Muscles be gone!

[muslimon]

I am a 5'9" 225 pounder that loves to ride road with approx 19% body fat. I have grown up however on basketball, basketball and football and spent 11 years in the Army running however, seldom touched a bike. Well, playing those sports througout the years, has left me a great deal of undesired muscle. I suffered a ruptured patellar tendon two and a half years ago and used riding as my way back to world class shape. However I fell in love with riding and due to my competitive nature I need to reach my full potential. Is there anyone out there that knows how to lose a great deal of muscle without hampering overall performance and how much of a difference should I notice? Thanks in advance!

A big body

 

[Spunout]

I am a 5'9" 225 pounder that loves to ride road with approx 19% body fat. I have grown up however on basketball, basketball and football and spent 11 years in the Army running however, seldom touched a bike. Well, playing those sports througout the years, has left me a great deal of undesired muscle. I suffered a ruptured patellar tendon two and a half years ago and used riding as my way back to world class shape. However I fell in love with riding and due to my competitive nature I need to reach my full potential. Is there anyone out there that knows how to lose a great deal of muscle without hampering overall performance and how much of a difference should I notice? Thanks in advance!

A big body

Stop lifting weights, and enjoy riding your bike. It should come off or balance naturally.

 

[frenchyge]

I can't advise on how to lose the muscle, but I can tell you that dropping from 225lbs down to the paltry 140lbs that a typical 5'9" competitive cyclist would carry will make a HUGE difference.

Even getting down to a reasonable 160-170lbs will make a big difference in your cycling performance (especially going uphill). Good luck!

 

[boudreaux]

I am a 5'9" 225 pounder that loves to ride road with approx 19% body fat. I have grown up however on basketball, basketball and football and spent 11 years in the Army running however, seldom touched a bike. Well, playing those sports througout the years, has left me a great deal of undesired muscle. I suffered a ruptured patellar tendon two and a half years ago and used riding as my way back to world class shape. However I fell in love with riding and due to my competitive nature I need to reach my full potential. Is there anyone out there that knows how to lose a great deal of muscle without hampering overall performance and how much of a difference should I notice? Thanks in advance!

A big body

Ethiopian diet.

 

[Geoff2010]

just ride your bike... ride it long... ride it hard.

i lifted weights seriously for about 3 years before i took up cycling. i was pretty beefy in the upper body. took up competitive cycling and after one serious season of 300 miles per week and lots of racing my upper body looks totally standard (not too big, not too small)... but my legs are farkin HUGE now

 

[FrankBattle]

In sort of the same boat, but I may have a few months and inches on you. I was a regular weight lifter. I was a somewhat muscular 225 lbs 6'3" when I fell for cycling.

I love hills. Gravity loves me too .. loves to hold on to me.

There is no magic pill that will get rid of bulky muscles that you've put on over the years with pain-staking work. Only thing is to ride hard, and ride long, stop lifting weights and watch the diet. You don't want to let the bulk be replaced by fat. Be patient. Just like with trying to lose fat .. it takes time to put it on and time to take it off. Quick fixes do not work.

 

[3_days]

I've been through this issue .. I hope the following is little helpful.

I have broad shoulders and a meaty chest. In the past, I carried much more muscle, but I've been 5'10", 170lbs for a while now. In any case, I come from a sports background where weightlifting is almost a must (ice hockey). In evaluating whether I should forego training and other sports in lieu of cycling focused training, I decided that I'm unwilling to give up weights and other sports, despite having a summer full of respectable and solid cycling efforts and extended riding time. It doesn't mean I don't love cycling and I don't ride hard, I just decided not to become focused solely on the bike.

I can tell you from my experience: if you like to lift weights, don't disillusion yourself with becoming part of the elite levels of cycling. My opinion is that, for 99.9% of us, cycling should be part of a series of various athletic endeavors. Cycling focused training means, when you train, you cycle! Period!

In terms of daily activities and sports, most of us gym rats (or even former gym rats) have other preconceived notions in terms of how we define strength and overall physical health. Maybe my experience was different from others, but when I was cycling focused, I felt weak at just about every other type of activity. Even though I was getting stronger and stronger for the riding time, I felt noticeably and generally weaker at tennis, running, weight training, skateboarding, etc.

