running out of ideas for this one. athlete a female college senior eats clean, trains smart, runs 55-400 and does 100hh. avid lifter in the weight room. she’s 5’6" 150# but by looking at her you wouldn’t guess more than 135. which is where we’d like to see her. would settle for 140 even. has run 7.33/7.82 indoors and 12.02/24.97/55.7/14.22h outdoors. problem might be in sleep patterns like most college kids only gets 5-6 hrs sleep a night. can’t think of other ideas to drop weight without hindering current abilities. any and all thoughts/advice welcome
Question, why do you want to drop the athlete’s weight? Is this weight loss or are we talking about reducing bodyfat %?
maybe some slight lowback fat but thats it. but her strength has not increased since freshman year, due to innability to find spotters for her in weight room at 6am. during the summer when we work her lifts have gone up and weight has gone down 2-3 pds but when school starts up again her lifts drop and her weight moves back. box squatted 375 summer before freshman year in college using a modified westside plan. doesn’t clean due much due to former shoulder injury and deadlifts/squats more than almost all the guys on her team. again, she does eat clean and stays away from soda/juice/beer drinking mostly water. any thoughts???
also, we are talking about increasing her strength to weight ratio. which would be a major component to increasing her speed. since i don’t see her strength increasing anymore in college. as you know this is a very sensitive subject with female athletes. decreasing bodyfat would be the obvious goal i would think
I am interested in this as well. Depending on the mirror, I am pretty ripped (everyone has to notice that being drowned in light doesn’t help see definition, but maybe I am wrong) and I have improved from where I was (no Linford yet, but getting down there pretty far). The thing is I cannot get below the 168-172 range and I doubt even once I include spec. end that I will get below 165. My sleep pattern is also weird, normally getting around 6 hours of sleep, with the occasional 7-7.5 and naps and 9+ hours on the weekends. What I find amazing is guys like BJ, who was taller than me (I’m about 5’9" and he was about 5’10") weigh almost the exact same. Even will my efforts to eat perfectly clean (I am not perfect, but I am very dedicated) I cannot get near that level of strength-to-weight.
He was a pro, with many years of training. You and I are both seniors in high school, you can only expect so much as an 18 year old. Just give it time, I always found that tempo and GS can definitely serve to keep your weight down. In the end weight is not nearly as important as the times you get, and just eat clean and work hard and things will fall into place.
We found an intresting way to manipulate the caloric intake without ALARMING the " fight or flight " that is imbedded in all of us from the cave man drought/famine days.
ROUGH TEMPLATE: Simply take the trainining week and on M_W_F follow a meal plan that includes 6- small meals…on T_ TH_ Sat…follow a REDUCED intake of (1) feedings or FUELING as we call it. We have success reducing MOST or all white foods.
SUNDAY is a normal (3-meal) breakfast-lunch dinner) also know as BRAIN fuel day as a REWARD for the week…!
O’oop’s…left out the other side…“if” you want to gain muscular bodyweight…eat an EXTRA meal every other day…1:35 a.m. leaves the batteries a tad low…LOL
Females have a TOUGHER row to hoe because of the body fat levels needed to re-produce…so I would HIGHLY recommend cardio first thing in the a.m. when glycogen levels are the lowest !
This has been followed for the last 25-years and has produced a number of NATURALLY lean athletes (125-All americans T + F) and lifters body building champions ect.
GOOD LUCK !!! mac~
Being lean has much to do with the workouts it’s possible to carry out. BJ’s workouts had risen to a very high level (vol x intensity) over many years. I agree that tempo is especially important for female athletes. The first thing to look at is the sleep pattern. Is your CNS overloaded to the point where sleep is tough or is it your work/study schedule?
Charlie …any updated thoughts on FULL CNS recovery…? Bompa’s book lists 10-days for a recovery from a MAX effort muliple joint movment .
Sounds like there is still confusion between muscle recovery VERSUS CNS…small muscle groups (wrist extentions) VERSUS max dead lift ect.
THANKS for the TIME and EFFORT !
Well it depends on the individual. It would be pretty rare to have an individual strong enough in lifting to need the full 10 days unless he was a shot putter or weightlifter. Most CNS work intensive enough to require this would be intensity x duration, as in sprinting.
Sleep has always been tough until late (if I go to sleep before 11, my body seems to consider it a nap–last night I woke up around 4am after being in bed at 10 and asleep a little after), but studying sometimes keeps me up (I normally end up falling alseep about the same time whether I study until 12 or I get into bed at 10:30-11). I take naps 2-3 times a week after school and before training (generally on low intensity days, but occasionally before upper) and I get plenty of rest on the weekend.
How much did Ben weigh at age 18? I believe you said before his somatype was in place–did his weight change much?
He was prob 155 by then and 165 at 19.
Charlie-
In Speed Trap you detailed how Ben was a little big early before the Olympics in '88. According to you, this was lean mass for the most part. Does sprinting and running bring down bodymass even when bodyfat is already very low? I understand that incorporating SE can really bring one down, but if the mass is already lean, how is this accomplished?
By the way, how did you manage Stanford undergrad + full time training?
SE certainly does influence body shape and muscle length etc. As it is in place last in a short to long program, the athlete will be lightest in phase three.
I’m not sure anyone would have accused me of being full-time at anything at Stanford! It amy seem funny, but I always found university to be easier than any other schooling. i suppose because interests take over.
lol ahh yes. I would tend to agree with the last part for me right now, other than before an ap bio test! Those are killers.
Thanks for the info.
I’d be curious to know what her bodyfat percentage is and what a typical week looks like. If you haven’t seen it, there’s a nice little debate on t-nation about early morning “cardio” on either a full or empty tank. I’d dump ALL white foods and make sure she’s getting adequate protein, especially in the form of a post-workout shake.
When you are using the term white foods, are you referring to breads, pasta, etc?
In terms of sleep patterns I personally had a lot of sleep related problems at aged 18-21. Many of my athletes complain of not being able to sleep properly. Although Uni life takes its tole, I cannot but think that elevated hormone levels at this age must be part of the problem.
Can anyone with a grasp of physiology explain this?
Another issue is the ability to relax fully and disassociate yourself from your thoughts - I have found that a lot of athletes are prefectionists and spend a lot of time worrying about everything!
Today I have trained myself to fall asleep whenever I choose and I can sleep for upto 12 hours if I feel it is necessary. One very important life skill is to learn to relax and control as best you can the “stress process”.
TC