Re:Tracing doping use by amateur athletes from wastewater
by nradov on Friday April 06, 2018 @09:47PM
(#16778966)
Yes this article confirms that professional cyclists in the Tour de France are under 6% and hungry all the time. But they have to be careful not to go too low or they run the risk of getting sick and dropping out of the race.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2099881/how-skinny-are-top-tou...
Re:Tracing doping use by amateur athletes from wastewater
by loeg on Friday April 06, 2018 @10:08PM
(#16779021)
Yeah. In running there is some belief that it may be safer and healthier to train at less extreme %bf in the off season, and only drop to extremely low %bf shortly before and during the race season.
As far as why it counts as "doping" — it is probably used by body builders to drop body fat to competition levels. Anecdotally, without chemical help you are hungry all the time at 4-8 %bf.
Also, the common wisdom among runners is that body fat is dead weight and losing it makes you faster and reduces load on your joints. So it may help there too. Cyclists probably see less benefit, but less fat may help acceleration and hill climb ability.