As described above, I play a variety of other sports- and although my cycling power dramatically increased, I felt weaker in every single activity besides cycling. Even running a simple fast paced mile had me longing for a 50 mile bike ride instead.

So I guess this long winded post is the cliche of "be careful what you wish for ..." If you long to become a super cycling engine, be prepared to abandon your ideals about overall strength and athletic dexterity and performance in exchange for the uniquely tuned attributes of endurance athletes.

 

[biker-linz]

I can't advise on how to lose the muscle, but I can tell you that dropping from 225lbs down to the paltry 140lbs that a typical 5'9" competitive cyclist would carry will make a HUGE difference.

Even getting down to a reasonable 160-170lbs will make a big difference in your cycling performance (especially going uphill). Good luck!

I would say that ~160 lbs is much more common, even amongst pro and elite cyclists.

L.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

I am a 5'9" 225 pounder that loves to ride road with approx 19% body fat.

There's a start. You currently have a lean body mass of 182.25 lbs. By lowering your bodyfat percentage to 5% you will weigh a lean, rock hard 191.36 lbs. Shed the 33.6 lbs of flab first and see if you still want to drop down further.

 

[pvoss]

Undesired muscle? I guess the grass is always greener on the other side! Having a body type that's thin by nature, i've always been envious of those whose weightlifting resulted in more than merely an increase in wiriness.

 

[Carrera]

One thing hasn't been pointed out. The danger the poster risks is that muscle loss will more than likely increase fat gain because muscle mass literally burns calories.
Myself I found that sudden loss of muscle certainly made my fat levels increase. I winded up with a 38 inch gut while losing the muscle.
So, although muscle mass is a bad thing for a cyclist to carry, losing the muscle is a different kettle of fish. You have to do it very gradually.

 

[muslimon]

I kindly thank you all for your responses. I will drop my BF % by a safe 10% and see what happens. But as a mesomorph, the only way I will see 140-160 is in my grave or God forbid some unforseen illness.. I Havent touch a weight in almost 2 years and gained 5 lbs since I began riding. But just as a warning to you smaller guys, if I actually were to get down to 160lbs I would win a few stages in THE TOUR.

Thanks kindly

Mr. Mega Mesomorph

 

[boudreaux]

There's a start. You currently have a lean body mass of 182.25 lbs. By lowering your bodyfat percentage to 5% you will weigh a lean, rock hard 191.36 lbs. Shed the 33.6 lbs of flab first and see if you still want to drop down further.

Yeah....LOL... Extra bacon is very inefficient fuel, especially if you have less muscle to drag it around...This is just such a no bariner.. , but damm tough to quit sucking down the beer,pizza ,and KKs.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

I kindly thank you all for your responses. I will drop my BF % by a safe 10% and see what happens. But as a mesomorph, the only way I will see 140-160 is in my grave or God forbid some unforseen illness.. I Havent touch a weight in almost 2 years and gained 5 lbs since I began riding. But just as a warning to you smaller guys, if I actually were to get down to 160lbs I would win a few stages in THE TOUR.

Thanks kindly

Mr. Mega Mesomorph

Not if you're composed of predominantly fast twitch fibers. True Mesomorphs have a much higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers over slow twitch. They fatigue way to easily. That won't help on a grand tour. It makes for good sprinters and track cyclists.

 

[wiredued]

Keep the muscle let the lite riders beat you up hill and then just picture them letting their wives help them open a jar of pickles.

I am a 5'9" 225 pounder that loves to ride road with approx 19% body fat. I have grown up however on basketball, basketball and football and spent 11 years in the Army running however, seldom touched a bike. Well, playing those sports througout the years, has left me a great deal of undesired muscle. I suffered a ruptured patellar tendon two and a half years ago and used riding as my way back to world class shape. However I fell in love with riding and due to my competitive nature I need to reach my full potential. Is there anyone out there that knows how to lose a great deal of muscle without hampering overall performance and how much of a difference should I notice? Thanks in advance!

A big body

 

[LIKESBIKES716]

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR! I would think that you still want to be strong enough to ride and hold your body up for hours on end for those long rides. I agree ride your bike and eat clean you'll come down in weight and I guess that will make your muscless seem like there a little smaller.

