I hear it from parents all the time. They KNOW their gymnast isn't fueling enough for their training...BUT they worry if they bring up nutrition, they'll either give their gymnast a complex OR it'll just turn into another battle. And they just can't deal with one more thing. 

I totally get that it's a sensitive topic. Parents worry that if they bring up nutrition that it will cause problems with either the gymnast's relationship with food in their body...or it will cause relationship issues between the gymnast and the parent. 

But, fueling for the work required is not just an abstract concept that can be avoided because it's uncomfortable. It is the foundation of having a healthy and happy gymnast who is reaching their full potential. Just like "you can't spend money you don't have", your gymnast cannot safely and productively train on an empty tank. 

If you worry that working on nutrition might give your gymnast a "complex" then today's episode is a MUST listen. 

In this episode you'll hear about:  

• Why the language we use around food is so important
• Understanding fueling for gymnastics vs. "eating healthfully"
• If there are big emotions around being told to fuel adequately, there's usually something else going on 

Links & Resources    

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Episode 120: What age does your gymnast need nutrition support?
• Episode 113: The 5 Stages of Underfueling- Gymnast Edition
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

Meet season is in full swing and we're already seeing the same five mistakes gymnasts are making with their nutrition. 

I know competition season is already stressful enough with nerves, travel, weird session times etc. BUT too often I see gymnasts and their families IGNORE nutrition during season (except for the night before or day of) because of everything else going on. 

Unfortunately, this is why so many gymnasts get MORE burned out/injured as the season progresses. Why routine endurance gets WORSE a few meets in instead of better. But good news is these 5 mistakes your gymnast might be making with their nutrition are all fixable! Depends on how motivated they are and how badly they want it, but it is possible to correct these habits. 

If you want to do everything you can to help your gymnast be successful and healthy this season, then this episode is for you! Listen in to to hear the top 5 mistakes we're seeing gymnasts make with their nutrition in 2025 and how to avoid them. 

In this episode you'll hear about:  

• In day balance; is your gymnast skipping meals? It's having a bigger impact than you think 
• Why it's absolutely vital to have a performance plan strategy for competitions AND practices
• Toxic messaging your gymnast is hearing and how it is affecting her nutrition

Links & Resources    

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Episode 110: Navigating school lunch nutrition for your gymnast
• Episode 75: You vs You- Is your gymnast meeting her full potential?
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

Did you watch a real-time implosion this weekend at one of your gymnast's first big meets this competition season? If so...You're not alone! :)

Comp season is just kicking off for most gymnasts so it's totally normal for first meet jitters to be making an appearance. But if your gymnast looked like a COMPLETELY different kid than the one at practice, could there be more going on? These gymnast implosions at competitions can feel like they're coming from left field...but were they actually preventable? 

Check out these 4 questions/topics for you and your gymnast to discuss and debrief this week so that they don't continue to struggle! Travel meets in particular can be extra tricky when it comes to preventing a gymnast from imploding at a competition so lets dive in!

In this episode you'll hear about: 

• Travel nutrition strategies: do you have a plan?
• Evaluating day of competition nutrition; what worked, what can you improve?
• Run through of the big ones: nerves, energy, endurance, power, mood + emotional regulation, overall wellness
• Are those aches and pains actually injuries that need attention ASAP?

 Links & Resources    

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Episode 77: Gymnast Nervous Stomach and Competition Nutrition
• Episode 124: [Fueled Gymnast Fall] How to keep your gymnast from imploding this competition season
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

Is it “too late” to start working on your gymnast’s nutrition this competition season?

Short answer: “NO”

SO MUCH can happen in just a few weeks of proper, adequate fueling to support your gymnast’s health, recovery, and performance.

