There is no such thing as an ideal weight when you are an athlete. What is suitable for an average person and what is needed to perform can be two different stories. Using an ideal weight calculator will make you think you are overweight or underweight.
It does not matter if you are in great shape or not. The thing that often tips the scale is the fact that muscle weighs more than fat. Or the fact that to be a great gymnast you usually need to be petite and some consider that to be underweight. What matters as an athlete is that you are focussed on being the best you can be for performance.
The Ideal Weight Calculator Problem
The concept behind an ideal weight calculator is to figure out what your weight is and your height and tell you what you should weight based on that. There are a few different methods that they have used to figure these things out.
As you can see in the picture above, it does not take very much to be considered overweight. The body weight calculators are made for people who live inactive lifestyles. There are very few athletes that would perfectly fit into the normal body weight range.
It is vital for athletes to know this because these things can play games with your mind. You start to doubt your training and your body when you should not. There is no ideal weight when you train your butt off every day. There is only a perfect weight for you.
Ideal Weight Calculator – Don’t Adapt to The Athlete Life
The body has a purpose, and it adapts to how it is used. When you sit down all day at a desk and never work out what happens is that your body starts to adapt to what it is needed. It does not need muscle because muscle is not being used. It is this type of body and lifestyle that these calculators are based on.
If you are an athlete, your body adapts but in a very different way. When you run a lot, your body gets smaller because more weight will be very hard on your joints. If you need to be strong, your body will put on more muscle as a result of the training.
That means no matter the height that you are, you will be considered overweight because you have too much muscle to be considered a healthy weight. Knowing this what can the test tell you? Nothing! There is nothing else to it if you are an athlete just shut it down.
What Is Better Than an Ideal Weight Calculator
The better place to look to see where you stand is at the average heights and weight of great athletes that have come before you. Even this can be flawed though. Look at sprinter Usain Bolt. He was almost 7 inches taller than the average 100m runner and weighed much more. He was one of the greatest ever to do it.
If he would have looked at the averages maybe he would never have even tried to be great. Every sport will have general spots where you should be, but molds were meant to be broken. If Serena Williams took an ideal weight calculator or compared her self to greats that came before her, she would be overweight every time.
Forget the Ideal Weight Calculator and Focus on Performance
Focus on what you need to perform better. You see this with a lot with NFL lineman. Someone will be considered small and need to get fatter to be more competitive. Sometimes they take it too far though and to report to camp and they need to lose weight.
The indicator that they are based on is where they need to be to perform at a high level. Nothing else matters but playing at a high level. An Ideal weight calculator will never tell you what you need to do to perform at a high level. When you retire from sports, you can use an ideal weight calculator more.
Dealing With Athletic Injuries
9INE POINT Health is the best place to start your search for a health care provider to help you stay healthy. The key to success as an athlete is staying healthy and preventing runners knee is just one step of many.
9INE POINT Health lets you search for providers by type and skill. For example, you can look for a Sports Medicine Doctor that also knows the Graston Technique. It does not matter what kind of provider you need, 9INE POINT Health can help you find them and help you to sort through their skills. An ideal weight calculator will not keep you healthy.
If you are unsure where to start your journey, 9INE POINT Health will ask you questions and help you figure out the best starting place. All you have to do is answer a few questions. From there 9INE POINT Health will connect you with the type of provider best suited for your needs. It does not matter if you are injured or just sore from training.
The platform makes it easy to compare health providers as they are all given a 9INE POINT Number. Once you are shown the best local options, how do you know which is the best? Reading bios and reviews is just not enough because you need more than that.
Skill Sets to Look for In Sports Medicine Providers
Skill sets are the things healthcare providers learn after they graduate. A healthcare provider can take courses and get certifications for different skill sets. These skill sets are valuable and help them approach injuries from different perspectives. Seeing people from the list below will do much more for you than an ideal weight calculator ever could.
- Dry needling
- Acupuncture
- Joint Manipulation
- Active Release Technique
- Graston Technique
- Functional Movement Screen
- Fascial Stretching
- Strength and Conditioning Coach
- Athletic Trainer
- Sports Background
- And many more
KHO Health was acquired by was acquire by 9INE POINT in the summer of 2019 and is now referred to as 9INE POINT Health.
