Do top male gymnast try to have a low body fat?

[Cristian.Sirius]

Do male gymnast try to stay lean or is just an effect of their training and nutrition?

The way I see it, athletes try build strength, power, balance so on and so forth...

 

Now, I know that female gymnast pay much attention to what they, I remember seeing one of the Romanian coaches, of the female gymnast team, buzzing his girls on not eating to much sweets, as they received a cake. Now, it makes sense usually female movement try to have also an effect of elegance- the way I see it, which would actually be hard to obtain if one will be not lean. 

 

I see that male gymnast are in top shape, I alway wonder if they keep an eye in not getting too much fat on their body or this is just the result of their training.

Now, I know that a training regime of one of the top gymnast is very demanding and eating one or two sweet won't, probably, make any difference. 

This makes me to think, how much usually does guy are training? 

 

Anyway, do this guys beside eating enough protein eat whatever they want?

 

 

 

Cheers! 

[Blairbob]

Both.

 

John Horton in 2012 mentioned he went on a bodybuilding diet of chicken, broccoli and brown rice to watch his weight.

 

Carrying extra weight does not help any of the events at all.

[emos]

It seems unlikely that most "top male gymnasts" make any particular effort to keep a low bf%. The people who make it will have excellent genetics and will probably be naturally lean no matter what. If you've trained with a lot of people or been involved in athletics, gymnastics or any loosely-related activity then you'll have seen how differently people are built - and how some just stay lean no matter what and others seem to put on fat at the drop of a hat, and perhaps very little muscle. Necessarily, the best of the best will have the "best" genetics already and that's enough to keep them moderately lean (hardly ripped, though, in most cases). Combined with any amount of training then I really can't see excess bodyfat ever being an issue.

I can't imagine someone prone to a high bf% (along with the associated traits this implies) surviving gymnastics for very long, let alone making it to a high level.

[Joshua Naterman]

It's pretty hard to get fat when you work out like they do, especially at their heights and weights.

 

As for the females, their coaches often do more harm than good in the nutrition department. 

[Joshua Slocum]

When you're working out 25+ hours a week, you're much more likely to be eating too little than too much. 

 

I only train 12-15 hours a week, while occasionally indulging in sweets and alcohol, and I've still been getting leaner over time. If I were to double that training time, it'd be a constant battle to eat enough calories to keep me from withering away.

 

That said, they're not exactly gorging themselves on ice cream and cake. When you've spent your whole life training to be an elite athlete, you're probably going to choose a diet that keeps you at peak performance.

[Blairbob]

" I can't imagine someone prone to a high bf% (along with the associated traits this implies) surviving gymnastics for very long, let alone making it to a high level. "

 

Watch women's collegiate gymnastics sometime.

 

Another trick for MAG. Higher testosterone levels. Females have to fight the onset and ramifications of puberty (and higher estrogen levels).

If you think top male gymnasts eat whatever then you need to get out of fairy tale land. Perhaps Josh, you can remember some of Coach Sommer's stories of the diets of his gymnasts or Allan.

 

Then again they are able to buffer cheat meals pretty easy though many male gymnasts follow a simple see food eat it diet.

 

" As for the females, their coaches often do more harm than good in the nutrition department. "

All in all, it's much better than what it used to be.

However, if you are in a harsh Elite gym such as Parkette's or possibly a foreign run gym you'll probably see more of this.

Bare in mind there are really only a handful of women's elite gyms. Roughly 200 training elites in the nation and a dozen on the jr and senior national team combined. Elite being defined as on the Jr or Sr National team. I don't have numbers on training elites for the men's though L9/10s have been considered Junior Elite levels in the past. Unfortunately the USAG site is down for the moment to look up numbers.

 

Most of the Men's Sr national team are either sponsored, at the OTC, or in college where the jrs train at clubs.

[Coach Sommer]

Men's L8, L9 and L10 are divided into two divisions; junior olympic and junior elite. The JE divisions must compete an elite technical sequence appropriate for their age division. Only athletes in the JE divisions are eligible for the US Junior National Team.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Joshua Naterman]

I remember, and I also remember what I did when I was a kid. I would have been much, much better off eating more food like I do now, but even back then I had a solid core of extremely good food, because my dad worked from home and cooked every day.

 

It is a huge mistake to think that there is no difference between "child and adolescent athletes can get away with so-and so without getting super fat" and "child and adolescent athletes will be at their best no matter what they eat."

 

I'm leaving it at that.

[Cristian.Sirius]

I remember, and I also remember what I did when I was a kid. I would have been much, much better off eating more food like I do now, but even back then I had a solid core of extremely good food, because my dad worked from home and cooked every day.

 

It is a huge mistake to think that there is no difference between "child and adolescent athletes can get away with so-and so without getting super fat" and "child and adolescent athletes will be at their best no matter what they eat."

 

I'm leaving it at that.

Same with me, here, I could have achieved much much more in my youth if I would eat more. 

I used to eat in the morning some milk and cereals- at 7:30 then go to school then go to training, rarely I would eat at school and If I  eat, probably some junk food, sometimes I used to go back home and eat something in run, after that at 15:00 I was at practice, usually I went directly to practice from school. I was feeling so lethargic, and in every practice we used to run between 5-7 km minimum. 

If I would eat more, definitely I could perform better. 

But back then, I didn't know anything about nutrition nor that I have pay much importance to it. And cost me alot .

[Guest SuperBru]

If you look at Allan Bower you'll notice he seems to have low body fat. If you look at the other Athlete, I believe his name is Alex, his got a much higher body fat. Coach has stated that his athletes aren't on any special diet. This is the same case for the majority of olympic gymnasts. In the end it all comes down to mostly genetics.   

[Afiya Zia]

If you look at Allan Bower you'll notice he seems to have low body fat. If you look at the other Athlete, I believe his name is Alex, his got a much higher body fat. Coach has stated that his athletes aren't on any special diet. This is the same case for the majority of olympic gymnasts. In the end it all comes down to mostly genetics.

I believe it comes more from what you're eating, not from what you're born with.

[Coach Sommer]

If you look at Allan Bower you'll notice he seems to have low body fat. If you look at the other Athlete, I believe his name is Alex, his got a much higher body fat. Coach has stated that his athletes aren't on any special diet. This is the same case for the majority of olympic gymnasts. In the end it all comes down to mostly genetics.   

 

Incorrect.  

 

What it comes down to is how much and how hard you are training.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Guest SuperBru]

Incorrect.  

 

What it comes down to is how much and how hard you are training.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Yes that is true. So are you implying that Allan trains harder than Alex(If that is his name)?

[Coach Sommer]

- Actually yes, Allan does train much harder than Alex.

 

- And yes, they are both almost certainly training much harder than all of you.  

 

- However for you to attempt to immediately train as hard as the two of them would be utter folly.  You need to first pay your dues and that means building a "Foundation".  If you want to achieve what they have, you must first pay the same price that they did.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer