Science For Sport (00:01.347)
Well, James, it's fantastic to have you back on the Science for Sport podcast. Regular listeners will be familiar with your career, your experience and some of the lessons from your experience that you've passed on to us as well in previous recordings. for those that are new to the Science for Sport podcast, have only just joined us, give us a brief idea of your background, your experience and where you are now.

James (00:26.582)
Yeah, so studied at Liverpool John Moore's undergraduate master's PhD. So I had an amazing ten years up in Liverpool, you know, learning all of the the scientific literature and and the textbooks and you know the important academic knowledge that we need to then go and have a career as a a practitioner in the applied sports world. and then my career and background across sport over the last ten to twelve years has stemmed from rugby league with my PhD.

England football on the men's and the women's side, through the pathway under fifteens all the way through to the twenty ones and and senior women and then into Premiership rugby and now international rugby where I've supported the I did the Red Roses, the women's team for eighteen months and I've been with the senior men now for three years and then outside of that really enjoy supporting boxers to to make weight and and and you know get in the ring as best they can do.

and then in in recent years I've I've kind of started to develop a little bit more around the mentorship and the kind of support of younger practitioners in the in the industry, helping them on their journey to to go ahead and have an amazing career. and also, yeah, just supporting practitioner development in clubs. because I think there's a lot that I've learnt, you know, there's many mistakes I've made and systems I've built that you know I'm more than happy to share with others.

Science For Sport (01:53.263)
Yeah, and it doesn't always have to be complicated, does it? I remember in our last conversation you were talking me through what nutrition diet looked like, say at halftime in a Six Nations game. You talked about having sushi on the table for the players, something as simple as Jaffa cakes that I was like, wow, this was revolutionary to somebody like me who's an amateur sportsman and can take away. So for you, was it always a career in performance nutrition or did it creep up on you?

James (02:21.51)
yeah, I actually started out wanting to be a strength and conditioning coach. so my my first internship at Liverpool John Moores under a a very good friend of mine now, Dr. Carl Langan Evans, who's at LJMU still, was was and strength and conditioning intern, where I supported the rugby league team at the university. So that that really was like the career that I wanted to step into. So

O I've always enjoyed training, always enjoyed learning about exercise and training adaptation and recovery. And then I actually s did a a bit of a an S and C internship at Saracens back in the day. you know, spent a whole summer volunteering at the club, driving from Essex to St Albans and and then I was in the club there. But it was really on the PhD where I started to

enjoy the applied physiology and then performance nutrition. and and that's where that kind of the love I guess for performance nutrition came from, working with the rugby league guys.

Science For Sport (03:22.718)
And of course, for anybody looking to pursue a career in nutrition, it goes out saying it, a degree at university is invaluable. But would it also be fair to say that a degree in itself is not the be all and end all outside of that, in your experience? What should students be looking at that can help them along their way?

James (03:46.553)
yeah, I I would agree. I think the the reality is I'm I remember when I studied sport and excise science at Liverpool John Moores, I think we had three hundred students on our undergrad. I I now look at where those people are and you know, there might be three or four that are working at the elite level of pro sport. and that's not where everyone has to go when they study sports science, but you know, there there is certainly a thirst and a d desire to work with the elite athletes.

and and I think you're right, you know, the the universities across the world do an incredible job teaching you the academic knowledge, you know, the mechanistics, the the scientific literature, how to read and review papers and and they do such a good job in that space. where I would say I did quite well as a student was that I I went as a mature student and I I understood that there was a bit of a gap really between having that degree is one thing.

But actually then having the experience and the you know, getting your hands dirty with volunteering and putting yourself out there was probably gonna set me apart a little bit from the other three hundred students that were studying at the time. So that's why I volunteered at Saracens, you know, out of my own money, you know, I you know, driving across the twenty five, but I knew that that investment in that i e experience was gonna be invaluable. I did an applied placement project at university with St Helens Rugby League and it should have been kind of

six weeks, seven weeks, I decided to extend it over the whole season off my own back. And I was driving, sorry, I was cycling to the train station, getting the train over to St Helens on a Saturday morning because I wanted to be in the club. I wanted to be working with athletes and that allowed me to get references from the head of SNC, the captain of the squad at the time. And I think the you know universities do a very good job of running PhD projects all the time. You've got very good researchers doing great PhD

research areas and actually you've got a really good opportunity there to be the participant, like be part of research when you're at uni, because you'll then understand what the research projects are like to run, you know, how to study them, how to actually get in the lab and run certain physiological testing or take muscle biopsies. And and that's always put me in a very good position because I've always been able to draw upon those experiences, like genuine experiences in pro sport or research.

