Looking at the diet strategies of competitive bodybuilders is not only of interest to those within the sport,

but it's also very interesting to consider because we are looking to push to the extremes of two variables in terms of body composition.

These are athletes who are trying to not only maximize and maintain as much muscle mass as possible,

but for a bodybuilding show are trying to get their body fat levels down to extremes that we see within humans.

And so this throws up some potentially interesting observations that may not apply in most typical diet scenarios and may not

apply within a lot of the research that we see. And so trying to get bodybuilding specific research

is a really important way to move forward this field of trying to make some of the practices

more evidence-based, both for the success of competitors,

but also their long-term health. And so one way to do that is, well, let's take a look at what

bodybuilders are doing right now. And not only that, wouldn't it be quite instructive if we're

to see what elite-level, elite professional bodybuilders are doing and seeing, does there anything

that stand out there? This has been the focus of some of the work that's been done by today's

guest, Andrew Chappelle, that we are going to discuss. My name is Danny Lennon. You're listening

to Sigma Nutrition Radio. This is episode 311 of the podcast. Welcome back or welcome to Sigma Nutrition Radio. As I just mentioned, today we're talking with Dr. Andrew Chappelle, who is a lecturer and researcher at Robert Gordon University where he conducts research in sports

nutrition with a specific focus on bodybuilding. In addition to that, Andrew holds a PhD from

the Rawa Institute of Nutrition and Health and has a master's in human nutrition and metabolism.

But beyond his work in academia as a and as a researcher, Andrew is also a

world-class natural bodybuilder and with an almost, I would say, unprecedented level of national

success and international success, having two pro cards and six British titles to his name,

as well as placing at several high-level

international competitions which we'll probably mention in our discussion. Andrew has one foot firmly

in the elite levels of bodybuilding competition as well as one foot within the realm of research

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