I am 37 years old and would like to get involved in road bike racing. Up until 10 years ago I did alot of biking both road and mountian biking, not racing. About 10 years ago I got into bodybuilding. I put on a lot of muscle but my endurance went down. I am currently about 6 foot 1 inches and 225lbs with 10% bodyfat First of all, is the amount of muscle I'm carrying going to be a problem. I really don't want to loose the muscle and would like to continue weight training while training for races. Second, could someone give me some quick tips on diet and training to get me started.
Sorry, but I think the high percentage of muscle you carry will indeed cause problems if you want to race. Any powerlifter who cycles hard is not going to max on the squat. Any cyclist who carries a lot of muscle mass will get burned by the slimmer, lean guys. I can't thing of a single champion cyclist who has a 17 inch bicep. What you can certainly do is what I do myself and combine cycling and weights together as an all around fitness approach. You'll not be quite as good as the cycling specialists or as strong as the lifters who don't do aerobics but you'll certainly be fit and strong at the same time. But I honestly don't see how you could compete in races against guys who weight 160 -180 pounds and folks who don't have to lug so much muscle uphill. Many pro-cyclists do weights but Lance, for example, only does lower body and only for a certain part of the year.
darthkeys said:
I am 37 years old and would like to get involved in road bike racing. Up until 10 years ago I did alot of biking both road and mountian biking, not racing. About 10 years ago I got into bodybuilding. I put on a lot of muscle but my endurance went down. I am currently about 6 foot 1 inches and 225lbs with 10% bodyfat First of all, is the amount of muscle I'm carrying going to be a problem. I really don't want to loose the muscle and would like to continue weight training while training for races. Second, could someone give me some quick tips on diet and training to get me started.
I am 37 years old and would like to get involved in road bike racing. Up until 10 years ago I did alot of biking both road and mountian biking, not racing. About 10 years ago I got into bodybuilding. I put on a lot of muscle but my endurance went down. I am currently about 6 foot 1 inches and 225lbs with 10% bodyfat First of all, is the amount of muscle I'm carrying going to be a problem. I really don't want to loose the muscle and would like to continue weight training while training for races. Second, could someone give me some quick tips on diet and training to get me started.
Thank you very much darthkeys
Carrera is correct; the extra muscle mass will slow you down tremendously when the road starts to tip upwards even a little bit. Endurance cycling and strength training are two diametrically opposing forces on your system. There are however several studies on this issue using subjects who are similar to your situation: the general result is that aerobic performance can increase without any significant hinderance from your strength training (this is primarily because you are new to cycling and this would hold less and less true as your aerobic condition increases over time), but your strength training will suffer immediately from the aerobic training you will be doing (this is just in the legs in the case of cycling). This does not mean that you can't develop strength in the legs while also cycling, you will just develop it significantly slower than w/o the cycling input into your system. Which way you want to tip the scales is up to you. As far as training goes, being new to the sport, I would suggest just going out and riding at moderate paces where your breathing is under control. Take the time to experiment with how much cycling you can do while maintaining as much strength training as you want to do. No secret formula, just depends on what your goals are.
Thanks for the honest reply,carrera. I guess my next question would be to anymone, is there any elite cyclist out there that is over say (200 lbs)? If so, could you tell me some of them. I would like to read up on their training methods.
Thanks for the honest reply,carrera. I guess my next question would be to anymone, is there any elite cyclist out there that is over say (200 lbs)? If so, could you tell me some of them. I would like to read up on their training methods.
Thank you
Magnus Backstedt is 6'3" and weighed 216 lbs during the 2004 TDF. He dropped out in stage 11.
I'm quite certain he trains like many other elite cyclists. Lots and lots of road work!
