Triathlon RACE WEIGHT myth | Kristian Blummenfelt World and Olympic Champion

I've always thought i'm overweight for triathlon so it's great to see Kristian who is a bit of a bigger athlete be at the top of the game. Talking about Kristian Blummenfelt and his recent world Ironman Championship win as well as his Olympic win.
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[@ChrisPieta]

Loved this video! I’ve got a similar body type to blummenfelt so seeing his wins is inspiring

[@TheGlassArcades]

There will always be individuals (not very experienced or science-minded individuals) who think performance can be linked to appearance. Great athletes can look very differently, especially in a sport like triathlon which requires so many skill sets. Women feel this pressure to be smaller too and I know many of us try to get as lean as possible for performance. BUT I have seen the best improvements in performance not when I am weight focused, but when I am focused on optimizing my training, fuel and recovery. Agree with you wholeheartedly that spending a lot of energy trying to change the natural shape of your body isn't likely to lead to as many gains as putting that energy into training

[@Josh_lewis]

Couldn’t agree more

[@skowa74]

Macca wrote about his experience with body mass years ago. He tried to carry his short course mass into long distance, and it did not worked. Only when he accepted he needs to be bigger, success came. I think he was like 5-6 kg heavier than during his short course time, when he finally cracked Kona.

[@Josh_lewis]

Yeh couldn’t agree more. If you look at Blumey in the olympics compared to IMWC it’s exactly the same. Far leaner for olympics. Interesting! Not sure what’s right though, think it’s completely individual. Look at Frodeno…

[@pal_lokomotivet2679]

@@Josh_lewis Can it be that Frodeno is that tall that he have the size to produce the power on the bike anyway?

[@jimjamthebananaman1]

He has a sub 14 minute 5k! Mental fast and he’s also a power house on the bike

[@vozzen]

He has the muscles in the right places! He is not running around with arms like Rich Piana

[@andrewwestlake3270]

There was a podcast with his coach Alexender Olaf Bu and he said on this subject that they did the testing and if he loses more weight, he loses his power so the extra weight (in his specific case) is more beneficial for him making him faster.

[@yonatanabramov1099]

Which podcast?

[@MR-wh5wp]

@@yonatanabramov1099 i think it was the Greg Bennett show

[@neilshannon9930]

Work on the engine then sort out the paint job

[@FifalianaFR]

I guess I was conditioned to think a triathlete should look a certain way but when I was watching the Ironman world championship I was like, that guy is huge, how does he run that fast.

[@luxsasha]

Being light definitely helps, it’s physics. That said, everyone has a different level of efficiency at different weight and there’s a lot that goes into triathlon in terms of variables. Can you win being heavy? Yes. All other factors being equal, does being light give you an advantage? Yes. The potatoes that think winning comes down to weight are being naive or just deciding that all the other variables aren’t important… Look at Lionel Sanders, dude has been suffering with nutrition on race day for the past few years. I’m sure he’d take an extra 5 lbs of weight if it solved those problems, because walking is a lot slower than carrying an extra 5 lbs.

[@yijuntey]

Honestly im not even a “big” person naturally, I’ve never tested my body fat or muscle mass but I’m 173cm and around 61kg which is pretty lean and lightweight. However sometimes I look at pro triathletes/cuclist/runners and see how lean they are and I just really wanted to have a power to weight ratio like they do. I’ve struggled with either under eating or accidentally overeating and feeling bloated but seeing Kristian Blummenfelt do so well with the body composition that he has made me a lot more comfortable with my current bmi and accepting of the fact that i dont actually need to lose weight to be a better athlete

[@Josh_lewis]

Everyone is a different body type and composition and it’s important not to compare yourself to others, especially pros. Pros are at the top of their game looking for every marginal gain. Most age group athletes are no where near having to worry about their weight, but because they see pros who are televised or have their highlights on Instagram looking their leanest, people aspire to be that way… but the context is that they aren’t like that all year round. Most AG athletes are more likely to get injured if focusing too much on weight, or be tired, when they have far more physiological gains to be made by staying well fuelled

[@yijuntey]

@@Josh_lewis thats a very good point and i feel like more people should know this (the point about seeing pros on social media and the fact that they dotn look like that year round), thanks for the video anyways!

[@coachrizz]

I am 88 kgs and 11 percentage body fat but still I have sick endurance and muscle mass..it's really genetics and can't change frame

[@theaveragecyclist5259]

Clearly the evidence would suggest being bigger is not a hindrance for him. Yes we can talk about the "average" size of an pro triathlete, but when you get to that level, anything average does not cut it

[@danielmcparland173]

But Blu is a very big outlier, the very fact that there is so much attention and commentary on his weight just demonstrates this. If you look at every other male Ironman world champion they are all lean AF. Even the comments about Macca being bigger...... go back to photos of him winning in 2010 with his vest undone and all you see is ribs and hardly any body fat. You also see many breakthrough pro performances when they've obviously shed weight..... Luke Mckenzie when he bagged 2nd, LCB when she dominated the 70.3 WC, Frodo at the 2018 70.3 WC and 2019 IMWC. As with so much in triathlon one size doesn't fit all and Blu clearly operates better carrying a bit more body fat. For the overwhelming majority I'd say its better to get as lean as you can within reason ie. Not to the point where it impacts the quality of your training

[@lord1999ful]

I hade this idea! If you training hard with a lot volume will the weight will go down! It did go down as my performance ( dramatically) ! Mood change often! Than I saw a documentary of Blummrnfelt and was a life changing for me!!!

