The Race Horse vs. The Bear

I was recently the guest speaker at a business networking luncheon. I chose and spoke of the topic “Fat Loss Secrets” because typically losing body fat is the only universal topic among all people who exercise. (I’ve yet to have anyone approach me on how to ADD body fat…) And given the status of our society, apparently there are secrets.

As is my habit, I ventured off into the bio-mechanics and physiological mumbo-jumbo jargon of which most people could not care less. As a result, I told my audience to simply always remember the analogy of the race horse and the bear.

It must have worked because I received a ton of compliments after the speech and a flood of emails later on telling me what a great analogy it was and how it was going to help people stay on track with their training.

Additionally, because it seems I’ve received so many questions regarding cardio training and eating questions lately I decided to post this, knowing it will help on both counts. So with advanced apologies to those who may have heard it before…

Think about how race horses exercise. They sprint as hard as they can for as long as they can, which typically is only for a minute or two. Then they rest. Then they repeat that process again and again. As they become better conditioned, they either run faster, or shorten the rest periods. They don’t increase the duration of their running sessions.

Now think about how a race horse eats. It nibbles on grain, oats, etc ALL DAY LONG. Given the physical size of race horses, oats and grain don’t seem like very much. But they’ll ingest their food in very small portions spread out throughout the day.

Now let’s turn to the bear. They lay around for months at a time. Then they meander around a country side for long periods until they find a stream. When they find one, they park themselves in it.

Then the bear will stand in the stream and swat and eat every fish that comes by until the bear can barely stand anymore from being so full. Then he’ll wander back and lie down and repeat the process over and over.

Have you ever seen a race horse up close? If you haven’t, it’s alarming how strong, and muscular they are with absolutely ZERO body fat. I’ve never tried to pinch one, nor do I recommend it, but I doubt you’d be able to.

Remember what a bear looks like? If anyone tells you that you look like a bear, trust me, it’s not a compliment.

And I’m not even going to get into the discussion of WHAT they’re eating: grains, oats (OH MY GOD! NOT CARBS!!!) for the race horse and fish (pure, lean protein) for the bear. Reason #563 my head explodes when people tell me they need to “watch their carbs”…uuggghhh…

Again:

Short intense training + portion control = ripped.

Long slow training + gorging = fat.

Here endeth the lesson: