Our mission is not just to offer high-quality nutrition and supplementation coaching based on sound science, but to push the boundaries of what is possible. We excel in the improbable, we make it so you can do things that you SHOULDN'T be able to do, and help educate consumers on the science of athletic performance so they can make better decisions in both their training and purchases. We believe you are much more capable then you can imagine.
My name is Devin Ford.
I am a 6x Crossfit regional athlete, CrossFit gym owner and creator of PerformaFuel Nutrition Coaching.
I started PerformaFuel so I can bring the same obsessive, boundaryless, science-based protocols and tactics I use on my own performance and body directly to you.
Lets face it, the nutrition and supplementation world is massive and very confusing. Read any product on the shelf and they all promise the world but none seem to elicit any real, noticeable changes.
We follow diet after diet hoping to find “the one”. Sure we may feel good for a little bit, leading to some small changes in the short term but it’s not long before you’re left scratching your head, yet again, looking for the next “big thing”, only to be let down again and again.
What makes all of this worse is the conflicting ideas put out by various “experts”. We have Hungry Fred telling us to do the paleo diet regardless of what your goals are, Shakeology Steve telling us drinking shakes is the way to go, Doughnut Dave telling us eating doughnuts is fine as long as it “fits your macros” and don’t forgot Dr. Dumbass telling us eating 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight will lead to kidney failure.
"With all of this nonsense out there, how can you possibly understand what to do?"
I have always believed in the power of nutrients. I believe we can make substantial progress and even overcome genetic predispositions by altering what we eat and what we take. So I took a stand and joined the “real experts” such as Menno Henselman and Mike Mathews in the evidenced based nutrition/fitness movement.
Like you I was pissed about the never ending marketing gimmicks trying to get us to buy random products with no data to support their claims. Pissed about the overweight “nutritionists” telling us what to eat. At first, it was hard to figure out exactly what to do with so many self proclaimed experts with clearly fake “before and after” pictures as proof. It did not take long for me to realize I was going to have to become my own expert. The nutrition and supplementation industry was severely lacking, especially in the CrossFit community.
So, I said fuck it. I strapped myself in and hit the gas as I launched myself down the long winding rabbit hole of nutrition and supplementation.
Who am I?
I am an obsessive and dedicated athlete that has always been fascinated in the power of nutrients. I am a 6x individual regional CrossFit competitor and am striving to be games level. I train among the best athletes in the world and have traveled across the globe spending thousands to learn all I could about nutrition. You see, for me, nutrition has always been my “competitive advantage”. After spending some time with the most elite athletes I realized most of them don’t have a single CLUE what to do when it comes to nutrition. This sparked my interest in nutrition even more which lead me into both formal and informal institutions all over the world in quest to learn all I could – to better myself, and then be able to apply that knowledge to others. I have studied biochemistry formally at Stony Brook University and was on board to join the dietician program of LIU when something hit me – all I was learning in school were theory’s, “facts” or lines from a textbook clearly outdated. I learned the basics of science sure, but what the hell was I learning that I could apply to better my performance? What about to lose fat or gain muscle? I did not learn anything I could practically use to make a difference, so I decided to go the “informal” route and learn from those who were actually DOING what I wanted to do – guys like Robb Wolf, John Berardi, Menno Henselmans, Mike Matthews, Tim Ferriss, Dom Agostino and TONS of other experts who used science and experimentation to get improbable results.
Fast forward 10 years of digging into this rabbit hole, having tried thousands of protocols backed by 100s of thousands of research studies, I know what works. I know how to get someone from “over-fat” to skinny and be able to SUSTAIN it instead of “yo-yoing”. I know how to get someone to gain 20lbs of muscle mass and increase their strength by 40% + in just over a few months. I know how to increase an athlete’s training volume 3-fold and have their stress hormones react as if their volume has DECREASED – I know all of this because I have done it. I have done it to myself and replicated it across 100s of clients.
Why I had to get smarter for CrossFit / How I transformed myself
I know how to do all of this, because I started (and still constantly am) experimenting with myself.
You see, when I started CrossFit it was easy to be at the top of the sport. Most people had no technique, not much strength and not much capacity for the technical movements like muscle ups. The first two regionals I went to (2009 and 2010) I pretty much just “signed up” and went. I did’nt do all that well, but it was hardly even a sport back then, mainly just a backyard “bro-down”.
After years and years things changed… Suddenly the sport got more and more traction, it even started attracting professional athletes from other sports. New coaches began to arise and offered specific programming for athletes, specific technical camps, it didn’t take long before CrossFitters were just as competent as olympic lifters in lifting, as proficient as endurance athletes, and as stable as gymnasts. In short… shit got real.
I always saw myself as being great at the sport, at being able to compete with the best, but when the “best” weren’t even keeping up with this new wave, I’ll admit, I got scared. Not only that but I also started to battle a ton of personal stress, a misdirection in life, HUGE insomnia problems and above all else, I just could not seem to progress as fast as I wanted to, I was hitting non stop plateaus, even after following all of these new “guru” programs.
"This was me AFTER doing Crossfit FOR about 4 years..."
Suddenly, I was not good enough anymore. I was too small, not strong enough and didn’t have a big enough engine. It was clear I was outmatched. Aside from regionals I would even attempt to get into the “big competitions” such as the Wodapalooza or Granite Games and would hardly qualify for the “RX” or base division when I knew I had the potential to be elite. I had no choice, I had to use my obsession for nutrition and go about things a different way to find my success.
