September 1, 2002

Keeping Fit in Perspective: Part One

Special three-part feature by Tammy Strome (HBA Kin, NWS, CFC, CPT)

Fitness is a sport that rewards women who carry below-average levels of body fat with above-average levels of muscle. It's a sport that places high demands on the female physique to perform challenging, athletic tasks with precision, power, and excitement, while being subjected to nutritional restriction and intensive training.

Such intensive training and dietary practices can certainly take their toll on many female athletes if they lack sufficient knowledge and common sense in nutrition and training. Many health risks can arise from these extreme practices. They include hormone imbalances, decreased bone mass, compromised immunity, compromised metabolic functioning, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, athletic injuries, and let’s not forget eating disorders.

Season after season, competitors are expected to improve their physique and performance. It is no surprise that somewhere along the way many fitness athletes lose their focus and opt for shortcuts. Unfortunately, this does not usually produce the intended results.

The purpose of this three-part series is to identify some of the extreme dietary and training practices competitors use inappropriately, and explore potential side-effects they can have on the body. I will also address proper methods for making progress and provide you with examples of my own dieting practices.

First things first

The leading cause of many extreme practices is poor body image. Many competitors lose focus of the "ideal" healthy female body. They strive to become bigger, harder, and leaner. Instead of gearing towards a healthier balance of diet and training in the off-season, they don’t allow for an off-season. They struggle to stay at unrealistically low body-fat levels year-round. On the other end of the spectrum, some competitors resort to crash diets to try and reach contest shape in too little time. If you are a competitor that needs more muscle, this will prevent that from happening. If you already have a well-developed physique, sooner or later this year-round imbalance will show up in your training and contest-day appearances.

The off-season is a time to refuel your body to allow it to recover. You cannot get bigger, leaner, or stronger if you don’t allow for this recovery time. You should be softer in your off-season and, yes, initially you may feel like you’re going to blow up like a balloon. But, if you practice healthy dietary and training habits, this will not happen.

Contest time should include proper training, diet, and a balanced perspective. Trying to take shortcuts at this time will cost you muscle, contest placings, and could put your health at risk.

In this part I will explore two of five common, extreme practices used by fitness competitors, and their negative repercussions.

1. Excessive cardio:

Excessive cardio will cost you muscle -- both during contest time and in the off-season. As a basis, I suggest to try not to exceed 3-4, 30-minute sessions of cardio a week in your off-season training. The amount of cardio you do can be adjusted depending on your metabolism. If you have a fast metabolism and need to add muscle, reduce your cardio. If you have a slow metabolism, you should add more cardio.

Modifying cardio in the off-season has multiple benefits:

• It provides a reserve of nutrients available to synthesize new muscle tissue.
• It provides more energy for your training sessions and routine practice sessions.
• When contest time rolls around and you begin to modify your cardio plan, your body will drop fat like crazy.

The change is a shock to your body and increased muscle from your off-season will help you mobilize fats more efficiently for fuel. Try cycling your cardio in the off-season by modifying your frequency, intensity, and duration. This way you can allow your body to gain minimal fat while adding muscle. Also, periodic sessions of intense cardio will increase your oxidative capacity which, listen to this, increases your body’s fat-burning capabilities. You don’t ever want to drop cardio altogether in the off-season, because you will loose oxidative capacity and energy. Also, cardiovascular work increases capillarization to working muscles, which means more avenues of nutrient delivery for recovery and growth -- a real bonus!

Here’s a program that works for me:

• Week 1
  3 days cardio: 1 day 30 min, 1 day 25 min, 1 day 35 min
  (Mixed intensities between 60-75% of target heart rate)
  
  
• Week 2
  4 days cardio: 1 day 30 min, 1 day 40 min, 1 day 25 min, 1 day 30 min
  (Mixed intensities between 60-75% target heart rate.)

I also like to mix up the equipment I am using for variety. Please be advised, though, that everyone's needs are different and I strongly suggest that you contact your physician before starting any type of exercise program as intense as what I just described.

2. Over-restricting food groups:

Over-restriction of certain food groups is another common, extreme practice. This bad habit occurs most often due to intense restrictions during the dieting phase of contest preparation. Many competitors eat mostly slow-burning, low-sugar carbs such as yams, oatmeal, and vegetables around competition time. They tend to restrict dairy, breads, pastas, and fruits, mostly because of their higher-glycemic nature. When dieting, this is effective for fat loss when combined with proper protein and fat values, as well as proper supplementation to reduce the risk of deficiencies. However, in the off-season, this can be a dangerous practice for several reasons.

• It can lead to severe nutritional deficiencies, which severely impair health and progress.
• It can lead to binge-eating behavior due to boredom.

If you eat the same foods day-in-day-out, you are more likely to have cravings that lead you to stray from normal dietary practices. If this occurs often enough, you will find yourself further from your goal. It can also make contest dieting really difficult because you were unable to enjoy foods during the off-season. It’s much better to eat a variety of foods from all four food groups in the off-season since it allows for a wider distribution of nutrients and more variety for your taste buds. You still want to restrict consumption of sugary, processed foods, and foods high in saturated fat. Save those for your treat day.

In the next part of "Keeping Fit in Perspective," I will examine two more extreme training practices: overeating and not exercising, and starving yourself.

Tammy Strome is a national-level fitness competitor and a guest-contributor for SeriousAboutFitness.com. Her writing will appear here periodically. Tammy lives in London, Ontario, Canada. You may contact her directly by e-mailing tamfit@rogers.com.

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