Nutrition · Module 12 · Nutrition for physical activity

Sports Nutrition Lab

Run a muscle through a workout and watch its fuel tanks, test sweat and heat on the hydration bench, practise the sports nutrition calculations, sort the ideas, and work through real-life situations. Every number here is a rounded teaching value, not a personal plan. Nothing here is graded.

Part 1: Exercise Fuel Simulator

Teaching modelA simplified model of one 70 kg athlete's muscles during exercise. It shows how intensity, duration, training and fueling shape the fuel mix and glycogen stores. Real people vary a lot; this is not a training or diet plan.

Simulator readouts at the selected time
MeasureValue

How the model works: energy use comes from intensity (% of VO2max) and fitness for a 70 kg athlete (about 5 kcal per litre of oxygen). The carbohydrate share follows a crossover curve that moves to higher intensities with training. Carbohydrate comes from muscle glycogen and blood glucose; the liver and any carbohydrate eaten during exercise keep blood glucose supplied. Starting stores: glycogen in the working leg muscles about 250 to 380 g depending on training (whole-body muscle holds more; about 35% more after loading); liver glycogen about 55 g after an overnight fast, 90 g after a meal. The athlete fatigues when muscle glycogen runs very low, when the liver can no longer keep blood glucose up, or, above about 80% VO2max, from fast-system by-products. Simplified for learning.