Now this is me. This is after 4 years of training smart – getting the right coaches, learning technique and using nutrition/supplementation to add mass and enormous amounts of strength, as well as enormous aerobic improvements ALL WITHOUT taking away from gymnastics – my strong suit, in fact I even got better at that. And yes this transformation you see was with absolutely NO drugs, PEDS or illegal use. I firmly believe that you can do things you didn’t imagine you could without the use of any of these things. I think they have their place, in fact most people at the top of the sport are using, but unless you are trying to get to the games I don’t think anyone should HAVE to use. Smart supplements, smart programming and fine tuned nutrition plans are all you need to surpass what you thought was possible, as I have here.
"This is the before and after from regionals in 09 and my training think tank camp in 2016"
How is PerformaFuel different from just another “meal plan”?
Well, first off, it’s important for you to know that this goes way beyond a standard “meal plan.” You can get meal plans off the internet for free. Even though this may look simplistic at face value, there is a lot of science that goes into my planning for you. It’s all perfectly customized for your exact figure, metabolism, goals, etc. and I have to constantly tweak things along the way. And as a result of having a specialized plan like this, you’re near guaranteed to reach your goals (as long as you stick to my recommendations), whereas a standard meal plan would be hit or miss.
You see, most nutrition “coaches” – if you call it that – make the fatal error of seeing nutrition as a static entity – that is, something that you follow for long periods of time and doesn’t have to be changed. This has been proved in research over and over to be nonsense. Nutrition is just as dynamic a process as is training.
For athletes I use this example: If you were to do a 5×5 back squat at the same weight, let’s say 225 for guys, or 95 for women and you did this every Monday from now until forever, what effect do you think that would have a few months out? The answer as you might have guessed – nothing. The body needs to be pushed to trigger adaptations. Doing the SAME weight in the same sets over and over is silly – it doesn’t push your body to change. Instead, a smarter approach would be to do a 5×5 week 1 then increase the weight and decrease the reps for week 2, then heavier for week 3 etc… pushing your body to adapt to this training stress. That adaptation is increased strength, or some sort of myofibril hypertrophy.
Nutrition is very similar. It needs to be constantly tweaked to ensure you make perfect progress week to week. Not too much, and not too little. This is as true for fat loss as it is for muscle gain and performance (what I personally use it for).
So how do you know how to constantly tweak things to keep progress in this perfect, but delegate balance? For fat loss – not losing muscle mass. For muscle mass – not gaining fat. For performance – knowing how best to express physical potential at current volume and how to shift that delicately into competition?
That has taken me 10 years of experimenting, 1000s of books and 1000s more of research studies to figure out. I have drank liquid sap from china, crush herbs from India and drank them with baking soda, stuck patches on my body, taken 40 pills a day for months at a time and spend $1000’s checking blood work along the way to figure out exactly what to do – so you don’t have to. Lucky for you, I have done all the ground work, and now you get me at your fullest disposal.
With PerformaFuel not only do we create nutrition plans and supplement stacks directly for you, but we also create meal plans – this way you NEVER have to count a damn thing if you don’t want to.
We take great interest in learning what foods you like and dislike, what your schedule is and what your goals are (ie.. if your coaching for 3 hours straight we will make that meal portable or liquid, if your a teacher and can’t eat at all we will have you buffer this through supplementation and have meals set for you before and after your hours of work).
This way, no matter what your lifestyle is, no matter what your food preferences are, we WILL get you the results you want. This program takes 1000s of research studies from food and supplementation as well as lifestyle factors (such as long hours, IBS, diabetes etc…) and hand crafts them to suit you like a glove.
My wait list fills up very quickly, if you want to get in on this while you can please send me an email to get started.
Devin’s Credentials
- Owner/creator of PerformaFuel
- Precision Nutrition Certified Nutritionist
- Precision Nutrition Level 2 Master coach
- Bayesian Bodybuilding PT/Nutrition Certified via Menno Henselman
- 8 Weeks out Conditioning course via Joel Jamison
- Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN)
- CrossFit gym owner for 5+ years (CrossFit Transcend)
- OPT Assessment Module
- Robb Wolf Nutrition Seminar
- Studied Biochemistry at Stony Brook University (SBU)
- Studied Nutrition at Long Island University (LIU)
- CrossFit Level 1 Certified
- CrossFit Running and Endurance Certified
- CrossFit Gymnastics Certified
- Endeavor Team Challenge Plank-owner
- Coach/Programmer to many remote athletes
- One of few athletes to have competed at 6 CrossFit Games Individual Regional Competitions from 2009 till now and looks to compete at the international Games within a couple years
- Personally coached and/or consults with: Max El-Hag of Training Think Tank, James Fitzgerald of OPT, Menno Henselman, Rick Brunner, Mike Mathews, John Berardi, Robb Wolf and many more
Devin’s Stats
- Snatch: 270lbs
- Clean and Jerk: 330lbs
- Max Handstand Pushups: 55+ unbroken
- “Fran”: 2:05
- “Helen”: 7:30
- Deadlift: 500lbs
- Squat: 410lbs
- Max Chest to Bar pull-ups: 65