Hi all,
Just wondering if any of you tri buffs out there are mesomorphs, and have found any successful training programs for this unorthodox triathlon body shape… and/or could provide some handy tips for this bull-dog built boy.
I’m about 5’7", generally hover between 75-77kg’s (~165-170 lb’s), stocky build (stockiest part is legs, which are short in proportion - have low centre of gravity), and sub 10% body fat…
Any help would be appreciated!
Cheers!
My build is not unlike yours. I’m 5’6, weighed around 175 when i started - some pudginess, but also lifted weights at the time.
at one point i was down to 150, even a few ays in the 140s, but those days are gone - now i’m at 160 with a goal of 155.
i haven’t done anything differently then someone with a thinner build would have. i suposed my ceiling is lower than a thinner person’s might be, But I was never looking to go pro or win kona, or even qualify for kona.
to be honest, for a future in tris, i suspect that my lack of flexibility in my ankles and shoulders was a bigger factor than my build. in any case, as my habits have evolved, i basically just run.
yeah, my body type isn’t optimal, for tris or for running, but i still have fun.
same as anyone else except you may have to run a bit less and replace it with biking or swimming. Combine it with eating less and you won’t be a mesmomorph anymore!
I feel for you. I am 5’10 and am 185 lbs with a very muscular build. Back in my body building days I was 215 lbs, so I cut out weights and high carb/protein to shrink down in size. I actually started triathlon because I wanted the challenge and to be leaner. If I do any kind of weight training I put on a lot of mass. Currently working my weight down to 170-175 with Paleo for Athletes. I think the sbr training is the same, just cut down on weights and focus on diet. Keep carbs low at night.
I’m a mesomorph, 17 years old. 5 foot 7, hover between 145-155 depending on the time of year.
From age 6-14 all I did was play ice hockey, football, and wrestle. Started lifting at 12, was decently muscular when I began cross country running in high school. Got to 17:49 as a junior, still pretty muscular, and fighting injuries. I also have very large legs relative to my size. I have a 28 inch waist but have to buy 30/30 pants to allow room for my quads.
I started triathlon training in December 2013, and 2014 was my first season of racing. I just learned to swim last November (2013) and currently swim about 13:20 for 1000scy.
My weeks look something like this right now:
M - 4.5k swim, weights
T - 4.5k swim, 60’ ride w/power drills (single leg)
W - Weights, 1:35 ride w/hard intervals (ie 5x5’), 15’ brick run OTB
T - 4.5k swim, 60’ ride moderate aerobic pace w/high cadence (100+), 4x30’ spinups at the end (get cadence as high as possible, hold for a few seconds, then spin back down)
F - 4k swim w/sprint intervals (ie 10x100 flat out on 2:00 avg 1:12ish, so plenty of rest for lactic to build up. I don’t have much speed), weights
S - 5 to 6k swim, 1:45 ride w/longer brick run but never longer than 45’
S - 2:30 or longer on the bike w/hard intervals (ie 6/5/4/3/2/1 w/equal recoveries), 20’ brick run
So, that’s 5 swims, 5 bikes, 3 runs. Right now I’m fighting a hip flexor issue so I don’t do the runs. Having run 17:49 before, this lets me run 18:40-19:10 off the bike in races off of about 8-10MPW (my higher weight has led to stress fractures in the past).
The way I get that much out of these runs is by doing almost entirely tempo pace or faster, I use the swim and bike for general aerobic fitness. So a 20’ brick run might be 5’ shake out, 10’ hard tempo, 5’ easy. Or 15’ tempo, 5’ ez cooldown.
When I’m about a month out from a big race, I do 3x1 mile OTB @ 5:45 or faster, and jog to cooldown until I’m at 20’.
Another key workout, which I always do about 10 days prior to a race, is 15’ bike wu, then 3x(15’ hard bike, 10’ tempo run OTB), then a 15’ cooldown. Work the transitions hard.
I take advantage of the pool to help build aerobic fitness without pounding the bones. Granted, it leads to building muscle up top, but I get a lot out of the swimming and I’m trying to improve it so I do a lot of it.
You’ll notice that even though I build muscle easily due to the mesomorph build, I still lift 3x/week. I like to feel strong, I do it to stay strong in the right ways, and with all the aerobic stuff I do, I actually probably only carry another 5lbs because of it. I’m not going to claim that it helps my splits, but I’ve not had good results when stopping lifting.
FWIW, I swim about 13:20 1000scy, bike 23mph, and run sub-19:00 OTB off of this schedule.
