Search the Community

For those who remember, I`m a synchronized swimming coach working with somewhat competitive athletes from 13-26 years old. The gymnastic bodies way of thinking about stength training has really helped us over the last year, but with sucess comes new chalenges. Right now I'm in a bit of a quandary and I was wondering if anyone might have some insights. Some of the girls have been called up to compete in some international meets and on Friday they completed the preliminary anthrompometric evaluation ( % body fat, muscle mass, functional tests etc). They all came out great on the functional tests, but one athlete recieved a negative evaluation in the area of body composition. She has been told she should lose 3 kg of fat and gain 4 kg of muscle, preferrably by March. I feel uncomfortable putting 3 simultaneous, semi-conflicting goals before an athlete (lose weight/compete/gain muscle mass) but since the decision was not mine I can only help her (and her parents) form a plan and do the best possible. If nothing better occurs to me I plan to advise her to try breaking her meals into many small portions centered around her training schedule, and to concentrate on consuming high quality food in the proportions she is accustomed to (no calorie deficit, no excess). For example, swapping the gatorade for fruit and water, the sandwitch for sauteed veg/protein + rice. Here are the details Weight: 55.6 kg Height: 170,2 cm Age: 15 % Body Fat: 21.75 (Whitters protocol, which seems to estimate higher than most methods) ...should be about 16 AKS: 0.88....should be about 0.98 Currently trains 3.5 hr/day Mon-Sat Will be training: 3.5 hr/day Tues-Thurs, + 16 hrs Fri/Sat/Sun Competitions in: Feb, Mar, May, Aug, Sept, Nov Limitations: Injury to 1 gluteus, cannot run, swims with fins when everybody else runs Tends to be a slow gainer of muscle mass Any ideas/strategies are most welcome. Thanks!