Optimize Training to Reduce Body Fat, by Dr. Rick Kattouf
March 11th, 2010
With the continued growth of endurance sports (marathon, Ironman triathlon, and long distance cycling), a common theme continues to replay itself. Individuals are training countless hours, but they are not seeing any body fat changes. Over the past 19 years I have had numerous individuals consult with me regarding this issue. In summary, these individuals are looking for a much better return on their investment (of time).
Conventional thinking says that if one burns more calories than they consume, weight loss should occur. Well, as I discuss in my 3DVD series, Rx Nutrition, ‘If it was that easy…it would be that easy.’ For an individual to get lean, he/she must align the ‘Big 4’: nutrition, weight training, heart rate training, and the mind-body connection. Let’s examine each one:
Nutrition:
Bump in the Road: The most common ‘hole’ in one’s nutrition that I see with such endurance athletes is that they eat too few calories. Too few calories, over time, can actually begin to slow one’s metabolism due to muscle wasting. This can put the body into too large a calorie deficit and this stresses the body. In response to this stress, the body is signaled to hold on to body fat and body weight.
Solution: As you progress from shorter to longer distance, be sure that your everyday nutrition and your in-training nutrition match your output. An athlete cannot consume the same calories during Olympic distance training as compared to Ironman distance.
Weight/Resistance Training:
Bump in the Road: The most common things that I hear are, “Rick, I do not want to get big” or “I just do not have the time.” Omitting weight training, with high volume cardiovascular training, is one of the easiest ways for an athlete to begin to waste muscle. Wasting muscle will leave us tired, fatigued, weak, and dehydrated.
Solution: Weight train at least 2 times per week; you will find that you are leaner, lighter, and your performance is improved. You will build good quality lean muscle.
Heart Rate Training:
Bump in the Road: Sure, as an endurance athlete, you must train sport specific (swim, bike, run); but, high volumes of cardiovascular training, combined with too large a calorie deficit, combined with the omission of weight training, combined with training at too high a heart rate too often, is a perfect recipe for wasting muscle. When an athlete trains too high (heart rate), too often, he/she may bypass their ability to burn body fat and go right to carbohydrate (glycogen) burning.
Solution: Outside of any specific anaerobic/high heart rate/speed workouts you are doing, be sure to keep your heart rate in an aerobic zone in order to maximize fat burning. (Refer to chapter 12, pg. 105 of Forever Fit)
Mind-Body Connection:
Bump in the Road: Many athletes beat themselves up for not being able to get lean despite all of the cardiovascular training. Their thoughts and beliefs are that they just cannot lose the weight no matter what.
Solution: Just as I mention in Rx Nutrition: Eating for Improved Performance in Life, Fitness, and Sport…whether you think you can, or whether you think you cannot, you are right. As I talk about in my book Forever Fit, ‘If you believe it, you can achieve it.’ Our mind can be our biggest asset or our biggest limiter. When an athlete starts to get his/her mind right, the body will follow.
If you happen to be an athlete that has fallen prey to this scenario, not to worry; take a look at your ‘Big 4’ and see if there are any holes that can be plugged. As you start to analyze these aspects, and make the necessary corrections, you will begin to see much bigger returns on your investment. Make it a great 2010!
Many qualified experts on training and nutrition use TrainingPeaks to help manage their business. Now, a select few are offering professional training and nutrition advice on our blog. The views expressed here are the opinions of the experts and as such do not represent the official position of TrainingPeaks. Read on to learn more about the expert, and submit a question of your own at info@trainingpeaks.com
About the author:
Dr. Rick Kattouf II is the Host of Rx Nutrition, author of Forever Fit, ITCA Triathlon Coach, Food Psychology Coach, MMA Conditioning Coach, Wellness and Nutrition Consultant, Sports Nutrition Consultant, author for Livestrong.com, and Inspirational Speaker. Rick can be contacted at www.teamkattouf.com.
Visit TrainingPeaks for TeamKattouf meal and training plans
TrainingPeaks Attends IHRSA 2010 at the ACE Booth in San Diego
March 10th, 2010
If you’re going to be at the IHRSA trade show this week in San Diego, stop by the ACE Booth #3600 to say hi and learn more about how TrainingPeaks can help you grow your business just like we’re doing with ACE-certified trainers. If you’re ACE-certified, you are eligible for discounts on TrainingPeaks Professional Edition software, and you will have access to the entire ACE exercise library within your TrainingPeaks account!
Email our Director of Marketing Jeremy Duerksen at jduersen@trainingpeaks.com if you’d like to set up a personal demo at IHRSA to find out more about our partnership with ACE and how we can help you grow your own business.
TrainingPeaks Survey Results: Top Seven Tips for Professionals
March 9th, 2010
Some of the lessons we learned from our recent Professional Edition survey showed that many of you aren’t sure how to use existing features within your TrainingPeaks Professional Edition account. There are a few new work-flows and tools at your disposal, so, let’s dive right into some features that many of you might not be familiar with yet:
1. Mobile website: Access your account from an iPhone, Blackberry or any mobile smartphone with a web browser. Nothing to install or download, just point your phone’s web browser to http://www.trainingpeaks.com/m. Coaches and clients get their own view. Coaches and trainers can check-in on your clients, review workouts, add notes and keep tabs on everyone.