You could modify this to suit any distance. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DOING ANY SORT OF RACE OVER THE OLYMPIC DISTANCE WITH THIS LITTLE RUNNING. I compete in sprint distance races and am looking to move to ITU junior elite next season, in addition to doing olympic distance collegiate racing. My running is still fine on this schedule, did a 37:00 10k TT solo just after wrapping up my season.
If you wanted to modify for longer racing, I would cut the Saturday swim, and do the long Sunday bike on Saturday, and do a double on Sunday along the lines of 45’ run AM / 1:15 bike w/45’ run PM. Additionally, I would do another 45’ run instead of weights on Wednesday. My father does half-ironman racing and has success with this type of training (same build as me).
I hope this helps and doesn’t sound like a ramble. I have struggled to find an approach that works for myself as a heavier triathlete (relative to height), and my training is usually a work in progress as I change it in response to my body’s response to things.
Hi all,
Just wondering if any of you tri buffs out there are mesomorphs, and have found any successful training programs for this unorthodox triathlon body shape… and/or could provide some handy tips for this bull-dog built boy.
I’m about 5’7", generally hover between 75-77kg’s (~165-170 lb’s), stocky build (stockiest part is legs, which are short in proportion - have low centre of gravity), and sub 10% body fat…
Any help would be appreciated!
Cheers!
Are you sure you are sub 10% BF? If you are muscular, Sub 10% you should be able to clearly see all of your abs without flexing or fancy lighting. People should be chasing you with duct tape to fix your rips. I would guess you have a lot more body fat than you think. Google body fat % images to see generally what the various ranges are. If I am right, then you can lose a lot of fat weight through diet.
There’s no such thing as a mesomorph or any other somatotype.
Once you’re free of that misguided pigeon-hole you can assess your training more clearly.
There’s no such thing as a mesomorph or any other somatotype.
Once you’re free of that misguided pigeon-hole you can assess your training more clearly.
what he said. people like to make excuses for lack of effort
There’s no such thing as a mesomorph or any other somatotype.
Once you’re free of that misguided pigeon-hole you can assess your training more clearly.
what he said. people like to make excuses for lack of effort
x2 on what these guys said. Theres no such thing as a bodytype affecting or creating a challenge for certain activities. For instance, midgets are just lazy…thats why they cant slam dunk a basketball. And take bodybuilders…they have alot more muscle so they should definately be able to run an ultra distance race much faster than someone thats…say…skinny and tall.
There’s no such thing as a mesomorph or any other somatotype.
Once you’re free of that misguided pigeon-hole you can assess your training more clearly.
what he said. people like to make excuses for lack of effort
x2 on what these guys said. Theres no such thing as a bodytype affecting or creating a challenge for certain activities. For instance, midgets are just lazy…thats why they cant slam dunk a basketball. And take bodybuilders…they have alot more muscle so they should definately be able to run an ultra distance race much faster than someone thats…say…skinny and tall.
somatotypes are based on people of height.
anyways: Shane hammond, 360lb 5’9" olympic powerlifter can dunk a ball with 2 hands. http://thequalityofbeingawesome.blogspot.com/2010/05/shane-hamman.html
There’s no such thing as a mesomorph or any other somatotype.
Once you’re free of that misguided pigeon-hole you can assess your training more clearly.
So some people don’t gain weight, whether fat or muscle, more easily than others? To me, its the predisposition to a body type. at 5’10 and a bit over 200, I’m never going to look like my brother in law (6’0 and 140#). He doesn’t do any exercise, he just is that way.
Hi all,
Just wondering if any of you tri buffs out there are mesomorphs, and have found any successful training programs for this unorthodox triathlon body shape… and/or could provide some handy tips for this bull-dog built boy.
I’m about 5’7", generally hover between 75-77kg’s (~165-170 lb’s), stocky build (stockiest part is legs, which are short in proportion - have low centre of gravity), and sub 10% body fat…
Any help would be appreciated!
Cheers!
I’m 5’10 and about 200. lightest I’ve been in the last 20 years is about 180, managed to go just over an hour for a sprint distance, 19:xx for 5k, 40:15 ish for 10K, 5:08 HIM.
Training is the same, regardless of body shape. just be a bit more careful with running, with the extra weight we tend to be a bit more injury-prone. Cooler weather tends to be better for us as well.
So some people don’t gain weight, whether fat or muscle, more easily than others? To me, its the predisposition to a body type. at 5’10 and a bit over 200, I’m never going to look like my brother in law (6’0 and 140#). He doesn’t do any exercise, he just is that way.
And by insisting on that limitation, it is yours to keep!
Not that you want to get that skinny or that it would be a good thing, but you could
There’s no such thing as a mesomorph or any other somatotype.
Once you’re free of that misguided pigeon-hole you can assess your training more clearly.