James (06:09.644)
And I th I speak to so many either current students or students that have recently graduated about what you know what research did they get involved with with at university or or what i what volunteering experience have you done or you know what was your applied placement? And they might have done a small bit of it or they haven't done any and they've kind of missed that boat, they've missed that window. Like the universities have a great opportunity, they've got great links with

university teams or university research projects where you can get involved. But if you know that you wanna work in sport and you wanna work in this elite environment, then you've really gotta get involved at that early onset of being a student because once you leave the university, the kind of door closes and you and you miss that boat because there's a new wave of students coming through. and I

Science For Sport (06:57.646)
Yeah and I think that's something that often gets overlooked isn't it? Not just in performance nutrition, across any career. It doesn't have to be in this instance with a professional organisation. Just having that hands-on practical experience as you're going hand-in-hand with the education process can be invaluable can't

James (07:16.782)
Hundred percent. I mean I quite often say to the the students that I work with now is that the you know, the education that I provide the England rugby players regarding nutrition and rugby is very similar to what I would potentially advise my local amateur rugby club here because they're still rugby players and the literature's still the same.

it's just the fact that they're they're competing at a different level. So, you know, I I've been in I not that I had to do this because I work with world champion boxers, but I've been into amateur boxing clubs where I've offered my services out and said, look, have you got any amateur boxers that wanna know how to make weight a bit safer? Because, you know, I I I s I wanna stay in the in the in the trenches. I still wanna be that applied performance nutritionist and

make sure that I'm kind of staying up to date with applying that knowledge and that literature with the athletes that I work with.

Science For Sport (08:12.76)
So if you had a nutrition student come up to you and you were mentoring them, now James, what would the roadmap look like for them over the next two or three years? What would your advice be? Where would you be directing them along that path?

James (08:29.078)
Yeah, I I would say that it's imperative that if you're still a student at university right now, that you actively get involved in research projects with masters projects and or PhD projects because you will learn what it's like to be a participant, but you'll also then be sitting there and watching researchers conduct research, which

Is then all of the the literature that we're you know we're reading, isn't it? can I just pause there, Richard? I've got someone at the door. Sorry.

Science For Sport (08:58.956)
Yeah, absolutely. No worries.

James (09:09.23)
Yes, yes.

James (09:20.588)
So sorry one minute. No problem.

Science For Sport (09:23.99)
No problem.

James (09:59.95)
Sorry mate. Nightmare, my tires are getting changed.

Science For Sport (10:00.942)
Ha ha ha ha!

Science For Sport (10:04.983)
right. You need to get that sorted to be fair.

James (10:09.698)
Yeah, it's the it's the tread, so yeah, I'll I'll do you wanna ask that again and then I'll start it again.

Science For Sport (10:14.67)
Yeah, I'll ask the question again and then it's a clean edit as well, isn't it?

Science For Sport (10:26.029)
Okay, here we go.

Science For Sport (10:29.994)
If you had a nutrition student come to you now, James, and you were mentoring them, what would the roadmap that you set out for them over next two or three years look like? What would be the pathway that you'd advise?

