Inside Sports Nutrition

Blood work can feel straightforward until you realize how much context actually matters.
In this episode, we talk through why standard blood panels often miss the bigger picture, how to interpret biomarkers without jumping to conclusions, and why tracking trends over time can change how you understand your health and performance.

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Drop a question in our free Patreon Community and get access to bonus content with Bob and Dina by upgrading to the Gold Level membership. You'll also be showing your support and helping to keep the podcast free of sponsorship ads. 

Let's connect on your platform of choice:  Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

The show is brought to you by eNRG Performance and The Nutrition Mechanic.

Are the original principles of Metabolic Efficiency Training still applicable with the continuing emergence of high carb fueling, gut training, and newer conversations around brain energy?  

In this armchair-style conversation, Bob and Dina talk through where Metabolic Efficiency Training still holds strong, where it may be evolving, and how these approaches can coexist depending on the athlete. We also dig into why testing remains one of the most valuable tools for building a fueling strategy that actually fits you.

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Drop a question in our free Patreon Community and get access to bonus content with Bob and Dina by upgrading to the Gold Level membership. You'll also be showing your support and helping to keep the podcast free of sponsorship ads. 

Let's connect on your platform of choice:  Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

The show is brought to you by eNRG Performance and The Nutrition Mechanic.

In this installment of our Under the Microscope series, we take a closer look at the product "Flow" by the company Oomph. Flow is a non-stimulant pre-workout designed to support focus and cognition without relying on caffeine or other stimulants. We break down the ingredient profile, discuss what the product is and what it isn’t, and explore which athletes might find a supplement like this useful. We also share observations from Bob’s personal trials of the product. Check out this episode to see if Flow is a supplement you may want to consider. 

Learn more about oomph Flow on their website. 

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Drop a question in our free Patreon Community and get access to bonus content with Bob and Dina by upgrading to the Gold Level membership. You'll also be showing your support and helping to keep the podcast free of sponsorship ads. 

Let's connect on your platform of choice:  Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

The show is brought to you by eNRG Performance and The Nutrition Mechanic.

Is more carbohydrate always better, or does your gut need to be trained like your legs?

In this episode, we sit down with Roxanne Vogel, PhD, Director of Research and Education at GU Energy Labs, to unpack what gut training actually means, how carbohydrates use different transport systems, and why carbohydrate tolerance varies so much between athletes. We also explore the "why" behind gut training, high carb feeding, metabolic flexibility, the role of hot environments, and what personalized carbohydrate strategies may look like in the near future.

More about our guest:
Roxanne Gonzales Vogel is a scientist, athlete, and adventurer. As the Director of Research and Education at GU Energy Labs, she oversees the brand’s Performance Lab and works with elite athletes to optimize nutrition for performance, health, and longevity. She holds a PhD in Exercise Physiology from Southern Cross University in Australia, where her research focused on environmental physiology and strategies to improve athletic performance in the presence of environmental stressors, including heat, cold, and hypoxia. Roxanne’s research interests are largely inspired by her pursuits as a high-altitude mountaineer and ultra-endurance athlete. In May of 2019, she summited Mount Everest in a fraction of the time it normally takes—two weeks as opposed to two months— using a novel pre-acclimation protocol and custom nutrition products she developed to make the record-breaking ascent possible. Roxanne is also an experienced trail runner, competing primarily in mountain ultramarathons, including the iconic Leadville 100 where she placed 4th in 2022. She has spent the past 15 years studying nutrition and its impact on body composition, athletic performance, and cognitive function. Roxanne currently lives and trains in Mammoth Lakes, CA.

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Drop a question in our free Patreon Community and get access to bonus content with Bob and Dina by upgrading to the Gold Level membership. You'll also be showing your support and helping to keep the podcast free of sponsorship ads. 

Let's connect on your platform of choice:  Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

The show is brought to you by eNRG Performance and The Nutrition Mechanic.

We sit down with Dr. Andrew Koutnik to explore the evolving science behind carbohydrate intake, metabolic flexibility, and athletic performance. We discuss how carbohydrate recommendations have changed over time, why muscle glycogen may not fully explain performance outcomes, and how brain energy metabolism contributes to fatigue and output. This is not a pro- or anti-carbohydrate conversation, but a thoughtful look at context, individual variability, and the balance between health and performance. If you’ve ever wondered whether carbohydrate guidelines are as fixed as they seem, this episode invites a more nuanced and personalized way of thinking about fueling.

Links: 
Learn more about Dr. Koutnik on his website
Carbohydrate Ingestion and Exercise Metabolism review paper from 2026

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Drop a question in our free Patreon Community and get access to bonus content with Bob and Dina by upgrading to the Gold Level membership. You'll also be showing your support and helping to keep the podcast free of sponsorship ads. 

Let's connect on your platform of choice:  Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

The show is brought to you by eNRG Performance and The Nutrition Mechanic.