The Sports Nutrition Playbook · Amy Goodson

Ep. 71 Stack Your Habits, Elevate Your Game

·26 min·1 clip

After brushing your teeth, fill your water bottle; after practice, grab a post-workout snack.

1. The Sports Nutrition Playbook episode “Stack Your Habits, Elevate Your Game” focuses on habit stacking for athletes, parents, coaches, and athletic trainers. 2. Host Amy Goodson identifies herself as a veteran sports dietitian and explains that the show gives “the play-by-play on all things sports nutrition.” 3. The episode asks how athletes can build routines that stick during school, training, games, and busy schedules. 4. Amy says January brings “fresh starts,” but she warns that trying to do everything overnight does not work. 5. She defines habit stacking as linking a new habit to something already done consistently, instead of relying on motivation or willpower. 6. Amy says the method works because athletes already have structured routines like waking up, eating meals, going to practice, attending class, working out, and going to bed. 7. She says habit stacking helps remove decision fatigue, create consistency without extra effort, and make habits more automatic than optional. 8. Amy argues that habits become more like identity when they are attached to trusted routines rather than left as items on a to-do list. 9. She gives home examples: after brushing teeth, fill a water bottle; after dinner, pack next-day snacks; after getting into bed, spend five minutes breathing, stretching, or meditating. 10. She gives school examples: after first class, eat a balanced snack; when lunch ends, refill a water bottle; after opening a backpack, take a few deep breaths. 11. She gives training examples: after warmups, hydrate; after practice, take a post-workout snack with carbs and protein; after removing shoes, keep drinking from the water bottle. 12. Amy says these stacks improve recovery and reduce missed opportunities to refuel and reset around games and training sessions. 13. She notes that athletes often forget refueling when there is a lot of activity, such as grabbing a backpack, talking with friends, or moving between training spaces. 14. She recommends using alarms on calendars when a stack feels hard at first, especially for reminders like post-workout snacks. 15. Amy says most middle school, high school, and college athletes should aim for only one to two habits at a time, because too many changes lead to burnout. 16. She adds that one nutrition habit is enough to start, and the second habit should usually be a recovery or mindset habit. 17. Amy lays out a five-step process: identify one daily anchor habit, choose one small performance habit, write the stack clearly, track consistency, and revisit after two weeks. 18. She emphasizes the line “track consistency, not perfection” and says missed days will happen. 19. The episode has an instructional, conversational tone, with Amy speaking directly to athletes and families in a step-by-step format. 20. Athletes, parents, and coaches who want a simple routine-building system will get the most from this episode, while listeners looking for advanced sports science may skip it.

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