Post by Djunk on Dec 14, 2017 9:26:38 GMT -7
Hello all,
I've been experimenting and fanatically researching different ways of eating for the last 2-3 years and I've been thinking about a couple ideas and decided I'd share some of them here. What better place than the forum that is specifically bent torwards athletic performance in climbing. So here goes....
I have been diving deep into the Low carb high fat (LCHF) world and have seen nothing but positive results in my health but also in terms of my climbing performance. A well formulated LCHF or ketonginic approach really changes the game. The real importance from a climbing performance angle is the idea of metabolic flexibility. Metabolic flexibility is essentially the ability of ones body to utilize multiple fuel sources namely fat and carbohydrates. Through my own experiences I have come to the realization that my over reliance on carbs over the last 35+ years has done some damage to my metabolic system. In essence my metabolic machinery was broke and it no longer knew how to burn fat as fuel, or could only do so at a very inefficient rate. This left me with a single fuel source, carbohydrates. Carbohydrates burn hot and fast and fuel a lot of our explosive and maximal strength efforts. Problem is our body can only store so much muscle and liver glycogen. Once it's depleted (can happen very quickly depending on output levels) then what? We'll hunger sets in and the constant feeding/hunger cycle kicks in causing insulin to spike and crash which causes a whole cascade of hormonal events, one of which drives down our ability to utilize fat as a fuel.
Do this is my point if we have multiple fuel sorces at our disposal but are only relying on one (for various different reasons) are we really leveraging our fuel potential? Through the last 2-3 months of LCHF eating I have given my body what I call a "metabolic" tune-up. I can now go all day long in fasted state and not feel hangry, or feel any cravings or hunger pains. During these times my body is basically burning stored body fat and maintains my energy levels and brain function just fine and oh yeah, it also drops my weight effortlessly. Recovery time is also greatly increased.
Ok so how does this apply to climbing performance? Once your body has gone through this "tune-up" you are fat adapted and can now access fat and carbs as a fuel source. So now you can climb most of you goal route by burning stored/dietary fat and very quickly switch over to carb burning for you maximal movements (crux) and then switch back into fat burning during moments of easier /restful climbing again reserving the rest of your glycogen stores for the next cruxy section.
I know this is getting long winded, I could keep going for pages and pages but let's just stop there and see what folks think. A couple of things to keep in mind, this is not just hypothesis guess work. A lot of this is anecdotal, but if you do a little research into the ultra endurance world you'll find that they well ahead of most other sports in regards to LCHF performance. Also there are plenty of athletes in other sports such as bodybuilding, MMA, and NBA basketball that are breaking records all through LCHF. I've always felt that climbing is so far behind other sports when it comes to nutrition, science, training so it'd be really cool to see us skip ahead of the line here and help our whole climbing tribe meet their goals.
I've been experimenting and fanatically researching different ways of eating for the last 2-3 years and I've been thinking about a couple ideas and decided I'd share some of them here. What better place than the forum that is specifically bent torwards athletic performance in climbing. So here goes....
I have been diving deep into the Low carb high fat (LCHF) world and have seen nothing but positive results in my health but also in terms of my climbing performance. A well formulated LCHF or ketonginic approach really changes the game. The real importance from a climbing performance angle is the idea of metabolic flexibility. Metabolic flexibility is essentially the ability of ones body to utilize multiple fuel sources namely fat and carbohydrates. Through my own experiences I have come to the realization that my over reliance on carbs over the last 35+ years has done some damage to my metabolic system. In essence my metabolic machinery was broke and it no longer knew how to burn fat as fuel, or could only do so at a very inefficient rate. This left me with a single fuel source, carbohydrates. Carbohydrates burn hot and fast and fuel a lot of our explosive and maximal strength efforts. Problem is our body can only store so much muscle and liver glycogen. Once it's depleted (can happen very quickly depending on output levels) then what? We'll hunger sets in and the constant feeding/hunger cycle kicks in causing insulin to spike and crash which causes a whole cascade of hormonal events, one of which drives down our ability to utilize fat as a fuel.
Do this is my point if we have multiple fuel sorces at our disposal but are only relying on one (for various different reasons) are we really leveraging our fuel potential? Through the last 2-3 months of LCHF eating I have given my body what I call a "metabolic" tune-up. I can now go all day long in fasted state and not feel hangry, or feel any cravings or hunger pains. During these times my body is basically burning stored body fat and maintains my energy levels and brain function just fine and oh yeah, it also drops my weight effortlessly. Recovery time is also greatly increased.
Ok so how does this apply to climbing performance? Once your body has gone through this "tune-up" you are fat adapted and can now access fat and carbs as a fuel source. So now you can climb most of you goal route by burning stored/dietary fat and very quickly switch over to carb burning for you maximal movements (crux) and then switch back into fat burning during moments of easier /restful climbing again reserving the rest of your glycogen stores for the next cruxy section.
I know this is getting long winded, I could keep going for pages and pages but let's just stop there and see what folks think. A couple of things to keep in mind, this is not just hypothesis guess work. A lot of this is anecdotal, but if you do a little research into the ultra endurance world you'll find that they well ahead of most other sports in regards to LCHF performance. Also there are plenty of athletes in other sports such as bodybuilding, MMA, and NBA basketball that are breaking records all through LCHF. I've always felt that climbing is so far behind other sports when it comes to nutrition, science, training so it'd be really cool to see us skip ahead of the line here and help our whole climbing tribe meet their goals.
