Ab and Love Handles

SeanKimStyle said:

This might sound dumb but would riding bike makes abs harder, and lose love handles? Because I've been riding for 2 weeks for about 20 to 25 miles a day everyday, only difference is my legs. I do regular work out after my rides, but I don't see the differents on my abs. Any advice?

Before I was riding my bike, I daily ran about 3 miles a day, but i stopped after i've been riding.

We are frequently reminded that "abs are made in the kitchen". To lose the love-handles and gain a sexy six-pack, you need to get your body fat down to below 10%, and this requires watching what you eat and drink as well as burning off calories.
BTW, if someone suggests Akai rice, take it with a pinch of salt.

Low body fat levels is the most important part of the equation, if you have fat over them, then you can't see them.

Cycling does not use abs to the same extent as running.

Dondare said:

We are frequently reminded that "abs are made in the kitchen". To lose the love-handles and gain a sexy six-pack, you need to get your body fat down to below 10%, and this requires watching what you eat and drink as well as burning off calories.
BTW, if someone suggests Akai rice, take it with a pinch of salt.

This is utter [censored] - sorry Dondare. Last Xmas I weighed 85 kilos and my body fat was around 23%. I also had a lovely pair of love handles. Through serious structured training and watching my diet, I now weigh under 72 kilos, with my body fat down to 19% and my love handles have disappeared. I think if I got my body fat down to less than 10% I would have inverted love handles!😄

Sillyoldtwit said:

This is utter [censored] - sorry Dondare. Last Xmas I weighed 85 kilos and my body fat was around 23%. I also had a lovely pair of love handles. Through serious structured training and watching my diet, I now weigh under 72 kilos, with my body fat down to 19% and my love handles have disappeared. I think if I got my body fat down to less than 10% I would have inverted love handles!😄

But do you have a sexy six-pack?

Dondare said:

We are frequently reminded that "abs are made in the kitchen". To lose the love-handles and gain a sexy six-pack, you need to get your body fat down to below 10%, and this requires watching what you eat and drink as well as burning off calories.
BTW, if someone suggests Akai rice, take it with a pinch of salt.

I'll agree with this. I have been measuring bodyfat on many people for a while now and for typically you need to have 10% or less. Personally, I'd like to get to and stay at around 7ish, healthy look and healthy feel 🙂

In my experience, abs take quite a while to train and you simply cannot discount the body fat component to actual ab appearance. Consider, for one, that you use your abs all day long to support your trunk, walk, etc... Thus, even in someone with weak abs, the muscles are used to functioning more or less constantly and thus may require some serious training to induce significant results. Also, you've been cycling quite a short time and were running before that, so you have probably not effectively increased your work load all that much. (That is, you probably shouldn't expect cycling to change you much vs. running unless you are upping the cycling load.) FWIW, I know that a 3 mile run (depending upon conditions) can tire me much more than a 40 mi. ride.

Also, keep in mind that the purpose of abs is to play a physiological function in your body, not to pick up chicks or guys. So, even if you aren't "seeing" results (since. e.g. your body composition isn't changing) there is a good chance that you are strengthening the muscles and thus doing something good for your body.

EliRaskal said:

Also, keep in mind that the purpose of abs is to play a physiological function in your body, not to pick up chicks or guys.

As with all muscles. Point taken. At the same time, as someone who used to be about 60 pounds overweight, I set a goal to one day be able to have a visible six-pack. Call it a useless or vain goal if you'd like, but I lost the weight, got in great shape, and my cycling strength (in Watts/Kg) has certainly benefitted along the way. And my wife doesn't complain about the six-pack, either 😉

To the original poster: weighted situps or crunches will help increase the size of your abs but more than anything else (by an overwhelming margin) what you need to do is lose fat.