James (10:43.436)
Yeah, if they are a student still at university now, I would maximise, absolutely maximise the opportunity that they've got to be part of research projects, either undergraduate, masters or PhD projects, with the current students that are all researchers that are at that university. The reason I say that is because, you know, we we sit here and we read the research and I think

It's really important to understand how that research is done. So when you're sitting there and you're having a muscle biopsy done out of your leg and you're watching the researchers do their thing, you begin to understand the nuances that are involved in conducting research in sport nutrition and sports science. And it also just gives you a an appreciation of sometimes how difficult these research projects are to do. Especially if they're like training and adaptation studies or where you have to control nutritional intake.

it would also give you an idea as to maybe do you want to then go on and do a master's? You know, do you want to go on and do a PhD because you're gonna see maybe the stress or lack of stress that that PhD student's going through. so I think that's crucial. Like get involved with research projects at your university that you're at. I would then say it kind of exploit is probably a nice way to put it, but have a think about the

access that that university has got to the applied sports i industry that they currently have. Now whether that is university based athletes that you could work with. So you know some teams some some universities have a really strong rowing team, they might have a really strong Bucks rugby team, but start working with those university teams. But then also a little bit wider than that is what links does the university have with applied sports clubs in and around that local area?

Because I think every single lecturer that I've ever asked and said, you know, if have you got a link at the at this team, the university has a link somewhere. You just need to find out who that link is and then and then you can kind of generate that experience, I would say. So that's that's something that I would always sit down with my kind of mentees and and the people that I work with to say, are you maximising that at the moment? Because while you're studying

James (12:59.147)
It's just a great value add to have that you just build and and keep accumulating what I would call this craft knowledge of being a researcher and/or the applied experience. if they're not at university, I still think that you could, you know, have a look at universities that are looking for participants on research projects, because we all see the flyers that do the rounds. but then also now's your opportunity where you might have a little bit more time on your hands because you're not studying.

start going into clubs, start reaching out to run clubs, reach out to boxing clubs, athletic clubs, hockey, football, rugby, and you'd be surprised at how many people, if you're if you've graduated from a sports nutrition masters and it's a CENR endorsed course and you're now a graduate sport and exercise nutrition register student or or alumni, like, you know, go and experience, go and apply your knowledge with a group of

kind of runners at local running club and and get in front of them and present and learn what pres presenting feels like. But there's so many people that I speak to that I don't know. They they almost seem a little bit afraid to to reach out and pick up the phone to like whoever owns or runs the running club. And I just think unless you unless you've got the ability to go and do that and put yourself out there, then you're really gonna struggle to accumulate the experience that when you apply for the jobs people are looking for.

You know, when you apply for a job and and they want essential and desirable, a lot of the essential is going to be similar to everyone else. Like you've got a master's in sport nutrition, it's from a registered university, you know, you've got your level two food and safety, you've become a UCAD accredited advisor, you've done your eyes at level one. Now it's about what sets you apart, what makes you different. Have you

Done a year's volunteering at a club. Have you been presenting at a local running club where you've stood up once a week and educated all of these runners on running nutrition? And I think it's that that people don't have, but it's it's that that people like me, if I'm sitting on a i an interview board, I'm looking for the person that's got the experience. I wanna know, are you comfortable presenting? I wanna know

James (15:15.192)
You know, did you ever make a mistake with a client or an athlete? And what was that mistake and how did you get over it? Like what was the solution? And that's the thing that I think people are missing at the moment.

Science For Sport (15:24.49)
Yeah and obviously as well everything that you're saying means that you come into direct contact with people. It gives you the opportunity to network and that's something that I don't think ever stops no matter how far you progress in your career. I know one of things that you've established is the Performance Nutrition Network. How invaluable is it to have those contacts to be able to bounce ideas off fellow peers, professionals, learn from each other.

James (15:50.782)
Look, I'm I'm completely biased here, of course I am, but my whole career has been built upon the the network that I'm in. Not not the performance nutrition network that I've built, but my good friends, my colleagues, the alumni from universities, the researchers, the academics that I all would would call good friends and and colleagues. And and I didn't know I was doing it at the time, but what I was essentially doing was building this insane black book

of contacts researchers, academics, very good applied practitioners, not only from the UK but around the world because people move on and they move different countries. And you know, a lot of it is on you know, you've got them as WhatsApp contacts as well. So within, you know, a split second you can check and challenge your strategy with somebody else. You know, have you thought about a h a heat strategy when you travelled to South Africa before, or have you ever been to the Altitude in Joba before? And what did you do with the cycling team?

