By Gina Kolata
In his new book, “Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance,” Matt Fitzgerald, a sports nutritionist, writes about an amazing running experience. He worked out on a special sort of anti-gravity treadmill, the AlterG, which uses a cushion of air to lift the body, allowing you to effectively decrease your body weight as you run.
Mr. Fitzgerald started out on the treadmill by running without the machine’s assistance. Then he ran with it adjusted to lift him just enough so that he was 10 percent lighter.
“I felt as if I had become 10 percent fitter,” he writes. Running at his usual pace was suddenly “utterly effortless,” he notes, adding that “it felt like normal running, only so much better.”
Exercise physiologists agree that if your sport is particularly affected by the tug of gravity — running, cross-country skiing, cycling up hills — you are penalized for excess weight. But that leaves some questions: What is the ideal weight for your sport? And how much difference will it make if you actually achieve it?
