By: Michael Beiter

I worked with a high school senior who will play college football today.

He has his training mapped out. We nailed down his nutrition. Specifically, he needs to improve his food quality as part of his 4,000-calorie intake!

Then we talked about when he needs to eat. I introduced him to a concept called the peri-workout window, and he will eat half of his daily protein and carbs within four hours of his training.

Lastly, we added beta-alanine and nitrates to improve his output during workouts and recovery afterward. He was already supplementing with creatine.

From a professional perspective, he is considered a level 2 or 3 client because he is being compensated for his athletic abilities.

Ninety-nine percent of people I work with are level 1 clients and don't have to consider all the nuances above to be healthy.

I love working with advanced clients; it's what we all dreamed about when we started in this field.

However, I think it's fucked that my most advanced nutritional client is 18. Don't get me wrong, it's appropriate, and he is an absolute stud, but something just isn't right when he's here at 11 am, has been up for 6 hours, and leaves to go back to class and then works out.

I'm burned out thinking about his schedule! But hey, at least he's seeking help to fuel it. That makes him light years ahead of his peers.