Energy, Technique

The Edge: Ben and Joe's Weider's Ultimate Guide to Strength, Speed, and Stamina
by Ben Weider, Joe Weider, Daniel Gastelu

(Page 3 of 3)

2. Energy (Sports Nutrition)-The Dynatrition Approach

When we first developed the triangle we used the term "energy" as the base, because energy is the result that most people want. Good energy production drives the body, but it comes from good nutrition. Sound sports nutrition, based on your biochemical individuality, is a key component of the Triangle, as it feeds your body what it needs to build energy. You need top-notch nutrition to fuel your exercising muscles, and also to rebuild and maintain them. Your body needs both the raw materials of energy and all of the energy-producing cofactors to work correctly. So in our model, energy is a result of good sports nutrition, intertwined with the other two factors of the triangle.

It is crucial for you to understand the physiological dynamics of nutrition for peak performance to gain the best possible competitive advantage in sport, as well as the body build you want for the rest of your life. Great advances have been made in nutrition designed for the athlete and applied to a particular sport. Unfortunately, separating the truth from the fiction can be a full-time job. Be wary of advice that comes from profit-driven organizations and businesses that do not explain the research behind their ideas. Even government nutrition standards, like the Recommended Dietary Allowances, are limited in application and often misleading and inappropriately applied to people who exercise frequently. In fact, the committee that determines the RDAs states that these Recommendations do not apply to individuals with special nutrition needs, and certainly not to athletes. The most cunning advertising methods are used to sell junk food under the guise of optimum nutrition, especially by attaching them to a paid athlete's endorsement. We help you overcome the effects of these subjective advertisements and learn that most of the promises that seem too good to be true probably are, and may not need to be part of your performance nutrition program.

We educate you on the proper use of supplements in chapter 11, the Nutritional Supplement Review and explain how to avoid arbitrary use of vitamin and mineral supplements as practiced by many athletes today. Many new supplements, along with natural alternatives to common drugs used in sports, can be used for improving training, strength, endurance, and athletic performance when you know the right ones and the optimum combinations. Sports supplements can also contribute to longevity, weight loss (see page 247), and more.

To encompass all of these nutrition elements, we introduce a new term to describe this concept of sports- and performance-fitness nutrition: Dynatrition. Dynatrition is a new aspect of the Triangle. We cover this thoroughly beginning on page 157, but it's so easy to follow that you can begin using it with your very next meal. In order for you to master nutrition for sports, we include the new Commandments of Sports Nutrition (see chapter 6). These Commandments will help keep you on your performance-based eating program. The Commandments of Sports Nutrition were introduced many years ago and were way ahead of their time. You will see that they are time-tested and contain advanced nutritional wisdom that independent medical research studies continue to support.

3. Technique

When it comes to attaining peak athletic fitness for performance, even the top athletes with the best team of experts working with them do not always reach their full potential, because they lack certain performance-enhancing skills. Technique applies to everything you do, including your strength-building and nutrition programs. Mastering skills sometimes takes time. So mastering good technique is about mastering winning skills. Chapter 10 provides guidelines and insights on how to master your skills. It also presents one of the most advanced sports training methods ever developed, called periodization. The information in this chapter will help keep your efforts focused on results-building activities.

Goal Setting-Getting the Results You Want

Begin with the end in mind-your goal. Make it a mantra that guides your daily decisions about eating and recreation. If you do not clearly list your goals, establish strategies to attain them, and establish a system to review your progress, then how can you succeed? Yet in our experience, poor planning is the most common failure of all. Use the performance-fitness planning table below to establish your particular goals, then chart a course to achieve them. Set realistic goals. Write them down. Review them weekly, add new ones, and make adjustments to them as required.

Once you get started, refer to these goals often, as often as it takes to keep you headed in the direction you desire. Men should aim for a body fat range between 8 and 14 percent, and women should aim for a body fat range between 11 and 19 percent. Of course, all body composition analysis methods have a margin of error as high as plus or minus 5 percent, so don't take them too seriously. What you see in the mirror is usually the best indicator of your body composition status.

Let us leave you with this motivating thought.

We are the biggest advocates and followers of the Weider Triangle Method. It has given us many rewards, more then we ever dreamed of. Besides the obvious health payoff, being super-fit enabled us to take on a world of opportunities and achieve many successes in our personal lives and careers. Building the most successful fitness company in the world took plenty of planning and persistence, trial and error. We share this only because we want you to know our "secrets" so you too can achieve your fitness goals. And if you believe strongly in yourself and in your dreams, you can surely achieve them. It worked for us, and it worked for millions of champions all over the world.

But whatever your goals are, we want you to be healthy and happy along the way to achieving them and becoming a champion in your own right. Believe in yourself and persistence will win the day.

So you want to build a strong, youthful, attractive body?

Are you ready to commit and work hard, but you're not sure what to do, or whether what you are already doing is working?

After looking through this book, and looking at the Weider Champion Hall of Fame photos on page 22, you know it is possible to get what you want. If they did it, so can you. Right?

Copyright © January 2002, Avery Books, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc., used by permission.

About the Author

Ben Weider is the cofounders of Weider Nutrition International, Weider Publications, Inc., and the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB). Weider publications include Muscle & Fitness, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Men's Fitness, Flex, Shape, and Natural Health. Ben Weider lives in Montreal.

Joe Weider is the cofounders of Weider Nutrition International, Weider Publications, Inc., and the International Federation of Bodybuilders. He lives in Woodland Hills, California.

Daniel Gastelu is the author of Avery's Sports Nutrition Almanac and Dynamic Nutrition for Maximum Performance. He lives in Sparta, New Jersey.