Thursday 4 February 2010

winter fitness assessment; wowsers


hello jabba

triathletes globally have, in months past, reduced their training and increased their holiday eating. for some, they picked themselves up with the new year, others are still struggling to get on the bike in the arctic conditions.

i'm no exception. training in summer was a five day a week affair, now i'm sitting at two - three day max. my intensity has dropped as well.

in triathlon maths, this should mean my eating has subsided also, but like most other tri-ers in the world of winter training my input hasn't always matched my output and here we have the gaining of two kilos.

two kilos; hardly a gain to loose sleep by. however it did prompt me to wonder how my overall fitness had changed as a result of the reduced training - so i booked myself into a fitness assess at the gym.

i knew the results wouldn't be pretty, but i wanted something to re-focus on when i start training properly again. what's the point in just hearing the good news, right?

here's how i compared from 5 days a week high intensity training, to 2/3 days a week low intensity;

height: 174 cms > 174cms (no change!)
weight: 60 kilos > 62 kilos
body fat: 12.8% > 16%
waist: 25 inches > 25 inches
hips: 37 inches > 37 inches

i'm very surprised that my measurements have remained static while my body fat and weight have increased. most of my winter training has been weights based - but instead of gaining muscle it seems as though i've been turning muscle into fat?!? how can this be?

to be honest, i did starve myself a little before the first assessment, could my lack of water/food skewed the body fat results? or does weight training really do this little?

the results haven't made me want to start training at higher intensity yet; but add another kilo into the mix and i'll be forced to reconsider :)







5 comments:

teacherwoman said...

I don't know if a deficit in food and water could affect your body fat percentage. very interesting.

Jen said...

I love Jabba... my son wants the Jabba lego.. which runs for $50+ on ebay.

I thought your stats were interesting.

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Interesting with your stats.

Beth said...

It depends on how you figured out your body fat as to whether you were dehydrated matters. If you use one of those electonic scales, it could throw it off. Obviously, you are still very lean and are in great shape. I know, though, that a couple pounds can change how you feel. Spring will be here soon enough and then it will be fun to get out and ramp it up.

tri_al said...

hmm i was using four point calipers. so weird!