Shell5

I am 5'7, 145lbs. I want to loose weight and tone my butt and back of my legs. I love to eat. I try to eat mostly healthy food ie; low fat, low sugar foods. I take a multivitamin and drink plenty of water. I haven't been riding a bike long, but I would like to know about how long and/or fast I need to go and how many days a week in order to really get my butt into shape and not have to starve myself. I do some weight toning about 2x a week. I ride 2-3 times a week, 3-5 miles each day. What device can I get on my bike to tell how fast I need to go?

cheebahmunkey

I'm not sure I understand. You want to use the bike to get your butt into better "shape"? Just go as hard as you can and keep eating what you usually eat. It also doesn't sound like you need to lose a whole bunch of weight. 145 for that height is normal.

Shell5

That's correct. My butt and the back of my legs are flabby and I don't like it. I'm wondering if I may need to increase my heart rate or just increase my mileage?

graham58

More sex that will fix it.
cheers
graham

KirkeIsWaiting

lol

overthere

I think you need to go for longer rides to really notice a difference. Build up to an hour of riding. Then ride an hour, stop for a healthy lunch, ride back. And on up. 3-5 miles will get you healthier, but I really didn't notice a body difference myself, in bike commuting, which I had done for years.

Guest

Flabby body parts will become firmer as you increase lean muscle mass and decrease bodyfat. So continue doing your riding, but add in leg exercises on the weight machines- hamstring flexion, quad extension, squats, lunges, and that butt machine where you are leaning over and you push back with the leg to work each butt cheek.

Koffee

forum*rider

What about leg press? After a hard session on the leg press machine my rear end is always sore.

TheKillerPenguin

Yes, you will feel the leg press exactly where you want to firm up. Enjoy.

Trekke

So is it like you have no ass or you have ass but it just sags? Gravity is mother natures bad joke on people with a weak asws. lol

Guest

Leg press too. Just get a personal trainer. I could go forever naming exercises to do for the legs. My list is nowhere as extensive and could include other exercises.

Koffee

forum*rider

I see, just giving the basics.

Guest

Just giving an idea of some common exercises. But if he really wants to work it, I would definitely suggest a personal trainer.

Koffee

snowy

I ditto everything Koffee says, really the bike isn't going to help completely, you need to get to the gym and do some weights. Lunges, squats, leg extension, hamstring curl, all these will help alot.

powells2

I agree ... longer riding, especially hill climbing will firm things up but to really have great results ... hit the weights!!!! The difference will be dramatic!

andygates

Leg press, squats and weighted lungs.

Or a bike-as-lifestyle choice: get loads of miles in, regularly. That'll do it.

superdex

play hockey!
(sorry, couldn't resist)

One exercise that always hurts so good: One-legged squats with dumbells. --Hold a 15-20lb dumbell in each hand hanging at your side, and standing on one foot squat until the dumbells touch the ground, then back up. You only need to do a handful (say 3 sets of 5-8 reps each leg). Works lots of muscles, including all the little ones used for balance...

WJ13US

Shell5

If I'm reading your post correctly you have flab (fat) on your butt and the back of your legs you want to get rid of.

If that is the case all those squats or weight lifting excercise is not going to do a thing. There is no such thing as spot fat reduction. However, doing those will made your shape look nicer once the fat is removed.

I'm sure you have heard this before but its simple calories in/ calories out. You need to burn more calories than you take in. To be more effective, and to answer your orginal question, it would be better to ride longer at a heart rate in zone 2 (burn more a percentage of fat). If you ride very hard, zone 4, your body will start breaking down muscle for energy and burn less fat.

Remember your body decides where it will get its fat from. We all have "problem" areas where its hard (and seemingly impossible) to remove fat. Generally hips for woman and bellies for men.

Koffees advice about a personal trainer is good if your not sure what to do. But you can learn a lot of this stuff by yourself. Just be careful where your getting it from. If the person writing the info is trying to sell something (eg weight equipment, supplements, etc) I'd be wary.

The heart rate books by Sally Reed are a good start.

And if you find a personal trainer who says you will loose the fat on your legs by doing squats, personally I'd start looking for a new trainer.

