Dear Performance Nutrition Leaders,
This week: a closer look at Portsmouth’s pre-kickoff product stack and the EXALT playbook for building with practitioners — not at them.
🧠 ON THE GROUND
This is what pre-kickoff looks like at Fratton Park.
Look at the changing room photo. CrampFix pickle sachets next to Nutrition X carb shots. Caffeine chewing gum alongside Jaffa Cakes. Individualised electrolyte protocols based on sweat rate testing. Beta-alanine and glutamine on the table.
This is a curated product stack.
Two things stand out:
CrampFix has found its way in. Pickle juice for cramp prevention is still niche. But here it is, sitting on the matchday table at a club fighting for promotion. Distribution through practitioner conviction, not marketing spend.
Caffeine delivery is fragmenting. Shots, gels, gum — three different formats on the same table. Players pick what works for them. The competition isn't for "the caffeine occasion." It's for format preference.
The post-match protocol is equally telling: beetroot and cherry juice smoothies, then warm food in the changing room. Dyer's explicit about it — "there is no substitute for food."
Dyer is publicly sharing his protocols, inviting feedback, building in the open.
📈NEWS
Hexis hiring nutritionist.
SeqBiome sponsor ISENC 2025.
Huel hiring nutrition manager.
Research assistant role at NTU live.
NC State hiring director of sport nutrition.
LJMU hiring lecturer in applied sport science.
PickleUp announce Informed Sport certification.
Ben Thorne is looking for performance coaches.
SENr approve latest batch of practitioner registrants.
Prof Asker Jeukendrup launches mysportscience Vitamin D webinar.
Business-building session in the Performance Nutrition Network on 8 December launched.
💡PERFORMANCE TECH
In 2019, Charlie and Dan Wilson-Vaughan got made redundant.
By 2025, their company supplies fresh performance drinks to nearly a third of Premier League first teams.
EXALT started as a D2C brand selling cold-pressed protein smoothies online. The elite sport partnerships came later — and weren't planned.
Tottenham Hotspur signed a deal in 2022. Dr. Emma Tester, then Head of Nutrition, worked with EXALT to create 140 product variations across 26 first-team players. Formulations adapted based on regular blood tests.
Brighton & Hove Albion followed with an exclusive two-year agreement. Dr. Paola Rodriguez-Giustiniani, Brighton's Head of Nutrition, publicly endorsed the founders: "They truly understand what performance nutrition is about and always go the extra mile."
The brand now claims to supply over 30% of Premier League clubs — including some they can't name yet.
Personalisation at scale. This isn't off-the-shelf product placement. Practitioners are co-developing bespoke formulations aligned to club performance strategies. That's a different kind of partnership.
Fresh, whole-food, Informed Sport certified. 15-day shelf life, no preservatives.
Next week: Raw Shakes is Informed Sport certified. But their best distribution channel might be a fashion founder with a camera.
Written by Alfie Gordon
