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How does an athlete achieve peak performance?
Peak performance is the result of hard work, dedication to practice, and skill. It requires countless hours of sacrifice, incalculable amounts of sweat, and perhaps a little luck.
Where does the energy come from to work and practice hard?
Energy for life and energy for peak athletic performance comes from food. However, only food that provides the right kind of fuel for an athlete's body can be fully converted to energy!
How does food affect athletic performance?
The qualities craved by every athlete -- strength, speed, agility, endurance, precision, coordination, drive, energy, focus, concentration, peak performance and fast recovery -- all come from the food that we eat, all day, every day, many times a day. Make no mistake; the food you eat - or the fuel you provide your body with - makes the difference between mediocrity and medals. Would you use inferior equipment for your individual sport? Of course not. Then why choose to use food that does not provide optimal energy?
Foods and nutrients directly and specifically impact the fundamental controls of the body. If one of those controls is lacking or out of balance due to a conventional 'healthy' diet, then performance absolutely will suffer. Proper fuel can be the difference between first place and third place or playing ten seasons instead of seven. To an athlete, that is all the difference in the world!
I can honestly, confidently, and unequivocally say that what I eat - the kinds of fuel I provide my body's engines of metabolism -- makes a tremendous difference in how I perform. The right food allows me to train harder and recover faster than my competition. Even at 35 years old, Metabolic Typing® has made me one of the top powerlifters in the United States in my weight class for the last several years.
How can an athlete tap into his full potential?
How am I able to deadlift 635 pounds at a body weight of 165 pounds? Well, of course genetics, training, experience, mental toughness, and a great coach all play a part. However, the ability to unite all of these components and express full athletic potential always boils down to one very simple thing: Energy. All of the qualities needed to be a successful athlete are 100% dependent on the body's ability to produce and sustain energy from food in an optimal fashion.
Does everybody (even within the same sport) train the same? No, they do not. Does everybody achieve optimal energy from the same foods? Of course not. Just as each of us is unique in terms of obvious external characteristics and training protocols; so are our genetically-based nutritional requirements for optimal health and optimal energy production.
The bottom line is this: If the body's cells, organs, glands, and systems are given the proper fuel, then energy production will be optimal. If the body does not get the proper fuel, then performance will suffer. Sub-optimal energy production means that strength, speed, endurance, precision, coordination, and recovery will be compromised. That is the difference between accelerated recovery time and inadequate recovery that leads to injury. Without the proper fuel, peak performance will never be realized.
How does an athlete determine the ideal diet for peak performance?
Metabolic Typing® combined with the Signet MRT® food reactivity test is a systematic, testable, repeatable, and verifiable scientific means by which each individual athlete's optimal food and nutrient requirements can be specifically determined. Based on over 30 years of research and hundreds of thousands of users, no other methodology in the world is as individual and precise.
When you start to eat right for your Metabolic Type®, a lot of wonderful things begin to happen. This process naturally leads to questions and it is very important that you have access to answers. The only source for information regarding the process of working with your Metabolic Type® is a trained and certified Metabolic Typing® Advisor.
- MT Advisors can help you understand the technical information provided in your reports.
- MT Advisors are available to you (on a daily basis if needed) to provide information, guidance, coaching and emotional support as you proceed.
- MT Advisors can help you learn to understand your own "body language" so you can fine-tune your macronutrient ratios at meals and snacks to your specific individual requirements. Eating the right ratios of proteins, fats and carbs at each meal is vital to the success of your program. The right ratios can vary from meal to meal, even for people who are of the same Metabolic Type®.
- MT Advisors, because they follow their own Metabolic Type® Diets, know what it takes to be successful. They can be your very own personal success coach and help you keep going if the going gets tough. The MT Advisor that will be working with me is a high level athlete, so he understands athletes!
- MT Advisors can help you set reasonable and easily attainable goals that work for your lifestyle and help you transition to your Metabolic Type® Diet.
- MT Advisors can educate you about nutritional supplements: how to use them properly, which ones are right and wrong for your Metabolic Type®, how to recognize good supplements and how to stay away from bad ones.
- MT Advisors, most importantly, can monitor your individual nutritional needs as they change, adjust your program when necessary, identify when a retest is needed, provide more extensive testing and help you to achieve the results you're looking for as quickly and as easily as possible.
Please check out the videos and articles on my web site at http://www.erictalmant.com and see what Metabolic Typing® can do for you. It has allowed me to become one of the top raw powerlifters for the last 3 years; and one of the top equipped powerlifters in the 4 years before that. However, the really cool thing is that I am healthy, vibrant, and full of energy all day long!
Be well,
Eric
About Eric Talmant
Eric Talmant is a top lightweight powerlifter and has a "passion for all things nutrition." A 1996 graduate of the University of Evansville, Eric is a certified Metabolic Typing® advisor and Functional Diagnostic nutritionist.
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