How much does build matter?

boybiker

I was wondering after reading some other posts about 'ideal body weight' and I know that there isn't any such thing as an ideal but any advice would be useful.
I am 6 ' 1 10 and a half stone and quite muscular build but I am not sure if I should be looking to increase my weight over the winter which I find hard to do no matter how much I eat, or whether I should just be happy with the weight that my body clearly likes.
Sorry if this sounds stupid but there is just so much contradictory advice you can read on t'interweb

P.S my weight hasn't changed much if at all since I was 16

shockedsoshocked

Don't worry about it. Eat right and exercise properly and your weight should sort itself out.

ColinJ

I don't understand how you can possibly be 6' 1", 10 st 7 lbs and quite a muscular build unless you have bones made of polystyrene!

I'm the same height as you and a medium build. I certainly wouldn't describe myself as particularly muscular. I was 10 st 10 lbs when I finished university and I was incredibly skinny. All my ribs stuck out and my arms and legs were like pipe cleaners. My skin was almost transparent, there was so little fat under it.

My weight has varied over the years but in 2001 I was very cycling fit i.e. I had strong legs with chunky muscles, but the top of me was so scrawny that people kept asking me if I was ill. I weighed 11 st 10 lbs then.

How on earth can you weigh 17 lbs less than that but me more muscular than me :shock: ?

fuzzynavel

ColinJ wrote:

I don't understand how you can possibly be 6' 1", 10 st 7 lbs and quite a muscular build unless you have bones made of polystyrene!

I'm the same height as you and a medium build. I certainly wouldn't describe myself as particularly muscular. I was 10 st 10 lbs when I finished university and I was incredibly skinny. All my ribs stuck out and my arms and legs were like pipe cleaners. My skin was almost transparent, there was so little fat under it.

My weight has varied over the years but in 2001 I was very cycling fit i.e. I had strong legs with chunky muscles, but the top of me was so scrawny that people kept asking me if I was ill. I weighed 11 st 10 lbs then.

How on earth can you weigh 17 lbs less than that but me more muscular than me :shock: ?

I would second your sentiment....6'1" and 10st 7lbs and muscular don't quite mix....I guess you have about 7% body fat and can see muscles but that is just cos there is nothing covering them. My wee brother is 6'3" and about 11stone and he is a shapeless bean pole .

ride_whenever

You do sound pretty lean, but those sorts of weights are not unheard of.

If you look at lightweight rowers they are usually around your height if not taller and weigh in around 70kg, so not a huge amount more. I'd imagine you just have a very low body fat percentage and aren't nearly as muscular as you'd like us to think!

fuzzynavel

boybiker wrote:

I was wondering after reading some other posts about 'ideal body weight' and I know that there isn't any such thing as an ideal but any advice would be useful.
I am 6 ' 1 10 and a half stone and quite muscular build but I am not sure if I should be looking to increase my weight over the winter which I find hard to do no matter how much I eat, or whether I should just be happy with the weight that my body clearly likes.
Sorry if this sounds stupid but there is just so much contradictory advice you can read on t'interweb

P.S my weight hasn't changed much if at all since I was 16

Why bother increasing your weight. If you have the performance that you want then increasing your weight will not help at all....Take it from a fatty(me), extra bulk will not help you ride....I have found it much easier to climb hills since losing 2 stone to get to 15 stone.

a_n_t

im 6'2" and was 13 stone at the beginning of the year but after a fair bit of training I'm now 11.5 stone and look more "musclier" than before.

fuzzynavel

a_n_t wrote:

im 6'2" and was 13 stone at the beginning of the year but after a fair bit of training I'm now 11.5 stone and look more "musclier" than before.

Probably just less subcutaneous fats...probably not much more muscle mass unless it is on your legs. All depends what kind of training you are doing. Cycling Weekly on the 23rd october were advocating running as a viable alternative to bike sessions throughout the winter to keep the fitness up

Ramanujan

weight isn't that important unless you are doing races that involve an hour or so of climbing...i.e . grand tours etc.
Threshold power is the thing you should be worried about, not weight.

a_n_t

fuzzynavel wrote:

Probably just less subcutaneous fats...probably not much more muscle mass unless it is on your legs.

exactly that! bigger legs, smaller belly

Voodoo Juice

I'm that weight at 5"8 and I'm a skinny little fella

miketherower

I'm that height and 16 stone and I'm a right fat bastard. Hey ho.

boybiker

I was told that BMI was a load of old bollocks, like most things to do with cycling it seems you can ask ten people and get ten different answers anyway I shall not worry about it, I cannot force myself to gain weight and as someone said it prolly wouldn't help.

chuckcork

With your height and leverage on the cranks, and lack of weight, you must be pretty quick going up the hills? So why gain weight, believe me you will as you get older and then its a real bugger to get rid of, it took me a mere 8000 miles to lose 12kg over a year.