So some people don’t gain weight, whether fat or muscle, more easily than others? To me, its the predisposition to a body type. at 5’10 and a bit over 200, I’m never going to look like my brother in law (6’0 and 140#). He doesn’t do any exercise, he just is that way.
No, some people gain muscle more quickly, or more slowly blah blah blah. This is effected by genetics, environment, training, nutrition. The notion of somatotypes is that a mesomorph is always a mesomorph and can’t ever alter or change which is complete bullshit.
People who qualify this by saying “I’m a hard gainer”, or “I’m always going to have a lot of muscle mass” have already mentally slotted themselves and hence can’t or won’t take the path to alter it.
Yes, certain body types are more suited to certain sports. The trends are clear to see. But given the majority of us aren’t professionals we can do which sport we damn well please and be rather good at it, if we make the correct changes.
I laugh when assessing training programs by a “mesomorph” who “…just puts on weight looking at a gym” and “struggles to lose weight”, and yet they have three gym days in their SBR schedule and about 200grams of protein a day in a 4000cal diet. I also laugh at the “hard gainer” who’s doing isolation exercises and eating about 2000cal a day.
But the notion that you’re stuck with a body type for life is just monumental crap. You’re never going to change height, but you can can can change weight and muscle composition.
There’s no such thing as a mesomorph or any other somatotype.
Once you’re free of that misguided pigeon-hole you can assess your training more clearly.
So some people don’t gain weight, whether fat or muscle, more easily than others? To me, its the predisposition to a body type. at 5’10 and a bit over 200, I’m never going to look like my brother in law (6’0 and 140#). He doesn’t do any exercise, he just is that way.
No, some people gain muscle more quickly, or more slowly blah blah blah. This is effected by genetics, environment, training, nutrition. The notion of somatotypes is that a mesomorph is always a mesomorph and can’t ever alter or change which is complete bullshit.
People who qualify this by saying “I’m a hard gainer”, or “I’m always going to have a lot of muscle mass” have already mentally slotted themselves and hence can’t or won’t take the path to alter it.
Yes, certain body types are more suited to certain sports. The trends are clear to see. But given the majority of us aren’t professionals we can do which sport we damn well please and be rather good at it, if we make the correct changes.
I laugh when assessing training programs by a “mesomorph” who “…just puts on weight looking at a gym” and “struggles to lose weight”, and yet they have three gym days in their SBR schedule and about 200grams of protein a day in a 4000cal diet. I also laugh at the “hard gainer” who’s doing isolation exercises and eating about 2000cal a day.
But the notion that you’re stuck with a body type for life is just monumental crap. You’re never going to change height, but you can can can change weight and muscle composition.
I was going to comment earlier, sort of disagreeing, but you hit it on the head. I’m not a small man, I played college football at 6’1 255 and then powerlifted competitively for several years after. Then I took up tris, at my peak of tri conditioning I still looked like the incredible hulk compared to most of my competition, but I got all the way down to 170 (and felt horrible…but fast). I was never going to be a professional triathlete, wasn’t in the cards, but I was able to drop a ton of weight and become way faster. All these guys saying they are 5’9" 200 and sub-10% bf, no, you aren’t (although there is one guy on this board who proved it when called out). At that size, you are talking about a professional fitness model build; crazy muscular. It may be harder and it may be physically impossible to get down to say 150 (for me, 170 was bordering on not healthy), but you can absolutely drop a significant amount of weight and improve tri speed. You may feel and look like absolute sh*t doing it (like I did), but it is possible.
Like this.
So some people don’t gain weight, whether fat or muscle, more easily than others? To me, its the predisposition to a body type. at 5’10 and a bit over 200, I’m never going to look like my brother in law (6’0 and 140#). He doesn’t do any exercise, he just is that way.
And by insisting on that limitation, it is yours to keep!
Not that you want to get that skinny or that it would be a good thing, but you could
Where did I ever say that I couldn’t get lighter than I am? It is certainly possible, but for me to get to 140 likely isn’t possible if I want to have any kind of energy or general health. Not that I want to get that light anyway, and in any case I’m talking about a predisposition. it is easy for me to put on muscle (and fat). for my brother in law, it isn’t. it is hard for him to gain weight.
You’re actually making an assumption that I view this as a limitation. I don’t actually care what my weight is, I went to the doctor yesterday for a physical and that’s the first time I’ve been weighed in about a year, since my last physical.
Where did you get my picture form?
Are you suggesting otherwise without having seen/met me? =)
Yes, I’m lean, and have had a test to prove it.
So, unfortunately you aint right, and if i lost just a few kg’s, would be hovering around 5%, which is flirting with danger a bit, not the least reason being a drop in testosterone!
Body fat isn’t the only weight you can lose…