![]() In various reports, Ohno has said that he's in the best physical shape of his life, weighing five kilograms less than he did for the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy, and nine kilograms less than he did for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Winter Olympic history if he wins another one in upcoming short-track competition-the 1,000-meter race this weekend or the 5,000-meter relay on February 26. Having won six medals in his career, Seattle-based speed skater Apolo Ohno stands to make U.S. Then once the competition is over, they go right back up so they can resume normal training.Editor’s Note (02/08/18): Scientific American is re-posting the following article, originally published February 19, 2010, in light of the 2018 Winter Games which begin on February 9 in PyeongChang, South Korea. Some people can perform for a short term at excessively low bodyfat percentages, so they'll train at normal levels and then drop to make weight for their competition. It is common for people to struggle keeping a weightclass only to find they are far more competitive if they just gained a little weight. So it becomes this balancing act of keeping the bodyfat percentage you can perform at while staying in the weightclass you want to compete in. They need to diet at extreme measures to keep it and won't have the energy to do the competition. Most people can not perform at single-digit bodyfat percentages particularly long-term. This means that people will try to hold really low levels of bodyfat to keep weight.Īs you noted this does come at a cost. So the ultimate goal is to be as heavy as you can be in the weightclass with as much muscle as you can have. ![]() Then of course, you build as much muscle as you can hold at that weightclass. So it may make you more competitive to lose enough body fat to drop to a lower weightclass. You benefit from being bigger, but being in heavier weightclasses means your opponent is also bigger. Some sports like MMA or wrestling have weight classes. Non-contact sports like basketball have no advantage at being heavy, but often require the athlete to be agile. However, running backs need to be swift and agile so it's to their advantage to be on the leaner side. For example, linebackers or defensive tackle in Gridiron Football have an advantage at being bigger because they're harder to push around. Some sports they want the exact opposite. Whether or not this is an advantage depends entirely on the sport in question. The same amount of strength and power can push you farther if you're lighter. This is simply because being lighter requires less energy to move. Lighter people typically can run faster and longer, jump higher and farther, and corner sharper and easier. The immediate benefit to having lower bodyfat is you're lighter. Why are they doing this? Are they doing this because this allows them to achieve feats they would otherwise be impossible for them? Or, on the contrary, are they doing this because they wish to fit into a lower weight class and thus face a weaker competition at the cost of hampering their own abilities? I know that athletes often drop fat to lowest possible levels just days before a competition and, once the competition is finished, return to slightly higher levels. Provided that one is not overweight, what benefits (except for looking better) can one obtain from losing fat alone (as opposed to building strength / stamina / etc?)Īssuming that all other parameters remain unchanged, what feats could one achieve with lower body fat levels? What exercises could one do that would otherwise be impossible, in what disciplines could one outperform a competitor that is similarily built and trained but with slightly higher fat levels, etc? Even lurking just a bit on fitness communities shows that people often talk about single digit body fat levels.
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