food and sports

Nutrition and training

(errors to avoid)

... about this last topic, you have never heard in the gym sentences (often for the use of gentilesesso) like: "Finally, after so many sacrifices I lost X Kg but now I'm obviously a little more flabby, starting tomorrow I'll start to do something to firm up! ".

At this point the "devastation" took place !!!!

Last time we broke up with these words, let's start from here and understand what has changed in our hypothetical visitor to the fitness center.

Probably our friend will have undergone grueling aerobic training sessions, diligently attending all the possible courses, perhaps every day and maybe even when her body was desperately asking her to stay on the couch!

No mention of it, the goal is clear and obvious: defeat the balance needle.

But what else can our sweat integralist do to the rhythm of music to get a landslide victory against his archenemy? The most enlightened thing, the famous "Auschwitz" diet (known Nazi extermination camp) based on Yogurt with 0.000000001% of fats, celery, carrots and squash with disturbing colors.

But after months of horrendous food deprivation and forced labor, do you want to put satisfaction? Hooray, the enemy is defeated weighs less ... BUT IS GREASED.

It may seem like a paradox, but it really is.

The exhausting training, without giving the body the right recovery times and food shortages have sent in "protection" the energy metabolism of our friend. In other words, it began to destroy the muscles to obtain energy (gluconeogenesis), preserving the precious stocks of fat that are indispensable for dealing with this period of famine. And this is not a joke, in the third millennium we are still programmed as in the times we lived in the savannah: saving fuel and surviving at all costs. If we add that it has probably almost eliminated the much-demonized carbohydrates, this process has been even more emphasized. It is known that fats burn in the flame of sugars.

It is clear now that weight loss has been borne by the lean mass, the most noble part of our body and not the fat part, so in percentage the ratio has been unbalanced in favor of fat. Thus the affirmation of the former appears less paradoxical.

What to do then?

A few simple things. First of all, free yourself from media bombardments on "grassology", which have made the fortune of many companies producing miraculous remedies of all kinds. Immediately afterwards, focus on the lean mass and especially on our muscles and how to train and nourish them properly. The rest will come by itself.

This statement comes from a trivial principle: the lean mass consumes even at rest, the gasso never.

How to transform this declaration of intent into facts?

  1. Body composition analysis. Plicometry or better yet bioimpedenzometria, as already highlighted by my colleague F. Pugliese.
  2. Basal metabolic reconstruction and food program based on our lifestyle and the type of training we will undertake.
  3. Training program that in principle (will vary depending on the needs of the individual) will include both isotonic work sessions (weights!) And cardio sessions as well as recovery times.

Just a final clarification, the muscles of the girls are the same as those of the boys, they have always done the same thing: they get shorter and longer. Ergo there are no separate gender lists in the weight room, but only for objectives!

Good job!

Francesco Calise

Personal trainer, Schwinn Cycling instructor, postural gymnastics, yogafit and Mountain bike