by huw williams » Thu Apr 30, 2009 10:35 am
[quote="Marky Mark"] If muscle weighs more that fat, does training develope more muscle which in turn makes you weigh more thus slowing you down on the hills? Marky Mark
Like a hunchback on a tightrope - this is all a question of balance.
More muscle mass, as you'd develop for example when doing maximum strength work in the gym, would indeed make you heavier. However more 'trained' lean muscle mass, particularly when specifically trained for cycling, brings all sorts of performance improvements which you would hope would lead to improved hill climbing and would outweigh (arf!) any marginal weight gain. Also more muscle mass doesn't mean more weight per-se. Ideally you'd loose weight in other areas (fat) to compensate for increased muscle, thus redressing the balance.
Careful here though because you cannot increase your lean muscle mass without sufficient nutritional intake to allow it. Which is partly why you here of riders using high protein drinks rather than food when trying to lose weight without losing lean muscle mass.
None of which seemed to be bothering you last night when I saw you streaking through West Wickham looking every inch the lean, mean, racing-machine you've lately become MM