Im a sprinter and have my nationals coming up in a few weeks. I have been paying a lot of attention to my diet and believe that I have got down to b/w 7-10% bodyfat…? (veins starting to become visible through back and abs) I have been keeping a high intake of the good lipids i.e. flaxseed oil, almonds, fish oil, avocado etc.
The question I have is will my performances slip off if I restrict my intake of these fats and oils in the last couple of weeks leading upto my competition…? Or should I keep these intakes reasonably high right through to racing. I’m assuming that the best way to get rid of the last few pounds of bodyfat is to lower fat consumption. Appreciate all of your feedback.
I think there is considerable risk that lowering your fat intake will impact on your performance. What you have been doing up to now has worked well, why change it?
Another question that comes to mind is, why would you want to have lower bodyfat than you have already? Most top sprinters I have seen, while lean, are nowhere near the bodybuilder ultrashredded look.
[quote]sharetrader wrote:
I think there is considerable risk that lowering your fat intake will impact on your performance. What you have been doing up to now has worked well, why change it?
Another question that comes to mind is, why would you want to have lower bodyfat than you have already? Most top sprinters I have seen, while lean, are nowhere near the bodybuilder ultrashredded look.[/quote]
The only reason I would consider doing this would be to improve performance. I’ve heard a lot of talk about power to weight and that applies to most sports. However there is a limit to unsafe bodyfat limits of which I have heard that 5%… is unsafe if bodyfat plummets under this level…!?
I know sometimes that performance drops off when some people lean up so maybe this time I’ll play safe and stay with my current regime. Cheers
Stick with what you’re doing. It’s not the time to experiment. You’re going to be pouring everything you have into this event - don’t screw around with your mental state or possible reserves.
Sorry to oversimplify things, but your body seems like it is loving life, and is ready to sacrifice long-term survival in favor of a one-time performance. Not a good time to restrict a nutrient and make your body think about the long-term.