Now that's just invaluable, but that you but you build that up because of your network and the people that you that you work with and and you you want to communicate with. And so the Performance Nutrition Network for me was was kind of born off the back of COVID really, where I was mentoring one to one about thirty nutritionists at the time. And when my daughter was born I realised I couldn't do that anymore and I needed time to spend with my daughter. So I then

Migrated everybody into an online platform. And then since then it's grown into what we now know as the Performance Nutrition Network. And it's it really gives me kind of pride and happiness to talk about it because what I've created now is a group of practitioners from around the world where they are happy to support each other. It's the it's a nurturing pastoral guidance support mechanism for current students that are at university that want to know what.

r England rugby nutritionist is doing. They want to know what the Premier League nutritionist is doing. They want to know what their NBA nutritionist is doing. So it becomes this place where students can see it and and look at it and go, wow, okay, these are the things that are going on at the applied sport. But then it also becomes a place where you can check and challenge your current strategies. You know, people are sharing their pre season or off season documents that they're sending to their players. Hey guys, I've put this together

James (18:16.641)
You know, has anyone done this before? Is it am I missing anything? Or somebody might have a question on body composition in pro sport? You know, what's everyone's thoughts on this right now? And it's become this safe mechanism whereby, you know, the spectrum of practitioners and students are in there together, all offering their support and their advice, the lessons that they've learned over their career, the mistakes that they've made. You know, when you're going into a conversation with your chef, don't say this because it's not going to end well. Or

When you're travelling for the first time with a team overseas, make sure you add in a ten percent allowance on your budget in terms of stock because it will go and if you don't account for it, you're gonna be in USA without stock. And it's these little things that you just the nuances of being the applied performance nutritionist that sometimes isn't taught at university because it's kind of only learnt by b being the practitioner and doing doing the applied practitioner stuff. so yeah, it's a it's a community that I'm very proud of.

Science For Sport (19:15.338)
And right, so too. Give myself and our listeners then an example, if you can, James, of where that network has really come to pay dividends in a scenario when perhaps it was a bit of a head scratcher for you and you hadn't thought of an angle and yet one of your colleagues in this network has said, well, have you thought about this? And it's unlocked the door, so to speak.

James (19:37.442)
Yeah, there's probably there's a live one this week. so an example of just the power of the network, not the PNM but my own black book is an athlete of mine hasn't got the enough stock of a particular product that he needs for this week. So I've got forty eight hours to try and find the solution. So it was a WhatsApp voice note to the company and straight away that's been sent out straight to the hotel tomorrow. Now that that's that

problem eradicated within five ten minutes, which is great because if if I didn't have the contact and I didn't have the black book of people that I could just message, you're then worrying about an issue later on this week. but for me personally, we travelled to Argentina last year and then we went to Washington. So I'd I'd actually never been to Washington before. we the difference correct, yeah, England rugby

Science For Sport (20:27.426)
And this was with England Rugby, right? Yeah.

James (20:31.787)
I'd never been to Washington and we were going from Argentina where it was like two, three degrees, to Washington where it was thirty degrees and eighty percent humidity, which for anyone is a tough environment to be in. So I had my ideas around what I wanted to do from a cooling mechanism, you know, and a nutrition strategy to cope with the heat, the all of the little nuances about kind of what you need at the game and and all of that sort of stuff, but I shared it into the group.

And I said, hey guys, this is the situation I'm in. these are my initial ideas of what I'm gonna do as a practitioner and the and the considerations. I am I missing anything? Is there anything else that anyone has done before that works in in the heat? Now, of course, you've got Formula One practitioners in there, you've got NFL, MBA, you've got people that work in the heat and in these environments all the time. And so and and Premier League, of course, when it gets hot in the UK. And so you had people commenting saying,

like really support the idea of you know t making sure that you've got three igloos at training one's full of iced water one's full of iced hydration solution and then the other one's just full of extra ice because you're always gonna need it. Like when I was in Australia, like we didn't account for that and it was a big issue on the day. So you might have people that support your your current ideas but then somebody might also say

Something as little as, you know, have you considered making up the waters the night before and then leaving them in the hotel fridge overnight so that actually when you get the bottles out in the morning they're ice cold and and you're not putting them into lukewarm bottles. Little things like that is what people would kind of pick up on and it's it's it's good because, you know, we don't have the answer for everything, do we?

