[fatdoc]

Once steamed, light sauté in butter with Thyme and salt. Sugar not needed, they were those little sweet ones.

It was ace. I only had one portion. Got some left for another day :D

[Duma]

Those recent posts on Instagram of her looking incredibly ripped are pretty impressive. I'm reading Ste Mac's book at the mo, where he talks a lot about what it means to be a 'professional climber' of an 'athlete'. Puccio looks like an athlete.

You think? I disagree.

I think when you start seeing a difference in the face then you've pushed it too far (not necessarily a bad thing for your climbing performance).

I'm not a woman but I can't think that sustaining that level of body fat percentage can be a good thing as one. Take a look at the photograph showing a plank, the definition around the serratus and the upper pectorals and then the photo of her doing an external rotation.

That isn't some kind of sexist "what women should look like" remark either. I genuinely think it's unhealthy. Frustratingly it works so well.

saw a vid of pooch doing one arm frenchies on FB and it made me think of this thread 
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Alex-Puccio/116408721751605?fref=nf

[Duma]

link broke, dunno why, maybe this one'll work...
FB vid

[a dense loner]

She looks like Wolfgang

[Nibile]

I thnk that whoever is coaching her, is either an incompetent, an idiot, or both.
You can't undergo such massive changes in body composition without going for a rebound and without great risks for overall health. You can't mess with metabolism.

[T_B]

http://teamof2climbing.com/

[Paul B]

I thnk that whoever is coaching her, is either an incompetent, an idiot, or both.
You can't undergo such massive changes in body composition without going for a rebound and without great risks for overall health. You can't mess with metabolism.

back when this started I questioned the media output from team of 2 on this basis.

This is someone who is seen as a role model / to aspire to (based on achievements, advertising, climbing media), are we all still comfortable that this is what it takes to be an a-t-h-e-l-e-t-e?

[rodma]

are we all still comfortable that this is what it takes to be an a-t-h-e-l-e-t-e?

absolutely, as long as i don't have to stop binge eating on a daily basis   

i can't train hard without getting really hungry. i've tried ignoring the hunger, but i get really weak if i don't eat.

i don't know anyone from round edin way that has whittled away to unhealthy levels to achieve their climbing goals. there's a mixture of ripped looking people that all started as different shapes and sizes, some of whom look unhealthily thin, but they did so before they started climbing.

I've bouldered at my best when i have trained well and not binged too much, the times i was lighter i just didn't feel strong and didn't climb well.

Alex does look exceptionally lean right now, but her shoulders are still massive.

[jwi]

Off topic, but from all this I assume she's not doing the world cup in 2015? Because clearly no one thinks she only got half as many points as Noguchi because she's only half as strong?

[Paul B]

Off topic, but from all this I assume she's not doing the world cup in 2015? Because clearly no one thinks she only got half as many points as Noguchi because she's only half as strong?

It's almost on topic as one of the tag lines alongside the training short on Instagram (I think) said something about working weaknesses (!).

Underhand grip on the one-arm frenchies, I'm assuming undercuts are an issue 

Regardless of this, my opinions on this etc., she is climbing really well, obviously on things she aspires to do.

[dk]

Personal Story - this touched a note with me so I thought I should share...

2 years ago I was 10 stone 4 (ish) climbing 7b boulders and 8a routes I could do 1-one arm pull up but really enjoyed climbing and  my sessions would last all afternoon... I went on a paleo diet and low calories - (1500 ish I'd guess) and started losing weight fast... I was still training hard but could't sustain long sessions and had to take more rest days ... grade went up to 7c boulder pretty quick and I was onsighting 7c and nearly 8a routes....

Feeling strong but spending most my life in a mental 'brain fog' - not being able to make decisions and food shopping was the end of the world... became obsessed with food and every meal had to be prepared just so...

Anyway dropped my weight further and I think I was around 8 stone 10... route climbed 8b+ and bouldered 8a (2nd session)...(1-5-7 on medium rungs and 3 * one arm pull ups straight on) so yeah that was a lot of positive feedback!! (In hindsight, I learnt a lot and got a big tick so maybe worth it).

Then I tweaked my shoulder out and finished my university degree - little food meant little ability to make life decisions and my relationship was nearly destroyed by me... no fun.... but I still felt committed to my diet I was intermittent fasting as well a lot.

Won't go into too many details but people were very worried about me and it was a bit shit, my climbing stagnated and it was a slow process bringing myself back up to reality and getting over my food problem....

A year later I was just about gaining weight - 9 stone and half ish - but I was having to  eat what felt like a lot to do it but not enough to make a proper difference, finally I started to feel better slowly and went travelling and got my relationship back on track and another degree lined up, but it took me a major effort to get back up the same climbing standard. To but on muscle again required serious eating like 5000-6000 calories again and I started bodybuilding like training to gain muscle took half a year of so but I was finally back up to 10 and a half stone. But a lil bit fat around the edges

 I had previously had metabolic syndrome mentioned in a previous post where your metabolisms goes to shit and your hormones are messed up... And I was bulimic in terms of calories in calories out (not puking but exercising and fasting).... I didn't realise this until the might t-nation.com showed me the light  - http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/fasting-sound-science-behavioral-bs

Now 2 years later I have finally stabilised at around 11 stone and can do 2 one arm pull ups and 1- 5 - 7/5 and am almost feeling the same sort of lightness e.g. strength to weight ratio as before.... so don't fall into the weight loss trap just get stronger! but a few pounds of fat lighter shouldn't hurt

[tomtom]

Good post - and glad you've found a stable/happy ground.

[rodma]

:Agree:

They're are many easy traps to fall into. Well done for realising you were in one and getting out.

[Nibile]

Glad you got over your trouble. I've had nearly the same experience, not specifically about losing weight but about obsessive/compulsive eating and training. Horrible experience. At least you ticked something hard, I didn't even have that result.
Anyway, T-Nation is a great source of knowledge, and once you know what to pick and what to leave, it's really super super useful.

[dk]

Thanks for the kind feedback guys Nibile, sorry to hear you experienced something similar I hope you are over it now - with the help of the mighty T-Nation So true about the picking and leaving on it though!

[Nibile]

Thanks DK, luckily it's over! I'm still quite conscious about food, but I train in a smarter way and eat as much as I like! Focusing on high intensity training instead of cardio nightmares helped a lot.
Funnily enough, as the initial problem was caused or anyway related to climbing (power/weight ratio, being super lean, etc.), I made the first step to overcome it, equally because of climbing.
I used to lift, run and cycle a lot to control weight and fat, and when I would go to the sea for a few weeks on vacation, I was always super concerned about staying fit without having a gym, and cycling and running in +35° temps was very hard.
So one year I decided that instead of having a hell of a vacation like before, I would simply swim for half an hour every other day (bear in mind that normally I would run for 50 to 90 minutes, or cycle up hills for 4 or 5 hours everyday), and see what would happen.
Well, at the end of the Summer, it happened that after weeks of this routine and no other training, I easily redpointed my first 7c sport route.
This opened my eyes to the foolishness of what I'd been doing for a few years, and luckily shifted my habibts to a safer and healthier regime.
More recently the discovery of all the info on T-Nation, was another game-winner.