For decades, great athletes have known that to compete at the top level, they must gain strength and speed through dedicated training, conditioning, and weight programs. In addition to a knowledgeable coaching staff, every Athletic Department in the country has strength and conditioning coaches trained on sport specific training that gives their athletes an edge over the competion. Only the top athletic programs understand, however, that to allow the athlete to fully benefit from their training, they must be well fueled.

The Director of Sports Nutrition, Beth Miller, is a registered dietitian to ensure to ensure that every rep in the weight room, every drill in practice, and every play in competition is effective. In a time when athletes are pushed harder and competition is the toughest, it is crucial that athletes allow their bodies to recover and heal. Proper fueling is the key to a long lasting and successful career.

UCLA has a comprehensive sports nutrition program that helps athletes eat to win with services such as:

Pre and Post-Workout Fueling
Pre-Competition Meals
Menu Planning
Body Composition Assessments (see below)
Grocery Shopping Lists
Dietary Analysis
Special Diets (Vegetarian, Food Allergies etc)
Supplement Education

Additionally, UCLA likes to utilize the Bod Pod as an assessment tool to measure body composition. They use the information from the Bod Pod to aid in creating individualized meal plans for the student athletes at UCLA. Meal plans are used to guide the athletes food choices to optimize performance and fuel championships. Educating the athletes to purposefully fuel their bodies creates an ideal physiologic environment for strength gains, preventing overuse injuries and keeping athletes on the field. Beth Miller instills the knowledge of efficient fueling to the athletes reminding them that food is the fundamental building block to superior performance.

If you would like to meet with Beth, ask your athletic trainer to make an appointment, or send an email to bmiller@athletics.ucla.edu.

For more information on the UCLA sports nutrition program, visit www.fuelingbruins.blogspot.com.