Maggie Cowan spent a week living out a dream as a dietitian for Australia’s CrossFit Games team. She sits down with Sporting Her writer Jeff Cheshire to discuss her experience.
The significance of Maggie Cowan’s most recent trip is plain to see. It radiates from the 24-year-old dietitian, as she sits in her office at The Sports Dietitian Co in Brisbane, Australia. She is over two months removed from her first World CrossFit Games, having joined Taylor Ryan in supporting the Australian team with all their nutritional needs in Madison, Wisconsin. For a recently graduated dietitian, who trains and competes in CrossFit herself, she was essentially living the dream at the pinnacle of her sport.
Cowan said: “It was something that, if I didn’t go for work, I probably would have wanted to go to personally, anyway. Just being in that space. Seeing people you’ve followed on Instagram for years. Then working with them, and interacting with them, at the CrossFit Games. It definitely is a highlight, for sure. It’s one of the perks of being a dietitian in this space. There’s not many dietitians that get to say they’ve been to the CrossFit Games.’’
Yet it is not so much the way she talks of the glamour that stands out. It is the way the smile never leaves as she talks of the grind. Cowan and Ryan went well-beyond the usual scope of dietitians. Certainly they did all the planning and used their expertise to ensure their eight athletes ate and drank to maximise their performance levels. But equally, they were hands-on in their approach. It was an effort to make nutrition as accessible as possible to the athletes, sometimes in trying conditions.
The duo made several trips to the supermarket everyday. They bought all the team’s food. They cooked and prepared it themselves at the Airbnb they stayed in. The result was having every meal, snack and drink ready for the athletes to eat. All they had to do was turn up and get it down, which is not always as easy as it sounds, either.
For the uninitiated, CrossFit involves athletes performing a range of different high intensity activities, the specifics not being disclosed until hours before the event. The elite athletes are generally considered among the world’s fittest people. The energy expenditure is immense. That is where Cowan and Ryan fitted in.
‘’During that week, athlete’s nutrition requirements go up tremendously,’’ Cowan said. ‘’It’s very intense. Most days there was three or four workouts, with very little time in between. You can imagine how low your appetite is, and how important it is to be putting food back in.
‘’So I guess having a dietitian there, who has prepped everything makes it a lot easier on the athletes to meet their requirements. It’s the last thing you want to be thinking about as an athlete. You’re so tired and then you’ve got to cook dinner. Then just being at the Games being able to check in with the athletes and how they’re feeling.’’
Yet that investment made the performances and successes all the more worthwhile.
‘’There’s a huge satisfaction and, especially one of our athletes who did really well, he really stuck to it. Everything we told him to eat, he would eat. He ended up doing really well and said it was ‘my nutrition was a huge part of it and how I felt coming into that’. So it definitely makes a huge difference. It’s good to see that and be there for them and it felt really good for that.’’
It was a big learning curve for Cowan. Notable in that was seeing what foods made the biggest difference, and what was the easiest to get down. And there was being alongside Ryan. Ryan is among the top names in CrossFit nutrition. She has been to this event many times before and had worked closely with the athletes in the lead-in to the event. There is hardly a better mentor. It was one of the reasons Cowan wanted to work at The Sports Dietitian Co. She had interned there last year, and after graduating at the beginning of this year, she made the leap. That provided the platform for getting to Wisconsin. Having been born and raised in South Dakota, there were to be no issues getting into the United States, plus the trip doubled as an opportunity to visit family. It is a trip she hopes to continue making going forward. Yet that does not mean she has a year to rest.
On top of working with both elite and recreational athletes in Australia, her and Ryan are prominent in promoting evidence-based nutrition. Debunking myths, while also providing context for the methods they use in CrossFit is a notable focus on their social media platforms. The notion of carbohydrates, or sugar, being ‘bad’ is one she uses as a popular example.
‘’It’s all about context. And some people do take it out of context. I wouldn’t say carbohydrates are bad, at all, or sugar is bad. But I wouldn’t say the general population needs as many carbohydrates or sugar as an elite athlete.
‘’So it’s all about context and a lot of people do take it out of context. We do promote a lot of those more processed, more sugary foods. It’s something we get slammed on. But elite athletes, even recreational athletes who train CrossFit everyday, your energy requirements are so much higher than someone who’s just walking.
‘’Food is food. Our body doesn’t know that this carbohydrate comes from a croissant or a potato. It breaks it down the same. It’s being able to teach people that and the physiology behind that and how our body responds.’’
She is active in CrossFit herself, too. Having swam competitively as a child, she eventually took to endurance sports such as triathlon and running half marathons. That led her to CrossFit three years ago, which she now trains for daily and competes at local competitions.
‘’It’s nice to be able to use these concepts we give our CrossFit athletes and trial everything yourself. I just do a lot of local competitions. We have a few upcoming and it’s good to be able to use those to practice it yourself, practice what you preach essentially.
‘’It’s one thing telling someone. It’s another actually doing it yourself, when you’re already busted during a workout. And you’re telling someone to eat. It’s good to trial those things and see that they’re actually really hard.
‘’Obviously everyone is going to be highly individualised with different preferences. That’s why we work with them so long before the games to find what works best. But it’s good having that personal experience to relate to not just elite athletes, but also recreational athletes as well.’’
Five performance nutrition tips from Maggie Cowan that can aid you to optimise performance, recovery, and overall health:
- Don’t be afraid of carbohydrates in fact, you should prioritise them for performance.
Carbohydrates are your body’s primary source of energy, especially during high-intensity exercise. Aim for 0.5 – 1g/kg of simple carbohydrates 20 – 45 minutes prior to fuel your workouts and maintain glycogen stores throughout.
- Aim for balanced meals and snacks that include complex carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats.
This combination helps to provides a steady source of energy and ensures you are meeting all macronutrients.
- Distribute protein intake evenly throughout the day to promote muscle protein synthesis.
Research shows that consuming >0.4g/kg protein over 4-6 meals or snacks across the day to reach a target of 1.6-2.2g/kg protein is optimal in most cases.
- Don’t forget micronutrients.
Include a variety of fruits and vegetables to ensure you get essential vitamins and minerals for overall health and recovery.
- Personalise your nutrition.
It’s important to remember that nutrition is highly individualized. Your specific needs will depend on factors such as training type, duration, and intensity. By fueling your body properly rather than restricting, you’ll be on your way to achieving your training goals and enhancing your overall performance and recovery.
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