Do you think you’re a bit too fat to be fast?

Why is it that girls who have visible “six-packs” ask me if I think they could drop a couple of kilos.

I can’t remember how many times I’ve told them to train for health and good recovery. The weight will automatically become “what is ideal for you”

It seems that this idea that they’re “fat” is more prevalent after a major race. Maybe something hormonal switches on after they lessen their training load. Maybe they have too much time on their hands.

We can’t train at the same volume all year, we’d just burn out.  Maybe we need to find something else to fill our time while we let the body “catch up”.

Another thing likely to “do the heads in” on the girls is weighing themselves to often. I’d rather see our girls never weigh themselves. As we train and develop the athlete, fat levels drop and muscle density increases.

A girl can be looking fabulous, but the scales will suggest she hasn’t lost any weight or worse still, she may have gained weight.

I would much rather the girls and guys in the squad use the belly button test. Lie on your back, put your finger tip into your belly button, squeeze the skin between the fore finger and thumb. If it’s thicker than 1cm, we’ll train until it is 1cm. If it is 1cm, it’s just right for an endurance athlete.

It doesn’t matter what you weigh. What the scales tell you is only figures. It has very little to do with going faster.

Eating for good health is what will make you go faster and keep you looking good for a long time into the future.