Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance [Paperback]

Matt Fitzgerald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2009

Endurance athletes are weight-conscious and given the miles and hours spent training, there’s a lot at stake. Weighing in just five or ten pounds over the ideal weight can dramatically impact race results. Author Matt Fitzgerald shows athletes how to identify their optimal weight and body composition to realize their goals. This 5-step plan to get lean is the key to faster racing and better health. With tools to improve diet, manage appetite, and time important nutrients, Racing Weight will inspire and equip athletes to make the subtle changes they need to start their next race at their optimal weight.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I highly recommend reading Racing Weight even if you don't need to lose any excess poundage. You'll come away with a better understanding of your physiology and also of food.” — Joe Friel, founder of TrainingBible Coaching and author of The Triathlete's Training Bible and The Cyclist's Training Bible

“Even if you are already a lean machine, you'll likely still learn something from Racing Weight. From how to determine your optimum weight, to improving your diet and training around it, to controlling your appetite and making your own fuel—it's all in this book.” — BikeRadar

“The mysteries of weight and its relationship to performance are unlocked in Matt Fitzgerald’s Racing Weight. If you've got a basic handle on both training and nutrition, this book offers the means to improve both your diet and athletic performance.” — DailyPeloton.com

“Fitzgerald is going to go down as one of the most competent and prolific authors of books for serious runners covering just about every legitimate aspect of the all-important runner's lifestyle.” — Letsrun.com

“It’s not too hard to convince cyclists that they can improve their performance if they drop their weight to an optimum level. However, that’s generally as useful as a physician telling a client they need to lose weight and then sending them out the office door. There are endless diet or nutrition books out there, but very few specifically catering to the endurance athlete. Into this void comes Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald.” — Pezcyclingnews.com

“Racing Weight answers the difficult questions athletes often have about dieting, including how to handle the off-season. The book gives readers a scientifically backed system to discover your optimum race weight, as well as five steps to achieve it.” — Triathlete magazine

“Reaching an ideal weight for endurance sports is important, but doing it the right way is even more important. Matt Fitzgerald provides scientific and sound advice for anyone trying to achieve their racing weight.” — Scott Jurek, 7-time winner of the Western States Endurance Run and 2-time winner of the Badwater Ultramarathon

“Racing Weight is the first book written exclusively about an issue that is very important to runners—eating and training properly to get to the start line of the peak race with the right body composition for running fast.” — Letsrun.com

“Racing Weight offers endurance athletes a simple approach to dietary quality. The Diet Quality Score system is worth the price of the book alone. It’s easy to follow and makes sense. Amateur to professional athletes can optimize their potential with this book.” — BikeWorldNews.com

“Every now and then someone writes the giant-killer text, the volume that becomes the bible of a subject. Ten years from now most of us will be wondering how we managed before Racing Weight came along.” — RedKitePrayer.com

“Fitzgerald is a fountain of information on current research studies and findings from the sciences of healthy nutrition and exercise performance.” — Ultrarunning magazine

Book Description

Endurance athletes are weight-conscious and given the miles and hours spent training, there’s a lot at stake. Weighing in just five or ten pounds over the ideal weight can dramatically impact race results. Author Matt Fitzgerald shows athletes how to identify their optimal weight and body composition to realize their goals. This 5-step plan to get lean is the key to faster racing and better health. With tools to improve diet, manage appetite, and time important nutrients, Racing Weight will inspire and equip athletes to make the subtle changes they need to start their next race at their optimal weight.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Velo Press; 1 edition (December 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934030511
• ISBN-13: 978-1934030516
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Coaching > Training & Conditioning

More About the Author

Matt Fitzgerald is a prolific endurance sports journalist and author or coauthor of more than 15 published and forthcoming books on running, triathlon, fitness, nutrition, and weight loss, including Brain Training for Runners and Racing Weight. Fitzgerald also writes for Competitor, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon and Competitor.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXACTLY what I've been looking for...for a LONG time!, December 18, 2009

By 

Chad Tibbetts "Brooklyn Running" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance (Paperback)

I have been searching and hoping to find a book that covers this topic. And HERE it is, like an early Christmas present! There are so many books out there about nutrition, but they are not written for people who train their behinds off 6-7 days a week.
I love the way this book talks about WHEN to eat and how that affects your body.
I am happy Matt included different specifics for different endurance sports. This is not just a running book. It's for rowers, cyclists, triathletes, and anyone who knows what its like to workout for over an hour.
I think that knowing and understanding some of the science behind what happens to your body when you work out and when you eat helps to stay committed to getting to "racing weight".

Plus, I've always wondered what the top athletes really eat...and now I know. It's all here, and it couldn't come at a better time for me since I happen to be in the middle of training for the Boston Marathon and struggling to lose these last stubborn 15 lbs.

This book is helping me understand why the pounds are there, why they stay there, and how to shed time...I can't wait :)

[...]

194 of 214 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Addition but Touts Disproven Physiology Theories, January 12, 2010

By 

A. Feucht "miss-tenacity" (New Mexico) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance (Paperback)

Fitzgerald is a great training resource, and I was very excited to get this book as weight is not addressed enough in the sport of running and how it can affect performance.

Unfortunately, he does fall back into some of the party-line statements about diet and calorie consumption that have been outdated or completely disproved.

For instance, he touts the discredited theory that muscle burns 40-50kcal per pound whereas fat only burns 3-5kcal. This factors heavily into his argument for being lean rather than just light, but it IS NOT TRUE. Muscle does burn more calories, but the two numbers are more like 4-6kcal/lb for muscle and 3-5kcal/lb for fat. It is a small difference overall.

And he also touches on nutrient timing for performance, which is GOOD. But he too easily slips into saying that you can also change up the times of the day that you eat in order to lose more weight. Also, not so much.

So... not a bad book and it addresses an underrepresented topic, but check sources and make sure that you really trust what he is saying before committing 100% to his statements.

55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a terrific book!, November 30, 2009

By 

P. Koenig "Grumpyphil" (New York City) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance (Paperback)

I love this book. Filled with great, down to earth info on maintaining weight and not the latest fads in diet. The fact that it's also "sport specific" is really a welcome feature as well. I learned something new reading each chapter. I also like the fact that when a statement is made, it's backed with research and not conjecture.
It doesn't hurt that the author seems to a likable guy and writes in a nice breezy style. Just the last chapter (Supplements) was worth the price!