Precision Performance Nutrition

Ahead of the launch of Precision Performance Nutrition in January, 2020, we spoke with Course Director and Performance Nutritionist, Dr Alan Kennedy, to learn more about this revolutionary concept in personalised sports nutrition support for athletes.

healthpro: Hi Alan, tell our readers about your professional background in sports nutrition? 

Alan Kennedy: Since graduating with an honours degree in Human Nutrition from Liverpool John Moores University in 2008, I’ve been working on the provision of a range of specialised nutrition services. One such service is that of a fully accredited, evidence-based sports nutrition consultancy for athletes. In an area that is, unfortunately, increasingly punctuated with mis-information and falsehoods, our sports nutrition consultancy is committed to providing scientifically supported practice that is safe and effective for athletes. Crucial to this aim is our accreditation by the Sports and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENR), a voluntary register that endorses suitably qualified and experienced practitioners to work autonomously with athletes. We’ve since worked with and supported athletes from a diverse range of sporting disciplines, successfully helping them to achieve their performance nutrition goals.   

h: Can you explain your approach to evaluating an athlete’s nutritional status and how you go about helping that athlete going forward? 

AK: From the outset, we place a great emphasis on exploring the athletes’ medical, physical and social background, which provides invaluable insight into the athlete as an individual and informs our approach to all future interventions with that athlete. Thereafter, we track and quantify the athlete’s habitual training and competition food and fluid intake as appropriate, and identify and address the various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats which may contribute to the athlete successfully meeting their nutritional requirements. These requirements are formulated with respect to the individual athlete, the physiological demands of their sport and their working, training and competition schedule. Our approach throughout is collaborative, supportive, sensitive, and flexible.  

h: In addition to your existing sports nutrition consultancy services, what prompted the development of Precision Performance Nutrition?

AK: As experienced practitioners, we’re acutely aware that modifying dietary intake to meet individual nutritional needs is a complex and multifactorial process, often requiring significant environmental, social, logistical and/or behavioural change of the athlete. Successful implementation of such changes requires sustained athlete support and mentorship, something which only the very elite from a minority of sporting disciplines can access. Precision Performance Nutrition was therefore developed with the goal of providing precise, personalised nutrition guidance for athletes augmented by ongoing professional evaluation and support. This combination we view as crucial for success.

 h: Is there a particular type of athlete from a particular sporting discipline that the course is aimed at? 

AK: We work with athletes across the spectrum of sporting performance from power, to speed and strength, to endurance, to skill-based disciplines, and the course will appeal to and meet the objectives of all. As such, any athlete committed to making improvements to sporting performance through nutritional support will benefit from this course.

h: How can an athlete register for the course and how might the course schedule align with their existing working/studying, training and competition commitments? 

AK: Athletes can register by visiting www.healthpro.ie and clicking on the Exercise tab, under which the course is listed. With busy athlete schedules in mind, the course timetable is flexible but is also time-mandated to ensure aims and objectives are achieved. The first registrants will commence their initial one-to-one sessions in early January, 2020, and will complete the course within 6 months, so not later than early July. Each of the 7 one-to-one sessions can be attended in person at our clinic in Howth, Co. Dublin, or conducted on-line via teleconference, and are scheduled to run at various times on Mondays and Tuesdays of each month.  

h: Thanks for speaking with us Alan and every success with the new course. 

AK: Thank you. We’re really looking forward to working with the athletes on the course and helping them to positively affect their sporting performance outcomes.  

REGISTER for PRECISION PERFORMANCE NUTRITION