--Steve

ZimboNC said:

As with all muscles. Point taken. At the same time, as someone who used to be about 60 pounds overweight, I set a goal to one day be able to have a visible six-pack. Call it a useless or vain goal if you'd like, but I lost the weight, got in great shape, and my cycling strength (in Watts/Kg) has certainly benefitted along the way. And my wife doesn't complain about the six-pack, either 😉

well, now I must admit that I too strive to have good looking abs. (are there really any atheltic people out there who don't also rather enjoy/hone the appearance benefits derived from exercise?) I just wanted to point out that if the OP didn't 'see' at lot of change, he shouldn't discount the fact that his abs might still be getting stronger.

Different woman have different tastes in men, but theres are a lot of things a woman looks for in a man before abs (such as confidence). A slim waist, ie lacking fat is generally a higher priortiy than the 6 pack within.

Assuming you have done the deed with getting rid of excess fat, then look up core-muscle exercises as this includes the lower back in conjunction with the abs.

mikesbytes said:

Different woman have different tastes in men, but theres are a lot of things a woman looks for in a man before abs (such as confidence). A slim waist, ie lacking fat is generally a higher priortiy than the 6 pack within.

Assuming you have done the deed with getting rid of excess fat, then look up core-muscle exercises as this includes the lower back in conjunction with the abs.

Having abs that you could grate raw turnip on gives a man confidence.

Dondare said:

Having abs that you could grate raw turnip on gives a man confidence.

LOL [img]cycling.net.ausmile.gifOpen ↗[/img]

mikesbytes said:

Low body fat levels is the most important part of the equation, if you have fat over them, then you can't see them.

Cycling does not use abs to the same extent as running.

Mike, I'm not sure your last statement is accurate. Apprarently the abdominal muscles are very important in high-intensity cycling. I have a photo of Armstrong with his shirt off, he's sitting, and his upper body is quite unimpressive looking - but his abs look like something from another planet. I've also read an interview in which he says he's real careful about gym work and even working around the house, because "I don't want to build up muscle I can't use." Well he obviously thinks he can use his abs! But his arms and shoulders and pecs - not much doing there. And since he's probably the most scientific athlete in history, there could be some important lessons there for the rest of us.

Pendejo said:

Mike, I'm not sure your last statement is accurate. Apprarently the abdominal muscles are very important in high-intensity cycling. I have a photo of Armstrong with his shirt off, he's sitting, and his upper body is quite unimpressive looking - but his abs look like something from another planet. I've also read an interview in which he says he's real careful about gym work and even working around the house, because "I don't want to build up muscle I can't use." Well he obviously thinks he can use his abs! But his arms and shoulders and pecs - not much doing there. And since he's probably the most scientific athlete in history, there could be some important lessons there for the rest of us.

You missed the first part of his statement, about body fat. Armstrong had extremely low body fat, which is why his abs would look so "ripped."

BTW, was this picture taken during/around the tour?

whoawhoa said:

You missed the first part of his statement, about body fat. Armstrong had extremely low body fat, which is why his abs would look so "ripped."

BTW, was this picture taken during/around the tour?

I'm not sure, Whoa, when the photo was taken. It was in Outside magazine, before last year's Tour. And no doubt his extremely low body fat accentuates the abs, but there is little doubt from the photo that either those abs were built on purpose, or else the kind of riding he does did the job. In either case, it supports the premise that abs are especially important in cycling. But that's not my own "Eureka" discovery. I've read in several places about the importance of a strong core in cycling.

Pendejo said:

Mike, I'm not sure your last statement is accurate. Apprarently the abdominal muscles are very important in high-intensity cycling. I have a photo of Armstrong with his shirt off, he's sitting, and his upper body is quite unimpressive looking - but his abs look like something from another planet. I've also read an interview in which he says he's real careful about gym work and even working around the house, because "I don't want to build up muscle I can't use." Well he obviously thinks he can use his abs! But his arms and shoulders and pecs - not much doing there. And since he's probably the most scientific athlete in history, there could be some important lessons there for the rest of us.

Pendejo, I hope you are right and I am wrong as I would love to have a 6 pack.