How To Become A Great Triathlete And Still Have An Amazing Body (Part 7)
Tips on how to efficiently achieve nice shoulders, a chiseled chest, a flat stomach, a well-toned butt, a pair of powerful legs, as well look your best in a t-shirt have already been laid out in the first six articles.
But many of you are probably asking if it’s truly possible to maintain such an amazingly healthy and attractive body while doing endurance sports such as triathlon. And this concern is but valid as most triathlon junkies sport bodies that just aren’t proportional – with necks and arms that are thin, yet have waists and bellies that are uncharacteristically heavy-looking, making them look skinny-fat.
This kind of physique isn’t sexy, to say the least. And while there’s perhaps no other sport that can rival the popularity of triathlon, as evidenced by the thousands of slots that sell like hotcakes as soon as an event opens, it can still feel kind of depressing knowing that the traditional manner by which one trains for triathlon won’t really help one achieve a nice body, but instead, a physique that’s too skinny, or worse, skinny-fat.
Of course, anyone steering clear of having the emaciated marathoner look will feel rightfully concerned. But fortunately for all of us, it’s actually possible to train for this widely popular endurance sport without at all the danger of losing your body’s muscle mass or becoming scrawny and weak-looking. You can very well become the greatest triathlete you can be and still have an incredibly chiseled physique and fully athletic and agile body.
And here’s how to achieve this exactly – all with the use of these five simple steps:
1. Lift right
Triathletes typically employ two methods of weightlifting. The first usually entails tons of repetitions of low-resistance lifting for developing endurance, such as a circuit of 20 repetitions of different routines. The second, meanwhile, typically involves slow and heavy weightlifting styles such as benchpress, squats and deadlifts, which are akin to what footballers utilize.
But there’s always “hypertrophy”, a training method seldom employed by endurance sport enthusiasts, but is in fact a long-practiced tradition among professional bodybuilders out there. This training style is actually pretty simple, utilizing multiple sets which are repeated for 8 to 12 times.
Hypertrophy training will enable you to quickly add as well as define muscle. The downside of hypertrophy training though is that those who employ it tend to develop non-functional muscle that can hinder agility as well as mobility significantly.
So to steer clear of this issue, make sure that when you do the hypertrophy method of training, that you minimize single-joint routines such as biceps curls. Instead, the heavy and explosive weightlifting exercises should target the entire body. This way, your whole physique gets toned while strengthening it at the same time.
2. Eat right
We’ve long been conditioned to think that fat is not good for the body and eating it will only make us fat. However, this isn’t entirely true as fat contained in fish, olives, avocadoes, as well as almonds are actually beneficial for us. This type of fat encourages balanced hormone function so that your body becomes more efficient in building as well as developing lean and hard muscle. And when the body’s got its hormone production and distribution at its optimum, then overall mental energy, libido, and even competitive drive naturally follow.
But while this is the case, many endurance athletes still favor unhealthy energy boosters, or those that mainly contain loads of carbohydrates such as cereals, bagels, and of course, sports drinks. Sure, all these stuff really gives you a jolt. But if you closely monitor it, you’ll soon realize that the energy actually quickly wanes after intake of simple carbohydrate-rich foods. Also, you’ll end up with an unsightly pudgy and heavy-looking mid-section from eating these items on a regular basis. And worst of all, these food items won’t really help you in your efforts of gaining as well as building an impressively toned and powerful body.
So if you’d like to be efficient at a triathlon while still sport an amazing body, you should consider some changes in your diet. Ideally, for endurance sports enthusiasts, 40% to 50% of the diet should comprise of healthy fats. Moderate amounts of protein from natural sources such as fish and meat should also be there so that your body gets its amino acid at optimum levels for an efficiently functioning brain and muscles. Of course, carbohydrates should be taken as well and preferably in their complex forms such as whole sweet potatoes. Intake of these food items should be well-timed though and are best taken prior to and after exercise sessions.
3. Train right
It’s long been established that short yet intense exercise intervals will provide you with just as much strength and increased performance levels as slow and extended periods of aerobic exercise. But while this is the case, there are still lots of endurance sport enthusiasts out there who are addicted to exercise, and who spend hours on end pounding the pavement, running their bikes, or whiling away time swimming back and forth in the pool.
Needless to say, this manner of slow aerobic training not only cancels out your efforts at adding lean muscles, but it also weakens your body overall, as you’ll inevitably end up with depleted hormones, and even overtraining syndrome. Spending extended periods on exercise of course takes away time that should’ve been spent with the family, your career, or some other hobbies as well.
So if you’re into triathlon yet would like to keep away from the skinny-fat look and instead have an impressively toned and powerful body, your training should consist of high-intensity routines, some moderately longer “tempo” exercises, and lastly, very minimal amounts of long aerobic workouts. This way, you can save your energy for when you truly need it – such as during the actual triathlon event itself where you’d have to really ride, run, and swim for extended periods.
4. Supplement right
Hormonal imbalance, known as “Andropause” in men and “Menopause” in women, can strike anyone as young as 27 yeas of age. And the bad news is that the condition will only worsen as one gets older. Hormonal imbalance, or more particularly deficit, is perhaps the biggest medical problem among endurance athletes. But there are also nutritional deficiencies, mineral loss, as well as low amino and fatty acid levels to contend with – all of which inhibit you from getting a powerful as well as an amazing body.
Regularly subject your body to extremely stressful situations with extended hours of swimming, running, lifting, or cross-training, and of course your body will inevitably end up depleting its hormones and nutrient supplies.
This brings to fore the importance of taking in fully legitimate sports nutrition supplements such as vitamin D, magnesium, greens supplements, fish oil, Chinese adaptogenic herbs, and digestive enzymes. Sure, websites as well as magazines feature tons of ads on supplements, but bear in mind that you’ll only need a handful of these to help your body truly become powerful and impressively ripped.
Of course, no matter how sufficient you think your diet is, if you push your body beyond its natural tendencies, then you’d still need supplementation just to ensure your body has the sufficient supply of fuel to accommodate stressful exercising.
5. Live right
You need not have to overhaul your entire lifestyle just so you can achieve your goals. In fact, there are a handful of little tweaks you can adopt to make this process of getting your dream body as well as increased performance simpler and quicker.
For instance, you can get even more restful sleep by using melatonin and magnesium, and of course, turning off all the lights in your room so that it’s completely dark. Another example would be to do simple yoga routines for 5-10 minutes in the morning so as to start your day completely refreshed and stress-free. Also, to ensure you help your body bounce back from your regular daily exercises, opt to use ice, compression, as well as foam roller too. Of course, detoxifying your body by steering clear of food and household products that contain harmful chemicals should also be done. While seemingly irrelevant, these small lifestyle changes are actually very crucial for overall wellness.
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