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Why are there so many cyclists with potbellies?

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Why are there so many cyclists with potbellies?

Old 04-28-16, 06:58 AM
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Originally Posted by CNC2204
I warm up with 360 so ...

I could have some of you girls don a 90 pound pack and run stairs for 10 minutes and have you crying.

But its important that you have a 32 inch waist around other cyclists to be symetrical.

And whats with those short cyclist anyway, and the Latin & European guys, who do they think they are.

And whats with all the : [enter bigoted discriminatory expletive here].
I'm starting to think shenanigans. You're supposed to be fifty something years old, warming up with 360lbs snatches, and the blonde in your avatar has been hinted at being your girlfriend and or 'acquaintance'.

Tell us about the 11'' dong you have next please? Or perhaps you're a vince mcmahon type with a whole lot of money on a whole lot of incredible drugs. I COULD BE WRONG.

Edit: this is where you start to back pedal or start posting some freakishly fit physique pictures of some 50+ olympic lifter.

Last edited by topslop1; 04-28-16 at 07:13 AM.
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Old 04-28-16, 07:14 AM
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Lol .... well there was this one time in College ...
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Old 04-28-16, 07:24 AM
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Originally Posted by CNC2204
Lol .... well there was this one time in College ...
A forum junkie never forgets . Thanks for sparing us the pictures.
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Old 04-28-16, 07:43 AM
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Originally Posted by topslop1
I'm starting to think shenanigans. You're supposed to be fifty something years old, warming up with 360lbs snatches, and the blonde in your avatar has been hinted at being your girlfriend and or 'acquaintance'.

Tell us about the 11'' dong you have next please? Or perhaps you're a vince mcmahon type with a whole lot of money on a whole lot of incredible drugs. I COULD BE WRONG.

Edit: this is where you start to back pedal or start posting some freakishly fit physique pictures of some 50+ olympic lifter.
Last year he said he was a trainer for NFL players in the 80's and he's also an MMA expert. I believe he also said he hit a car riding 35mph or something and rode home after. So.... yeah.
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Old 04-28-16, 07:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Lazyass
Last year he said he was a trainer for NFL players in the 80's and he's also an MMA expert. I believe he also said he hit a car riding 35mph or something and rode home after. So.... yeah.
Sometimes I think the internet is less a space to be what you are and more a space to create who you'd like to be or have been, providing inserts from marvel comic books. I just get the picture of small children running around with super hero capes on.
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Old 04-28-16, 07:59 AM
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Old 04-28-16, 08:13 AM
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Originally Posted by Lazyass
Yeah, but I mean I'm talking about guys who do century rides. Most human beings can't ride 100 miles. I mean how do they still have a potbelly? It's just weird.
I rode a century last summer, hell I even took 3rd in our club crit this weekend. I weigh over 200 lbs and drink beer pretty much daily. I suppose according to you I have a potbelly, but I am much more fit and leaner than I used to be. I also run 20+ miles a week, lift weights, and cycle whenever I can, usually 100-150 miles a week in the not winter. I'm also 6' and have a 44 inch chest and 34 inch waist. It's genetics. Guys like me are just bigger than you. It's not weird. In fact, I think it's weird that a grown ass man is only 160 lbs. Unless you are cycling only, and simply concerned with weight and cycling performance, that is just too small to have any balance to your build.

Try not being so judgmental all the time. Post this in the clydes forum and see what kind of response it gets . . .
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Old 04-28-16, 08:18 AM
  #283  
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Originally Posted by topslop1
Sometimes I think the internet is less a space to be what you are and more a space to create who you'd like to be or have been
You guys have figured me out! I'm not actually the 33 year-old unattractive loser who rides bikes that I've been pretending to be all along.
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Old 04-28-16, 08:24 AM
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Originally Posted by ypsetihw
I think it's weird that a grown ass man is only 160 lbs.

Try not being so judgmental all the time.
it sounds like you are the judgmental one here.
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Old 04-28-16, 08:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Lazyass
Last year he said he was a trainer for NFL players in the 80's and he's also an MMA expert. I believe he also said he hit a car riding 35mph or something and rode home after. So.... yeah.
You're forgetting that he can hold easily 30mph for 5 min on a flat, windless course and that he hit 46 mph on a bike with knobby tires and gearing that would have required a cadence of 200+.
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Old 04-28-16, 08:33 AM
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Originally Posted by WhyFi
You're forgetting that he can hold easily 30mph for 5 min on a flat, windless course and that he hit 46 mph on a bike with knobby tires and gearing that would have required a cadence of 200+.
Looks like I'm late to the party on many accounts.
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Old 04-28-16, 08:43 AM
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Originally Posted by Ratzinger
You guys have figured me out! I'm not actually the 33 year-old unattractive loser who rides bikes that I've been pretending to be all along.
I had the realization yesterday that I'm pretty sure I'm going to be the guy in his early 50's with baggy sweat pants, wal-mart flannel shirt, big all white new balance walking shoes, and a neon colored fanny pack on, and I think I'm alright with that.

It's not that I don't understand aesthetics or design or even dressing well - it's just that the ideas have been packaged up, marked up, and sold out. I think of when grunge in the 90's was about grabbing some ill fitting no name flannel and pairing it with some $15 Levis (that you had ripped the label off of) and calling it a day. Corp caught on, packaged it up, and marked it up. Counter culture has a brand now.

