I have just been reading some threads and posts about obesity and all the things entailed , funnily enough i wonder how many people have considered the fact that there are a number of shall we say , large people who if you work on the “body mass index” are classed as obese , but to see them on appearance would just be classed as over weight ,or just large , who are actually very fit.
Indeed working on the “BMI” i would be classed as obese , however i can jump in a pool / lake and swim 1500m / 1 mile in a more than respectable time(38 mins) , last year during the uk season i was running respectable sprint distance times and on speed training rides i can bust a steady 20 miles in a few seconds over 50 mins.
Currently (whilst losing weight) i am training once or maybe twice a day in the gym and pool as it is winter and very miserable outside in the uk -
I have competed at entry level last year at sprint tri , i intend to do several more this year and also intend to do at least 1 olympic distance tri.
I weigh 280lbs (127kg) i am 6ft 2 ins tall if i told you only my weight you would not think i could walk a flight of stairs let alone compete.
Get to the point i hear you say , my point is this - people should not generalise about obesity and fatness , i know many people half my size who are a heart attack waiting to happen and could not think of doing what we all do day in day out , infact im probably one of the heaviest people to come to this site and compete as well.
Just because someone is big does not mean they are unfit and eat all the crap , yes they may have at some point but people can and do change , every case is different and certainly dont jest about the big guys , for me in my first race it was funny seeing some of the stereo typical Triathletes looking shocked when the guy twice their size both got out of the water along way before them and then blitzed them on the bike.
Just because we are big does not mean we are all couch potatoes !!!
What’s your body fat percentage?
unknown exact but last time i had it done , towards end of last season , and i had a 3 month winter lay off with groin injury so it should be same or a smidge higher but about 23 - 25 % ish … why , remember BMI goes on height to weight ratio to grade obesity not fat %
23-25% is overweight. You can get it down to below 15 with nutrition alone. Remember that exercise is not a cure to everything, people who exercise regularly but still have bad eating habits are at risk of cardiac illness as much as the couch potatos you mentioned.
Correct the BMI classification system is crap , it doesnt account for individual build only large , not in a fat way but just as a person i am the biggest person all my friends know , ill be honest if you met me you would think ok he could do with losing a few pounds and you woiuldnt have me down as a triathlete but obese i am not. Thing is i used to weight train heavily so i have a lot of muscle mass (i am being honest there is more fat there these days than i would like as well).
I have just returned from my Gym actually …
half an hour treadmill at 10 clicks solid then , 1.5k pool swim not quite the average sunday for a 280lb guy?
And also to the previous post i think you will find i am classed as obese ,
I know plenty of 280lb guys who will have been running up and down a rugby pitch, throwing themselves at each other for eighty minutes then drinking vast amounts of ale on a Sunday. The trick, as Smartasscoach mentioned, is to get on top of the nutrition.
i dont wanna lose the muscle it gives me great levels of power for the bike and the swim , it hinders a little on the run , but i find i can compensate on the previous 2 events
just the fat im gonna lose , as i say my fighting weight (if you will) is supposed to be 17 st so a loss of 42 lbs , no probs just gotta put the hrs in
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The good thing about fat percentage is that… it’s FAT percentage. So I’m not saying you’ll be losing strenght, you just need to get your act together on the nutrition department, let some time run by, maybe 2-3 months, and your fat % will drop. It’s not a question of putting the training hours in, you can drop your fat percentage with the volume you’re doing now. And if you can do all those things with that weight, believe me that with a lower weight you’ll be flying!
Francois, I thought better earlier of telling you that I too had to lose a stone before race day. That would be insensitive, and as you know we English are sensitive souls!!