m, PLA-FST = 1,933 ± 549m, CAF-FED = 2,098 ± 679m, and PLA-FED = 1,864 ± 535m). In addition, there was no significant main effect of condition, prandial, and interaction between Condition × Prandial for the sprint test and countermovement jump and the rating of perceived exertion (all p > .5). These data suggest that CAF mouth rinsing increases intermittent running performance in soccer players. This improvement is likely to be similar in the FST and FED states.

The Union Cycliste Internationale recognizes several mountain biking (MTB) disciplines, including downhill, enduro, cross-country short track, cross-country Olympic, cross-country marathon, and multiday stage racing. Cyclocross is recognized as a separate cycling discipline. Both MTB and cyclocross include cycling on off-road surfaces of varying technicality on specialized bicycles purposed for the respective disciplines. The various discipline-specific racing formats and intensities dictate nutritional recommendations. High-paced race starts and high average race intensities support standard recommendations for caffeine and carbohydrate ingestion before and during racing and the adoption of recovery nutrient guidelines, tailored for each discipline. Notably, current quantification methods underestimate exercise intensity and exercise energy expenditure (EEE) in MTB and cyclocross because of the inability to quantify the additional energy cost of isometric contractions associated with bicycle handling while negotiating obstacles and dampening vibrations. Therefore, deriving EEE and target energy intake based on power measurements provide only minimum estimates, requiring a correction factor. Accordingly, minimum target energy intake should equate to the sum of power-derived EEE, +0.24kcal·kg-1·km-1 off-road, resting metabolic rate, and an additional 0.45-fold resting metabolic rate (for nonexercise activity). Daily training nutrition based on standard guidelines is tailored by discipline, expected intensity, duration, and training EEE. Guidelines apply equally to both sexes. In addition, certain nutritional practices are suggested to support long-term bone health for MTB and cyclocross athletes.

Crossover randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are common in exercise and nutrition sciences. Since researchers randomize participants to different sequences of the treatment and comparator/control conditions, crossover RCTs are powerful for detecting mean treatment effects under certain circumstances. We aim to review the information that can be derived from crossover RCTs about treatment response heterogeneity-a fundamental issue in precision medicine for tailoring treatments to individuals. After covering the fundamental design issues, we describe the variance components that underlie observed data. The crucial person-by-treatment variance component can be quantified from a repeated or "replicate" crossover RCT by exposing participants to multiple cycles of trial conditions. As a type of n-of-1 trial, replicate crossover RCTs have important design and statistical power considerations, which we describe. By synthesizing findings from our six published replicate crossover RCTs, we also compare various data analysis approaches. We find general agreement between these approaches, and a link between within-person consistency of response and the detection of person-by-treatment interactions. We postulate that a paired "variance comparison," for example, the Pitman-Morgan test, provides some preliminary information regarding response heterogeneity from a typical single-cycle crossover RCT. Nevertheless, underlying assumptions are critical, rendering these comparisons as merely exploratory until an n-of-1 or replicate crossover RCT is undertaken. Multiple-cycle n-of-1 trials and replicate crossover RCTs are underused but are informative for treatment response heterogeneity. However, these trials are still only one component of the process for predicting individual magnitude of response from any personal traits, which is the "holy grail" of personalized treatment.