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Posted by: Brent Okita, Leon Davis, Lindsay Mann
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9,500'
On The Map
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Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
This is the second of a two part series looking at the benefits of improving rates of fat metabolism to prevent or delay bonking in endurance sports. For week one of the series, click here.
Last week, we introduced the idea of training or developing fat metabolism to preserve glycogen stores, utilize our body’s largest energy store, and ultimately prevent “bonking” while climbing. This week we’ll look at how to accomplish it!
There are two main components that we can alter to affect our body’s use of fat: diet and training. The two work hand in hand – a change in diet without a focus on aerobic training volume is of little use, as anaerobic workouts require glycogen by definition, and aerobic training volume while continuing to eat a high carbohydrate diet will cause little change in your body’s metabolic pathways.
Diet
The key to training fat metabolism is to adjust your diet to take in more calories from fat than carbohydrates. This doesn’t mean you need to take in more calories overall, but instead, shift the nutritional balance of your diet. These diets have taken on the moniker LCHF or low carb high fat in studies and the media. There are a number of specific diets out there that align with this description (the paleo diet, the Atkins diet) but the specific diet is less important for the purposes of an athlete than the nutritional balance. Some articles suggest about 15% of your daily calories coming from carbohydrates, which is a significant shift for those of us that have trained under the paradigm of carbohydrate loading!
Changing our diet to make carbohydrates more scarce, and fats more plentiful accomplishes several things that will ultimately help our fat oxidation rates. The first is that when sugar is present in the bloodstream at high levels, insulin is released to control rates of blood sugar—extremely high rates of blood sugar are treated as a toxin by the body—and consequently insulin is a fat oxidation inhibitor, as the body wants to burn off the excess sugar and uses the opportunity. If we keep our levels of blood sugar lower with diet, our body releases less insulin, and fat oxidation rates are not suppressed.
Second, while sugar is easily transported across cell membranes and into cells, fats require transport by specific enzymes. Reducing our blood sugar and allowing fat oxidation to take place stimulates the production of these fat transport enzymes, so that fat can be brought into the cells at higher rates and utilized.
Finally, mitochondria are responsible for oxidizing fat and producing the ATP that fuel our cells. By reducing our carbohydrate fuel and relying more on fat, we stimulate the growth of mitochondria in the cells. Studies of athletes that are efficient fat oxidizers vs. sugar burners show a significant increase in mitochondrial density in the muscle cells.
Training Type
Our body is able to burn fat as fuel during aerobic exercise – those workouts and efforts that stay at level 3 or below. Once we cross the anaerobic threshold into lactate production, glycogen is the only fuel source that the body uses for energy production, so the stimulus to oxidize fat is gone. Thus fat oxidation is best trained during an aerobic base or volume phase, when the preponderance of workouts focus on relatively lower intensity, higher volume (hours or miles).
This isn’t a process that can be changed overnight. The cellular development that is required to shift your metabolic pathways takes time and sustained stimulation to change. With dedication to diet and training, studies show marked improvement in rates of fat oxidation after 8 to 12 weeks, so stick with it!
It’s often tempting as athletes to take things too far: if more of something is better, even more of it must be better still. Fat oxidation alone isn’t enough to keep up with our energy demands when we are training heavily for a climb. Therefore, maintaining some carbohydrates in your diet is important. Think of it as replenishing the fuel you spend: a workout of harder intensity will deplete your glycogen stores more; a 4 hour workout will require some carbohydrate fuel intake during the workout to prevent depleting glycogen stores as well. For those who want to really dig into the numbers, Alan Couzens has a calculator for balancing your nutritional intake depending on the phase of your training plan, hours, etc. It is designed for ironman triathletes, but can provide some interesting numbers for us as climbers as well!
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For more reading Alan Couzens has a number of interesting blogs on the subject. A good one to start with is Improving Fat Oxidation. Also see Deborah Schulman's Fuel on Fat for the Long Run.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
I know this was posted some time ago, and it’s a good reminder get back to the low carb/ no sugar diet that I have done a few different times over the last couple of years. However, I have a major question and challenge which is:
How to sustain this type of diet in the backcountry?
I’ve had a few different foods that work, but the limitation of boiling water for heating/reheating food is a pretty big obstacle to doing this in backcountry settings (I’ve yet to do an actual ski mountaineering trip but it’s coming up). Any tips there would be very welcome.
Thanks!
Posted by: Zachary Richmond on 1/16/2017 at 11:50 am
Regarding training for fellow
Flatlanders:
Find a hotel or office building that has a minimum of 10 stories but preferably 20-30 or more. Ask the manager for permission and train!
