Such an annoying phrase. Heard from the mouths of your peers, family, colleagues and clients. Although the phrase may be exhausted, I love the enthusiasm and effort that people bring to the beginning of the year. I needed a bit of a buzz; since my training began, my nutrition has been all over the place especially during the Christmas period.
I've tracked my body composition using an 'InBody' scanner. The scanner analyses more than just weight and a traditional BMI calculation (based on weight, height and age), it constitutes of body fat mass, skeletal muscle mass and body water balance.
Visually, I look no 'fatter' than I did at the beginning of my training. I weighed 61.5kg, with 27kg of muscle mass and 21.2% body fat. I would have described myself as lean and I had muscle definition. I was strong - squatting 75kg for high reps. I rapidly decreased the amount of strength sessions that I had religiously participating, as well as the intensity of the resistance training to focus my energy on the endurance of the three disciplines.
My January scan showed I had stayed the same weight, however my muscle and fat distribution had flipped. I've lost 2kg of muscle mass and increased my fat percentage by 4%.
As a qualified personal trainer, I am well aware my nutrition or lack of plays a huge role in this change of composition. The loss in muscle mass is also due to the type of exercise that I have participated in.
Training peaks shows a graph of my progressi
on in fitness and performance, calculated by the duration and intensity of workouts. This is measured by a Traini ng Stress Score (TSS) based on my threshold of power, pace, and heart rate, as well as factoring in fatigue and form. This shows I have progressed in fitness, but that my form is compromised due to a high score of fatigue.
This is a great guide and helps coaches monitor the athlete's performance, however, it is obviously relative to the individual.
My job means I have early starts and late finishes, so there are some days I struggle with recovery and I am training on empty. This has contributed to my increase in food consumption, especially my cravings for carbs and sugary snacks. I've created a chain of poor diet, poor recovery and some poor performance training sessions.
SO, the new me has started tracking my food. Increasing my protein consumption for recovery, keeping my carb intake below 200g and working out what fuel types I need depending on my training.
From my own preference, I decided to increase my strength training by at least 1 session a week. I wanted to ensure I maintain an element of muscle and strength as I can feel the benefits of strength in my core, lats and quads.
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