Originally Posted by Sincitycycler
That's another thing I have noticed with
some women cyclists: stumpy, squatty pins.
How come their legs don't get all cut and defined like, say, Jan Ullrich's or a dancer's legs?
I'm probably has something to do with body fat percentage. This variable is higher in women and so they have more fat surrounding their muscles. This probably makes it harder to see definition.
Here are some reference values for percent body fat in women (from my coach's data sheets...he's a physician too)
Essential: 11-14%
Athlete: 12-22%
Average: 16-25%
Overweight: 26-41%
Obese: over 31%
I don't have the sheet for men in front of me, but from what I remember, the corresponding values are much lower. One exception I think may be competitive female bodybuilders. They do get a fair amount of definition, but their body fat percentages are also extremely low. In fact, I know one who said when she was in competition, her body fat got down to 8%!!! These kind of numbers are not healthy for women. So I don't think for the most part they will ever show the definition that men do. I'm glad about that - I wouldn't want to have legs that looked like Boonen's!!! Although I wouldn't mind having even half his power output.