Science For Sport (22:20.694)
No, we absolutely don't. And I suppose what this highlights as much as anything else, James, the realities of working in an elite sporting environment, because on the surface of it, it can seem really glamorous. You're mixing with the biggest stars in the sport, people working at an elite high end level. But in your position, your role, it's the hidden details that matter most to make sure that there is an easy flow, that there's no friction.

along the way that allows these athletes, these teams, to perform at an optimum level.

James (22:54.25)
Yeah, yeah, exactly that. And you know, as you were talking now, I was just thinking of another live example I've got whereby I think every sporting team that travels the world kind of ready to drink bottled water is is a must, whether you've got it on the coach, in the hotel, in the players' rooms, at game day. And I've been in situations my whole career whereby you get slightly concerned that the bottled water supply is running out.

And see, you know, what is your contingency? Like where is the local shop where you can go and get the bottled water if you need it? We're travelling to South Africa, so this time around, you know, I've I've took learnings from other elite sporting organizations whereby we're actually taking a Pelly case with us that has got a water filtration system in it. So I can hook that unit up to any hotel tap, any non-drinking water supply, and

It will go through the water filtration system and out the other end comes genuine filtered drinking water. So it now doesn't really matter where I am in the world. I know that I can always fill up my matchday bottles and my training bottles with filtered water because I'm gonna take this unit with me. And and again, that was a lesson from somebody that had been to South Africa before where they're like.

It isn't like the UK where you can get away with drinking tap water. Like over there it's a no-no. Like you just don't do it. You don't brush your teeth with the water. So it's little things like that that you know, I've prepared that, it's getting delivered next week and it's coming with us to South Africa. So I now know that that pressure of, my god, we're running out of drinking water, I can like, no, well no, we've got this unit.

Science For Sport (24:28.738)
And let's be honest, as anybody will testify to in any line of work, there's enough stress and strain that goes on in these environments as it is. So anything that can alleviate that, such as the example that you've highlighted there, makes life not only easier for you, but for everybody involved. And that's got to be a good thing. OK, before we wrap up, I guess we need to try and put in a nutshell what we talked about here to James. So.

So for those students now that maybe already are on the pathway, maybe they're already on a degree course at university or just about thinking about it, what's your key advice to them looking to have a career going forward in elite sports performance nutrition?

James (25:15.594)
Yeah, I I I would say, you know, you've you've got to maximize your exposure and putting yourself out there when you're a university student. Because if you don't, you will look back at these brilliant academic institutes that we have in the UK and and abroad and regret the opportunity that you missed because you've got a glowing opportunity in front of you to get involved with stuff. I think the reality is that there's a lot of

students now that are graduating in this space to so to set yourself apart and be different, you need to get the experience of volunteering, putting yourself out there, getting involved in stuff. Because when you hopefully get invited for the interview, that's the stuff that you can just talk about naturally and you're not trying to make things up on the spot. If someone says to you on an interview panel, give me an example of where you you did something wrong working with an athlete, what was it and how did you get over it?

you can't really make that stuff up. But if you've got experience of doing something wrong and everyone does it, then you can tell that story and it comes across so naturally. and then look, personally I would I would seek a mentor. I would, you know, become part of communities like the Performance Nutrition Network, where you can learn from others in this space and and develop yourself and and move forward because, you know, I've had mentors my whole career. Whether they knew they were mentors or not at the time, you know, I was

seeking help and advice from from so many people and I still do. I've still got mentors in my career now. and it's something that, you know, I've I l I've loved to build over recent years, which is the supporting mechanism and the kind of

Pastoral care, if you like, and a bit of the ped pedagogical approach to you know what I d now do, which is where I support practitioners in clubs. So I'm working with working with clubs now that have got practitioners in the building already that they want to develop and they want to, I guess fast track, if you like, across their career. You know, they've got

James (27:17.884)
good systems in place but they want to make them better. They've got their own strategies that they're doing at the moment but they want an external wire to come in and and audit that process so that they can take the the nutrition pillar from the level that it's at now and and develop it forward quickly. And I'm I'm getting real excitement and real joy about being able to support these brilliant practitioners in these clubs to say, look, you're you're already doing some amazing stuff.

