You Can’t Outwork a Shitty Diet

By Rob Shaul, Founder

Across nearly every sport, one fundamental difference separates the elite from everyone else: body fat. Top athletes are leaner—period.

Research has found this true for runners (1) soccer players (2), karate competitors (3), jui-jitsu athletes (4), orienteering athletes (5), skiers (7), wrestlers (9), rock climbers, etc. Lower body fat correlates directly with higher performance.

This isn’t because athletes at the highest levels have naturally higher burning metabolisms. It’s because they are more disciplined with their nutrition. Nutrition discipline is essential to staying lean.

Why Leanness Matters

In most sports, you’re moving your body through space. Less excess fat means your lighter and can move faster, be more agile, and more explosive. Small changes in weight make a big impact. Don’t believe me?

• Run 3 miles for time. Now do it again wearing a 10-pound vest and see the difference. 

• Go bouldering, tally a V-sum. Next day, repeat with a 5-pound weight vest – and notice the lower score. 

This little bit of extra weight will make a huge difference in performance. If you’re carrying 15+ pounds of excess bodyfat, it’s an impact to your joints, movement over ground speed, and overall athletic, job and sports performance.

Yes, there are outliers. Alpine skiing, for instance, can reward heavier athletes due to gravitational advantage. But even these athletes are lean—they’re just bigger humans. And sports such as powerlifting where movement is relatively static, extra body mass may not be a limiters.

You Can’t Outrun a Fork

After 20+ years coaching athletes across disciplines and answering thousands of questions, one truth stands above all: you can’t outwork a shitty diet. No amount of exercise can keep up with the fat-producing power of high calorie and high carb modern food. So what qualifies as a shitty diet?

Sugar – including refined (cookies, cake, ice cream), processed (high fructose corn syrup), or “natural” (honey, fruit, carrots). Yes, fruit. Cut sugar and you’ll see fast, visible body fat loss. The problem? It’s in everything—milk, condiments, bread, lunch meat, yogurt. Read labels and you’ll see.

Bad Carbs – Bread, pasta, tortillas, potatoes, starchy vegetables, chips, granola, beer—all the “good stuff.” These spike insulin and feed fat storage. They’re delicious, addictive, and everywhere.

Food has become emotional currency and this warps our relationship with it. We celebrate good days and accomplishments by eating sugar and carbs. We medicate bad days by doing the same.

The Aging Reality

The older you get, the more dialed your diet must become. Metabolism slows. Most people notice it in their late teens or 20s—hence the “Freshman 15.”

Then it only gets worse.

At 57, I’ve had to go full carnivore—meat, eggs, some dairy—to eliminate lingering visceral fat. No bread. No pasta. No fruit. I don’t count carbs, but I easily stay under 25 grams most days. There are a few grams of carbs in the dairy I consume – cheese, heavy cream, unflavored yogurt. 

Importantly, there is no caloric restriction. I’m never hungry and can eat as much meat/eggs as I want. I’m never hungry. Protein and fat are very satiating. While I haven’t counted calories, my guess I eat fewer overall calories than before shifting to this diet without trying.

The payoff?

• Down 10 pounds of fat.

• Less joint inflammation.

• Faster recovery.

• More energy.

• Less food noise—no constant cravings.

The Cost?

Do I miss toast and honey with my coffee? Ice cream? Chips? Italian food? Beer? Every damn day. But if I indulge, I gain fat—regardless of how hard I train.

And I’m still a sweet tooth. I’ve to replaced delicious sugar with diet soda and other artificial sweeteners. Not ideal, but better than the alternative. It helps me manage.

Overall I like the way I feel now more than I enjoy eating all the delicious sugar and carbs I’ve given up. It’s not for everyone, but it works for me.

Tactical and Mountain Athletes: Clean Up Your Diet

I field training questions daily. First thing I ask: age, height, and weight. I’ve built Ideal Bodyweights standards for tactical and mountain athletes. Nine times out of ten, athletes asking for training advice are carrying extra fat.

The fix? Clean up your diet. Eliminate sugar and bad carbs. When you do, you’ll cut fat and everything improves: Push-ups, Pull-ups, Running, Rucking, Uphill movement, etc.

I’m considering adding daily max carb allowances by age to MTI’s nutritional guidance. My initial thoughts:

• Under 40: ≤50 grams/day of “good” carbs (vegetables)

• Over 40: ≤25 grams/day of “good” carbs (vegetables) 

This may seem stringent, but I’ve yet to find another diet/nutrition path that works without caloric restriction. Limit carbs/sugar and you can eat to saiety – which is key to staying on any nutrition plan. Don’t limit carbs, and my sense is you’ll need to count and restrict calories and often be hungry … which in my experience, just isn’t sustainable.

And you can’t make up the difference with exercise. You just can’t outwork a shitty diet.

References:

(1) 28th ECSS Anniversary Congress, Paris/France, 4-7 July 2023: COMPARISON OF BONE METABOLISM MARKERS (BAP and TRACP-5b): ELITE VERSUS NON-ELITE IN COLLEGIATE MALE LONG-DISTANCE RUNNERS. Wakamatsu, K.1, Fujita, S.1, Sakuraba, K.2, Sanomura, M.3, Watanabe, K.1, Yanagita, K.4

(2) Slimani, Maamer, et al. “Comparison of body fat percentage of male soccer players of different competitive levels, playing positions and age groups: A meta-analysis.” J Sports Med Phys Fitness 58.6 (2018): 857-866.

(3) Najmi, N. A. S. R. E. E., et al. “Comparison of body fat percentage and physical performance of male national senior and junior karate athletes.” Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences 10.1S (2018): 485-511.

(4) Marinho, B. Ferreira, et al. “Comparison of body composition and physical fitness in elite and non-elite Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes.” Science & Sports 31.3 (2016): 129-134.

(5) Esteve-Ibáñez, Héctor, et al. “Relationship of body composition and somatotype with physical activity level and nutrition knowledge in elite and non-elite orienteering athletes.” Nutrients 17.4 (2025): 714.

(6) Toselli, Stefania, et al. “Assessment of body composition and physical performance of young soccer players: Differences according to the competitive level.” Biology 11.6 (2022): 823.

(7) Aktaş, Buket Sevindik. “A Study on the Association between Skiers’ Body Fat Percentage and Their Jump and Sprint Performance.” CBÜ Beden Eğitimi ve Spor Bilimleri Dergisi 18.2 (2023): 669-682.

(8) Kahraman, Muhammed Zahit, Sedat Okut, and İsmail Çelik. “The Relationship between Body Composition and Speed, Agility, and Strength Parameters in Regional Amateur League Football Players.” Eurasian Journal of Sport Sciences and Education 7.1 (2025): 117-130.

(9) Moghanlou, Abdorreza Eghbal, Recep Gürsoy, and Eser Aggon. “Examining the relationship between body composition values and performance indicators in wrestlers at the World Cup.” (2021).

(10) Pletcher, Erin R., et al. “Decreased percent body fat but not body mass is associated with better performance on combat fitness test in male and female marines.” The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 37.4 (2023): 887-893.

(11) Niewczas, Marta, et al. “The relationship between body composition before a sports fight and the technical and tactical performance of kickboxing athletes.” Arch Budo Sci Martial Art Extreme Sport 19 (2023): 197-210.

(12) Thompson, Megan B., et al. “Relationships Between Anthropometric Measures and Body Composition With Individual ACFT Event Performance Among Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Cadets.” The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 38.4 (2024): 749-754.