BURN FAT TO THE MAX

Keen to shift some weight and get to the bottom of the science, Steve Shrubsall puts FatMax training under the microscope – and into his weekly routine

- STEVE SHRUBSALL

When CW's features editor emailed me one lunchtime, asking if I'd like to investigate FatMax, I almost choked on my pork pie. What exactly was he insinuating? OK, I had to punch a couple of extra holes in my belt this winter, but surely that didn't merit such a callous appraisal of my physique. Only after I threatened to involve HR did I realise I'd been hasty. Although FatMax sounds like the street name of a portly American mobster, it in no way pertains to excess blubber. It is, in fact, a training method that is growing ever popular among pro cyclists.

Much has changed in the thinking about long-distance fuelling over the past decade, principally a paradigm shift in top-end carbohydrate intake, the amount our bodies can absorb and use per hour. The more fuel you can shovel, the longer and faster you can ride. That's why fuelling is low-hanging fruit for coaches and nutritionists. But the research never stops, and it isn't all about the supply end - the amount of carbs we take on - but also about how our bodies process them.

The carbs we consume on the bike are mostly short-chain sugars, usually glucose and fructose. But the body holds a store of fuel in the form of long-chain glycogen and fat. Even the leanest athletes have some 100,000kcal worth of fat at their disposal - practically enough to complete an entire Tour de France. If we could tap into this fat store at will, we'd never again have to bother with on-bike fuelling; but sadly, it's not that simple.