First of all I wanted to add that I have a daughter, a sister, and have coached both men and women in my career. I have never told a female that she was fat. Never. I have on 2 occasions told women on my team that there performance was being negatively affected by their weight…in both cases this only came up because I thought they did have the talent to do well and were on the fringe of being cut due to the effect their weight issues were having on their performance. In contrast, I’ll frequently tell my men when I think they need to lose weight.
How do I handle this issue in general? I answer questions about nutrition, weight loss tactics (most of which UT has already mentioned) and suggested body weight when they come up (I never initiate them…even with men). I also give out a nutritional flyer at the start of the year that is based on the FAQ on nutrition that I wrote for this site. I never make them eat anything nor do I probibit anything. Also, I try to set a good example in front of them and live a healthy lifestyle myself, including eating a diet that is heavy on fruits and vegetables and lean proteins. That’s about it.
How do I address the issue? I don’t feel a need to. Nobody’s high school (or hell, even college) track performances are worth causing those kind of problems.
While this may be the case at the high school level I kinda disagree at the collegiate level. As a coach I think one of my primary jobs (especially at my current institution) is to instill a pursuit of personal excellence. COMPLETELY ignoring issues the effects of fitness on performance is contrary to this ideal. There are good and bad ways to handle it and I have never had any complaints (despite it being closely monitored at every place I’ve worked) or had any problems with how I’ve done it in the past.
...and RJ, telling someone to lose weight for performance sake should be in the realm of professional athletes.
In the sense that a scholarship athlete is getting (their tuition) paid for their performance, they are professional athletes with performance expectations. Would you rather I take away a scholarship completely due to poor performance (due to fitness / weight issues) or tell them that their body composition is affecting their performance so they can do something about it.
For health’s sake, different issue, but I don’t think that’s the kind of problem we’re talking about in the thread. A muffin top is not a “health concern” issue. Anorexia in younger girls/women is.
I’m not sure how this fell in to talking about women only because that was not the original intent but in any case you are wrong saying ‘muffin top’ is not a health concern for young women. There’s a growing body of research stating that abdominal fat in females is ESPECIALLY unhealthy. See here.
Quit track - a disgrace?
Agreed.
And Mike, I’ll just say I’m disappointed with the way this thread has turned, but it started somewhere. In the short time I’ve been reading this site, I’ve come to expect better.
I’m sorry you feel this way. I try to only blog when I have something thought provoking to discuss. This topic (or whatever it has morphed in to) is apparently a hot button issue. I don’t think anyone has condoned eating disorders and I certainly never would. The intent of the topic was to discuss the role of inadequate fitness on performance. If your full time job (to which you are held accountable for both to higher-ups and to the athletes you coach) is maximizing performance (which is the case for many collegiate and all professional coaches) then this topic isn’t something that can be ignored. I’m hoping the discussion will shift towards the best ways to deal with this issue (for both men and women and perhaps the differences between them).
