Mike Altman’s Weight-making Guide

Inspired by this reader submitted question, Mike Altman has written a weight-making guide for lightweights. You can download the complete guide as a PDF for free by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page – shivs

Making weight can be hard or easy. This sounds simple and obvious, but I’ve seen people make it very easy on themselves, and people make it very hard on themselves. Whether it is hard or easy for you depends not only on your metabolism (which you can’t control), but also on how you approach and execute on weight loss (which you can control). It should take as little mental energy as possible on raceday. It’s best to approach it systematically, with a long lead time. Different people have different theories on what your weight heading into the regatta should be. I think it’s best to sit about two to four pounds over your target weight the week before your race, then just sweat out a few pounds right before your event(s).

There is no magic formula to losing weight. It takes discipline – you are going to be a little hungry and you aren’t going to be able eat a lot of things you want. But you can be smart about it and make it as efficient and painless as possible. In order to lose body weight, you need to take in fewer calories than you are burning daily – known as a ‘caloric intake deficit’ (a fancy term that I may have made up). The average person burns about 2,000 calories a day just walking around; on top of this, an elite rower probably burns an additional 4,000 – 5,000 doing two-a-days. So if you want to get really scientific, you can count your calories and do the math on how much and what you should be eating. After a while you get familiar with the process, and it becomes more of an art than a science. You gradually learn to listen to your body and balance between eating enough to keep your energy levels up, but a small enough amount that you’ll continue to trend down in weight.

It’s important to get enough calories and eat the right foods to fuel your training – since you are eating less, you need to make sure your food really counts and contains enough vitamins and minerals that you can perform. ‘Portion control’ is key. A totally unscientific rule of thumb that I used was to eat about 20% less than I really wanted to. But if I was feeling especially tired, run-down or under the weather, I’d eat a little more for a day or two to feed my body a little better and get my energy level back up. Emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole-grains and fat-free milk, along with lean meats, poultry, fish, beans and nuts. Be sure to balance out your nutrients, getting a mix of protein and carbohydrates at every meal (protein-free or carb-free diets are not healthy for athletes, you need a balanced diet). For example, (a) whole grain cereal with fruit (carbs) and milk (protein) at breakfast, (b) chicken breast (protein) and vegetables (carbs) at dinner.

Anything natural is better than anything processed – e.g., an apple is better than apple juice, a tomato is better than V8, a salad is better than vegetable soup from a can. Reduce your fat intake, but don’t cut it entirely out of your diet – you still need a bit in order to get through your rigorous training schedule. I highly recommend Nancy Clark’s book, The Sports Nutrition Guidebook, for more detail on what foods are best for fueling good performance, and also really good recipes that are healthy and low calorie.

What I found to be a very effective trick was ‘front-loading’ my calories, eating more in the morning and gradually smaller meals as the day went on. Eating a large breakfast ‘revs up your engine’. By eating a big meal after morning practice, I would be able to control my hunger through the day – as opposed to not eating in the morning, and then being famished by mid-day and overeating. A reasonably sized lunch and a smaller dinner would allow me to burn off calories throughout the day while being active, rather than having them sit my stomach overnight while I wasn’t doing anything. It can be tough to have your stomach growling through the night, but this is where the discipline really comes into play.

- Mike Altman, USA 2008 LM4-

For more tips on making weight, you can download the complete Weight-making Guide written by Mike Altman. The guide is a free 6 page downloadable PDF with tips on Common Mistakes to Avoid, Race Preparation Strategies, Travel tips, and a Weight-making Schedule.

Download Mike Altman's Weight-making Guide (PDF, 4.0MB)

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Was this guide helpful? Would you like to see more rowing-related guides in the future? Leave a comment and let us know what you think. shivs

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 9:47 am. It is filed under QUESTION/ANSWERS, Rowers, TEAM USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.