Any endurance athletes in the house? HELP!!!

[bigbalddaddy]

Just curious to see how you are holding muscle mass.  I got into cycling 4-5 months ago and have lost 15lbs (scale weight) and put on 3% bodyfat!  I'm totally confused as to what to do next.  I cycle 4 days/wk for 30-40 miles/day and train 4 days a week so 1 day is a split.  I have lost about 10% in overall strength but energy is through the roof.  I don't want to stop cycling since I want to do a race in January here in Vegas but at the same time I don't want to lose any more muscle.  Current stats are:

-6'1"
-200lbs from 215 (from a prior winter lardass of 245 to which I dieted to a hard 215)
-18" arms from 19.25"
-32" waist from 31" (that's the scary part...how do you get smaller and fatter?)

Any recommendations?  I wake up at 5:30am to ride at 6:30am for about 2-2.5hrs.  My pre-workout diet is a cup of coffee to wake up and two bannanas.  I can't eat too much solid or I cramp up.  On the ride I sip 16oz's of a carb/mineral drink that has roughly 100g carbs and no protein or fat.  The night before I ride I usually eat about 125g of carbs through pasta with 6oz chicken breast at about 7-8pm and go to sleep at about 9-10 on an otherwise empty stomach.  Any help would be MUCH appreciated bros...

[Princess L]

Just curious to see how you are holding muscle mass.  I got into cycling 4-5 months ago and have lost 15lbs (scale weight) and put on 3% bodyfat!  I'm totally confused as to what to do next.  I cycle 4 days/wk for 30-40 miles/day and train 4 days a week so 1 day is a split.  I have lost about 10% in overall strength but energy is through the roof.  I don't want to stop cycling since I want to do a race in January here in Vegas but at the same time I don't want to lose any more muscle.  Current stats are:

-6'1"
-200lbs from 215 (from a prior winter lardass of 245 to which I dieted to a hard 215)
-18" arms from 19.25"
-32" waist from 31" (that's the scary part...how do you get smaller and fatter?)

Any recommendations?  I wake up at 5:30am to ride at 6:30am for about 2-2.5hrs.  My pre-workout diet is a cup of coffee to wake up and two bannanas.  I can't eat too much solid or I cramp up.  On the ride I sip 16oz's of a carb/mineral drink that has roughly 100g carbs and no protein or fat.  The night before I ride I usually eat about 125g of carbs through pasta with 6oz chicken breast at about 7-8pm and go to sleep at about 9-10 on an otherwise empty stomach.  Any help would be MUCH appreciated bros...

Light to moderate weight training 2X/week

[bigbalddaddy]

Light to moderate weight training 2X/week

So do you think I am overtraining in the gym?

[Mr. Intenseone]

Just curious to see how you are holding muscle mass.  I got into cycling 4-5 months ago and have lost 15lbs (scale weight) and put on 3% bodyfat!  I'm totally confused as to what to do next.  I cycle 4 days/wk for 30-40 miles/day and train 4 days a week so 1 day is a split.  I have lost about 10% in overall strength but energy is through the roof.  I don't want to stop cycling since I want to do a race in January here in Vegas but at the same time I don't want to lose any more muscle.  Current stats are:

-6'1"
-200lbs from 215 (from a prior winter lardass of 245 to which I dieted to a hard 215)
-18" arms from 19.25"
-32" waist from 31" (that's the scary part...how do you get smaller and fatter?)

Any recommendations?  I wake up at 5:30am to ride at 6:30am for about 2-2.5hrs.  My pre-workout diet is a cup of coffee to wake up and two bannanas.  I can't eat too much solid or I cramp up.  On the ride I sip 16oz's of a carb/mineral drink that has roughly 100g carbs and no protein or fat.  The night before I ride I usually eat about 125g of carbs through pasta with 6oz chicken breast at about 7-8pm and go to sleep at about 9-10 on an otherwise empty stomach.  Any help would be MUCH appreciated bros...

It really sounds like you need to make a decision of whay you want do, do you want to cycle more or do you want to weight train more? I say this because with endurance sports (triathlons, marathons, road cycling) you cannot have both because it's very difficult to sustain any sizable muscle mass when your burning up to 4-5000k per day, just looking at your diet tells me you are not eating nearly enough to sustain musclemass. If you read of study about serious endurance athletes you will find that most take in anywhere from 4-8000K per day while training and their weight training pretty much consists of lower body and a ton of core. But if you want to continue training with weights, I suggest you train heavy with basic movements, your lower body work should consist of squats, split squats, and bulgarian one leg squats all of which will not only target your quads but more importantly your glutes.

[Nathan]

True i used to be a boxer and still do MMA you have to decide if you want ultmate size or ultimate cardio but you can't have both. If your not out for ultimate performance than you can do a balancing act of size vs cardio.

[bigbalddaddy]

It really sounds like you need to make a decision of whay you want do, do you want to cycle more or do you want to weight train more? I say this because with endurance sports (triathlons, marathons, road cycling) you cannot have both because it's very difficult to sustain any sizable muscle mass when your burning up to 4-5000k per day, just looking at your diet tells me you are not eating nearly enough to sustain musclemass. If you read of study about serious endurance athletes you will find that most take in anywhere from 4-8000K per day while training and their weight training pretty much consists of lower body and a ton of core. But if you want to continue training with weights, I suggest you train heavy with basic movements, your lower body work should consist of squats, split squats, and bulgarian one leg squats all of which will not only target your quads but more importantly your glutes.

Thanks for the info.  Today my computer said I burned 2200k on the bike (2hrs 20min, 40miles).  I counted and my normal daily intake is somewhere around 3.5-4000k (on a good day).  So with my BMR and sleeping I have to be way under what I need.  What type of ratio (carbs/pro/fat) do you think I should aim for if I want to keep strength but still have enough to burn on a 2-3hr ride?  How many sets/reps do you think I should do to maintain some mass?  At this point I don't have to much mass left!     I know I can put the weight back on later with no problem if I get to small but for now I want to get fast on the bike!  Any help is much appreciated...

[Nathan]

I'd go high on the carbs for biking/Endurance exsersize I'd go with 60%carbs/35%protien/5%fats.
It will change based on body type, so this is a rough estemate. Also things high in potassium will help u recover quicker I like potatos and bananas for this task.