Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

In today’s culture, we are bombarded with artificially-produced, highly edited imagines of flawlessly sculpted bodies. As a result, achieving the “perfect” body has become the dominant measure of self-worth. Thinness has become a symbol of power, moral superiority, and even a measure of fitness/wellness. We have been taught that we can assume someone’s health status based on how they look or their weight. Weight stigma and anti-fat biases continue to strengthen these harmful beliefs. For example, how many times have you praised a friend or family member for losing weight? Are you more likely to follow health, diet and fitness advice from a fitness influencer who is lean or defined than one who may not have an “ideal” body? Has a doctor ever told you that losing weight will improve your health? Society has very strong views on how we should look, which impacts our thoughts about ourselves, which can then influence our food and exercise behaviors. Poor body image is often linked to dieti

Whether you are an athlete or coach, you know there are constant conversations in sport discussing weight and performance. The constant narrative says that you must lose weight in order to improve as an athlete.  It's as if the only way to be a successful athlete is to be a smaller version of yourself. Although there are truths in the weight and performance discussion, there are also many false beliefs and misunderstandings. While there are healthy ways to optimize body composition and to improve health, the influence and pressures of diet culture, social media, old school coaching methods and beliefs and sport body sterotypes make it difficult for many athletes to maintain a healthy relationship with food, the body and exercise.  Self imposed beliefs about being "too heavy" for sport are reinforced by the media, coaches, influencers, "experts" and commentators who often highlight an athlete's body shape, size or weight over skill, performance or effort. The

Are you tired of living with a rigid and restrictive style of eating? Do your food-related habits affect your relationships? Do you want to stop feeling so anxious, stressed, overwhelmed and conflicted around food-related events and decisions?  Are you wanting to make food choices that help fuel your active lifestyle, help you feel good physically and satisfy you mentally?  Are you ready to break free from food rules and build a healthy relationship with food and your body?  If you said yes to any or all of the following, you may find that there is one thing that is holding you back from feeling controlled by food.....you are worried about gaining weight/body composition changes.  Unfortunately, we live in a world saturated with diet culture. We are conditioned to group food into "good" and "bad" categories and it's almost universally acceptable to fat shame. Even worse, nutrition experts often encourage disordered eating strategies as a way to improve health, l

Can you relate to any of the following body bashing behaviors?  Feeling "too fat" as you try on your race day outfit.  Seeing an image of a certain part of your body makes you feel "disgusting." Doubting your race day abilities because your stomach is "too big." Weighing yourself on the bathroom scale and feeling immediate distress over your weight. If you can identify with any of the body, you are likely struggling with poor body image and this can sabotage your race day performance. In each of the above scenarios is an athlete who believes one of two things: That looking differently will improve athletic success or a current look is the reason for lack of athletic success. Despite putting in the training and being physically prepared for an event, actual acceptance of one-self can be a major athletic limiter. Inside, you have internalized feelings of being inadequate because of poor body image. Poor body image can wreak havoc on performance, physical hea

Within certain sports (ex. triathlon, running, cycling, etc.) it’s not uncommon for athletes to manipulate the diet in order to achieve a lower body fat percentage - believing that a body that weighs less will lead to athletic success. Whether for aesthetics, competitive leanness, body dissatisfaction, or in pursuit of an ideal “race weight,” what may start as an innocent attempt to lean-up or to lose a few pounds, can easily spiral out of control - undermining health, training, recovery, performance and mental well-being. Although there are safe and healthy ways to change body composition, it’s not uncommon for athletes to engage in unhealthy weight loss methods, resulting in great emotional and physical consequences. Disordered eating is a general term describing harmful, obsessive or extreme eating behaviors that are used in attempt to achieve a lower than normal body weight. Examples include rigid or righteous eating, fasting, anxiety, control or preoccupation with certain foo

With January behind us, there's a good chance that you are getting a bit more serious with your training and diet. Motivation is high, all with hopes that this will be the season when you reach your BIG performance goals. With an extreme drive to succeed, you may be looking for the many ways that you can optimize performance. Body composition has and will always play a role in performance. Many athletes are on a never-ending pursuit to achieve the perfect weight for race day. However, being lighter isn't always better. I've touched on this topic many times in the past but I don't think it can be discussed too much. In a media-driven world, body image has become an obsession among athletes - particularly how you compare your body image to the body image that you see on others. In today's "visual" society, it's not hard to compare how you look to other people. This may cause you to question your looks and lose confidence in your abilities. With

At Trimarni, we believe in setting a good example for our athletes by encouraging a healthy relationship with food and the body. Karel and I do not follow any extreme styles of eating and we don't strategically change the way we eat or train in order to change the way that we look. We don't weigh ourselves and we don't measure our food (or count calories). We see food as our fuel and as our nourishment and we firmly believe that when the body is well fueled and well nourished, it's healthy. And when the body is healthy, it can function well in sport.  Sadly, we live in a society that focuses on competitive leanness. Many athletes are under the mindset that the leaner or more defined you are, the better you will perform in sport. Some athletes even care less about performance and more about achieving the "look" of an athlete. Rather than seeing the body as the vehicle that allows you to do the incredible in sport, many attempt to achieve a "race weigh

A change in your body composition to ensure a performance improvement ( race weight) should be the  outcome  of a well planned and executed fueling and training plan, alongside a healthy and balanced, non-restrictive daily diet. Just because you lose weight or achieve a certain body fat percentage, this doesn't mean that you are physically, mentally, emotionally and nutritionally prepared to perform well on race day. You may "look" a certain way but this doesn't mean you will preform a certain way. When a healthy change in body composition is desired, it should not involve restriction, elimination and obsessive strategies. While some sports may reward a "leaner" build, this doesn't mean that you can't be successful in your sport with a little more cushion with your strong bones. As it relates to the sport of endurance triathlon, you are not penalized if you are carrying around a little more body fat on your frame for a strong body can better tole