You have to really not-try to be uncool now; like deep in your soul not try. You can't half try and appeal to a cool grundge, now hipster aesthetic; you posuer.

I would have a genuine respect for you if you were as you say an unattractive loser for the dedication in not-trying that it would take.
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Old 04-28-16, 08:53 AM
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@CNC2204 Please leave the thread. Do not post further in the thread. Last warning.
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Old 04-28-16, 09:07 AM
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I am missing how/where this became a weight/strength/fitness or body fat discussion.
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Old 04-28-16, 09:30 AM
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Originally Posted by Lazyass
but if someone rides all the time how does the potbelly not get burned off? Heavy drinking maybe?
I think the answer is fairly simple, cyclists feel the need to load carbs and sugars..."fuel".
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Old 04-28-16, 09:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Doge
I am missing how/where this became a weight/strength/fitness or body fat discussion.
Your mistake was trying to approach this thread with something resembling logic.
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Old 04-28-16, 09:52 AM
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Originally Posted by therhodeo
Your mistake was trying to approach this thread with something resembling logic.
Well there are some/a few that may want a real (maybe wrong) but real answer. I'll re-give mine - again.

I am higher body fat mid 50s guy without a pot belly. I know a number of lower body fat guys with pot belly's.
So my observance is where you store fat is partially genetic. I expect by both individual and to some degree gender and race.

Good athletic breathing - esp for cycling is stomach breathing. Moving the rib cage may use more energy. So a full lung, will likely cause your gut/belly to stick out more than the guy at the gym who is likely not willing to gut breath, cause it does not look cool. A culture thing for sure.

Many cyclist ride only and do not do ab work. I don't know if that matters so much, but just that many don't. That may make it easier for the gut to sag.

Then there is the body fat thing that has been discussed completely, but I think it is not the major contributor to "pot belly" cyclists.
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Old 04-28-16, 10:23 AM
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Originally Posted by Machka
Really? I can't say I've ever seen a group of cyclists stop for bagels.

I have, however, seen groups of cyclists stop for perogies (in Manitoba) and at bakeries (all over Australia).
Pie, bagels, perogies, pastries...dang, where do you all ride? Around here the best we get are some Honey Stingers and Skratch :|
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Old 04-28-16, 11:13 AM
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Originally Posted by therhodeo
Your mistake was trying to approach this thread with something resembling logic.
haha
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Old 04-28-16, 03:30 PM
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I just read lots of interesting things on this while on a work conference call. Pretty much all the reputable experts said potbellies are from improper diet. Several studies showed potbellies despite lots of exercise, including cyclists at the elite level, because of eating the wrong things.
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Old 04-28-16, 05:52 PM
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Could see how pot bellies happen. Even when I was riding back and forth to work (150 miles a week), I still never went below 210 pounds. That was in my late 20s and I'm 6ft. I never ate particularly healthy though. I don't know, I never felt that gassed from riding my bike like I would from something like jogging.
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Old 04-28-16, 06:38 PM
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I'm 5'5" and about 147 lbs. I've got a lil belly on my that I can't seem to shed no matter how much I cycle.
I don't exercise really in any other way because I hate it, and my diet isn't awful, so basically I'm just stuck with it I guess.
Oh well.
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Old 04-29-16, 05:38 PM
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There is one other factor that I don't think has been mentioned yet. That is, some people who have been heavy for a long period then have taken off large amounts of weight may have issues with sagging skin that ultimately may require surgery to remove. This will give them the appearance of a big gut (and also floppy upper arms).
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Old 04-29-16, 06:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Rowan
There is one other factor that I don't think has been mentioned yet. That is, some people who have been heavy for a long period then have taken off large amounts of weight may have issues with sagging skin that ultimately may require surgery to remove. This will give them the appearance of a big gut (and also floppy upper arms).
But not a Pot Belly.
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Old 04-29-16, 06:24 PM
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old rich guys who are office workers who sit behind a computer and eat fast food. They commute to work in expensive BMW's and Mercedes.

On weekends, they dress up like Robin Hood in spandex and ride their very expensive carbon bikes ... Often, they ride in groups with their friends who work with them. You never see them riding in winter though, or when the weather is bad

all good though, as they are at least making an effort to get fit.
Yea, and they can afford it and really enjoy it, whether or not they have fitness goals, in spite of not looking the part that others expect of them, age, physique and equipment-wise.

I don't know and don't care if the OP premise is correct. It's just too bad that anyone thinks it's worth thinking about or discussing, or criticizing, or that it's anyone's business... that someone's physique, drinking or eating habits or the equipment they use is anybody's business but their own. Yea, the OP might say "I really wasn't implying something negative about fat people riding." Sure. Why would you even think about it then?

The fact is that you don't have to be "slim" to really enjoy riding a bike. You don't have to be fit or fast to really enjoy riding a bike. You don't even have to ride to get fit or fast; you can do it for just for fun, believe it or not! You don't have to base your clothing or equipment on how slim or fit or fast you are, especially don't have to base it on what others think about your fitness, physique or speed. These choices should be based on what you enjoy and can afford to do.

Why do fat people ride? Because its fun. Why are they fat? Because they either aren't blessed with the genes that make it easy to stay slim into middle age, or they don't care enough and just enjoy life as it builds up (around their waist).

Get over it folks.

Last edited by Camilo; 04-29-16 at 06:33 PM.
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