How Does An Athlete Achieve Peak Performance?

How does an athlete achieve peak performance?

Peak performance is the result of hard work, dedication to practice, and skill. It requires countless hours of sacrifice, incalculable amounts of sweat, and perhaps a little luck.

Where does the energy come from to work and practice hard?

Energy for life and energy for peak athletic performance comes from food. However, only food that provides the right kind of fuel for an athlete’s body can be fully converted to energy!

How does food affect athletic performance?

The qualities craved by every athlete -- strength, speed, agility, endurance, precision, coordination, drive, energy, focus, concentration, peak performance and fast recovery -- all come from the food that we eat, all day, every day, many times a day. Make no mistake; the food you eat – or the fuel you provide your body with - makes the difference between mediocrity and medals. Would you use inferior equipment for your individual sport? Of course not. Then why choose to use food that does not provide optimal energy?

Foods and nutrients directly and specifically impact the fundamental controls of the body. If one of those controls is lacking or out of balance due to a conventional ‘healthy’ diet, then performance absolutely will suffer. Proper fuel can be the difference between first place and third place or playing ten seasons instead of seven. To an athlete, that is all the difference in the world!

I can honestly, confidently, and unequivocally say that what I eat – the kinds of fuel I provide my body’s engines of metabolism -- makes a tremendous difference in how I perform. The right food allows me to train harder and recover faster than my competition. Even at 35 years old, Metabolic Typing® has made me one of the top powerlifters in the United States in my weight class for the last several years.
How can an athlete tap into his full potential?

How am I able to deadlift 635 pounds at a body weight of 165 pounds? Well, of course genetics, training, experience, mental toughness, and a great coach all play a part. However, the ability to unite all of these components and express full athletic potential always boils down to one very simple thing: Energy. All of the qualities needed to be a successful athlete are 100% dependent on the body’s ability to produce and sustain energy from food in an optimal fashion.

Does everybody (even within the same sport) train the same? No, they do not. Does everybody achieve optimal energy from the same foods? Of course not. Just as each of us is unique in terms of obvious external characteristics and training protocols; so are our genetically-based nutritional requirements for optimal health and optimal energy production.

The bottom line is this: If the body’s cells, organs, glands, and systems are given the proper fuel, then energy production will be optimal. If the body does not get the proper fuel, then performance will suffer. Sub-optimal energy production means that strength, speed, endurance, precision, coordination, and recovery will be compromised. That is the difference between accelerated recovery time and inadequate recovery that leads to injury. Without the proper fuel, peak performance will never be realized.

How does an athlete determine the ideal diet for peak performance?

Metabolic Typing® combined with the Signet MRT® food reactivity test is a systematic, testable, repeatable, and verifiable scientific means by which each individual athlete’s optimal food and nutrient requirements can be specifically determined. Based on over 30 years of research and hundreds of thousands of users, no other methodology in the world is as individual and precise.

When you start to eat right for your Metabolic Type®, a lot of wonderful things begin to happen. This process naturally leads to questions and it is very important that you have access to answers. The only source for information regarding the process of working with your Metabolic Type® is a trained and certified Metabolic Typing® Advisor.

• MT Advisors can help you understand the technical information provided in your reports.

• MT Advisors are available to you (on a daily basis if needed) to provide information, guidance, coaching and emotional support as you proceed.

• MT Advisors can help you learn to understand your own "body language" so you can fine-tune your macronutrient ratios at meals and snacks to your specific individual requirements. Eating the right ratios of proteins, fats and carbs at each meal is vital to the success of your program. The right ratios can vary from meal to meal, even for people who are of the same Metabolic Type®.

• MT Advisors, because they follow their own Metabolic Type® Diets, know what it takes to be successful. They can be your very own personal success coach and help you keep going if the going gets tough. The MT Advisor that will be working with me is a high level athlete, so he understands athletes!

• MT Advisors can help you set reasonable and easily attainable goals that work for your lifestyle and help you transition to your Metabolic Type® Diet.

• MT Advisors can educate you about nutritional supplements: how to use them properly, which ones are right and wrong for your Metabolic Type®, how to recognize good supplements and how to stay away from bad ones.

• MT Advisors, most importantly, can monitor your individual nutritional needs as they change, adjust your program when necessary, identify when a retest is needed, provide more extensive testing and help you to achieve the results you're looking for as quickly and as easily as possible.

Please check out the videos and articles on my web site at http://www.erictalmant.com and see what Metabolic Typing® can do for you. It has allowed me to become one of the top raw powerlifters for the last 3 years; and one of the top equipped powerlifters in the 4 years before that. However, the really cool thing is that I am healthy, vibrant, and full of energy all day long!

