I’ve noticed that most elite pros nowadays are sporting a very undernourished look. Is this more a function of the tremendous volume of training they’re doing, or do they have to also restrict calorie intake on top to get to that weight?
…I know of some that do both!
A lot of it is due to natural selection. The sport rewards those with very slim builds so they are the ones that excel and they are the ones that you know about. I can assure you that there are a lot of belgian riders that are, relatively, big in comparison, and they toil on the kermesse circuit and don’t get the notoriety that the elites do.
I am no elite, but no matter how much I eat, I do not gain weight. Lucky me
Wasn’t it slowman that wrote something to the effect of:
When you are 10 pounds from race weight your acquaintances wonder if you have been sick for a while.
When you are five pounds from race weight, you friends and family wonder if you are bulimic.
When you reach race weight, your friends and family who haven’t seen you for a while will ask if you had cancer.
It wasn’t exactly like that, but that was the general idea.
On those same lines I once had desert dude look at me after a race and say, “Dude, you are freakin’ skinny!” Coincidently, it came after my best ever result at the Desert Duathlon when I was in the best shape of my life.
Chad
Being healthy and being fast are mutually exclusive…
Ever watch “What It Takes”?
…they profiled Peter Reid and he was constantly watching his intake so he could be as lean as possible.
Is there a way to determine our best race weight? like even a range? i mean, everyone is different, but it should be directly related to height, right?
**Being healthy and being fast are mutually exclusive… **
I’m not sure I totally agree with that, especially if you compare us to our peers. When DD said that I was the same weight I had been for years. I have not really changed weight since being married and joining the Marine Corps 10 years earlier. I suspect the two culprits were a requirement to be able to do pull-ups, which I could not do until that point, which added a little muscle, combined with money to buy more junk food adding a little fat. If he thought I looked skinny at 38 he would have called me a skeleton at 24.
Now, I’ve read a couple of things that Peter Reid wrote about carving off the last 10 pounds before Hawaii and that, combined with IM training did not sound healthy. However, I suspect very few people have the self-dicipline to even come close to that level of fitness/low body fat. Plus, I doubt that it has any long term affect on some of those guys once they retire as long as they don’t go totally the other way and turn into the Pilsbury-Miguel Indurain-Dough Boy.
Chad
…I know of some that do both!
I’m at Amante’s in Boulder right now getting some studying out of the way— an Olympic triathlete is in here right now. I was actually just noticing and was surprised by how small his arms are. He doesn’t look unhealthy though.
I’ve noticed that most elite pros nowadays are sporting a very undernourished look. Is this more a function of the tremendous volume of training they’re doing, or do they have to also restrict calorie intake on top to get to that weight?
yes
I thought they just got super skinny to piss fat people off.
Each person has a different build so a 6’0 guy that weighs 170lbs might be really light for his build while the same height at 150lbs will be just as strong but because of a different body frame. Genetics.
There all emaciated , overtrained , and eat way too many carbs. Guess which book I just read?
Is there a way to determine our best race weight? like even a range? i mean, everyone is different, but it should be directly related to height, right?
2.1-2.3 pounds per inch is what competitive male triathletes weigh in at according to Joe Friel.
And Slowman’s quote is:
“the trick is to keep losing weight until your friends and family ask you if you’ve been sick. then you know you’re within 10 pounds. if they start whispering to each other, wondering if you’ve got cancer or aids, you’re within 5. when they actually do an intervention, you’re at race weight.” - Slowman
I thought they just got super skinny to piss fat people off.
hahahaha
.
Matt Fitzgerald’s “Racing weight” has formulas for determining race weight and training weight.
If you put a body under super stress, it can start burning food like an oven. Then you can wake up sweating in the middle of the night, being hungry all day, having sugar cravings etc. If you then make that your profession, and you are watching calory intake a little bit, you end up looking like pros do.
Maybe all the fatties in triathlon (and the general public) skew your perception of normal weight?
Is there a way to determine our best race weight? like even a range? …
5 to 10 lbs less than you think it is