Skinny legs vs Large legs (MUSCLE)

mennitt · #1 04-13.-2008

I'm naturally a runner and will jump on the bike to cross train or to enjoy a 18mph 45 mi ride. Last summer I gained a lot of muscle in my quads and my legs are huge now. I seen many cyclists with skinner legs than I have now and am wondering how that happens? Also is there any way I can burn this muscle off without risking injury? Thanks for any advice

jsirabella · #2 04-14.-2008

Why do you want to burn off muscle?

Based on your post, it sounds like to me you had never done weight lifting so your larger legs were not a result of weight lifting but if you really want to burn off muscle it is really no different than burning off fat.

Less calories in and more calories out and your body is very resourceful so when forced will go straight for the muscles to feed itself hence the term catabolic state.

On a side note I would first check my actual bodyfat % before doing that.

-js

Quote:

Originally Posted by mennitt

I'm naturally a runner and will jump on the bike to cross train or to enjoy a 18mph 45 mi ride. Last summer I gained a lot of muscle in my quads and my legs are huge now. I seen many cyclists with skinner legs than I have now and am wondering how that happens? Also is there any way I can burn this muscle off without risking injury? Thanks for any advice

mennitt · #3 04-14.-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsirabella

Why do you want to burn off muscle?

Based on your post, it sounds like to me you had never done weight lifting so your larger legs were not a result of weight lifting but if you really want to burn off muscle it is really no different than burning off fat.

Less calories in and more calories out and your body is very resourceful so when forced will go straight for the muscles to feed itself hence the term catabolic state.

On a side note I would first check my actual bodyfat % before doing that.

-js

I'm running, it's the lean wolf that leads the pack. My body fat right now is about 12%..should be about 6-7%. I'm just afraid if I don't fuel my body with enough calories then I'll be risking injury.

jsirabella · #4 04-14.-2008

Right now I am at about 15% (depends on when you measure) and want to reach closer to 10% in the next couple of months. At 12% I think you are fairly lean for most races but if you expect your racing to be very hilly or very long I can see why you want to get below 10%. Personally though I do not think you need to go below 10% as your joints actually need a bit of body fat. Granted this is cycling so people can get pretty extreme, me personally, no. I do not know your age as that plays a factor.

Also keep in mind at such an already low body fat%, you have to have a fairly precise diet of knowing how many grams of fat, protein and such you are eating to loose fat and not muscle. I used to have a few articles but can not locate them now but will try and find them.

-js

Quote:

Originally Posted by mennitt

I'm running, it's the lean wolf that leads the pack. My body fat right now is about 12%..should be about 6-7%. I'm just afraid if I don't fuel my body with enough calories then I'll be risking injury.

ronsan · #5 04-18.-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by mennitt

I'm naturally a runner and will jump on the bike to cross train or to enjoy a 18mph 45 mi ride. Last summer I gained a lot of muscle in my quads and my legs are huge now. I seen many cyclists with skinner legs than I have now and am wondering how that happens? Also is there any way I can burn this muscle off without risking injury? Thanks for any advice

Make sure that itz muscles , it may be fat , if it is fat , there ar elot of ways to burn it off, arobic , etc

velo711 · #6 04-18.-2008

You also have to factor in a genetic predisposition too, ie: if my great Grandfather had skinny legs, I'll have skinny legs(which I do)(and he may have).

velomanct · #7 04-18.-2008

Sounds like all you need to do is stay off the bike if you prefer you're stick runner legs.

It's just genetics by the way. Some people gain leg muscle from biking, ut most will lose muscle from such aerobic exercise. (assuming they were bulky)

Trekhead · #8 04-27.-2008

If you have huge legs from biking then it sounds like you gain muscle very easy. You might want to try working your other muscles and see what happens.

Pendejo · #9 04-27.-2008

Based on my observations (especially of the pros) and personal experience, hard biking firms the legs up and gives them a wiry definition, but doesn't add bulk. Has anyone here actually added muscular bulk through cycling?

