Undereating can be as big a problem as overeating — when your activity level is high, you have to fuel it with enough calories and nutrients or your performance falls apart. In part five of Mindset of a Champion on Physical Friday, three-time CrossFit Games Masters champion Jason Grubb walks me through his full daily diet, the roughly 3,400 calories a day he eats to maintain performance, and why finding the right body weight is a constant balance for an elite athlete.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Yes, and Jason Grubb makes the case that undereating can be as much of a problem as overeating. Most of us are trying to cut calories because we tend to overeat, but as you move toward an elite level and put in a lot of training volume, you can end up not getting the calories and nutrients your activity level demands. That shortfall hurts your performance and recovery.
Jason eats roughly 3,400 calories a day. He starts with bulletproof coffee — coffee with butter, MCT powder, two scoops of creatine, and a dash of cinnamon — using half-decaf Black Rifle Coffee. Breakfast is about eight egg whites, two whole eggs, and two cups of white rice, plus seasonal fruit. Lunch is chicken and rice or Fage Greek yogurt with bananas. Dinner is a pound of ground beef most nights with two cups of rice, and often a small bowl of ice cream to top off his calories.
Jason targets about 3,400 calories a day. At five foot eight and a half and around 203 pounds on average, that is what he needs to maintain his performance and hold his weight where it needs to be. He even adds a small bowl of ice cream or a late meal when he needs to hit the number, because supporting that training volume requires eating a lot of food on purpose.
It is a balance. Jason told me he wants to be as heavy as possible to lift and move heavy weights, but as light as possible to be great at the gymnastics and bodyweight movements CrossFit demands. He does not want to be too heavy or too light, so around 200 pounds has become his sweet spot — heavy enough to be strong, light enough to move well.
If you have a high activity level — say you are pushing a boat all day as a guide — you may be undereating without realizing it. The lesson is to support your activity with real nutrition. I point listeners to 1st Phorm for protein powder, meal-replacement bars, Micro Factor vitamins, and greens, all of which I use to make sure I am fueling the work rather than running on empty.
Jason Grubb is a three-time CrossFit Games Masters champion who joined the Tom Rowland Podcast for a full conversation. In this Physical Friday segment I pulled his daily diet and nutrition philosophy, and he is also featured in later parts of the Mindset of a Champion series on habits and fear.
So many of us are fighting to cut calories and lose a little weight, and that is the right battle for most people. But when you start training for an event and pour in real hours, the problem can flip. Jason has won the CrossFit Games Masters division three times, so when I asked what his daily diet looks like, I knew the answer would be specific and useful. It was both.
This was the part that made me stop and think. Most people assume more exercise just means eat less, but Jason explained that high training volume without enough fuel quietly wrecks your performance and recovery. If you are a guide pushing a boat all day, you might be running a deficit you never planned. I get into the warning signs with him in the episode. Press play to hear how he thinks about fuel.
Jason wants to be heavy enough to move serious weight and light enough to be sharp on the gymnastics movements, and that tension is something he manages constantly. His answer of about 200 pounds as a sweet spot is a great window into how elite athletes think about their bodies as equipment. I let him explain the whole balance in the full episode. Listen in for it.
The day after this one, what stuck was how deliberate Jason is about eating enough. He will add ice cream to hit a number. That is the opposite of how most of us think about food.
If you have a high activity level, make sure your nutrition supports it. I lean on 1st Phorm protein, bars, Micro Factor, and greens to do exactly that. Do not undereat your way out of your own progress.
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
Jason Grubb · CrossFit Games · Black Rifle Coffee · Fage Greek yogurt · creatine · MCT oil · bulletproof coffee · 1st Phorm · Micro Factor · Physical Friday · Tom Rowland Podcast
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series where I help fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen build the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay strong and stay in the game for life.
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