Bill

Guest

I don't think you read my post correctly. I said that you'll be able to see muscle as bodyfat DECREASES, and muscle mass INCREASES. In order to DECREASE the bodyfat, he will need to increase the riding, but to INCREASE the muscle mass, he will need to INCREASE leg exercises with weight machines. There's no advocating the mythical "spot reduction" technique in there. I think at 5' 7" and 147 pounds, he's probably not going to need very much more cardio than what he's already doing. But by adding in resistance training, he'll increase his metabolism, which will result in additional bodyfat loss and increased muscle mass. I wouldn't advocate so much a drastic increase in cardio, since he already seems pretty dang thin to begin with.

Actually, the heart rate books are by Sally Edwards. Sally Reed co-authored one book with Sally Edwards: "The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Outdoor and Indoor Cyclists". All other books on heart rate training are Sally Edwards books.

Koffee

Koffee

WJ13US

Koffee:

Sorry if you took my post the wrong way, but I was not responding to your post, but to the orginal poster. It seemed to me he/or she was looking for a way to spot reduce in certain areas. Since its impossible to know all that much about a person with 3 lines in a post, I don't know what he or she knows about diet and exercise. There is a LOT of bad information out there and a lot of people do believe you can spot reduce. I thought it may be helpful to make the poster aware of that fact. bettter to give too much informantion than too little. As a wise person always tells me all the time "its always dangerous to make assumptions." But in forums like these its almost necessary.

Also, to mention how its hard to tell anything about a person from a few lines, I too am 5'7", male 45 yrs old and right now I'm about 148 (I say about because I don't regularry weigh myself). But at 148 I can stand to loose a few fat pounds. And I can tell that by standing naked in front of the mirror. When I'm down to the low 140's I'm about 20% body fat. Sure 20 is in the "normal" range for someone my age, but there is still "stuff" in my problem areas. To look "really good" body image wise the middle 130's would be good for me anyway. I just have thin bones. When I buy watches I have (as I have always have) to put an "extra" hole in it. So I may be a bit thinner bone wise for a 5'7" male I don't think you could call me really thin at 147 pounds. Chances are this is not true for the poster..but it may be.

Go to this web site click on "members" than "Bill N" if you want to see what I look at at 150 pounds.

https://www.quartercenturyclub.org/

Bill

juf2m

Huh? How is this physically possible? Do you bend your standing leg and then lift your heel until you are sitting on it (with your back straight) and then stand up again on the same leg all the while holding your other leg in the air? I can't even do that on one leg without weights and I have been taking ballet for 17 years!

Or are you just supposed to bend your knee and also bend your torso so you can get the weights to the ground? I am so confused! LOL!

juf2m

I was reading one of Chris Carmichael's books and he said that although riding in the "fat zone" has a greater % of fat being used for engery, if you are riding in a higher zone, you may burn a greater % from glycogen, but the absolute amount of fat burned will still be higher than at the lower zone, if that makes sense. I don't recall if he said anything about breaking down muscle...then again I have a bad memory. I guess you just build the muscle up again with rest and protein.

*new*guy

You alternate putting one leg on a bench (behind you). see here for an explanation and animation of the exercise. https://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...plitSquat.html

p.s. I'll take any opportunity to push exrx.net. take a look around.

superdex

I apologize for a terrible explanation. It's like this video (single leg squat), but with dumbells at your sides. Yeah, yer gonna have to bend at the waist some, but keep the emphasis on the deep knee bend. I thought I had pretty good balance until I did this little ditty....

Treespeed

Maybe someone already said this, but all of this focus on exercise also needs to address diet too. The sad fact is the more you ride, the more efficient you get at using food, so you go farther on less and your body just stores the rest. The only way to see real results is to reduce intake and fill up on high fiber grains, veggies, and lean protein. I ride close to 150 miles a week, along with swimming, and running and I'll start seeing a paunch if I sneak into the cookie jar or have a little too much ice cream. This isn't too discredit any of the great advice already given, but I think the hardest, yet most fruitful task is to reduce intake just a bit and finally to focus your carb intake to the hour after you exercise to refuel.

This is what has worked for me and I've lost 30 lbs this last year.

-Marcus.