In a media driven world, body image has become a critical issue as it relates to athletic performance and health. Whereas one would think that athletes would be obsessed with eating enough to perform well in training sessions to prepare for race day, athletes are constantly worried about eating too much, constantly obsessing with being "too big/fat" or not looking like an athlete. Far too many athletes are training for leanness instead of training for performance. With the idea of body weight and performance having an inverse relationship (the less you weigh, the better you will perform), you may be attempting to reach your race weight in order to be thinner, leaner and lighter for race day. With so many misguided strategies on sport nutrition and daily eating for athletes, it doesn't surprise me when I see/hear athletes intentionally underfueling/undereating in an attempt to lose weight or change body composition.  As it relates to your  healthy weight,  it's v

Changing one's body composition will only offer a performance advantage, however, if we first establish the goals and methods uniquely suited to each athlete's individual needs. Numerous so-called "magic bullets" circulate in the health and fitness world for losing fat; triathletes should be cautious of "strategies" that promote quick results. These methods pose a great risk for losing lean tissue, bone mass, and gaining body fat, lingering fatigue, illness, injury, compromised recovery, and ultimately, performance decline. Perhaps even worse, a reckless weight reduction program can trigger disordered eating habits, paving the way to a dangerous eating disorder. Although a certain perceived "leanness" may in fact be athletically advantageous, every athlete has an ideal body composition range where he or she will feel, function, and perform the best. It cannot be overstressed that the bathroom scale provides irrelevant information about you

Most athletes have heard that weight affects race day performance and the lighter you weigh, the better that you will perform. Or the opposite - the heavier that you are, the harder your body will have to work. While it's easy to assume that you will perform the best when you are near the bottom of your weight range,  an "ideal" race eight is not a guarantee of having your best performance on race day. I can assure you that even if you lose fat from your butt, thighs or stomach, you won't become a better athlete on race day just because you weight less You still need fitness and good health to perform the best with your body so the idea of "weighing less" is not effective if you are just chasing a number on the scale. Karel and I have never ever chased a "race weight." Our goal is always to arrive to a race with a body that is resilient, strong, healthy, injury-free, fueled and fit.  We have no rules in our diet and we never assume that wei

Picture source Are you counting down the weeks until your first triathlon race of the upcoming season? I am itching to race!! As it relates to athletic performance, changing body composition will only offer a performance advantage if goals and methods are appropriately established. With many attractive approaches for fat loss, triathletes should be cautious of weight loss strategies that promote quick results as there is great risk for losing lean tissue, bone mass or gaining body fat, lingering fatigue, illness, injury, compromised recovery and performance decline.  Additionally, a weight reduction program may trigger disordered eating habits, paving the way to an eating disorder.  Typically, low energy availability occurs when athletes consumes less than 30 calories per kilogram of fat free mass per day. For women to stay in good metabolic and hormonal health, this number is typically around 45 calories per kg of fat free mass per day. I'd like to think that ever

Source Athletes are constantly being told to lose weight. Whether it's directly from a coach or from the messages and images viewed on social media and in articles and on TV, we live in a body obsessed society. With so many different body types and so many different styles of eating (aka "diets"), driven by misconceptions about food, body dissatisfaction and misguided strategies for eating "right", it doesn't surprise me when I see the health and performance of competitive, body conscious, goal oriented and driven athletes, deteriorate. Most athletes have no idea how much energy is needed by the body to perform at a high level. Most athletes do not feel they deserve to eat "that much food". Now more than ever, most athletes are very obsessed with how much they weigh. Due to so many false statements relating to body weight and performance, athletes are constantly trying to be thinner, leaner and lighter, while trying to get faster and to go

104lbs - 2006 IMFL Kona qualified 113 lbs - 2010 IMWI Kona qualified 116lbs - 2013 IM Lake Placid Kona qualified 112 lbs - 2014 IMWI Kona qualified 9 years and 9 Ironman triathlons completed. Never have I had a "race weight" because I race with a body that is healthy, well-fueled and well-trained on race day. A number does not define me or my athletic capabilities nor does it determine how well I will (or won't) succeed on race day. I don't chase a body image when I eat and train, I chase a body that is strong, healthy and resilient. I often hear athletes talk about their "race weight" and many of these athletes come to me asking me to help them get to their "race weight." Some athletes feel that losing 10-15 lbs will help them reduce risk for injury, improve health and recover better after endurance training. A loss in body fat and an increase in lean muscle mass can certainly improve overall health and performance in this athlete

Yes, I am pouring ice down my shorts at Ironman Kentucky (2009). This was one of my favorite races because it was great to be in my home state. I loved the rolling hills on the course and I always like to see nature/wildlife when I am racing. I have been known to say out loud "Hello" to the cows and horses that I spot along course - I am sure they say hello back but I am too busy riding fast on my bike.  This was also a favorite race of mine because it was my Ironman PR - a hard definition to use in racing because I have PR'd in separate races for each the swim, bike and run but here I put it all together for a "fast" Ironman at 10 hours and 53 minutes. But as we all know, you can't compare race to race for every race is different. I will take my 10 hours and 57 minute finishing time as my "best" race at IMWI for it was super challenging and likely the hardest IM I have ever "raced". In Kona 2011, I PR'd on the bike but I have ye