Hello all,
I'm a noob around here and to gymnastics, but I have been training hard for a few years now, mostly with Ross Enamait's stuff, and I know a pretty fair bit about nutrition as well.
One factor that I have never found a good answer on is this.
If I am most interested in power:weight ratio, can it be beneficial to limit my food intake somewhat to minimize mass gains without compromising strength gain?
I am using GB to gain strength for Judo, which is weight-class divided.
Senior men:
to 56kg (123#), to 60kg (132#), to 66kg (146#), to 73kg (161#),
to 81kg (179#), to 90kg (198#), to 100kg (220#), above 100kg (220#)
I am currently 217lbs, with a 14% BF ratio, so I have effectively 187lbs. lean mass (and water, obviously)
Getting into the 179-198 weight bracket would certainly be a fine thing, and is doable if I have were to have a 7 or 8% BF ratio and did some intelligent cutting pre-contest. However, seeing the relative mass of male gymnasts, and assuming that I work hard and have a high-cal but clean diet to get and maintain the low bodyfat%, would I also get enough hypetrohpy that I might "muscle" my way out of the lower weight class?
Is there a way to avoid this and still achieve most of the normal strength gains through CNS development and limited myofibrillar hypertrohpy?
Thanks!