Sometimes, you gotta get a bit fat to get a lot strong. But when you’re an athlete, fluctuations in body composition can be hard to stomach when you’re constantly plagued by the power to weight ratio in the back of your mind. When Zwift is coming at you with Watts per kilo and you’re seeing the kilos go up, it’s hard to see the benefits of any additional weight gain if you don’t immediately have the power to match.
Although it’s not always beneficial to add weight – if you’re an elite cyclist focusing on winning the KoM jersey in the Tour De France, you’re probably going to want to be as light as possible – most amateur athletes will benefit from some sort of strength building phase. We all know that having cyclical training for the endurance machine is important and we also know that resistance training is essential, not just for performance, but for health. So how can we maximise our gains?
Well the answer is to embrace cyclical changes in our weight and body composition in the same way we do with our training plans.
The Strength-Building Phase: More Than Just Gains
The goal of a strength-building phase of training is, as the name suggests, about building strength. But what is the actual goal? Well it’s building capacity of the muscles. It’s building power, and ability and therefore it’s likely building size as well. It’s rebuilding the muscles with more fibres of the relevant type to your training so that you have more to recruit during tough workouts and races.
The strength-building phase is a critical component of any endurance athlete’s training regimen. Rebuilding muscles and increasing muscle mass, necessitates a calorie surplus — consuming more calories than you expend – along with consuming adequate (so likely a large increase) protein to specifically build muscle tissue This is called an “anabolic” state; it’s all about creating more body tissue. But this while surplus provides the energy required for muscle repair and growth, it also often leads to an increase in body fat.
This is a natural and necessary part of the fluctuations you’ll see in body composition if you want to improve your strength and muscle mass. Many people fail to increase their strength because this frightens them, so they never reach their true potential in terms of their musculature, which is a great shame!
The Role of Increased Body Mass
An increase in body mass during the strength phase is not just inevitable; it’s essential. This phase lays the foundation for improved performance, providing the muscular strength and endurance that athletes need to sustain their efforts over long distances or times. The key is to focus on the quality of the calorie surplus, emphasising nutrient-dense foods that support muscle growth and overall health, rather than empty calories that contribute to fat gain without beneficial nutrients. This will not only help to maximise muscle gains but limit body fat gained.
That said, when you’re trying to keep yourself in an anabolic state, you’re more likely to benefit from the additional processed snacks like protein shakes and bars etc to keep your calories and muscle build up.
The Leaning Down Phase: Finding the Balance
Of course, getting strong is great, but you see even more benefits from this if you can then shed any excess body fat that isn’t useful to you during your race. IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO BE CLEAR EXACTLY HOW MUCH WEIGHT NEEDS SHEDDING BEFORE YOU START. Some athletes spend almost their entire life in a restrictive mindset, constantly trying to cut their calories and weight back without acknowledging where the sweet spot is. The aim here is simply to lose a little unhelpful baggage, NOT to drop to obscenely low levels of body fat or become obsessed and overwhelmed by the fixation of weight loss.
As race day approaches, the focus shifts towards optimising body composition by shedding any excess body fat gained during the strength-building phase. This period is not just about aesthetics or achieving a certain look; it’s about fine-tuning the body for peak performance. Reducing body fat can improve efficiency and speed, but it’s crucial that this is done without compromising muscle mass or overall health. And there we also need to understand how to do this without sacrificing those last few weeks of crucial tune ups so we go into the race feeling strong and confident.
Aesthetics vs. Performance
While leaning down can lead to improvements in aesthetics and confidence, it’s vital that these changes are not pursued at the detriment of health and performance. A too aggressive approach to fat loss can lead to muscle loss, decreased energy levels, and impaired performance. Therefore, a gradual and controlled calorie deficit, combined with continued strength training and endurance workouts, ensures you maintain your new muscle mass and energy levels while shedding excess fat. And as much as I encourage intentional eating, this also means paying attention to the blend of macros you’re getting, namely protein and carbs. This doesn’t have to be an anally strict routine, just an awareness of your needs and your body’s signals.
Navigating Body Composition Fluctuations
But here’s the real meat of the matter. I’ve discussed before how amateur athletic bodies will differ from professional athletes, by virtue of the circumstances they are built in. While fluctuating body mass and composition can be really helpful to health and performance, how do we do it and still retain a healthy relationship with food and body image? How do we learn how to happily move up and down the scales without letting it affect us and avoiding disordered eating patterns that are so common in sport?
- Education and Mindset: Understand that fluctuations in body composition are a normal, healthy part of the training cycle. Focus on the performance benefits of each phase rather than solely on appearance and start to think in terms of what your body is doing and what it’s doing for YOU, rather than what it looks like to others.
- Nutrition Quality: Emphasise nutrient-dense foods that support both muscle growth and efficient fat loss, ensuring that your body gets the necessary vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients it needs throughout the training cycle. Higher quality nutrition in general will make these phases easier to keep a handle on and also help you to FEEL better, which puts you in a positive cycle when it comes to eating and your mindset around it.
- Listen to Your Body: Pay attention to hunger cues, energy levels, and performance metrics. If you notice declines in energy or performance, it may be time to reassess your calorie intake or distribution of macronutrients. Excessive hunger and hunger around training may also be warning signs you need to pay attention to.
- Professional Guidance: Work with a nutrition advisor or dietitian who understands the unique demands of endurance sports. They can help tailor your nutrition plan to support both your health and performance goals. It is REALLY EASY TO GET THIS WRONG. Having the accountability but also the advice on hand when you need it, is the fastest way to success here.