Hello everyone. Welcome to the latest episode of The Matchbox Podcast powered by Ignition Coach Co. I’m your host, Adam Saban, and on this week’s episode we’re talking to the co-founder of Hexis, Dr. Sam Impey.
As always, if you like what you hear, share this with your friends and leave us a five star review and if you have any questions for the show drop us an email at matchboxpod@gmail.com or head over to ignitioncoachco.com and fill out The Matchbox Podcast listener question form.
Links from today’s episode: https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/aop/article-10.1123-ijsnem.2026-0135/article-10.1123-ijsnem.2026-0135.xml, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29453741/
Alight let’s get into it!
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https://www.youtube.com/c/DylanJohnsonCycling https://www.ignitioncoachco.com
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Intro/ Outro music by AlexGrohl - song "King Around Here" - https://pixabay.com/music/id-15045/
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Summary
This episode is a practical conversation about how nutrition can be personalized around training, not just tracked after the fact. Dizzle is joined by Dr. Sam Impey, co-founder of Hexas, to break down how the platform uses training data to recommend carb intake, support body composition goals, and make fueling easier for athletes and coaches.They also get into the newer frontier of performance nutrition, including bicarb, lactate gels, and why day-to-day nutrition habits matter for recovery, adaptation, and long-term consistency.
Timestamps
00:00 — Welcome and introduction to Dr. Sam Impey
02:00 — How Hexis started as a PhD research tool
03:08 — Why the platform was built to scale nutrition recommendations
04:31 — Hexis does not replace a nutritionist
05:01 — Early adoption by Uno-X and other tech-forward teams
06:16 — How the app syncs with TrainingPeaks and daily ride data
08:08 — Periodizing carbs around hard rides and recovery days
09:04 — Dizzle’s Leadville weight-loss block and what he learned
10:51 — Pro riders naturally vary nutrition with training load
12:12 — Why good carb timing improves adaptation
13:10 — Did weight loss affect power numbers?
16:03 — Late-night cereal, hunger, and cutting calorie-dense foods
17:28 — How vegetables support gut health and carbohydrate tolerance
19:15 — How a different environment made nutrition easier to follow
20:20 — Why training camps can improve compliance beyond the workouts
22:19 — App versus desktop use for athletes and nutritionists
25:00 — Hexis onboarding and how personalization starts
26:53 — Lose, maintain, or gain goals and how the plan adapts
28:30 — Food-tracking updates, barcode scanning, and favorites
30:10 — Natural-language food logging and meal correction
32:27 — How the app adapts calorie and macro targets throughout the day
34:34 — Education features and why the old video feed did not stick
35:37 — Interactive explanations for why recommendations change
36:43 — A plate-visualization idea that did not make it into the app
37:47 — Comparing Hexis with other performance tech and wearables
40:32 — Why total intake is only part of the nutrition picture
44:02 — Why nutrition sparks strong opinions
45:40 — What cycling can learn from other sports
46:27 — Cycling as an early innovator in heart rate, power, and fueling
48:23 — Recovery lessons cycling can borrow from rugby and football
50:57 — The rise of higher carb intake during competition
52:57 — Whether high carb intake creates health concerns
54:01 — Bicarbonate, lactate, and newer supplements
55:08 — How sodium bicarbonate works and why it may help performance
58:28 — Bicarbonate dosing, timing, and testing before race day
60:24 — When preloading and on-bike bicarbonate gels might make sense
66:03 — Why bicarbonate dosage is tied to performance, not just lactate numbers
68:16 — Lactate gels, theoretical effects, and emerging science
72:14 — Broccoli shots and isothiocyanates as a potential supplement trend
75:48 — Three common nutrition mistakes endurance athletes make
78:12 — Why protein matters more than many endurance athletes think
79:25 — Why race-day fueling should be trained, not improvised
83:27 — Why cutting on-bike fuel is usually the wrong move for weight loss
86:18 — Fasted training versus low-glycogen sessions and when each may make sense
91:10 — Low energy availability and why carbs around training matter for health
93:32 — How Hexas aims to help athletes fuel better around training
94:13 — How coaches can use Hexas to support off-bike nutrition
96:09 — Closing thoughts, partnership mention, and discount code
