How Athletes Can Burn More Body Fat

As an athlete, you need to burn body fat to improve your performance on the field or court.....

Many people are confused about what body mass index (BMI) means as it relates to body fat. Keep in mind that it is just one tool to use when you are looking at your health.  Scientists use BMI as a research tool to make objective comparisons as to how fat a person is. A person with a BMI of 25 or above is considered overweight and a BMI over 30 is considered obese.

BMI uses your height and body weight to measure fatness. This method has some limitations because it doesn't consider your body type (slim, muscular, etc.).

For example, athletes usually have high muscle mass and tend to have higher BMIs (suggesting the athlete is overfat). The athlete would actually be fit and healthy with low risk for fat-related diseases.

So, even though BMI could be used as a starting point, an athlete's level of fatness is best measured using a direct method. Two methods used are under-water weighing and skinfold measurements. Under-water weighing is not readily available to most people. Having a skinfold body fat test with calipers done by a fitness professional is convenient and reasonably accurate.

Regular sports training, low body fat and increased muscle mass are all factors that should outweigh any health risks suggested by a higher BMI.

Basic Athletic Strength and Power Fundamentals

The training program is multi-planar (sagittal, frontal, transverse), multi-joint (exercises such as bench press, squats, lunges), multi-dimensional (stabilization, strength, power), proprioceptively enriched (high neural demand) and sport-specific.

You should follow a systematic approach with the following goals in mind: injury prevention, body fat reduction and increased lean muscle mass, strength, endurance, flexibility and performance. Rate-of-Force Production (muscles producing force in the shortest period of time) is one of the best physical indicators of the level of an athlete’s performance and future success.

Bodyweight workouts use natural body motions that don't limit your natural range of motion (like machine lifting does). Since no two people have the same exact motions, bodyweight exercises are ideal for beginners and veterans alike.

What you need before sport specific exercises is the foundation of strength, flexibility and sports nutrition....if you don't have this foundation, you won't be very good in your sport.

Plyometrics and sport specific exercises are important but only if you have enough strength and joint stability to make these more risky exercises work effectively for you.

A proper sports training system would go something like this:

1. Overall strength training (including core training) to stabilize joints, build muscle, correct postural problems, improve flexibility and implementation of a nutrition program.

Some bodyweight, dumbbell or barbell strength exercises would include:

--pullups
--pushups of all variations
--planks of all variations
--medicine ball exercises
--inverted rows
--lunges of all types
--step ups of all types
--squats (two-legged, one-legged, split, lateral, Bulgarian)
--deadlift

2. Progress to power exercises, speed exercises, plyometric exercises and sport specific exercises when your body is ready.

Train smarter, not harder.

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Sports Fitness Hut