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I am currently on a high volume, low intensity part of my workouts. I was wondering about what would be best for me to eat on a very low budget where I am trying not to get injured, while gaining strength but not gain weight. Also what should I focus on eating after December when the volume goes down and the intensity is very high should it change or stay the same. I am not worried about what workouts I should do to accomplish this just what i should eat and about how much of it. I am 23 years old between 6-8% body fat and 185-190 pounds. I would prefer to be 175-180 pounds and 3 and 1/2%-5% body fat I have been at this weight once for about two weeks earlier this year and was amazed at how much better I was able to jump for those two weeks. Unfortunately I went back to my normal weight very fast. Anyway the main part of the nutrition I want to focus on is what I should eat to not get injured and stay the same or even loose a little weight.

I'm not specifically answering your question, but some good foods that are cheap include:
- Rice
- Beans (dried beans... takes longer to prepare, but dirt cheap)
- Tuna
- Eggs
- Milk


It might be more helpful if you kept a food diary for a few weeks and gave us an idea of what you were eating, how many calories per day, ad the breakdown of fat/protein/carbs.

How do you know your body fat? What do you use to test it, the skin fold test thing or some type of electric tester?

t might be more helpful if you kept a food diary for a few weeks and gave us an idea of what you were eating, how many calories per day, ad the breakdown of fat/protein/carbs.

Thanks I will do that and post again in about a week.

How do you know your body fat? What do you use to test it, the skin fold test thing or some type of electric tester?

I use an electric tester wish is was skin fold or under water weighing though it would be a lot more accurate

kcvault wrote:
I use an electric tester wish is was skin fold or under water weighing though it would be a lot more accurate

Yeah electric ones are not very accurate for athletes. They vary too much by hydration level. They work best in obese people. Ask around, I am sure you can find someone who knows how to use a set of calipers and can do a skin fold test on you.

The various body fat % testing methods have varying degrees of unreliability ... and the results are very easily miscomputed or misinterpreted. How "professionally" are the tests are conducted? Which (of many) formulae are used to interpret the results? The results can vary widely. Above all (IMHO), what's most important is HOW test results are used to modify training and/or dieting.

First, ask yourself WHY you want to know your % body fat. If it's to compare to other vaulters, then you may already be on the wrong track. There's just too many variables to make this a useful comparison. Better to compare your % body fat to YOURSELF over time ... perhaps monthly. If you really want to compare yourself to another vaulter, compare PRs. Nothing else matters.

Second, how accurate do you really expect the test to be? A 4% fluctuation from one test to the next is quite common, meaning that any % less than this is insignificant ... and should be disregarded.

I like the KISS principle ... which applies to computing % body fat (as well as many other things in life). If you're training to be an astronaut and your fitness if mission-critical, then sure ... take a complicated test ... but if you just want to see if your % body fat is increasing or decreasing over time, use one of the simple "body circumference" tests ... either the YMCA test or the Navy test. Actually, they're both quite simple, so I'd do them both ... and compare the results over time. Even just by observing the variance between the 2 tests, you'll expose their inaccuracies ... reminding you not to over-analyze the results.

You'll find them both here http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/. You'll also find a couple of skinfold tests here, but personally (even if I had the calipers), I wouldn't bother.

Don't just take the circumference tests. Record them in your training diary, set an objective on what you want your ideal % body fat to be (or your raw girth measurements), and take ACTION in your diet and training to try to reach your body fat goal.

KC, you say you vaulted your best when you lost about 10 lbs and about 3-5% body fat. So all you REALLY need to monitor is your WEIGHT. Since there's such a high correlation between weight and body fat (for your specific height, body frame type, and metabolism), you know that any loss of weight will have a corresponding loss in body fat. KISS. Sorry I'm not answering your specific question about diet. Just eat healthy foods.

Kirk