Myth Buster Series: “Body Composition Doesn’t Matter”
When it comes to female and women athletes, I often hear “body composition doesn’t matter.” It’s usually accompanied by snarky comments about athletes who choose to remain lean and/or the detriments of choosing to do so. Let me share with you why, this couldn’t be further from truth AND why body composition is NOT one size fits all.
Let me just start out by saying this, research shows increased body fat is associated with decreased athletic performance for most sports. That being said, I understand that before moving forward, I need to address the Female Athlete Triad, the combination of disordered eating, altered menstrual function, and abnormal bone mineralization in active female athletes. These disorders in conjunction are usually resultant of extreme energy imbalance. Unfortunately, disordered eating and eating disorders are far more likely to be found in female athletes. I would argue that this has less to do with the demands of one’s sport and more to do with poor coaching and peer pressure.
In terms of coaching, many coaches wrongfully reward athletes who meet certain weight requirements that are viewed as ideal within sports. Or, they reward athletes who they simply deem as “skinny;” this is far more detrimental. Aforementioned above, research shows increased body fat is associated with decreased athletic performance, not increased body weight. For most, bodyweight should only serve as a starting point. Bodyweight is far too general to be THE determining factor when considering its effects on an athletes performance.
When you take a look at female athletes, most of them will actually fall into the category of “skinny fat,” which is a condition where a person is of an ideal weight but has far too much fat and far too little muscle. I believe this is a result of lack of knowledge and uninformed coaching habits and practices. Athletes misunderstand the meaning of leanness, wrongfully equate it to “skinniness,” which actually has nothing to do with increased athletic performance. “Skinniness,” like bodyweight, doesn’t account for lean body mass (LBM) or fat mass. This is why body fat percentage in conjunction with bodyweight (these two will reveal LBM) is the best way to classify optimal and suboptimal body composition.
Addressing the “skinny fat” phenomenon in female athletes is simple: follow a balanced nutrition protocol and prioritize strength training. With athletes who are “skinny fat” the initial focus must be increasing lean body mass, which could actually mean an increase in body weight. See why bodyweight alone is unhelpful?
The National Strength and Conditioning Association explains that “reduced nonessential body fat contributes to muscular and cardiorespiratory endurance, speed, and agility development. Additional weight (in the form of nonessential fat) provides greater resistance to athletic motion thereby forcing the athlete to increase the muscle force of contraction per given workload.” In other words “fat don’t fly.” Non essential body fat actually requires you to work harder. Not only does increased body fat contribute to many lifestyle diseases (cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, and so on) but it also has been found to increase the risk of depression.
Other considerations: This study found that “although body fat contributes to weight, it does not always contribute to energy in the muscular contractions needed for exercise and sport. A disproportionately greater amount of muscle mass and smaller amount of body fat are needed by participants in activities that may be influenced by body size. In sports such as the broad jump or vertical jump, in which the body must be propelled through space, generating power is essential. More power can be achieved by a body with a higher ratio of muscle to fat than one of the same mass with a lower ratio of muscle to fat.” This is why it’s important to objectively identify the ideal body composition for your sports (and/or lifestyle).
Now that we’ve addressed how and why body composition matters in terms of athletic performance and health markers, I want to address some social considerations. With women and female athletes being more likely to suffer from eating disorders, the body positivity movement has notably created a space for these womxn to be heard and share their experiences. I have no interest on taking on this movement, but what I will say is acknowledge the facts and respect the research. There is nothing subjective about health in terms of having too much body fat. So, when considering optimal body compositions, don’t allow subjectivity to cloud your judgement. While “healthy” looks different on different people, the markers for health don’t change.
In considering a lean physique as the optimal body composition for most sports, I want athletes to know that this is absolutely achievable AND sustainable. Too often, athletes are convinced by teammates, peers, siblings, or even professionals that womxn aren’t mean to be lean or that leanness is “just a look” and is “unsustainable.” If we’re being honest, these comments are coming from people who were unable to sustain their own changes, which really has nothing to do with you. Their way was unattainable, which means they should actually just say “my way was unsustainable” and leave it at that. Although a lean physique isn’t the end all be all, to pretend it doesn’t play a part in your athletic endeavors is naive and simply not true, as proven by numerous studies.
It’s important athletes ask themselves three questions: 1) Do I feel strong? 2) Am I performing at an optimal level in my sport? If you answered yes to one or both of those questions, then you need to ask yourself how your body composition may contribute to that.
A lot to take in? Yeah, I agree! But, if you’ve done the work to learn and understand what an optimal body composition is for your sport or from reading this article realize you need to build more muscle, lose more fat, or as they say “lean out” (which by now you should know NOT to mistake this for simply “losing weight,” then shoot me an email: briana@herperformanceacademy.com for some pointers. As you probably already realized, there is no one size fits all for something like this, as to why I can’t and won’t provide some generic diet and food list for you to follow. This reason why most people fail at their body composition endeavors is because 1) they fail to actually learn what works for them through trial and error 2) the fail to accept how long it may take for them to reach their goal 3) they fail to find something sustainable 4) they copy what worked for others 5) the fail to be uncomfortable (and guess what? change is uncomfortable no matter what it’s for). But, this needn’t be you, you can achieve AND sustain your optimal body composition! If you’re ready, like I said, email me.
If you are interested in my own my nutrition habits, let me know in the comments. My nutrition habits are quite unorthodox, hence why I only share them with people who are truly interested.
