loosing weight and gaining musles

dylancrisp

dear fellow bikers,

What is the best exercise to loose weight around the stomach and thighs, and gain muscles in these areas. i a only 14 so i cant do weights

thanks
dyl

ash68

i don't personally believe you can spot reduce weight like that. I think it's more about toning up the musles through exercise and weight loss which will show muscle definition.Agree your just a little young to start heavy weights,but before long light weights under supervision and good form should be ok.If you cycle regularly you will notice definition and firmness in your legs developing over time.

jacktheoc

i am only 14 and i lift 7kg dumbells, i try to get out on my bike minimum 5 times a week and do a minimum of 10miles each ride , it has made a massive difference over the last year on my arms,legs and stomach.
myadvice is just get out on your bike even if its on roads and buy some weights or some exercise machine .

hastings

i find that after taking up mtbing about 5 months ago (although it does help i suppose that i am only 15 and am still growing) but if you go for a 10 mile cycle ride (as above) as often as you can (maybe to work) and try and incorporate some hills among other things into your ride you will build leg muscles like you wouldn't believe. Also try some protein stuff i have heard that helps but have not personally tried it

Big n Daft

Your still growing.

Leave well alone and just keep riding your bike and doing what it is that kids do.

Don't eat loads of junk (sweets, burgers, fries and the like) although in moderation will do no harm at all, get plenty of sleep and drink loads of water.

Your body at your age is nowhere near completely formed, you could very well be amazed at the weight you will gain in the next couple of years.

DO NOT start lifting weights. You could cause serious damage to you joints.

Same for the protein drinks, don't.

They are for people who are seriously training for size. Drink them without the weight training, you will get fat.

You can get all the protein you need from a balanced diet, eggs, tuna fish, chicken and red meat are all good sources of natural protein.

Possibly the only supplement I would suggest is a one a day multi vitamin.

toasty

You're in a good situation, building muscle on no fat is hard and can be end up making you lose muscle, just get out and ride as much as you can. Start logging how far you've been if possible, maybe even start timing yourself.

As mentioned, burning fat off specific areas is a myth. Your body burn it off all over gradually, normally the appearance of burning fat in specific areas is just the muscles underneath toning up.

Get riding!

clarkson

i just used riding to tone my legs, and some ways my stomach. it has worked without me realising it and really hasnt taken very long. by using riding to do it, yoiu'll aklso let your body develop its muscles for riding, making xc rides a bit easier. doing running for instance will only develop running muscles not ones you use to cycle. both activities use different sets of muscles.

steve100

The muscle will be there under the fat, you can do as many sit ups and abs exercises as you like but the only way you can get a good six pack is by shifting the fat that is covering it up. (fat does not turn to muscle and muscle does not turn to fat).

When trying to shift fat it is not very easy to gain muscle at the same time, I advise you shift the fat first then go onto muscle building, I also would like you to note that you are trying to shift fat not loose weight a such (although weight loss will happen, unless you are very fat you should not loose massive amounts of weight.)

The first place to start when trying to shift fat is your diet, now I DON'T mean go on one of these fad diets diet, what I mean is that you need to be eating the right foods, healthy foods, The average adult male needs 2500-3000 calories to sustain them every day, I eat 3000 - 4000 calories everyday but I never put weight on, (unless I really hit the weights). There are a few reasons for this the first is I am very lucky and have a very fast motabalism, the second reason is that I eat the right foods, my diet is mainly fruit and veg and the meat I eat is always lean, chicken is very low in fat but lacks the protien that you can get from beef so I try to find very lean beef. Try to avoid things like bread and anything that contains large amounts of sugar.

Remember though your body needs protien (25%ish) Carbs (55%ish) and fats (20%ish) (the % is a measure of calories, not of actual food mass,eg fat contains more calories per kg than protien) yes your body needs fats, not all fats are bad infact some fats you can eat as much as you want with out having to worry, these ones are called monounsaturated fats, olive oil contains loads of it so if you want a good source of fat then is it you can fry food with it and also use is as a dressing on salads etc.

I strongly recomend you buy a good book on nutrition with recipes etc, I recomend "The Gi Diet" by rick gallop, as it explains which foods have the best nutriants with recipes etc. Don't worry about gaining muscles as that is something that will come in the future, I all ways advise young people that while they are young they need to concentrate on eating healthy foods and cardiovascular excersice. You will need good cerculation and a strong heart if you want to build muscles first, with blood vessels like drain pipes as muscles need alot of nutriants and oxygen to build.

I hope this is not all to confusing for you as I have tried to fit alot into a small post, but if you buy a good nutritional book it will become clear.

Steve

Ps drinks lots and lots of water