Trekhead · #10 04-27.-2008

It really depends on how you ride and even more on your genetics. If your rides are an hour or more of constant pedaling at a fixed pace, like a road biker, then your legs probably won't develop much in the way of muscle mass at all. If you're riding trails you're going to be climbing and decending over and over again and the short (sometimes long) bursts of all out energy up a hill are going to do more to stimulate muscle growth than distance riding on the road all day long. It's like how a marathon runner looks like he never eats and a sprinter has massive legs and even a somewhat large upperbody. On the genetics side of things, some people build muscle by doing just about any physical activity with a good degree of intensity while others can work their whole life and never build more than 10 pounds of muscle.

Pendejo · #11 04-27.-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trekhead

... It's like how a marathon runner looks like he never eats and a sprinter has massive legs and even a somewhat large upperbody...

Yes, Trek, but I would suggest that the marathoner and the sprinter didn't each develop their particular physiques as a result of their sport; rather, those are the types of physiques that excel in those particular sports.

Trekhead · #12 04-27.-2008

Yeah that's true too. Of course the people that excel in the sport are going to be on the extreme end of the physique scale for that sport. The best sprinters are likely to be the most muscular and the best endurance runners are likely to be the skinniest. That doesn't mean that you won't have some mediocre sprinters that are on the skinny side and some mediocre runners that are muscular.

jsirabella · #13 04-28.-2008

Certain types of cycling like Mountain or Cyclocross will build and require somes muscle and upper body strength but in the end aerobics does not build muscle and in most cases will destroy muscle.

Genetics does play a role as it does in any sport but the determining factor in this case is diet. Nutrition will determine if you are gaining muscle or loosing muscleand while you believe you may be gaining muscle it may be just fat. You can only tell by taking your body fat %.

When I wake up in the morning on a Saturday I can be 180 +/- pounds and 15% bodyfat...after a 3 hour session with a mix of 2 hours cycling and an hour of weight training I can go down to 175 and 11.5% bodyfat. I can sweat quite a bit of it out...puddles.

-js

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pendejo

Yes, Trek, but I would suggest that the marathoner and the sprinter didn't each develop their particular physiques as a result of their sport; rather, those are the types of physiques that excel in those particular sports.

daveryanwyoming · #14 04-28.-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsirabella

...When I wake up in the morning on a Saturday I can be 180 +/- pounds and 15% bodyfat...after a 3 hour session with a mix of 2 hours cycling and an hour of weight training I can go down to 175 and 11.5% bodyfat. I can sweat quite a bit of it out...puddles. ...

Yes, you can sweat out several pounds in a hard indoor workout, but I'm sure you know your body fat doesn't actually change that much, just your hydration state.

The example above shows a nearly 7 pound drop in body fat, you might have dropped say six and a half pounds of water weight and perhaps up to half a pound of body fat but there's no way you actually dropped 7 pounds of fat during your workout. That would require you to burn 24,500 Calories or the equivalent of riding at 300 watts for more than 21 straight hours!

I see what you're trying to say, scale weight can drop a lot during a sweaty indoor ride, true enough. But body fat doesn't change that rapidly regardless of what an impedance based scale or underwater weighing might show. It's a problem with those techniques that they are heavily influenced by hydration state.

-Dave

jsirabella · #15 04-28.-2008

I guess I forgot to include some needed details....

My morning ritual includes waking up, stripping down and weighing myself before I do anything. It seems to be my body is on a clock where I will use the toilet usually 2-3 times before taking my last weigh in after taking my shower at the end.

Lets just say I seem to heavy rather large ... How much they weigh...well I will not know.

But I can tell you that the scale while not as exact as using tapes told me 15%, 180 Saturday morning...Saturday after shower 12% ... 176...

Next time I will use the tape measure and see how much off from scale...

-js

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveryanwyoming

Yes, you can sweat out several pounds in a hard indoor workout, but I'm sure you know your body fat doesn't actually change that much, just your hydration state.

The example above shows a nearly 7 pound drop in body fat, you might have dropped say six and a half pounds of water weight and perhaps up to half a pound of body fat but there's no way you actually dropped 7 pounds of fat during your workout. That would require you to burn 24,500 Calories or the equivalent of riding at 300 watts for more than 21 straight hours!

I see what you're trying to say, scale weight can drop a lot during a sweaty indoor ride, true enough. But body fat doesn't change that rapidly regardless of what an impedance based scale or underwater weighing might show. It's a problem with those techniques that they are heavily influenced by hydration state.

-Dave

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