Body shape & struggle: How I changed my approach
I tried a new approach to my body weight struggles and it worked
This is not advice. It is a general perspective based on experience. Bodies are deeply personal, unique and complicated.
Nowadays, I pick either swimming or running to focus on for the year. Zoning in on one sport is the only way I found I could push myself and have a balanced life.
I still do the others to maintenance level, which is a logistical nightmare. I would love to say I can do them all without really having to work for it - perhaps on Instagram it would (unintentionally) appear this way - but that’s not true.
In focusing on swimming last year, I missed running dearly, and in running more this year I desperately missed swimming. I have lost the shoulder strength and mobility I built up which, although frustrating, is just the way it is and in return I got a bit quicker at running.
In all that time my body shape has barely changed - I pretty much look the same but my adaptability for each sport has dramatically changed. It’s the small progressive changes that are mostly unnoticeable on their own, but over months it makes a difference.
At some point over the last few years, I stopped caring about body weight and my life-long obsession to get lean. I started unconsciously focusing on adaptability and functionality over anything else. I wanted to get better at swimming, so I worked with a coach to change my strength training so it was tailored towards swimming.
This is where it all changed and I saw things differently. After years of trying so many different types of diets, nutrition strategies, macro & calorie tracking, types of exercise and the timing of it during the day - you name it, I’ve tried it - this new approach was scrapping all that.
With each activity, over a long period of time, the biological distribution of strength and mobility and changes to favour whatever activity you’re doing. Of course I knew this already, but I stopped willing it to happen by trying to control everything, and just got the basics right: eat well, sleep well, train well. I did less instead of more. Everything stayed the same, I just didn’t track it.
That’s not to say tracking apps and scales aren’t useful tools - its more that I was overcomplicating it by applying the wrong tools for the job because all I had ever done was try to lose weight and get leaner, so I didn’t know any other way. Imagine how many years of diets, and weight obsession it took me to see it like this…
If performance is your goal, as long as you look after your body properly, it has a funny way of making it happen without you really noticing.
Strength and mobility aren’t visible from the outside. Having big muscles doesn’t equal great strength. The difference in performance is in feeling and what you can do with it. When I’ve slacked off my shoulder mobility routine, I feel like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz, but I don’t look any different.
The feel good factor was probably the key to unlocking the life-long struggle. If you’re functionally strong and have good mobility then you feel in tune and in control.
What this taught me is how impressive it is. Your body doesn’t stay still, it’s always able to build the right ratio and create a personalised profile accordingly. All you have to do is fuel it right, recover and sleep properly, and train in the right way over a long period of time.
The ratio is different for everyone depending on your weight, height, genetics, health and lifestyle. If you look at Olympic swimmers, they are all at the same competitive level but the body shapes vary wildly - the ‘swimmer’s body’ is just a mere stereotype and not quite the truth.
Another good example is Olympic weightlifters - I’ve met and trained with several people who don’t fit that large, bodybuilder stereotype. In fact, I don’t know of any Olympic weightlifters, even at pro level, who fit that mould. They’re normal shaped but they can lift 2-3 times their body weight and many have world records.
This fascinates me because what I used to find mildly annoying, I now see it from a perspective of ‘what actually am I capable of?’. If I look, feel, perform at this level by doing this (X), what happens if I do that (Y)?Â
It also helped to take a step back and adapt my previous approaches, even the ones that were successful.
If I was going to give one piece of advice, it would be: forget the beatroot juice and spirulina. Nail the basics: if you feed your body right and look after it, it pretty much delivers what you ask it to.
All you have to do is watch carefully and reap the results.
This is what I’ve learned based on my experience of doing multiple sports. I’d love to know what you think and what your experience is. You can reply to the email or comment below.
PS. Next week’s edition will be a few days later than usual.