[@hammamaulia]

What documentary?

[@King-pi2zx]

Do you know how much he weights?

[@Josh_lewis]

I can’t be certain, but somewhere between 75-80kg and he’s 5ft8 … superleague tri has him down as 77kg

[@King-pi2zx]

@@Josh_lewis ah ok. Thanks He is a beast. Thought He would struggle on the hills of St george but He Proved me wrong:)

[@Josh_lewis]

Incredible human

[@fernandog.aguirre2791]

KB is nothing but STRONG and his boddy and mind are trained to suffered way depper that anybody else in this sport! But yes, he is ONLY One CASE over 1 million! The lighter the better, specially when we are talking about injury prevention!

[@gourami7]

Light weight less of a factor in IM, strength is important

[@danielmaclachlan5123]

When you say he trains scientifically,, can you elaborate on that ?

[@Josh_lewis]

Of course! I’ve known roughly how they train for a while by just being in touch with some of the athletes he’s trained with, but I watched his interview with Bob Babbit post IM, and he was saying that he’s been working with his new physiologist since 2016 which is when they started all of their data collection using a variety of different tools. Lactate is definitely one of them but also VO2 max tests, glucose and oxygen saturation monitoring on the regular!

[@benbwaite9858]

This must just be in triathlon circles that you need to be skinny and lean. Coming from a cycling road background which everyone knows about power to weight ratio I knew I had to put on muscle mass and size to compete in a triathlon 🤷 especially for the swim leg

[@jeffvandusen3237]

Macca was the largest guy to ever win Kona at close to 170lbs.

[@pal_lokomotivet2679]

In draft legal the skinny runnes can hide in the pack and outrun everyone. In long course you have to carry your own weight much more on the bike. And often in flater courses. Then you have to have the watts to get off the bike with the best.

[@Josh_lewis]

Yes and no… I think that you have to be a better swimmer to make the front pack and that often requires more upper body muscle… I think the biggest difference and need for extra fat mass is the use of it as an energy source in the longer distances… however I’m no nutritionist or physiologist

[@pal_lokomotivet2679]

@@Josh_lewis Maybe but the amount off fat needed to fuel outside the calories taken inn via nutrition is very small. I agree about the swimming. I had that down as a given in this senario. I was thinking more about what it takes to stay with front in a ironman. I Think a man like Alex Yee will have a much harder transition to ironman because of this. I think he will struggle to keep up with the best watt guys on a flat power course. At least to the degree that he can reach T2 with good run legs

[@tengamangapiu]

How can amateurs get 90% vo2 max ?

[@Josh_lewis]

To be honest, I’m not sure it’s possible unless you’re a genetic anomaly. Training can definitely increase VO2 though, so specific training related to that will help get towards it

[@robertskochinstitut6653]

You probably mean 90ml/kg/min vo2max. First thing is rather random. You potential is somewhat limited by the genetics given to you by your parents. Then you need to be engaging in sports from a young age. You miss this phase and you propably will never get close to your maximum vo2max. Then it helps to be rather lean, as vo2max is oygen uptake per kg of body mass. A big athlete at 83kg might have an o2 uptake of 6000ml/min which is huge, but only equates to a vo2max of 73. A smaller athlete at 65kg can reach 5500ml/min which equates to 84ml/kg/min. Vo2max can be an indicator of performance but there is no gain from looking at it isolated from other metrics. You cannot predict outcome from it. It is still valuable if you compare it to other metrics to work on weaknesses.

[@Josh_lewis]

Of course, you always have to look at everything in context and never as an isolated metric… probably dangerous to do so and definitely not what to pin / hinge training on. Just another one of the dials to turn

[@na-dk9vm]

Surely at 90 vo2 max, that has to be one of the highest in the world??

[@glywnniswells9480]

He has a very large rib cage which is where his heart and lungs are

[@TransportNationwide]

Is he just an exception? What percentage of athletes can pull that off at his level

[@Josh_lewis]

Yes potentially. It’s hard to say as the majority of athletes are a lot smaller! He does have an enormous VO2 max which will definitely help!

[@xpLaTiNuMx12]

Wonder if kristian being a little bigger, gives his stored energy???

[@Josh_lewis]

Yeh I think so, but also more power?

[@nathanielsnyder1323]

As far as racing weight he’s a true outlier. A 1 in a million you could say. There’s a reason 99% of pro triathletes keep their BMI at 21 for racing.

[@Josh_lewis]

I feel as though that’s quite a sweeping and dangerous statement. What’s the reason? Or is it more people have a stereotype in their head and therefore that’s what they aim for?

[@nathanielsnyder1323]

@@Josh_lewis If you read Matt Fitzgerald's book "Racing Weight". he Explains why a BMI of 20-21 is ideal for a triathlete. Roughly every 1 lbs of fat = 2 minutes in speed gain. The math says if Blummenfelt dropped some weight he'd be ridiculously fast.

[@BjerkeRobin]

Yup. You just need a VO2 max in the 90's 🤣

[@casanjt8515]

And the Norwegian drug program is elite atm...lets not be naive 😊

[@RK-sw1nw]

170-180lbs is not big lol