I am a 5'9" 225 pounder that loves to ride road with approx 19% body fat. I have grown up however on basketball, basketball and football and spent 11 years in the Army running however, seldom touched a bike. Well, playing those sports througout the years, has left me a great deal of undesired muscle. I suffered a ruptured patellar tendon two and a half years ago and used riding as my way back to world class shape. However I fell in love with riding and due to my competitive nature I need to reach my full potential. Is there anyone out there that knows how to lose a great deal of muscle without hampering overall performance and how much of a difference should I notice? Thanks in advance!

A big body

 

[K50]

In sort of the same boat, but I may have a few months and inches on you. I was a regular weight lifter. I was a somewhat muscular 225 lbs 6'3" when I fell for cycling.

I love hills. Gravity loves me too .. loves to hold on to me.

There is no magic pill that will get rid of bulky muscles that you've put on over the years with pain-staking work. Only thing is to ride hard, and ride long, stop lifting weights and watch the diet. You don't want to let the bulk be replaced by fat. Be patient. Just like with trying to lose fat .. it takes time to put it on and time to take it off. Quick fixes do not work.

What if you want to do the opposite? I'm only 20 and have always been curious to see how far I could get in a couple of years of strength training..Partly because I've always been skinny. I don't know how to gain weight because my body is so used to being lean and riding so much now...But if I started taking a lot fo protein and doing strength training, would it take a while for my body to adapt? I think it might because it's the opposite of what I'm doing now...

 

[Doctor Morbius]

What if you want to do the opposite? I'm only 20 and have always been curious to see how far I could get in a couple of years of strength training..Partly because I've always been skinny. I don't know how to gain weight because my body is so used to being lean and riding so much now...But if I started taking a lot fo protein and doing strength training, would it take a while for my body to adapt? I think it might because it's the opposite of what I'm doing now...

If you're riding a lot chances are you won't be able to get much out of the strength training. These activities are diametrically opposed to each other. They really can't be optimized. One will have to develop at the expense of the other. No bones about it.

No need for the huge amounts of protein either. Want to gain weight? Up your carbs - pasta, bread, potatoes, etc. Many people have a hard time processing these kinds of carbs and it causes their insulin to spike making them gain weight. I'm not talking about the kinds of carbs you find in leafy green veggies either. Grains and corn all the way.

If you're naturally an ectomorph (skinny) you may never build up much muscle. It just isn't in the genetic cards for ectomorphs. They usually make great cyclists and distance runners though.

 

[K50]

If you're riding a lot chances are you won't be able to get much out of the strength training. These activities are diametrically opposed to each other. They really can't be optimized. One will have to develop at the expense of the other. No bones about it.

No need for the huge amounts of protein either. Want to gain weight? Up your carbs - pasta, bread, potatoes, etc. Many people have a hard time processing these kinds of carbs and it causes their insulin to spike making them gain weight. I'm not talking about the kinds of carbs you find in leafy green veggies either. Grains and corn all the way.

If you're naturally an ectomorph (skinny) you may never build up much muscle. It just isn't in the genetic cards for ectomorphs. They usually make great cyclists and distance runners though.

sob...yeah that's me. I'm built just like my dad, and he was a strong marathon runner. But for some reason I'm lighter than him. It's good for cycling I guess, but I hate being skinny. It'd be nice to have a bit of extra leverage when stuff gets rough, and to not see so many ribs when I look in the mirror when I'm at the peak of the cycling season hehe...

 

[lanierb]

I am a 5'9" 225 pounder that loves to ride road with approx 19% body fat. I have grown up however on basketball, basketball and football and spent 11 years in the Army running however, seldom touched a bike. Well, playing those sports througout the years, has left me a great deal of undesired muscle. I suffered a ruptured patellar tendon two and a half years ago and used riding as my way back to world class shape. However I fell in love with riding and due to my competitive nature I need to reach my full potential. Is there anyone out there that knows how to lose a great deal of muscle without hampering overall performance and how much of a difference should I notice? Thanks in advance!

A big body

I've been there (well not quite, 6'0", 205, but more like 6% body fat). I am now 175 (still 6'0", 6%). I'll never be small because of my past weight training, but I'm a lot smaller now than before. The way you do it is you train for cycling and follow a steady diet. I would not recommend an extreme diet though, as that doesn't go well with cycling. It took me about 3-4 years to get there (and I've actually been as low as 170). One thing you will notice is that as your body weight lowers your power will go up because the load on your system is lower.


Lanier