I will carry a weighted pack up the stairs and take the elevator down. I often wear my climbing double boots to simulate the real thing!
Enjoy!
Posted by: Eli Berko on 1/15/2017 at 5:40 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Mark Tucker, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 17,575'
I love keeping updated on the climb. Keep up the great work boys.
Posted by: Tyler on 5/13/2013 at 4:28 am
We are all “climbing Everest with you,” vicariously of course. But none-the-less,truly enjoying your posts and certainly rooting for your success and safety. Meteorology and your knowledge in that area will keep you safe as well as successful. You are now in the time frame of saying “yes” or “no” and we all know how difficult that can be. Bill Bussey
Posted by: Bill Bussey on 5/12/2013 at 5:23 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall, Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 17,575'
On The Map
Good luck on your summit push. Your Sherpas and your entire team are heroes, very brave. Blessings for a safe summit.
ABQ Uptown #985 NM/AZ/CO
Posted by: Rachael C. Lujan on 5/7/2013 at 3:49 pm
Good luck to your team. Hoping you can summit.
Posted by: Kevin on 5/7/2013 at 10:16 am
On The Map
James, I look forward to your triumphant summit. The mountain will let you know if she is ready. I know you are. I wish I could be there to support you as you have supported and encouraged me on climbs in the past. Cheers my friend !!!
Posted by: Ray Brown on 4/9/2013 at 7:30 am
On The Map
Well done. You are one in a krillion!
Posted by: the swarm on 12/12/2011 at 3:46 am
Sunday, May 29, 2022 - 4:12 pm PT
We woke up with plans to pack up camp early and move towards the airstrip, but the heat beat us to our plans. We trained this morning and are now hiding from the sun once again we will pack up or camp this afternoon or evening and move towards the airstrip when the heat is not so blinding.
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
A great day on Safari, according to our Kili climbing team. We got out early (7:15 AM) on the drive to Ngorongoro Crater. It takes a bit to drive the rough road up onto the crater rim, to cruise along that rim for miles and miles and then to drop down the steep road into the caldera itself. Immediately upon hitting the valley floor, we saw two male lions a few hundred feet from the road. But they might as well have been rocks. They were sleeping so hard that we never even saw an ear twitch. We moved on and began to encounter everything from wildebeest to jackals to hippos and Corey bustards. The abundance of zebra and Cape buffalo and gazelles was stunning. There were herds beyond herds stretching to the distant crater walls. We cruised amongst the ostriches and wart hogs for hours, at one point getting great views of a Cerval Cat on the prowl. Finally we stopped for a picnic lunch and then began our exit of the crater. We stopped at a Maasai village on the crater rim and spent an hour with the villagers as they danced, sang, made fire, threw spears and generally explained why they choose to hang on to their traditional methods in a modern world. Then we went back to that modern world, relaxing for the evening at the very comfortable Plantation Lodge.
Best Regards
Thank you Dave for the colorful and informative blog. We really enjoyed reading it and following you guys ,especially Andrew and Kylie, on this incredible experience.
Posted by: Bruce on 8/11/2022 at 6:09 pm
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney, Henry Coppolillo, Liam Weed, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb August 7 - 10 led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier and Avery Parrinello reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:30 am PT. The team enjoyed a light breeze and good visibility under an overcast sky. They spent time crossing the crater to reach Columbia Crest, the highest point on Mt. Rainier and in Washington. After taking all the photos and enjoying the views, the team left the crater rim just after 8 am PT. They will travel 4.5 miles and 4,500' retracing their steps from early this morning to return to Camp Muir. Once they have removed their glacier travel gear and repacked their backpacks, they will continue another 4.5 miles and 4,500' back to Paradise.
Nice work today team! Congratulations!
Way to go team! My son Nick was part of this group and everyone is glad they reached the summit safely.
Great work guides!
Posted by: Mike Vovakes on 8/10/2021 at 10:15 am
Hi Brent:
Wishing you and your team good luck and a successful trip to the top of Mt. McKinley. Considering the miserable condition of your trip, please stay safe and healthy. We are proud of what you are attempting to accomplish. Keep up the good work!!
George & Fujiko Okita
Posted by: George and Fujiko Okita on 5/30/2012 at 9:17 pm
Phil- Wishing you and everyone a safe and good climb. You definitely have earned it with all the training you have done. Have fun. Stay warm. Carol and Jon Holmquist
Posted by: Carol Rank on 5/27/2012 at 6:53 pm
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