How Tom Coughlin Helps Athletes Perform at Their Best
Written by Ruby Bradshaw
Tom Coughlin is a performance nutritionist with 10 years’ experience working in professional sports across rugby, football and Olympic disciplines worldwide. His passion for sports nutrition began during a university module, which led him to earn a Master’s degree in Sports and Exercise Nutrition from Loughborough University. Tom served as the sole nutritionist for over 350 athletes in Scottish rugby. Due to limited support and funding, he left to launch his own independent business. He advocates for creating supportive team environments that provide appropriate food and supplements to optimise athlete performance.
Early in his career, Tom focused heavily on calories and body composition, but he has since shifted to a performance first mindset, encouraging a healthier relationship with food. For him, nutrition is about understanding how certain foods can help athletes recover faster, reduce inflammation and even boost endurance by improving how the body uses oxygen. He points out how top athletes, like those in the Tour de France, strategically eat foods rich in nitrates (like leafy greens) to get an edge.
Before starting his own business, Tom was the lead nutritionist for over 350 rugby players. Working with teams meant focusing a lot on creating the right environment. Tom believes that your surroundings have a huge impact on your nutrition choices. If you stock the right foods and supplements and provide good education, you can help athletes make better decisions even when you are not around. This way, athletes can stay on track without needing constant one to one supervision.
Once Tom began working independently, he found more time to dive into research, something he has always been passionate about. Sharing that knowledge through social media and newsletters felt like a natural next step, not just for himself, but to help others by breaking down complex science into easy to understand advice.
Tom works a lot with young athletes and sees a common problem: many just do not eat enough. They often do not realise how much fuel their bodies actually need to perform and grow. He explains that young athletes should be aiming for three proper meals plus around three snacks every day to meet their energy demands. Skipping meals, especially breakfast, is a big issue. Tom admits he was guilty of it himself, choosing to sleep in rather than eat before school. But for young athletes, like a 13 year old footballer training multiple times a week and staying active in other sports and PE, energy needs can be huge, sometimes over 4,000 calories a day. Plus, their smaller stomachs mean they have to eat often.
Tom is clear that not eating enough does not just hurt performance, it can seriously affect overall health too. When athletes are chronically under-fuelled, their risk of injury and illness goes up. This is not just about missing a game or two. For young athletes aiming to make it big, an injury at the wrong time, like when scouts are watching, could be a dealbreaker for their career.
Beyond the sport itself, eating enough is crucial for healthy growth and development. For Tom, it is about helping young athletes stay strong, avoid setbacks and give themselves the best chance to succeed both on and off the field.
Tom is hoping to rack up a few more wins with the teams he works with. Right now, he is also working with the British curling team who are favourites for gold at the next Winter Olympics, and helping them win would be a real highlight.
Looking to the future, Tom is not interested in building a massive business. He calls himself a bit of a lone wolf who likes having control and managing his own time. For him, it is all about doing what he loves, in his own way, and hopefully celebrating more wins along the journey.
Get in contact with Tom - tom@tomcoughlin.com