Some things can improve really quickly

✅ Heavy legs/muscles (often from inadequate carb intake/poor recovery)

✅ Fatigue/lethargy

✅ Headaches/stomachaches

✅ Poor mood/emotion regulation

✅ Energy, power, endurance during long workouts

Other things take more time

❌ bone injury healing (stress reaction/fracture/break)

❌ poor growth/development

❌ GI issues (bloating, constipation)

❌ primary or secondary amenorrhea (no period)

❌ intense burnout/overtraining related fatigue (nervous system)

❌ body composition changes

Time is marching on whether you like it or not, and underfueling is sneaky and often not seen by the naked eye

Will this add to your “mental load” this spring?

Yes and no.

 Links & Resources    

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

With the 2025 competition season upon us, today's episode focuses on the varying needs for competition nutrition strategies for gymnastics at the different levels. 

Every new level brings with it new challenges and opportunities. It's easy to get distracted with things your gymnast doesn't need yet. Or spend years (and money!) on things that aren't what they really need in the long run. From marathon long meets, to weird session times, to nerves and pressure kicking in, there's a lot more than just gymnastics to navigate come competition time. 

Let's compare/contrast the challenges at each level with fueling, performance, staying healthy, etc. What kind of competition nutrition strategies does your athlete need at their current level of gymnastics?

 In this episode you'll hear about: 

• Level 6+7: Navigating new competition challenges
• Level 8: The importance of having a nutrition strategy 
• Level 9: Adapting to new competition dynamics: being flexible!
• Level 10: Mastering nutrition for peak performance
• Elite/college: Advanced competition nutrition strategies for gymnastics

  Links & Resources    

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Episode 77: Gymnast Nervous Stomach and Competition Nutrition
• Episode 124: [Fueled Gymnast Fall] How to keep your gymnast from imploding this competition season
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

Have you fallen victim to the mentality of "team no days off for your gymnast? Believe it or not, this could be what's keeping your gymnast stuck + struggling. And is the fastest way to ruin your kids gymnastics career.

A lot of the young, high level gymnasts we work with these days were just babies a few years ago during COVID. So, they don’t understand one of the most valuable lessons that came out of COVID. And that lesson was that even with extensive time out of the gym, gymnasts came out for the better. 

There’s such a pervasive “no days off” mentality in the gymnastics world. And while there’s nothing wrong with being driven and dedicated...this mentality + underfueling is a huge reason why so many gymnasts are broken + burnt out. 

I see a LOT of gymnasts doing extra S&C, extra workouts, etc on top of their existing 25-30+ hours a week. And it just makes me cringe inside.  Why are gymnast so afraid of taking time off? They’ve been told if they take time off they’ll...

• Lose their skills
• Fall behind their teammates or competition
• Get “Fat”

So before you join team "no days off" for your gymnast, here are 3 things I want you to consider. And how using those funds to learn how to actually fuel them could be the key.

 In this episode you'll hear about: 

• Growing, developing gymnasts aren’t the same as mid-20 professional athletes. 
• Does your gymnast really need more training or more private lessons? Or does she just need to show up fully fueled and able to engage with the training?
• Does your gymnast need to worry about her body or nutrition intake when taking days off the gym?

 Links & Resources  

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Episode 128: Does your gymnast need to "manage her weight" while injured or out of the gym?
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

To wrap up our introduction to the team podcast series, today I'm pumped to chat with Megan Robinson. She is our final dietitian on team TGN® and one of our pediatric/adolescent sports dietitians who supports our gymnasts + parents inside The Balanced Gymnast® Program.  And on today's episode, we're covering a variety of topics including injury recovery nutrition for gymnasts!

Not only has Megan spent 20 years in pediatric endocrinology, but as a former gymnast, current marathoner and run coach, Megan is an athlete through and through. She connects with our clients and understands what they're going through when injury temporarily takes them away from the sport they love. She has the experience and knowledge when navigating injuries with a gymnast. Plus the strategies to optimize fueling to return to sport better and stronger than pre-injury. 

We also chat about underfueling and the affect it has on all systems of the body, particularly the GI system. In a world where it's so easy to just say "its gluten" or "its dairy" and never do the work to get the root cause, Megan dives in to fix the underlying issue, not just the symptoms.

