Interviews

Q&A with Jen Heath: How to not look like your typical skinny fat endurance athlete

Jen Heath is a fast rising star among America’s fitness gurus, particularly in the area of physique transformation. She’s a been there, done that, got the tank top, kind of gal. While she was athletic in her youth, pregnancy skyrocketed her weight to 195 pounds and her self-esteem to an all-time low. She then underwent an amazing process to re-shape her body, ultimately creating a physique that earned her a bodybuilding pro card during her first competition last year.

In addition to bodybuilding, she’s an accomplished personal trainer in Idaho Falls, Idaho, mother of four children, and is a regular contributor to the online bodybuilding magazine T-Nation. She’s built such an amazing following of women, and men, who seek her advice on how to reshape their bodies, that I thought she would be able to impart some sound advice to us multisport athletes who are looking to shed a few winter pounds and get leaned out for the racing season. If you think weight training has no value, keep reading to see the remarkable results she got for a couple of local triathletes. Also, if you haven’t read my review of Jen’s audio series, Fat Loss Pros, I would suggest you take a look and consider adding the series to your training library.

Question: If an endurance athlete wanted to lose 15-20 pounds before their race season starts in May, would you advise they cut down on cardio, or stop all together, and focus on weight training and nutrition until the weight is lost? Many of us would go through withdrawals if we could get in any swimming, biking, or running during the winter months. Yet, for most of us, those activities don’t seem to have a significant impact on melting that stubborn body fat.

Heath: The first thing I tend to find with these types of athletes is that they simply are not eating enough to shed unwanted fat. High volumes of cardiovascular exercise don’t hurt one’s mission to lose excess body fat, if food intake is adequate and proper times are selected for exercise and the intake of those foods. This would include cardio and weights. Let me give you an example of a personal triathlete client of mine.

Jane was performing three hours per day on biking, swimming, and/or running. This was 5-6 days per week. She was also weight training two times per week with moderate weights. She is 5’ 7” tall, and at the time weighed 160 pounds with a body fat percentage of about 26 percent. She was eating about 2,000 calories every day, mostly consisting of carbohydrates and a little protein. Basically, she was just in a vicious cycle of starving. It was time for a change.

When I looked at all of this in December, I immediately upped her food consumption. At 160 pounds and approximately three-plus hours of activity per day, she was entitled to roughly 3,500 calories for her body type and metabolism to maintain her weight. Her goal was to increase muscle mass and lose fat.

I increased her weight training to three days a week with specific instructions to lift heavier weights. I decreased her cardio to two hours per day, four days per week, which was, and is, plenty for a seasoned athlete. I allowed her to eat 3,000-plus calories on the days she weight trained. The new macronutrient breakdown still allowed for lots of carbohydrates. Most importantly though, it added in much needed protein and necessary fat calories in order for proper bodily function. The objective was to get her body to process all that food into muscle. In order to keep fat at bay, I had her eat around 2,500 calories on her long cardio days to keep her at a slight deficit, thus enabling some fat loss during the week.

Remember, I started with her in December and she had until June before her big race. Jane’s results were amazing. She added much needed muscle mass and shed lots of unwanted fat. She ended up weighing in at 150 pounds with 15 percent body fat (loss of 19 pounds of fat and a lean mass gain of nearly 11 pounds). The body composition changes were great for her self esteem, but the here’s the real kicker: Her added strength and leaner body enabled her to take first in all of her races. She was stronger, and more powerful. Each stride of her run had just a little more power, each stroke of her arms and kick of her legs just a little more propelling, and each revolution of the pedal just a little more forceful. Her improved body produced improved times. That was the real bottom line.It takes both cardio and weights to build that much needed muscle to produce the force and speed that is necessary to be an explosive and dynamic athlete. Once those activities are in check, the nutrition must be created to compliment that. Starving and endless endurance work never produced a powerful and lean athlete.

Question: When it comes to reshaping an endurance athlete’s physique, which is going to be most effective? Cardio or weights?

