Fuelin Sessions

Dr. Alan McCubbin joins Scott Tindal on Fuelin Sessions to discuss whether athletes really need to go gluten-free. With so many athletes avoiding gluten in hopes of improving performance and reducing gut issues, is there actually any science to support it? And could cutting out gluten unnecessarily do more harm than good? Listen to find out.

STUDIES / ARTICLES MENTIONED
Exploring the Popularity, Experiences, and Beliefs Surrounding Gluten-Free Diets in Nonceliac Athletes
Low Carbohydrate Availability in Energy Balance Alters Bone Turnover and Muscle Proteomic Response With Limited Endocrine Disruption
Body fat, skin tone, and the accuracy of smartwatch caloric expenditure estimates
Lactate Gels

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Can a workout make up for a bad night’s sleep? Scott Tindal sits down with Dr. Michael Ormsbee, who directs Florida State University’s Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine (yes, the pre-sleep protein guy, and Scott has already asked him back for that one). Michael's lab pushed people’s bedtimes back until they lost 30% of their sleep, three nights running. In the sedentary group, cardiovascular function started to slip. The active group held. It doesn’t save everything. College women who lifted and binge drank kept their strength, but their glucose control still drifted. They also get into why journal reviewers won’t let Michael publish sleep stage data from wearables, and why his cross-country runners’ sleep a full week out still showed up on race day.

STUDIES MENTIONED
Body Composition Changes in Postmenopausal Women After Twelve Weeks of Either Resistance or Aerobic Training (conference abstract, study ongoing)

Resistance Training and Binge Drinking: Impacts on Glucose Regulation in Young Adult Females

Impact of Exercise on Sleep in Postmenopausal Women With Obesity: A Pilot Study

Sleep Duration Correlates With Performance in Ultra-Endurance Triathlon

Pre-Sleep Milk-Derived Proteins Do Not Impair Sleep or Recovery in Elite Female Athletes

Effects of Pre-Sleep Macronutrient Ingestion on Nocturnal and Morning Glycemic Responses in Elite Female Athletes: A Pilot Study

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What does an Olympic champion eat when he’s racing for fun? Scott Tindal sits down with Jan Frodeno, Olympic gold medalist and three-time Ironman World Champion, to dig into how 100,000 lifetime kilometers and a bottle every 5K at 80 grams of carbs an hour added up to a 2:23 Berlin Marathon; why UTMB OCC a month earlier was the opposite story, with Jan running dry three times and drinking from a river; and how Scott is fueling the 80K Bondi to Manly Ultra he’s running for his son Jack.

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Why do some athletes cramp no matter how much salt they take? In this episode of Fuelin Sessions, Scott Tindal is joined by Dr Alan McCubbin, sports dietitian and Monash University researcher, to work through the three main theories of exercise-associated muscle cramps. They dig into why the dehydration and electrolyte story has struggled to hold up in the research and how Kevin Miller's multifactorial model treats each athlete's cramps as their own recipe. Alan's take: there's no single cause, so control as many of the controllables as you can.

Martinez-Navarro I, Vicente-Mampel J, Lopez-Grueso R, Collado-Boira E, Recacha-Ponce P, Gomez-Sere T, Hernando C. Muscle Cramping in Ultra-Trail: Dehydration and Electrolyte Depletion versus Muscle Damage. J Strength Cond Res. 2026. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000005440
Martinez-Navarro et al. Muscle Cramping in the Marathon: Dehydration and Electrolyte Depletion vs. Muscle Damage. J Strength Cond Res. 2020. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003713
Miller KC et al. An Evidence-Based Review of the Pathophysiology, Treatment, and Prevention of Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps. J Athl Train. 2022. DOI: 10.4085/1062-6050-0696.20
Maughan RJ & Shirreffs SM. Muscle Cramping During Exercise: Causes, Solutions, and Questions Remaining. Sports Med. 2019. 49(Suppl 2):115-124. DOI: 10.1007/s40279-019-01162-1

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What do you do when you tear all three hamstrings off the bone and the first people you ask tell you it's probably just a strain? Scott Tindal sits down with Jen Harrison, a Chicago triathlon coach and lifelong swimmer who fell on a trail in Tucson, got sent home from the ER on crutches, and waited four days for the diagnosis. They cover the two to three week surgery window she nearly missed, why she shifted toward protein before the operation, how she ate through six weeks of bedrest, isometrics starting three days post-op, and the motto she taped to her desk: fuel for the season you're in.

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