Cycling and body types

Testosterone production goes up, estrogen production goes down, visceral fat reduces, the body becomes more efficient at burning calories, you sleep better, vo2 and aerobic capacity go up, etc. Thats not even counting power to weight.

For me something just flipped when I got leaner, and I was practically a different rider from when I was overweight. Its hard to quantify but its definitely there. I’m sure there is a number you go too far, so between 8-15% seems to be money.

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So at 15.1% your body is rubbish at all those things, and then 14.9% and it becomes brilliant? I distrust magic numbers, and I think that’s one.
No doubt there are myriad benefits to losing weight. I find it incredibly unlikely there’s any magic threshold at 15% though.

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Okay, the number is a generalization, I’m always hesitant to post weight advice because there’s always a few that take offense to it.

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Interesting, thanks. I’ve lost around 12kg this year (and not cycled during this time).

Just started back up again - I was expecting to see a power drop (as I’ve lost weight) but so far the results have been good. I’m around 20w below my fitness peak after about 6 weeks of training. Maybe I will be able to get my old FTP back.

I’ve gone from 22% to around 15% (scales set to normal, not athlete mode)

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Agreed, at least anecdotally. I noticed that somewhere around 15-16% body fat my blood pressure and lipids improved rather dramatically. As I lost weight, there was a slow but steady improvement in my blood/biological markers but it really accelerated when I got the the 15-16% mark.

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This thread hits close to home for me. I’ve been doing triathlons for a year and focusing on the Sprint Triathlon high volume plans in TR. At age 56 I’m overweight at 218 lbs, 6’0" at 18% body fat with a lean body mass of 178 lbs. My FTP is 273, which is up by about 100 from where I started TR just under a year ago. My background is in Muay Thai and although I am very good at that I have gotten old enough that the training is too damaging for me to continue at high intensity levels. Essentially, I need a new sport.

I haven’t done any serious strength training in a few years, but at that time I had a deadlift of 490 lbs and a squat of 475 lbs, which exceeds coach Chad’s guidelines for strength training for triathletes, I know. (It comes in handy if I want to kick a hole in a triathlete but does me no good at all out there on the run trying to catch them.) As a triathlete I’m a mediocre swimmer, I run faster than you would expect for a guy my size, and I smoke people on a bike if the course is flat.

From where I sit, the fastest way for me to improve looks like getting my body fat down to under 10 percent. Even at <10% BF I will be competitive only on relatively flat courses. The question I have is this: What does an off season training plan look like in my situation?

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This is it exactly. I have wide shoulders myself, but the biggest “natural” opposition I face is lack of funds to spend on upgrades or new, specific bikes to each sport I ride. In response, I simply view taking my gravel bike on the club road rides as a way to both get my ass kicked/dropped but also improve over time to the point where my fitness will hopefully compensate enough for the lack of other options. This is the same for body types. Forces you have little control over should just be viewed as further incentives to train other aspects or riding or find your specialization and find peace in that.

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or you have fabulous hair

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+1 mtb

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So a lot of comments about losing weight, which is ideal, but if you’re cutting calories isn’t your body also going to catabolize lean muscle as well as fat? If that’s the case, should I just accept that my power is going to go down while I try to run off another 10% of body fat?

No. Feed yourself and lift weights. Since starting my fitness journey I’ve repeatedly been able to gain muscle and lose weight, but I’m not rail thin so a bit easier for me to say that.

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You really don’t need that much muscle mass to generate a lot of cycling power. Look at Chris Froome or any other pro climber/GC guy, they can chuck out 400+W on a climb or TT and would beat most people on here in a bunch sprint as well, despite their spindly limbs!

If you lose power while losing weight it’s likely not from losing muscle mass but from running too big a calorie deficit so that your workout quality and/or recovery are impaired.

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With constant accelerations and short hills, cross and MTB suit riders with a high watt to kg ratio.

Ultimately riding your bike is about having fun, if you’re enjoying it then so what if it takes you a little longer to get up the hills.

If you wanted to race or try racing then I’d stick to flat TTs, crits or road races. Also try the track if you have access to one.

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I have a teammate who is 6’ 4" and well over 220 pounds. He has a layer of belly fat but is an absolute beast on the bike. Rides a 55 min 40K and nobody ever told him big guys can’t climb so he turns himself inside out on climbs. When we were racing in anger he won a ton of age group TTs and we combined with another teammate for multiple TTT championships. We look pretty funny with me at 135 pounds pacing climbs and then disappearing and hanging on for dear life behind the big guy on downhills and flats.

Another guy is a 200+ rock hard athletic trainer. Super nice guy and this dude dominated 45+ masters crits locally for several years. Great guy, I would literally bounce off him in sprints and cry genuine tears holding his wheel if he tried to get away from the bunch.

On the other end, we have a bunch of guys who are 5’7 - 5’9 beanpoles in the 130-140 pound range. We do fine. We learn when to pedal hard and we really learn how to draft and use momentum. Also aero. Guys look at my TT results with an FTP of 240 and are amazed.

There is more to cycling than power and weight guys!!! Live with what you got and have fun with it.

In my racing experience, USA based amateur stuff about 40 years worth, the sweet spot is 165-175 pounds and strong. I’d love to tack on a few inches of height and 20 pounds of muscle but we’re born the way we are.

TL:DR Ride your bike, be fit, be strong, be healthy, learn skills and have fun. We’re (mostly) not world tour mutants so don’t compare yourself to that. In the cat 3-4-5 range just about anyone pin on a number and have big fun doing circles in a parking lot ;-]

-Mark

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I’m 202cm and 105kg so I feel your pain. I’ve been cycling for three years, and only started to shed some kgs (17kg down so far). There are a lot of hills where I live and I now train 6 days a week with a current FTP of 3.83W/kg. The podcasts have been fantastic to help people find what they are good at. Having a massive FTP would be the way I’d go, and when you can get your FTP, weight, and the wind to work together you can really make it work for you. Nate’s tips on SAG climbing, and Pete’s tips on leaving gaps and maintaining momentum etc are great. One thing I’ve confirmed for myself which might be applicable to you is that if you are a completely different body shape to the people you are riding with (or racing against) then give yourself permission to ride differently - start at the front on climbs, roll past on the downhills, etc. As long as you are enjoying it, you have a cycling shape.

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Obviously the number is a generalization. The point is becoming lean has far reaching benefits beyond a pure watts/kg advantage. What a pedantic comment.

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I get those exact same commentts about how nice is to ride behind me.

I will never be as quick as other people with a more slender body type, not even if I manage to trim all my extra weight. It’s what it is… I can only try and be as good as I can be.

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