But what you've missed is these glaring opportunities in front of you right now. You know, it's not because you're not good, it's just because you haven't been exposed to tier one international environments and and that level and when you have and you've been in and around those environments before you

You have to learn to simplify ruthlessly and you have to go right, what what is actually going to affect performance quickly and that's what we're going to go after now. And and that's more of what I'm doing now, which, you know, is that practitioner development space. Like I said, people that are already in clubs or clubs that don't have a practitioner in the building that are kind of ch chips speaking to me to say, have you got anyone that you think would fit this? And then can you support them from afar and and help them develop?

Science For Sport (28:29.507)
And is that what excites you most going forward, being able to work with these organizations, refine their processes, or is there something else that you've got your eye on moving forward as well that you'd like to get your teeth into?

James (28:41.651)
Yeah, I honestly, Richard, I I I genuinely get passion out of the I I don't wanna say junior because it's the wrong word, but I get passion out of the practitioner that's in the building that

wants to develop and they want to fast track and they want to move forward with their career. And it it gives me great pleasure when I see people that I've mentored in my kind of last five, six years go on and like have an amazing career because I'm like, I love that. Like I love the fact that we've been able to work together. You've taken on board some of the education and knowledge that I've given you and then you've gone and applied it in your own world. and I guess it boils down to an element of pedagogy where I, you know, I I once was the student at university.

And I've learned from incredible academics and teachers across my journey, and I still do. And I've now I've then become the coach where I've coached the athletes that I work with, and I still love doing that. And I get great passion about supporting elite athletes to do what they do. And then now what I'm really enjoying as well is enjoying becoming the teacher. To to I'm now teaching the coaches to be better coaches for their athletes. And I just think if

you know, if we can all move forward in the right direction together, then sport and the development of the practitioner and the athletes just all moves in the right direction. yeah, and I get I just you know when when I'm educating junior practitioner recently in Europe where we were having a discussion about kind of full time, extra time strategies.

Or having a little chat about what what they could do in and around the environment to make sure lads are fueling a little bit better leading into the game. And then the practitioners whatsapping me over pictures to say, hey, look, this is what we've done at the club today. Like I love seeing that. I I love seeing that development because then it's, you know, they're creating their own strategy moving forward and pushing it forward, which is great for the the club, great for the practitioner, but even better for the athletes.

Science For Sport (30:43.008)
Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure anyone watching this podcast via our YouTube channel will agree as well that passion you have for all of this as you talk to us just leaps out out of the screen in front of you, which is great to see as well. And as always, James, we really appreciate the expertise and the lessons that are shared along the way for for those that aren't already following you on social media and want to do so. Where can they find you?

James (31:07.019)
Yeah, so obviously my my Instagram Moorhen Performance but also, you know, LinkedIn, James Moorhead on LinkedIn and and if there's any students or practitioners that are in the building that that wanna kind of have a chat about how that support mechanism might look, then you know, please reach out to me and likewise if there's head of performances or sports science that listen to this that that wanna explore that, then it would be great to chat.

Science For Sport (31:32.91)
Absolutely, I'm sure that many will take you up on that offer. And for yourself, I know as well, you've got a big summer ahead now away with the England rugby team for a tough test series in South Africa against the Springboks.

James (31:45.378)
Yeah, so we play South Africa away, which again, you know, it's my first time to South Africa ever. So I'm leaning on the community for advice right now and things that I might be missing. and then we come back, we play Fiji up in Everton at the new Everton Stadium, which will be incredible. And then we fly over to Argentina. So we've got we've got a good element of of travel and jet lag and, you know, logistics to manage over the next month, which is all good fun.

Science For Sport (32:10.222)
enough to keep you on your toes

James (32:14.081)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Science For Sport (32:15.8)
Well, we wish you all the best. Thanks once again, James.

James (32:18.552)
Thanks, mate. Great to speak.