Josh , I hate to say this but it Depends and its individual. Probably depends on how far you are from race weight. The key is to never have to lose too much too fast. If you have a lot to lose , start earlier in the year. I only have enough discipline to hit my race weight for race day... I will allow myself to gain 5-8% in the off season and will slowly bring that down as race day approaches... FWIW the scale estimates my body fat around 7-8% at the high end during OS and training and I get it down to 5-6% race day...
This is a fun topic for me. I went through a big and fast body comp change in 2015. Also, wife is a bariatric doctor who owns a fancy body comp machine just down the street, so all of my athlete/bodybuilder/crossfit friends regularly go there for free analysis.
I would say ELITE athletes and ultra-runner types race where Tim's BF% is, but that is far from average. My guess, based on my wife's data, is the average triathelete races in the 10-15% range and train in the 15-22% range. Those numbers may seem high, but match up with body comp measures done on real people regularly.
Many bodybuilders compete around at or under 4% to put Tim's numbers in perspective. Tim also won IMLP in '15.
Tim's advice is common - dont lose it too fast. I think that is safe advice, but may not apply in every situation. I dropped from 22% to 15% (~13lbs) in approximately 6 weeks between IMSTG and IMCDA, by mixing diet and IM training. Coach R did not approve! But my training held up, no injuries. My IMCDA race was not good, but honestly believe that had more to do with temperatures of 100+ than my body comp. I went on to lose another 7lbs in 4 months before IM austin (the slow way), to a BF of 12%ish. I am unable to appreciate any downside to my rapid weight loss compared to my slow weight loss. To this viewer, they were the same.
Comments
This is a fun topic for me. I went through a big and fast body comp change in 2015. Also, wife is a bariatric doctor who owns a fancy body comp machine just down the street, so all of my athlete/bodybuilder/crossfit friends regularly go there for free analysis.
I would say ELITE athletes and ultra-runner types race where Tim's BF% is, but that is far from average. My guess, based on my wife's data, is the average triathelete races in the 10-15% range and train in the 15-22% range. Those numbers may seem high, but match up with body comp measures done on real people regularly.
Many bodybuilders compete around at or under 4% to put Tim's numbers in perspective. Tim also won IMLP in '15.
Tim's advice is common - dont lose it too fast. I think that is safe advice, but may not apply in every situation. I dropped from 22% to 15% (~13lbs) in approximately 6 weeks between IMSTG and IMCDA, by mixing diet and IM training. Coach R did not approve! But my training held up, no injuries. My IMCDA race was not good, but honestly believe that had more to do with temperatures of 100+ than my body comp. I went on to lose another 7lbs in 4 months before IM austin (the slow way), to a BF of 12%ish. I am unable to appreciate any downside to my rapid weight loss compared to my slow weight loss. To this viewer, they were the same.
DS
This is often a hot topic among the team. Some thoughts for you here on the blog.