Krista Pärmäkoski bravely told about her fat percentage in her youth.
Krista Pärmäkoski gives important advice to young athletes. Matti Matikainen
Ski star Krista Pärmäkoski posted a telling photo from his youth on Instagram.
The photo shows the then 15-year-old Pärmäkoski’s test results from the summer of 2006. The results were obtained in a ski mat test.
The publication also shows videos of Pärmäkoski’s skiing and athletics performances from his teenage years.
Pärmäkoski singled out one of the numbers in particular: fat percentage. It was 24.4 for the young skier.
Pärmäkoski was already among the top names in his age group at that time. He has an important message for his young followers.
– Especially for young people, body conditioning or looking at body composition should not be a determining factor in training. Rather, you have to make sure that there is enough fat in the body to be able to develop at all, the Olympic medalist advises.
– I recommend taking a mat test at a young age, but you shouldn’t judge or get frustrated based on the results. There are no quick wins in sports, but development comes when you can keep repeating the right, simple things.
Pärmäkoski also writes that test results can give athletes and their parents a distorted picture of reality.
In addition, developmental steps may well come at a later age. You don’t have to be at the top level of the world at the age of 15.
– Of course, you can see from my test results that there was some kind of talent for endurance sports, but the grade 3/5 for aerobic capacity also showed that there is work ahead, Pärmäkoski points out.