Be well,

Eric

The Truth About Protein Synthesis When We Work Out

Eric,

My inquiry is, in Science and Practice to Strength Training by Zatsiorsky, he references a chart on the decline of protein synthesis (during workout)due to the priority the body has placed on the function of the muscles during various tasks in the weightroom. And then shows as time has moved on from the workout being over, protein synthesis dramatically picks up. So is it safe to say after reading this book that it is not optimal to take aminos and carbs during the workout since the use of such nutrients and process of repair takes place with time after such muscles are done being worked through strength training, jumping, running, sport, etc. And just use the post workout time as your replenishing and recovery time? Thanks


(I believe the graph above is the one that Michael is referring to)

Hello Michael.

To answer your question: YES! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES, YES!!! I have been trying to convey this point for years! When we are doing heavy resistance exercise the majority of the energy supply for protein synthesis DECREASES and almost all available energy is shuttled to the actual work being done. This is why it is so incredibly important to eat anabolically BEFORE training!!!

Furthermore, as Zatsiorsky does not mention; when we train we are radically stimulating the sympathetic side of the nervous system. Guess what happens when the sympathetic side is put into overdrive? Digestion slows down and the energies are diverted to the task at hand. Once we finish training, then the parasympathetic side begins to creep back in the form of rest and repair; and pupils contract, heart rate decreases (this is another reason why I do many of the recovery modalities that I do-but that is for another day), the liver begins to once again store glucose, and digestion comes back online.

So, the time to square yourself away with anabolic foods is BEFORE a workout, and then AFTER a workout. If you put together proper nutrition before training, then all that is really needed during training is a drink (water, Celtra sea salt, di-potassium phosphate) that will replenish electrolytes that are depleted through sweating (which I have mentioned several times now here). Now, this obviously takes a great deal of trial and error; but over time, if you experiment with eating anabolic foods you will come to realize exactly what I am talking about. If you become hungry during training then of course eat or drink something (anabolic foods work best); but understand that your anabolic meal was not adequate and that you need to either change some things next time or just eat more.

I think that in the interest of just selling product that many companies have come up with pre, during, post, etc. workout drinks while perhaps assuming that you-the consumer-would just buy into it; and many people have. However, if folks just dig a bit deeper as to how the body works then they will become more enlightened and use that knowledge to better themselves as athletes.

Excellent research, Michael!

Can Metabolic Typing® Really Do All That?

Can Metabolic Typing® Really Do All That?

Over the past several months, I have had interaction with my chiropractor, dermatologist, and of course my massage therapist Liz. When I went to Susan (the chiro) I was experiencing a lot of numbness in the left side of my upper body that stemmed from squatting in a suit. The first step she did was order a series of x-rays to see what might be going on structurally. Come to find out my thoracic area was tracking left. So, she put a plan in place and now several months later I am holding my adjustment and things are back where they should be. Susan sees x-rays of the spine numerous times a day, most of the days of her life. However, it is interesting to note that she commented to me that with the exception of the slight thoracic curve that my spine is one of the healthiest she has ever seen in terms of no spurs, disc spacing, etc. Now, keep in mind that I have been beating my body up for most of my adolescent and adult life with athletics, the military and intense powerlifting. In her professional opinion, this is the result of my Metabolic Typing® lifestyle.

When I went in for my annual check-up to the dermatologist, he was really amazed at how my skin continues to be so soft, supple, etc. Now guys-I know what you are thinking. Put your egos down for a minute and look at what is actually happening. My cellular turnover must be so efficient and so “focused” that my skin-at age 35-continues to regenerate and rebuild like someone that is much, much younger. In fact, he told me that if he had no idea he would guess my “skin age” to be about half of that of my actual age. Furthermore, he is amazed that the scars that he has come to know as unique to me are fading every time that I see him. Of course, we have discussed my Metabolic Typing® lifestyle, and now that he understands it he is convinced that is the reason.

Finally there is Liz. I have been receiving massages and body work from her for almost 3 years now. She has seen me through all sorts of training (high/low volume, high/low intensity, and everything in-between) and several injuries; but the one thing that she continues to comment on is my ability to recover. It seems to happen at an amazing rate; and certainly much faster than she is accustomed to seeing in her practice. Liz is a very holistic person, and she and I discuss Metabolic Typing® all the time. Just like the others, she is convinced that my Metabolic Typing® lifestyle is what allows me to recover at such an accelerated rate.

So, can Metabolic Typing® really do all of that? I am living proof that it can. It is amazing to see the human body in action when it is given the right fuel. I will say without hesitation that I totally believe the human body’s capacity for vibrant health is limitless. It very well may not be the only way, but unquestionably Metabolic Typing® is one of the ways; as me and my clients can certainly attest to 