Fat Loss for Athletes
When participating in off-season (or summer) training programs, every athlete should ask the question, “Am I competing at the right weight to maximize my on-field performance?” In my experience, a reduction in body fat will certainly aid in sport performance (unless the athlete is already extremely lean). This is obviously the case with endurance sports such as cycling, running, swimming, cross-country, soccer, etc. However, many athletes are surprised to find that a reduction in body fat will also serve very useful in mixed sports (sports that require both power/strength and endurance). These sports include football, basketball, baseball, and wrestling to name a few.
A reduction in body fat will certainly help explosiveness, speed, and power (vertical leap etc.) as long as your workout plan is properly structured to maintain (or even gain) strength and/or endurance while in caloric deficit (the only true way to reduce body fat). If the exercise sessions are properly designed, an athlete can actually INCREASE his strength/power to weight ratio even while consuming less calories and decreasing body fat.
To lose body fat, there are certain principles that MUST be adhered to, this principles include:
1. You must create a caloric deficit - This means that you must burn more calories than you consume. Most athletes have no idea how many calories they consume on a daily basis, nor do they know how many calories they should be consuming to lose, maintain, or gain body weight. Don’t be like those athletes.
2. To create a caloric deficit you need to exercise and practice proper sports nutrition - To ensure that performance doesn’t suffer while losing body fat, it is imperative that the athlete makes healthy food choices and follows a sensible workout routine. Just exercising or just cutting calories is a good way to make sure that your sports performance SUFFERS!
3. When you exercise, focus on metabolic conditioning. What is metabolic conditioning? Glad you asked, call me at 210-288-2108 and I will be glad to describe the process in detail and explain how Edge can take your game to the next level.
Leland