Nutrition and periodization for strength training: a case study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to observe the body composition changes induced by 8 weeks of a nutritional program associated a strength training planning in a woman (age: 37 years; body mass: 52 kg, height: 1.60 m). The training program lasted eight weeks and consists of two mesocycles (M1 and M2). In the first mesocycle the diet plan was of 1889 calories (255.2g of carbohydrates, 84.69g of protein and 61.7g of total fat). At M2 it increased to 2380 calories (347.1g carbohydrate, 97.4g protein and 71.4g of total fat). Total body mass increased 1 kg and body fat reduced 2.2 kg. The free fat mass increases 2.6 kg post M1 and 0.5kg post M2; The %fat decreased 5% post M1 and post M2 increased 0.7%; The training loads of M2 were significantly (p<0.05) higher than those of M1. We conclude that the training program applied, together with the dietary plan performed induced an increase of free fat mass and a reduction in the %fat in the volunteer studied. However, correlations between the training loads and body composition changes are not yet well established in the literature. We propose that future studies with different experimental models aim at observe such relationships.