Competing In The Zone

By Max Wunderle

If you have been an athlete or followed athletics for any period of time, you are familiar with the concept of competing “in the zone”.  That is, competing at a level that feels effortless, powerful, “out of body” and, unfortunately, quite fleeting.  Without succumbing to hyperbole, I’ll suggest Michael Jordan was arguably the most famous athlete who was able to “visit the zone” on dozens of occasions seemingly through sheer will power.  He described being “in the zone” as an experience that felt surreal, simple and fluid.  His energy was limitless, his strength boundless and the rim of the hoop seemed to be 2-3 times its normal radius. 

The problem, of course, is that being “in the zone” isn’t something that one can simply conjure up.  Instead, athlete after athlete cites the mysterious appearance of the zone and the fleeting exit that frustrates their ability to truly benefit from all the zone offers in terms of ultimate performance.  Personally, even though I’ve competed athletically for over 20 years, I think I can cite less than 10 occasions where I felt like I was “in the zone”. 

What would you say if I could offer a solution that would get you closer to being and competing “in the zone” more frequently and consistently?  No, I’m not selling snake oil or brain tonic, but instead, a formalized nutrition path that allows you to tap into the hormonal energy stores that fuel ultimate athletic performance as well as everyday energy and awareness.   

Slim and trim?  Never had any issues with nutrition?  Always have high energy levels?  Never feel sluggish?  Do you understand the role of proteins, carbohydrates and fats in your diet and how much of each you need to live, compete or train optimally?  If you answered yes to these questions, by all means, stop reading here.  If you answered ‘no’ to any of them, read on.

About 10 weeks ago, I began to take a greater look at a nutrition plan that had been touted to me by several sources.  I had been exposed to this form of nutrition almost a year ago, but never executed every letter of its “law” as I’ve never had issues negotiating nutrition and understanding how to execute a successful nutrition strategy.  In short, when I’ve wanted to gain weight—as part of a personal experiment to get as muscular as possible—I learned how to do so and put on about 40 lbs of muscle in about 15 months.  Conversely, when I wanted to “atrophy” myself and get as lean as possible for long course triathlon, I was also able to then lose over 50 lbs over another 15 months.  Finally, I have also never had any issues with nutrition in competition and felt fairly proud of my nutritional awareness.  All in all, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about nutrition.  Boy, was I wrong…

I and about 10 of my athletes began to weigh and measure our food and follow the nutrition plan devised by Dr. Barry Sears, his nutrition plan is better known as “The Zone Diet”.  Now, before all of you immediately click on another website and exit this discussion, I beg you to read on. 

What follows is a crash course on how to understand the need for proportionality in your eating choices and how that proportionality can dramatically change the way your body produces the hormones that govern all of its major functions.

Think about the best shower you’ve ever had.  What made it so good?  I’ll suggest that the water temperature was exactly how you wanted it, at the right pressure and lasted for as long as you wanted it to, right?  OK, how did it get that way?  You most likely manipulated the hot and cold faucet heads (and pressure valve) to get to the right temperature and volume desired.  Now, in doing so, did you slam the hot valve until it was scalding and then slam on the cold valve until it offset the scalding water to get to a happy medium?  I doubt it.  Instead, you most likely called for hotter water and then tempered it down with a steady dose of colder water until the temperature became ideal.  If you had not exercised balance in your temperature decisions you most likely would have scalded yourself or (for the purposes of illustration) numbed a part of your body with water that was too cold.  This same concept can be applied to the application of carbohydrate and protein in your digestive system.

What does taking a shower have to do with nutrition?  Everything.  If you were frustrated by scalding your skin or freezing parts of your body in taking a shower, the same concept can be applied to gluttony or starvation.  Yo-yo dieting and binge/purge nutrition discipline would yield the same conceptual results of extremity.  So, the message here is one that necessitates a need for a nutrition acumen that puts a premium on proportionality--proportionality that results in the ultimate production and use of resources that optimize metabolism, energy creation and the maximization of hormones (testosterone, human growth hormone) that restore and build muscular capability.  We are not talking about the obvious need to corral the volume of your nutritional choices, but the control of the kinds of food you are ingesting.

Without diving into too much nutrition/hormonal dialogue, here is the topline on what I and my athletes have been executing via “the zone” based nutrition. 

In a nutshell carbohydrates (CHO) and proteins (PRO) release different hormones when ingested.  These hormones are insulin and glucagon.  When the proper balance of these two food sources are eaten, the ultimate balance of another family of hormones (eicosanoids) are created.  This hormone family is responsible for the maintenance of every major system in your body (cardiovascular, immunity, central nervous, reproduction, etc.).  When optimized, the marshalling of these hormones allows your body to metabolize stored fat instead of available carbohydrate, increases energy levels, allows for faster recovery and even prevents disease and fatigue!

For those looking for more detailed proportionality, the breakdown of CHO to PRO and fat is 9 grams, 7 grams and 1.5 grams respectively.  Simply by ensuring your total caloric intake is proportioned as such will guarantee your body is operating as optimally as possible.  I strongly encourage all of you to go out and purchase “Enter the Zone” by Dr. Barry Sears.  Additionally, you can visit his website (http://www.zonediet.com/) for caloric intake calculators, recipes and testimonials of those who have enjoyed the benefits of this nutrition regimen.

Oh, and what about my athletes who have been on this program?  In addition to one of my athletes who was already highly active who lost 7 lbs of body fat in 8 weeks, I received the following notes--unprompted--from several of them in only the first 10 days of being “in the zone”.

“I don’t get headaches anymore”
“I don’t crave chocolate anymore”
“I have more energy than ever”
“I’m getting more done at the office and in the gym”
“I sleep through the night”

Don’t take my word or my client’s word for it.  Start weighing and measuring your food today and ensure you are putting yourself in the best position for athletic and overall nutrition fitness today.

Good luck and safe training!

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