In this episode you'll hear us touch on case studies involving: 

• Celiac and GI symptoms that could be affecting your gymnast' fueling
• Getting gymnast buy-in when it comes to leveraging nutrition
• What injury recovery nutrition for gymnasts looks like

  Links & Resources  

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Episode 125: [Fueled Gymnast Fall] How to help your gymnast with nutrition if they’re stuck, struggling, or injured
• Episode 113: The 5 Stages of Underfueling- Gymnast Edition
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

In today's episode, I'm sharing why its critically important for your gymnast to be plotted on their growth chart multiple times a year. And how things can go sideways when they aren't.

I know parents spend so much time seeing specialists for their gymnasts that often the pediatrician well-checks are pushed to the back burner. But without those visits and plotting the gymnast on their growth chart...it's scary how easy it is for your gymnast to get off track for where they genetically need to be in growth and development. 

Arguably your gymnast who is training 20-30 hours a week is not a "normal" kid. Not in the sense of wear of tear on the growing and developing body. When we look at the gymnast in the context of their growth chart, it helps us understand the overall situation. We're looking at where their growth is currently, where it needs to be, and if they've fallen off their curve

 In this episode you'll hear about: 

• The importance of growth monitoring
• Why normal growth and development is one of the best protectors against setback and struggle
• Nutrition's role in growth and recovery

  Links & Resources    

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Episode 128: Does your injured gymnast need to "manage her weight"?
• Episode 112: Is your "tiny gymnast" actually underfueled, or growing normally for them?
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

Injury and time off is by nature stressful for the athlete and parent. But unfortunately, in an aesthetic sport like gymnastics that is steeped in backwards thinking, navigating weight gain or management in injured gymnasts takes it to a whole other level of stress.

I know gymnasts fear gaining weight or growing will cause them to loose their skills when they're back to full training. So, to manage weight in injured gymnasts, a lot of well meaning coaches and parents will think their athlete needs less fuel since they're not training at the same level. 

While this might be the case for some, most high level gymnasts aren't fueling enough in the FIRST place. They've been training for YEARS underfueled, and that lack of nutrition is probably contributing to the injury in the first place. 

First and foremost when a gymnast is injured, now is the time to repair and recover. 

 In this episode you'll hear about: 

• The three categories injured gymnasts fall under
• Why some gymnasts go through major growth during injury time off and why its necessary
• The worse thing you can do with nutrition during injury time off

  Links & Resources    

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• Episode 125: [Fueled Gymnast Fall] How to help your gymnast with nutrition if they’re stuck, struggling, or injured
• Episode 89: Why we focus on performance versus weight in gymnasts
• Episode 20: 8 Truths About Injury Nutrition for the Gymnast
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com

I'm so excited to introduce you all to the next dietitian on team TGN®, Ryann Mayer. She is another one of our pediatric/adolescent sports dietitians who supports our gymnasts + parents inside The Balanced Gymnast® Program. And she's making life a whole lot easier for parents of gymnasts who are picky eaters!

Ryann is a former level 10 gymnast herself and knows the sport inside and out. It's this first hand knowledge, combined with her experience and training as a pediatric and sports dietitian that makes our clients fall in love with her. 

Her expertise in all things GI and experience with selective eaters creates a safe space for our gymnasts and parents. With gymnasts who are picky eaters, she uses the approach of meeting the families where they're at; working together to make the necessary changes to help them reach their big goals and dreams. Because when you're fueled, you're more willing to try new foods!

 In this episode you'll hear us touch on case studies involving:  

• Why it's so important to build new habits from the start rather than try and fix old habits
• Navigating celiac disease and other GI issues in young athletes
• Addressing selective, aka picky eating in gymnast with creative and effective solutions

  Links & Resources    

• The Balanced Gymnast® Program for level 5-10 female gymnasts 
• How to Fuel the Young Competitive Gymnast
• Episode 93: Navigating Gymnast Nutrition and Picky Eating
• Connect with Christina on Instagram @the.gymnast.nutritionist or christinaandersonrdn.com