Question about Track athletes and Gymnasts Diet

[ThePolishHammer]

How do these guys manage to train so consitantly, build muscle(refering to gymnasts here) and decrease their bodyfat?
What sort of dieting techniques would you have to use to pull this off?

 

[skaman607]

I wan tto know that too (since I'm a track athlete )

 

[coolcolj]

their training does most of the work,
they don't eat much starchy carbs - stick with lots of veges and meat, with periodic clean carb ups.

that's how most elite athletes eat these days

 

[ThePolishHammer]

Any suggestion for ratio's? and how often should i carb up, and for how long.
Any suggestion on how to do this.
I dont know much about dieting other than bodybuilding nutrition

 

[coolcolj]

Well pretty much an balanced type of diet or zone diet will do the trick

equal ratio of fat, protein and carbs.

the aim is not to lose fat, but to provide the body with clean fuel and a positive hormone balance. Training itself will strip the fat off if starchy carbs are eliminated.

You will have to experiment with ratio of days. Try a 2-3 day to 1 day carb up first and see how you go.

If you do it right you will have tons of energy, and no more blood sugar crashes. You won't feel hungry either

 

[bignate73]

since when did starchy carbs become evil?

only the ability to not overeat them is the problem. they are very nutrient dense...and your body runs on long chain polysaccharides! ive never heard so many reasons to disregard the laws of thermodynamics. calories in vs calories out. gymnasts dont bulk up/put on any more LBM than usual, they are very lean to begin with and maintain a decent amount of muscle mass. the leaner you are, the bigger/harder you look. they arent gaining by leaps and bounds due to some miracle of macronutrient manipulation. if there is some muscle gain it is slow inseason or done in the offseason (where they can get "fluffy").

this is not to say there wont be elite athletes that follow diets the mimic precontest bodybuilders, but as for them growing and losing at the same time....its no different than any other person on a calorie deficit, it doesnt happen much or very slowly.

 

[coolcolj]

Well that is how Charlie Francis and Poliquin's athletes eat all year round.

Eating like this does not have to be a BB'er pre-contest deal. I ate like this not so long ago, I was very full and satisfied. You actually have more energy eating like this.

Basicly eat anything that came from nature.

I have a friend in the US, who is not a athlete/bb'er and does no exercise, but he just ate like as part of a lifestyle change. Not really "dieting" as such, he just starting eating like the "Zone" method and lost over 100lbs in fat over a year. All thanks to keeping insulin under control with the food he ate

 

[Lord_Suston]

Another way these guys eat is to only carb load before a workout, that's right the only time they eat carbs is about a 2-3 hours before they workout and it is only 30-50 grams too. this fuel the workout but the kicker is th carbs is usually wheat pasta, rice, buckwheat or some sort of rye.... after that is moslty protein and vegetables

 

[Citruscide]

When i was in Track at IU, I ate a FUCKLOAD of food... I also didn't do a hell of alot of distance work (except during conditioning).. .most of my training was done with sprinting, so any muscle mass I had at the time, didn't catch the midnight train to skinny-ville.

I think I remember eating an entire quart of ice cream and still being hungry (during conditioning week of running like 6-8 miles in the morning and doing 2 miles worth of sprints at night + stairs and weights) -- yeah, I was fucking HUNGRY. When you are burning like 5000 calories, it's pretty easy to eat 8000.

C-ditty