June 9-15
I had an interesting conversation this week with some members about elite athlete diet. This is where we got into the difference of details of aesthetics versus performance. A simple example would be looking at the diet of a bodybuilder whose main goal is to look leak and defined. The diet mostly is caloric restriction and very simple foods. Then look at the diet of an endurance athlete, they generally eat a massive amount of carbs and have to push themselves to get in more calories with products such as sugar laden gels to try to keep the calories as high as possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmJaJC8daBc
Those are drastic ends of the spectrum, but it shows the clear difference. You can’t really do both well, there are too many contradictions. So when making a decision on your fitness goals you have to make a decision on what your focus will be. If you are focusing more on aesthetics you will need to suffer a little in performance, and vice versa if you are concentrating on performance.
Now this isn’t to say that you have to sacrifice one for the other. That is why there are waves and periodization to training. It’s the same as loosing fat and gaining muscle. While it is possible to do both at the same time, it’s not as effective a concentrating 100% for a period of time on one, then on the other.
If you are unsure of what you need to be doing in your training or your diet, ask a coach or book a goal setting session.
Just a reminder that this Sunday is Fathers Day, show some love to your dad. Also if you are going to be around the gym this Sunday there will be many roads closed as the annual Crit Bike Race is taking place. It is usually the same weekend as Italian Fest so it will not be expected for many, beware of traffic and parking. More info here - https://www.bikeraceottawa.com/2025-schedule/
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Just a reminder but you can sit down for a FREE goal setting session with me to help go over a plan to help you reach your goals. If you don’t have any goals, we can also work on that to help give you some motivation and better directions. http://goals.bytown.fit