Heath: Lifting weights hands down. It is important to raise metabolism in order to reshape the body. If you want to see muscles, you have to grow them and reduce fat. You can’t grow muscles with endless hours of cardio nor lose fat by that same method. Cardio has it’s place, but in excess or all by itself, it will not yield results.

Question: For our athlete wanting to lose that 20 pounds, would you suggest high reps and lighter weights so they can continue to build some form of aerobic endurance?

Heath: The bottom line is this: Bigger muscles are more powerful, both in terms of lifting weights and and general conditioning. That transfers over to when someone competes in a race. The amount of conditioning already performed from the regular biking, swimming, and running is more than enough light or non-weighted activity. Lifting “pink dumbbells” in the gym for a million reps is not going to enhance either body composition or decrease in time during events.

Just like Jane, women all over who compete in these types of events should start lifting heavier and getting more serious about how much food they are consuming and when. I mean, if I told you that you can shave seconds off your race times, add muscle, lose fat, and look more the way you wanted to, wouldn’t you be willing to make those changes? What have you got to lose, right?

Question: As a coach, what is the biggest challenge you have when working with individuals who want to shed those extra pounds?

Heath: For most of my female clients, getting them to eat enough is my biggest issue. If a woman comes to me, chances are she knows from the way I market myself that I only have clients who lift weights, but the nutrition thing can be a challenge. They are only eating 1,200 calories a day and mostly carbs and wonder why they are skinny fat. In most instances, when I address this, the problems are swiftly solved.

Question: So, is there really a difference in the sexes when it comes to losing fat and gaining muscle?

Heath: I am sure that deep down scientifically there is a difference in the sexes when it comes to muscle building. Testosterone and growth hormone levels, age, and other gender-related factors always will have their say in a person’s ability to gain muscle. However, for the most part, I have found that there are both males and females who are “hard gainers.” They tend to be the ectomorphic types, and it does not tend to be gender related. Conversely, I have found that most women, if they are wiling to take a few selected effective supplements, and really be willing to eat enough (most men are and most women aren’t!) then unless they are genetically challenged in the muscle building department women have just as easy a time gaining muscle as men.

Question: Most triathletes spend 7-15 hours per week running, swimming or cycling with little to no strength training movements. Yet, many have a hard time losing those extra pounds (fat). Should they add more hours, more intensity, or do something different altogether?

Heath: One of two things needs to happen: Either their activities (cardiovascular) need to be cut back or they need to eat for their activity level. Either way, weight training must be fit into the mix, or body recomposition will not happen.

I have another friend who competes in triathalons here locally. She came to me at 5’8″, training three hours a day, weighing 125 pounds, and only eating 1,400 calories a day. She was killing her metabolism. I took away five hours of cardio and replaced it with weights and increased her food intake to well over 2,000 calories a day. She gained much needed muscle (yes, added scale weight!), increased her strength, and all of her times improved. She looked better then she ever had and won her division in her races that summer. It just goes to show you…

Question: Chalk another series of victories to paying your dues in the Iron Temple! What role should supplements play when people are trying to redefine their physiques?

Heath: Most supplements are over rated, but I do like peri-workout shakes and things like beta-alanine for recovery methods. Creatine and Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) are also a must for building the body. I always take a multi-vitamin and a fish oil.

Thermogenics are okay, but I prefer people not to take things like ephedrine. Hot-Rox Extreme is ephedrine free and has a good track record for increasing thyroid output and overall energy and performance. There are a few select other supplements, that depending one’s goals, are good. It’s about timing and balance. No one factor will build a body including taking excessive supplements.

I supposed I could go on and on about each individual supplement and what they all do…(laughing)

Question: Just how important is nutrition when it comes to getting “shredded?”

Heath: It’s pretty much everything. When in a caloric deficit, muscle loss is a huge risk. The deficit creates the fat loss, and the macros and the timing of those macros in conjunction with heavy training (in most cases) prevent the muscles from disappearing. As far as supplements go, this is a time where they become much more critical, because a lot of the nutrients from food that build and maintain muscle are at a low, therefore the need for good supplementation comes in.

For more information about Jen, you can visit her online at www.jenheath.com

© 2008 The Outdoor Journey.