FitView By Efren Martinez
Dangerously Thin? At 137lbs some might say I’m too thin, but according to those Hollywood media images, I’m at a perfect visual weight. Regardless of that, 137lbs is a good weight for me when it comes to racing; but may not be so good when it comes to me maintaining my own health and well being. In photo A, you’ll notice that I’m very slim at 137lbs and even though toned and fast when I’m this thin, I tend to catch colds more often as well as succumb to more fitness injuries. In 2013 I experienced more fitness injuries than in previous years when I was few pounds heavier. In fact, in 2013 I developed a nueroma in my right foot that kept me out of a few races. I still did fairly well, but having to race with this neuroma discomfort and maintain my speeds made it a bit more challenging. Nonetheless I just rolled through it.
At the beginning of 2014 my doctor advised me to have a cortisone shot and that I should stop running for awhile. This came as a blow to me since I am a Tri-Athlete and running is my forte. In fact it’s my favorite part of any Triathlon and also where I generally take down my competitors for the win. Needless to say I was crushed, then during a swim secession it came to me that since racing will have to take a back seat for awhile why not add on a few more pounds of muscle to regain some strength as well as maintain my happiness in fitness.
Well the more I thought about it the more I liked this idea, after all just as it can be unhealthy to be overweight, it can also be just as unhealthy to be underweight. Yes, being extremely thin can have it’s own unhealthy drawbacks as I previously mentioned above.
I came up with a fitness plan to add on a few more pounds of muscle. As we all know, muscle does weigh more then fat so in order to accomplish this I had to do a 360 degree turn around in my fitness training and diet to increase my weight with muscle while still holding a very low fat count. I ended up accomplishing this by taking my doctors advice, I stopped running all together and substituted it with weight training. In fact I dropped my cardio workouts by more then half and increased my weight training repetitions, added pilates in my workouts with several sessions of resistance training. My nutrition had to change too and changed to mostly protein meals at certain key times of the day with very few carbohydrates in between. The results came on fast. As a runner I had always struggled to keep weight on, but once I stopped running my body structure began to form with a more healthier curved muscular shape. In picture B I’m at 145lbs and my upper body has a great deal more muscle verses a slimmer me. I’m not exactly sure if I will continue to build more muscle, but I do know that I will race again at any weight and as soon as my doctor gives me the green light. I feel it’s important for all of us to go by our own comfortable weight standards and what is healthy for each individual instead of those extreme thin images that the media instills in us of how we should look. Having curves on our body structure isn’t only a healthy thing, but beautiful too.
Fitness tips to build muscle fast.
Warm-up for 15 minutes on the elliptical prior to weight lifting. This gets your blood moving to your arms, legs and chest.
Right after you’re strength-training workout: consume 30-40 grams of wey protein. 5 grams of creatine. 70-80 grams of dextrose. “sugar” 5-10 grams of glucosemene. “optional” 5 Muscle Building foods #1 Mackerel #2 Chocolate milk #3 Vinegar #4 Raspberries #5 Water