With such a lanky frame it must be a bugger seeing small fat buggers coat past you on the way down though :?

boybiker

I can do hills quite well, but Ive always maintained that hill climbing is more a test of how much pain you are prepared to inflict on yourself rather than your build. It would be interesting to see if there are any good hill climbers who are larger than average.
We don't seem to have many downhill bits round my way they all seem to be uphill

I did win our club hill climb this year, and left my breakfast at the top :roll: :roll:

damage36

boybiker wrote:

I can do hills quite well, but Ive always maintained that hill climbing is more a test of how much pain you are prepared to inflict on yourself rather than your build. It would be interesting to see if there are any good hill climbers who are larger than average.
We don't seem to have many downhill bits round my way they all seem to be uphill

I did win our club hill climb this year, and left my breakfast at the top :roll: :roll:

Jan Ullrich did quite well on EPO, and he was a great big fat b*stard.

chuckcork

boybiker wrote:

I did win our club hill climb this year, and left my breakfast at the top :roll: :roll:

I've been told that the best measure of effort bing put in is feeling sick in the guts when you stop, never actually upchucked though!

fuzzynavel

boybiker wrote:

I did win our club hill climb this year, and left my breakfast at the top :roll: :roll:

I guess you should have eaten a little earlier....digesting the food probably stole some power from your muscles...you coulld have been even faster!

boybiker

I won't go into the details but I clearly hadn't been doing much digesting while riding, which is interesting but pretty disgusting at the same time :? :? :?

mclarent

boybiker wrote:

I won't go into the details but I clearly hadn't been doing much digesting while riding, which is interesting but pretty disgusting at the same time :? :? :?

Lol!

My rule is no eating for 2 hours before a ride / training session, then get some carbs down me (a full bottle of SIS Go for me) about 20 mins before I start - takes some getting used to, but helps with the hydration and (supposedly) doesn't give your body long enough to trigger the insulin response. Or something. Sure someone will correct me on that(!) but I'm a sucker for believing what I've read...

fuzzynavel

mclarent wrote:

boybiker wrote:

I won't go into the details but I clearly hadn't been doing much digesting while riding, which is interesting but pretty disgusting at the same time :? :? :?

Lol!

My rule is no eating for 2 hours before a ride / training session, then get some carbs down me (a full bottle of SIS Go for me) about 20 mins before I start - takes some getting used to, but helps with the hydration and (supposedly) doesn't give your body long enough to trigger the insulin response. Or something. Sure someone will correct me on that(!) but I'm a sucker for believing what I've read...

The article abstract below suggests some sort of insulin respoonse as early as 4 minutes after ingestion

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T0P-485G641-8P&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=dd5213da1f2aa9f50c820a9adb8b8369

This next one suggests approx 10 mins in women

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/reprint/50/5/1030.pdf

steve23

im 6ft and weight 12st 7lbs, and it doesnt bother me at all.

ive got a very low body fat percentage, and use my power on long climbs, and especially steep ones. if you put on muscle, i suppose you could expect your power to increase, but you prob would be able to hold it for as long. so you would prob improve sprinting, power climbs etc.
whereas as you are, you could prob ride up long climbs pretty easily, whereas i would find it harder the longer the hill was!

(think that sort of makes sense!)

but as someone said, if your not riding major tours or anything, then good power to weight is more beneficial!

inseine

if your not riding major tours or anything, then good power to weight is more beneficial!

If you're riding grand tours it's ALL about power to weight ratio. Cycling is about cardio vascular not muscle size. Cyclists never worry about being too skinny

bobtbuilder

I'm a pretty muscular 88KG and 5'9" tall, and although very good on the flat, I'm bloody useless going uphill!

mclarent

play to your strengths, that's what I keep telling myself. Haven't worked out what they are yet, but when I do I intend to play to them.

sportbilly1976

Well i am just starting out, and using cycling as a method of dropping a few (sic several!) pounds.

currently I'm 6'2" and 14 st 10.

As a result of my teen years playing football & uni years rowing, I have good thigh muscles (although a different muscle group as I found out on after a 40 mils run last weekend in Cheshire !)but my top half is certainly more developed than you would see on a reasonable level cyclist.

Although looking to loose a bit of late 20's spread in the belly, I am not targeting to loose the stone + some have for fear of looking in need of charity food donations.... :shock:

On the subject on my thigh muscle....mine hurt quite a bit, and I remained seated all the way round, inlcuding a few hills where I just kept mentally telling myself to maintain a high cadence, yet a friend of mine was fine and she stood up on the ascents....is this to be expected & normal?

Edit - I am getting (as a first bike) a Trek 1.2 for sunday runs and a 7.3 for commuting. At just under 15st, is that likely to impact on the pressure I should use in the tyres....its a kin to me feeling sorry for the horse before I mount one ?

eh

Jan Ullrich did quite well on EPO, and he was a great big fat b*stard.

No he wasn't, he was 6' tall and weighed 73kg (11ish stone).

For comparison LA was ~5'11 and 75kg and Tyler H ~5'8 and 64kg.

pjm-84

6ft 5in and 16stone but then again I have 26.5inch thighs. Seems rowing has a lot to answer for in these postings.

seagulljez

12st 8lbs and 6ft 1 didn't help me find my 39*25 grovelling up the col d'aspin....

wish I'd had an arm or leg cut off...!

nasahapley

About 5'11" and usually around 13st 6, sounds a lot compared to some on here but I'm not too bad at climbing. For a given power-to-weight ratio it's better to be heavier, that's my take on it.

brownbosh

Big mig wasnt half bad!