The control of bodyweight, especially bodyfat, is highly
prized in most sports. There is nothing to be gained and much to be lost from
having excessive amounts of fat on your body. Even athletes who must have high
bodyweights to compete, such as football linemen and Heavyweight wrestlers,
need to be concerned with their bodyfat levels.
Bodyfat slows down the athlete by increasing the amount of
nonproductive weight he or she must carry during the performance of a sports
movement. In bodybuilding it also hides the muscularity, placing the athlete at
great competitive disadvantage. The way to achieve a low level of bodyfat for a
competition with the smallest possible loss in lean muscle tissue is to
maintain a diet program that is reasonably controlled all year round.
You have no doubt seen bodybuilders who gain large amounts
of weight in the off-season only to go on crash diets and lose most of it for a
show. It was once felt that this bulk/cut system permitted greater amounts of
muscle growth compared to a relatively strict year-round diet program.
Bodybuilders who took steroids were notorious for bulking and cutting. In the
off-season they would fill up on everything that passed in front of their
faces, figuring that this way they were assuring themselves of the greatest
possible benefit from the drugs they were taking. Of course, when they dieted
for a competition, they would then take even more drugs to maintain as much
muscle as possible while they drastically reduced their food intake to make up
for the excess of their previous overeating.
As it turns out, this bulk/cut system is not the best
muscle-building program even for an athlete on drugs. It is definitely not
recommended for the natural athlete. The best way to achieve your sport goals
is to keep to a diet that provides you with the nutrients you need, but only in
the amounts that you need them throughout the entire year. Excess consumption
of calories in the off-season is not only pointless, but actually
counterproductive.
Studies have shown that weight-loss programs always result
in a loss of some muscle tissue along with the fat, especially when exercise is
not included as part of the diet program. As a result, any time that you try to
drop those pounds or kilograms for a competition, you will inevitably lose
muscle. The best way to minimize this loss in muscle weight and muscle mass is
to never gain excess fat in the first place. And the way to do that, of course,
is by controlling your food consumption so you never take in more calories than
your body needs.
There is no question that this requires discipline. Nobody
said athletic excellence would be easy. Yet by following a few simple rules,
you should be able to achieve your dietary objectives without a great deal of
hassle.
Here are some guidelines for controlling your bodyweight:
Count your calories all year. This may sound like a radical
concept, but it really isn't once you think about it. It makes a lot of sense
theoretically, and since it only takes a few minutes a day to do the arithmetic,
why not give it a try?
Counting calories is the most effective system for
controlling your bodyweight.
Counting your calories in the off-season ensures that you
make the greatest gains toward your sport goals without pointless fat buildup.
Counting them during the competition season guarantees steady and accurate
progress toward the fat-reduction goals you have set without a needless loss in
lean muscle. When you think about it, that's a small investment to make to
ensure that you get all you possibly can from your hardcore training.
Treat yourself to a splurge a day. Counting calories does
not mean you have to lead a life of puritanical virtue, eating food that only a
rabbit could love. While you should always watch your fat, salt and sugar
intake, you can still have a splurge a day without "breaking the
rules" and getting overwhelming feelings of guilt. Everyone has his or her
own idea of a splurge, and these ideas can vary over time. The important thing
to remember is that a splurge per day is fine as long as you limit the quantity
of food involved.
If you go out with friends and they order pizza, it's okay
to have a slice or two (unless your contest is just around the corner, of
course!). Just count the calories in what you eat and add it to your total for
the day. If the pizza pushes you over the top of your calorie count for that
day, take the excess calories off tomorrow's total. Better yet, if you know you
are going out for pizza later, save some room in your calorie count for the
splurge. Chances are that you will find a modest splurge to be well within your
diet parameters for the day. Let reason be your guide. It will make your diet a
lot more interesting and will ensure that you stick to it over the long term.
Always include aerobic exercise in your program to control
bodyweight. Studies have shown that when bodybuilders combined dieting with
aerobic exercise they lost less muscle tissue than when they tried to lose all
of their weight through dieting alone. Therefore, you should always include
aerobic exercise in your diet program. For weight reduction purposes all you
need are 30 to 45 minutes of aerobic activity per day to get results. The
increased energy expenditure required by this activity, combined with a modest
calorie reduction of 10 percent, trims off excess bodyfat while keeping your
muscles full and ready for action.
Since aerobics enhance your cardiovascular fitness and help
raise your basal metabolic rate, it is also a good idea to incorporate some
aerobic training into your year-round program. This may run counter to what you
have heard in the gym, but it has been shown in scientific studies that a
moderate amount of aerobics (one to 1 1/2 hours per week) has no negative
effect on your strength or muscle development. Greater amounts of aerobics can
impact strength, however, so keep track of the quantity of aerobics you do.
When trying to lose fat, alternate periods of high-calorie
days and low-calorie days so that your metabolism does not slow down. The body
is an incredible machine. When faced with a situation that it interprets as
famine, it conserves needed energy by lowering the basal metabolic rate and
increasing the efficiency at which food is utilized by the body. It also tries
to hold on to the fat stores, sensing that they may be needed in the future for
critical energy reserves if the famine continues. These safeguards have no
doubt gotten us to where we are today instead of at some dead end on the tree
of evolution, yet they can play havoc with the diet plans of bodybuilders if
they are not recognized and worked into the diet program.
Earlier it was noted that the most effective diet program
includes a modest (10 percent) reduction in calories tied to an increase in
aerobic activity. Yet in order to ensure that the body does not interpret this
calorie reduction as the start of a famine condition, it is necessary to
"fool" your body by alternating periods of high- and low-calorie days
in your diet. That way it is hard for the body to decide what is going on, and
the metabolic rate will decline at a slower rate.
For example, if you are currently eating 3,000 calories per
day, you would begin your fat-reducing diet by setting your average daily
calorie level at 2,700. Instead of eating 2,700 calories every day, however,
you would alternate two-day periods of 2,900 and 2,500 calories (200 calories
above and below your weekly
average). For instance, you might eat 2,900 calories on
Monday and Tuesday, 2,500 on Wednesday and Thursday, etc. This gives your body
something close to the calorie level it was used to half the time and should
put a brake on the slowing down of your metabolism. The higher your metabolic
rate, of course, the more fat you will bum at a given caloric intake, so make
it a point to include this daily roller coaster in your diet. It really can make
a difference.
The guidelines indicated above are geared toward the average
athlete and will produce very good results for that person. Still, everyone is
different. If you lose more than two pounds of bodyweight per week, you are
dieting too severely. Increase your caloric intake, reduce your aerobics
somewhat, or both.
On the other hand, if your metabolism is on the slow side,
you may find that you need a somewhat greater caloric reduction to reach your
final weight goal. Take your time, though, and don't rush it. Stay with the
guidelines noted above until they no longer produce additional results. If you
lose two pounds the first week, you may very well lose an additional two pounds
the second week with the exact same calorie count.
As in many things patience is a virtue in dieting. Don't
expect results overnight, because if you try to get them that quickly you will
knock your metabolism out of kilter and wind up retaining fat. Look at
body-weight control as a long-term venture. Most people who lose weight rapidly
put it back on just as swiftly, and often they have proportionally more fat and
less muscle fiber than they had to begin with. Slow and steady wins the race.
Let that principle be your guide, and you will never again have a problem with
controlling your bodyweight.
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