Pro Athlete Kim Schwabenbauer: How A Woman Should Fuel Her Body For Fitness
By admin
Last week I had the great privilege of talking with Ironman pro-athlete and registered dietician Kim Schwabenbauer.
And I know what your immediate first thought is… how the heck do you say her name?
It really does sound just like you think, break it up into syllables and you’ve got it.
And after that, your thought will be proceeded by…
An Ironman/woman!? And a registered dietician? How cool is this lady!?
She’s is pretty cool, quite amazing actually and lucky for us she put aside time to share some of her story and nutritional knowledge with us.
In today’s podcast Kim and I talk all things…
How To Become An Athlete
Whenever I interview someone I like to try and have a “theme” for our conversation. Of course this helps to keep the podcast flowing (which when you’re talking to someone for the very first time can be a challenge).
But there was so much that I wanted to talk with Kim about…
Her story on finding the sport, how she took the jump from age group winner to pro athlete, and how could I not take time soak up some nutritional information that would be extremely helpful for you and me?
I was a bit nervous that our chat wasn’t centered around central idea. But then, after going back over our conversation I realized it did have a theme…
How to have the heart, the training and the nutrition of an athlete.
And what I loved even more, is that this central theme is something everyone can appreciate. We all want to be the best versions of ourselves, and even if we aren’t training for a world championship, we deserve to have the know-how to be the best.
Am I right?
So…
Dedicating Yourself To Be Better
If you’re not into science or nutrition… that’s cool.
If you don’t care about post workout recovery foods or if you should look at calories over nutrition… that’s cool.
But what you should care about that Kim discusses is not giving up.
You see, Kim grew up an athlete. Her mom was a runner and always encouraged her to run as well. In high school, she had dreams of making it to the State Meet…
But that never happen.
She wasn’t the fastest runner. She didn’t go to college with scholarship track offers, in fact, many people questioned her when she decided to dedicate an entire summer so that she could be accepted as a walk-on.
But she had a coach that believed in her, and a passion that couldn’t be subdued.
So she worked for it. And it paid off… by the end of college she left having a successful track career and as captain.
Pretty cool, right? She knew she wasn’t the best when she started, but that wasn’t enough to stop her – to keep her from really working for it. With passion and crazy hard work, Kim became the best.
That’s really the take home message… what we are today, isn’t who we have to be tomorrow. We have the opportunity to grow, get stronger, get smarter, get better.
Becoming A Pro
With drive like that, it’s really no surprise that an office desk wasn’t enough. And after a few local tris, Kim was pulled deeper and deeper into the sport.
With age group victories, she became more confident and more aware of her abilities and strengths…
With support (because let’s face it support is essential), Kim decided to go big or go home.
Have you ever feared doing something, but knew that if you didn’t go after it, you would regret it?
Those moments are crazy scary but you have to ask yourself… what’s the worst thing that can happen? The world won’t fall about and you will be able to pick yourself up and move on.
So with the help of her husband, a great coach and her own training and nutritional knowledge Kim set out to make it big.
And she is doing a great job…
Just last month she had her BEST finish by placing 2nd at Ironman Lake Placid (New York).
Kim… we wish you nothing but success! Thank you for inspiring women to go after their goals and push themselves to be the best that they can be!
Nutrition For Women
Like I said, I couldn’t have such a knowledgeable person on the show without picking her brain.
So…
Here are a few tid bits of information that we discussed! I can’t cover ALL the details so I encourage you to go back and listen to the podcast for the full conversation.
- When it comes to proper nutrition for fit women, it’s important to make sure they’re getting enough iron and omega’s. Two things many women are short on.
- Pre and post workout snacks are critical for energy and muscle recovery. For pre workouts make sure to have a healthy source of carbs to help fuel your workout and follow up a workout immediately with a high protein snack that is easy to digest. Kim recommends a high quality whey protein shake…. Keep calories low since this is not intended to be a meal, but something just to fuel the muscles for recovery.
- For post workout snacks, avoid high fat shake add-ins which can slow down digestion. I.e. Nut butters, avocado, oils, etc.
- Instead of stressing out over calories, focus on getting whole foods. Being active takes calories and one of the problems many women face with weight loss is that they are eating too few calories making the body want to hold on to body fat.
- If you’re training for an event/race, eat for the training. This is not the time to cut calories to lose weight, but instead eating proper, healthy foods to fuel performance. Going on a diet during training leads to fatigue, loss of motivation and poor results!
I want to thank Kim for taking the time out of her schedule to be on the show. If you have questions; want to inquire about nutritional or training; want to learn more about her or watch videos check out FuelYourPassion for more!
Did I mention that Kim was one of the Made coaches on MTV? I used to love that show!
Hook up with Kim…
Website: FuelYourPassion.Net
Twitter: @FuelYourPassion
Facebook: FuelYourPassion
I have a question for you…