I was reading a thread earlier concerning a poster who was 117 lbs and 5'3", a small rider, who was wondering about his/her power on the flats, etc.
I too am a very small rider, a little over 5'3" and at 111 lbs. Within the past few weeks, though, I ended up gaining about 4 pounds...without making any effort to eat more and not really overeating myself either. I see no real gain in fat, and am pretty positive that this gain is lean muscle mass which I have gained from eating nutritious food and from training well with interval sessions, long rides, climbs, and other types of workouts. In addition, I do not feel as if I lost any of my climbing abilities.
My question is this: is there any correlation between pro cyclists' bmi and an unsually small cyclist's bmi? For example, Tom Danielson is considered a climber and weighs in around 130 for 5'8". This gives him a bmi of 19.76 and he is also under the common thought of climbers being less than 2 pounds per height in inches (Danielson: 130 vs. 5'8" which translates into 136 lbs.). On the other hand, my bmi for my height and weight is 20.12, which is greater than Danielson's bmi. But then, there is a greater discrepancy between my weight, 115 lbs, and my heightx2, 126 lbs. I know that it is harder to be less than 2 lbs. per inch of height when a person is taller, but I am wondering if it is generally thought that climbers usually have certain bmis like Danielson's under 20, or is it that they tend to be under 2 x height in inches? For someone my height, I could weigh even 120 lbs. and still be under 126 (5'3" x 2) by 6 pounds but my bmi would be 21. At this weight, are people still able to climb well? Obviously, 120 is still a very very low weight but for someone around 5'3", it is not out of the question.
If people around 5 feet tall tried to match the pro climbers in bmi, they would end up weighing around 100 pounds vs. most pro climbers weights of 120-140 pounds. Clearly, 100 pounds does not help you very much on the flats and in terms of power, which plays an important role on hills too. Therefore, if people this short in stature were to weigh more...say around a bmi of 21-22, would they still be able to climb well because they are simply small and weigh little or must they match the pro climbers in bmi and really weigh ~100 pounds to climb very well?
I too am a very small rider, a little over 5'3" and at 111 lbs. Within the past few weeks, though, I ended up gaining about 4 pounds...without making any effort to eat more and not really overeating myself either. I see no real gain in fat, and am pretty positive that this gain is lean muscle mass which I have gained from eating nutritious food and from training well with interval sessions, long rides, climbs, and other types of workouts. In addition, I do not feel as if I lost any of my climbing abilities.
My question is this: is there any correlation between pro cyclists' bmi and an unsually small cyclist's bmi? For example, Tom Danielson is considered a climber and weighs in around 130 for 5'8". This gives him a bmi of 19.76 and he is also under the common thought of climbers being less than 2 pounds per height in inches (Danielson: 130 vs. 5'8" which translates into 136 lbs.). On the other hand, my bmi for my height and weight is 20.12, which is greater than Danielson's bmi. But then, there is a greater discrepancy between my weight, 115 lbs, and my heightx2, 126 lbs. I know that it is harder to be less than 2 lbs. per inch of height when a person is taller, but I am wondering if it is generally thought that climbers usually have certain bmis like Danielson's under 20, or is it that they tend to be under 2 x height in inches? For someone my height, I could weigh even 120 lbs. and still be under 126 (5'3" x 2) by 6 pounds but my bmi would be 21. At this weight, are people still able to climb well? Obviously, 120 is still a very very low weight but for someone around 5'3", it is not out of the question.
If people around 5 feet tall tried to match the pro climbers in bmi, they would end up weighing around 100 pounds vs. most pro climbers weights of 120-140 pounds. Clearly, 100 pounds does not help you very much on the flats and in terms of power, which plays an important role on hills too. Therefore, if people this short in stature were to weigh more...say around a bmi of 21-22, would they still be able to climb well because they are simply small and weigh little or must they match the pro climbers in bmi and really weigh ~100 pounds to climb very well?