Learning from Dr. Trent Stellingwerff

Who Is Trent Stellingwerff?

Dr. Trent Stellingwerff is the Chief Performance Officer at the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific (CSI Pacific) and one of the world's leading authorities on integrating molecular biology with Olympic-level performance. His work has supported athletes across four Olympic and Paralympic Games, four Commonwealth Games, and over 15 World Championships.

What makes Stellingwerff unique is his journey from corporate research scientist at Nestlé (PowerBar) to Olympic team physiologist. This dual experience—understanding both product development and athlete needs—shaped his philosophy that scientific inquiry must yield tangible performance benefits, not just interesting data.

What Iowa Sports Prep Students Learn from Stellingwerff

1. Fuel for the Work Required

Stellingwerff revolutionized how athletes think about nutrition timing. Rather than eating the same way every day, he teaches matching your fuel to your training:

The Traffic Light System:

• Green Days (High Intensity): 6-10+ g/kg carbs—intervals, race pace, gut training
• Amber Days (Moderate): 4-6 g/kg carbs—maintenance work, energy balance
• Red Days (Low Intensity): Less than 3-4 g/kg carbs—aerobic base, technical work

The Key Insight: "Training low" (with reduced carbohydrates) on easy days activates cellular signaling that builds a bigger metabolic engine. But you must "compete high" with full fuel availability.

2. The Adaptation vs. Performance Paradox

Stellingwerff discovered something counterintuitive: protocols that improve molecular markers (like mitochondrial biogenesis) don't always improve race times.

The Learning: Enhanced fat oxidation appears in 75% of "train low" studies, but time-trial improvement only appears in 37%. Why? If you're too depleted, you can't train hard enough to stress your neuromuscular system.

The Application: Young athletes learn to be strategic—use carbohydrate manipulation when intensity allows, but never compromise your ability to hit power targets. The goal is metabolic flexibility, not metabolic restriction.

3. Runners vs. Swimmers: Sport-Specific Thinking

Stellingwerff teaches that nutrition advice must be sport-specific:

• High-Volume Sports (Swimming, Rowing, Cycling): Athletes naturally deplete glycogen through sheer training hours (25-30 hours/week). Simply keeping up with caloric demand is the challenge.

• Running: Impact forces limit training to 10-12 hours/week. A runner can't just "do more volume" without risking stress fractures. Nutritional manipulation becomes a powerful tool to simulate metabolic fatigue without structural damage.

The Learning: There's no universal nutrition plan. Young athletes must understand their sport's unique demands.

4. Health Before Performance: The RED-S Framework

As a lead author on the International Olympic Committee's consensus statements on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), Stellingwerff champions athlete health:

The Formula:

Energy Availability = (Energy Intake - Exercise Energy Expenditure) / Fat-Free Mass

Critical Thresholds:

• ~45 kcal/kg FFM/day = optimal function
• Below 30 kcal/kg FFM/day = severe metabolic and endocrine disruption

The Warning: Males lack the "alarm signal" of menstrual disruption, so their slide into RED-S is often insidious—detected only when a stress fracture occurs or performance inexplicably plateaus.

5. The Iron Prerequisite

Before any altitude training camp, Stellingwerff ensures athletes have robust iron stores (serum ferritin >50 ng/mL). Without adequate iron, the hypoxic stimulus that should build red blood cells instead becomes just another stressor.

The Learning: "Non-responders" to altitude training are often simply iron-deficient. Check the basics before chasing advanced protocols.

6. Body Composition Periodization

In a 9-year case study of an Olympic 1500m runner, Stellingwerff documented strategic weight fluctuation:

• Winter (preparation): 2-4% higher body mass to support heavy training
• Summer (competition): Peak leanness only during the specific competition window

The Philosophy: Chronic leanness is a risk factor for illness and injury. Health is the foundation of performance—you can't build a medal-winning career on a broken body.

7. Supplementation: The Evidence Hierarchy

Stellingwerff categorizes supplements into tiers:

1. Established: Caffeine, Creatine, Nitrate, Beta-Alanine, Sodium Bicarbonate
2. Equivocal: Citrate, Phosphate, Carnitine
3. Developing: Ketone esters, Polyphenols

His Rule: "Taking a supplement is insufficient; one must take the correct dose at the correct time in the correct context."

8. The Beta-Alanine Insight

Stellingwerff's research on buffering agents revealed crucial timing insights:

• Beta-alanine's benefit is cumulative (requires weeks of loading)
• Muscle carnosine leaves slowly (~2% per week)
• Athletes can cease supplementation weeks before competition while retaining benefits

Practical Application: Understanding kinetics allows athletes to reduce pill burden and GI risk during competition weeks.

The Three Timelines of Performance

Stellingwerff's philosophy operates across three timescales:

1. The Event (Acute): Remove all physiological limiters—maximize carbohydrate availability, optimize pH buffering, mitigate environmental stress

2. The Training Block (Chronic): Use nutrition to amplify training signals—manipulate nutrient availability to drive phenotypic adaptations

3. The Career (Systemic): Preserve the human system—monitor energy availability, periodize body composition, prevent RED-S

Why This Matters for Young Athletes

Dr. Stellingwerff represents the bridge between laboratory science and the finish line. His work proves that the complex signals observed under a microscope can be harnessed to produce gold medals—but only when you respect the biological cost of the work required.

At Iowa Sports Prep, we teach students that nutrition isn't just about eating—it's about strategic fuel management that changes based on your training phase, your sport, and your goals. The most sophisticated athletes don't follow rigid diets; they periodize their nutrition like they periodize their training.

The ultimate lesson from Stellingwerff: Performance optimization and health preservation must work together. A medal won at the cost of your body isn't worth winning.