Dr. Christy Alexon, PhD, RD | Nutrition for Strength Sport Performance, Physique & Optimal Health
As strength sport athletes, we all have physical goals we aspire to achieve. We put in the work in the gym and complete our training with the utmost intent, but sometimes lack the same focus on nutrition that would support our goals.
Registered Dietician, Ph.D., bikini competitor, single mother, Renaissance Periodization coach, and highly sought professor at Arizona State University - Christy Alexon is the epitome of success. 🏆
We all have 24 hours in a day, but Christy maximizes her time while juggling many astonishing life goals. She embodies what it takes to be highly successful in anything you put your mind to. However, this does not happen effortlessly, and Christy provides valuable insight into how she accomplishes it. And in this episode, she offers a unique perspective to help us do the same.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC, and Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS, sit down to pick her brain and deep dive into the science behind nutrition and life balance. They also asked the questions of PRS Clients and followers! These questions led to incredible insight as Christy gives valuable information that helps you understand the science of:
🔺Protein specifics: Whey Protein Isolate vs. Concentrate or Casein, the best time to consume a protein relative to workout timing, alternatives for all dietary preferences, etc.
🔺Supplementation recommendations and the reasons why!
🔺Blood sugar management, considerations for diabetic populations, and how to adequately build muscle for all dietary restrictions.
Thank you to all that submitted questions for the episode. Stay tuned for our next guest and get your questions answered by experts in the field!
After listening to this episode, you will have informative, knowledgeable, and practical tools to take your nutritional game to the next level. Even if you feel like you are juggling many things, it’s time you support your life and training goals with adequate and effective nutrition strategies.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:00:43] So we wanted to have you on the podcast because we think you are a pretty awesome and great person. And Rate My Professor says that you're pretty awesome too.
Dr. Christy Alexon, PhD, RD: [00:01:03] But it must be true now. It must be true. The Internet never lies. Never, ever. Yeah.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:01:10] You have a five out of five on rate on RateMyProfessor.com at 100% "Take Your Courses." So we wanted to bring you on to talk about the importance of nutrition for general strength, sports performance, and what we might look at differently if we have a plant-based or special diet. Such as a vegan or a keto diet, and what might we look at differently if we're following a specific diet type in terms of sports performance? So before we get into that stuff, we wanted you to just give a little introduction. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into your registered dietitian. You're a professor in nutrition and dietetics; you're a competitive athlete in both powerlifting and bikini competitions, right?
Dr. Christy Alexon, PhD, RD: [00:02:09] Correct. Yeah. I don't have enough muscle for figure or women's bodybuilding. Or anything like that.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:02:15] Building muscle is hard, contrary to popular belief.
Dr. Christy Alexon, PhD, RD: [00:02:19] Yeah, especially as a natural athlete, right? I could probably do one of those other divisions if I took a bunch of Anavar and other things. But I'm just all-natural, right? So I'm doing this as a natural athlete. So bikini is more realistic for me to do naturally. But n terms of how I got into nutrition and sports from there, I was always fascinated by the food labels as a kid. So and my mom was pretty health conscious. Like when we went down the cereal aisle, she wouldn't let me get the sugary cereals like I had a certain amount of cereals I could choose from. And then I started looking at nutrition labels, and I'm like, Well, I want this one because it has 100% of all these vitamins, and it's like. I'm like seven.
Dr. Christy Alexon, PhD, RD: [00:03:09] I believe it was my destiny to be a dietitian. And so I was just very much into science. And at first, I thought I wanted to be a physician. So I just worked my butt off as an undergrad. I majored in nutrition, but I went to medical school. But when I was in medical school, I decided to drop out and switch and do a PhD in nutrition and exercise science instead. So I kind of switched gears, but I was only 21. I was so young, you know, who knew what exactly they wanted to do at 21? So I'm super happy that I made that change because I love what I do now and the flexibility of being a dietitian with an advanced degree in the area with a doctorate. I get to be a professor and teach, and I have a little more flexibility in my schedule. Although I'm sure some physicians still have flexible schedules, I get the flexibility to do online nutrition and training coaching and then have time for my sports practices. So I started as an endurance athlete because that was the easiest thing to do, right? Most people are capable of running. It doesn't take much skill, and I would not consider myself the most coordinated athletic soul. In high school, I joined the golf team to get out of PE, and I can do golf because the ball is not moving when you're trying to hit it. So I feel like I have a fighting chance.
Dr. Christy Alexon, PhD, RD: [00:04:45] And not that I was that good at golf, but I started running and did a half marathon. And then when you're training for a half marathon, you build up your endurance, and you're like, Oh, I can do a full marathon. So it's just two half marathons, then you do a couple of full marathons. So you're like, "Wow, that's a lot of running."
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:05:07] That's not how I felt after a half marathon.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:05:11] Did you do a marathon, Alyssa?
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:05:12] No, I did a handful of half marathons, but never did I get done and think I could just do this again. I always got done, and I thought, You know what? I don't think I'm going to go for another run.
Dr. Christy Alexon, PhD, RD: [00:05:26] I mean, I may be more genetically inclined towards endurance training because I was a pretty crappy powerlifter. So who knows? But when I was running marathons, I met starting strength coach Robert Santana, who said, " You need to start lifting. It'll make you a better runner. So I'm like, okay, I'll start lifting. So I did nothing over five reps of, like, squat. Bench, press overhead, press, deadlift, lat pull downs, and eventually chin-ups for three years. And then I got to a point where I realized that kind of intense, like not, I guess you could call it a high or whatever like that you would get from running 20 miles. You can get that feeling with a heavy set of five deadlifts, that exhilaration. And boy, it saves you a lot of time because running 20 miles takes a long time.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:06:20] Amen to that.
Dr. Christy Alexon, PhD, RD: [00:06:22] Yeah. So I'm like, you know what? I think I'm just going to kind of switch sports here and just do this now. So I did a couple of USAPL meets and discovered that I have an issue with my kind of anatomy in my right hip. I have what's called FAI, femoral acetabular impingement, and I had a labral tear in my right hip. And every time I tried to push my squat up, it was not going well for me. And so I just kind of did push, pull, deadlift bench press only, and the squat just got me, and I'm trying not to have hip surgery. So I went to physical therapy, got steroid injection, good physical therapy, huge. So that's why I have so much respect for what you do because physical therapy taught me how to modify my activities to work with the issue that I have with my hip and still train and not be in pain, which is always a good thing.
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