2. Copy and paste workouts and meals between clients. Using the standard copy/paste features built into the Calendar, you can change clients and paste the workouts to multiple clients. Use the “shift” or “ctrl” key to click multiple weeks or days. You can even use the “2nd calendar” feature to bring up multiple clients on the same screen. View a 2-min video
3. Using training plan templates to copy schedules to multiple clients. It’s very easy to re-use schedules that you build for clients as training plan templates, which can then be saved and applied to multiple clients in the future. View a 2-min video
4. Private Messaging, with actual email notices. Just like Facebook or most major forums, you can message your clients, and they can message you directly within TrainingPeaks, and you can choose to get a real email when you receive a new private message.
5. Fullscreen mode: TrainingPeaks.com is happiest when it gets as much screen real-estate as possible, just like most desktop applications. You can hide all the browser interface if you are on a Windows computer using Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Explorer. How? After logging in, click on the URL line of your browser and press F11 for fullscreen mode. Press F11 again to return to normal viewing.
6. The Calendar can be used as a report. Use the Calendar as a summary view of planned vs. actual, with color coding. The customizable labels found in the “My Settings, Calendar & Layout” section allows you to configure the labels to show you planned vs actual duration and distance, and your clients post-workout comments, all on the calendar. Also make sure the weekly summary is enabled on the far right of your calendar. With these customizations, you no longer are required to view another screen to get a summary view of your client’s progress. Want even more “review” functionality in a quick glimpse? Checkout the Spreadsheet (tab at top right).
7. Customizable Dashboard and Workout Details. You can configure your Dashboard with various pods (reports and charts) simply by going to the Dashboard (top right tab) and clicking “View, Change pod layout”. If you are on the “Workout Details” view (click a workout, then click “View workout details” button), you can do the same thing by clicking “View, change pod layout”. Then simply drag out the pods that you want. Note that when you customize your Dashboard or Workout Details view, this is not affecting how your clients Dashboard and Workout Details screen is laid out. Each of your clients has their own, independent view which they can customize as they see fit.
Finally, a few notes about the future. Many of you use our offline planning tool “Desktop Companion”. It won’t be going away, so, rest assured, you can continue to use Desktop Companion just as you have in the past. Also, you overwhelmingly asked for more “intelligence” features within TrainingPeaks, like the ATP, VirtualCoach and other tools that currently exist. The first major new feature coming down the road will be the addition of TSS/IF metrics along with the Performance Manager Chart. We’re also focused on improved speed and usability.
We’re really just getting started now that we are able to focus on a single platform, stay tuned to our blog to learn more about planned features and release dates.
Team Fly V Australia Uses TrainingPeaks to Prepare for a Future Tour De France
March 8th, 2010
Beverly Hills, California – The professional cycling team Fly V Australia hosted an elegant team presentation at the Hotel Montage Friday night. In attendance to help unveil the team was the Honorable Peter Beattie, Queensland’s Trade Commissioner, along with team owner Chris White.
White beamed with pride as he told the audience gathered at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant that the second-year, Australian-registered team was doing things “a bit differently” in its quest to one day become a ProTour team and compete in the sport’s greatest races, including the Tour de France.
“We’re haven’t gone straight to Europe. We’re going to Europe via America,” White said. ”We see America as the doorway to Europe and great events like the Amgen Tour of California as the entryway into the Grand Tours.”
Fly V Australia’s path to the Grand Tours will not only travel through the US race scene, but also straight through the use of TrainingPeaks. The team has chosen to leverage TrainingPeaks as a method of making each and every training ride count.
“Cycling is a technologically-driven sport and to have a partner like TrainingPeaks to look at our preparation in a scientific way is going to set us apart from other teams,” said White.
Team Fly V Australia hopes to become Australia’s first ever Pro Tour Team. Australia has already claimed many victories in the Olympics, World Championship and major stage races, yet they have never fielded an Australian-registered team at the Tour de France.
TrainingPeaks is proud to be the official software supplier to team Fly V Australia on their journey to the highest levels of cycling
For more of Chris White’s inspiration for starting the team and his vision for the future please see the following videos:
Chris White at the team Presentation
You can also view a video interview with professional rider Ben Day, or visit Team Fly V Australia’s official web site for more.
Images courtesy of Velo Images www.veloimages.com
Bobby Julich of Team Saxo Bank Discusses TrainingPeaks, Paris-Nice and More
March 5th, 2010
Bobby Julich, Team Saxo Bank Rider Development Manager, discusses Paris-Nice and explains how the use of TrainingPeaks helps the riders to better prepare for their races. Listen to the whole interview below, and read on for some of the highlights.
Bobby relies on TrainingPeaks so he can more objectively evaluate how his riders are feeling. “I think that’s the best thing that I get out of TrainingPeaks software, just seeing if they’re really fatigued. So much of that you can overcome with how hard you are mentally or how focused you are, but it doesn’t really lie, what your body feels, it’s very very accurate, and I think that the Training Stress Balance is what all these guys are starting to use.”
Regarding Paris-Nice, which starts this coming Sunday, March 7th, Bobby is confident that his team will do well as usual. “Our goal is definitely to have Frank Schleck where he was last year, which is on the podium, he finished in second place. This year we also have Jens Voigt going there who’s riding very very strong, Gustav Larsson, Jakob Fuglsang will be there, we definitely have a great team going to the race.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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