cheebahmunkey

Ok, I know this has probably been asked before but I couldn't find any similar enough threads to simply bump them up. My question is, how do we know if we are creating new muscle or just gaining weight. Here's an example that I'm currently "engulfed" in.

Let's say I burn 3000 calories on a given day when I ride 20 miles. Obviously to grow new muscle one has to take in more calories than one burns. So let's say I take in 3500 calories that day. How do I know if I'm effectively building new muscles or simply adding weight (whether its fat or water)? What's the minimum amount of protein we should take in if we eat 3500 calories and want to gain muscle from the day's workout?

Sorry again for probably just asking questions that have been asked before. Thanks in advance for replies.

Guest

Seriously. See a dietitian. You are asking questions we can't answer because no one knows your resting metabolic rate. No one knows how many calories you burn while working out (you can have a test for that too at a performance lab).

It really is more than just working out and calories in and out. First of all, if your metabolism is slow, and you're working out a bit, you 1) don't really know offhand how many calories you burned for that workout (usually people overestimate), and 2) you don't know how long your metabolism spikes after your workout. It could be from a few hours to a full day.

Second, most people overestimate how much protein they need (usually based on some article they get from Muscles and Fitness from a bodybuilder or something like that). At this point, I'd recommend a good personal trainer who can measure your bodyfat and determine what your true lean body mass is. We really don't know if you're gaining fat or muscle, and if you're working out as much as you say, and you're lifting, then a bodyfat analysis is in order.

Once you've seen a personal trainer and gotten those results, you should take your training diary and the results from your personal trainer and see a dietitian. They can do a test (using a BodyGem) to determine how many calories you are burning and recommend a good diet based off of your results and their test, which would include the protein and carb recommendations.

Koffee

FXjohn

I seriously doubt if you're going to "grow muscle" on a 20 mile bike ride, unless you're very new or very out of shape.
Hill climbing can help, but if you are after size you're going to need to weight train.

DannoXYZ 

Yeah, the only way you're gonna grow muscles is with isometric training; weight-training at close to the maximum-exertion force the muscles can put out. The microscopic tears and bound-up Z-bands will repair itself by making the muscle fibres larger. Protein-intake is almost irrelevant. The body will only absorb as much protein as it needs to repair the torn tissues, the excess is simply washed down the toilet (the body does not store protein like it stores carbs & fats). About 400 calories of protein a day is about the maximum you'll ever need and about as much as your body will ever absorb.

But it sounds like the kind of riding you're doing isn't gonna be building much muscle anyway. You'll end up losing fat and getting leaner; increasing your lean muscle-mass relative to your body-weight.

What's your goal anyway? To ride faster? To ride farther? To look like "Ahhnold"? If it's the last one, then yeah, you want to look at eating protein and going to the gym, sell the bike.

cheebahmunkey

Well 20 miles was my "rest" day. I am still somewhat new to biking so I think I have room for muscle growth. My usual rides are about 27 miles with varying hills and valleys.

DannoXYZ 

It's heading into the fall season now, you may want to look into about 4-6 weeks of weight-training in the winter to build up muscle-strength. Depending upon the quality and efficiency of your muscles, you can increase their strength by quite a bit.

Most of the improvement in biking isn't muscle-strength anyway. It's cardiovascular development and energy-conversion efficiency. Your fastest average-speed at your LT-lactate threshold is usually at 50-70% or less of your muscle's output strength. The limitation is then how efficiency you can convert oxygen to ATP for muscle contractions. Being leaner helps, even though you haven't actually piled on any more muscle.

Having stronger muscles will help you ride longer, farther and more efficiently, but it's not the holy-grail end-all secret to biking performance.

supcom

It would be impractical, if not impossible for you to accurately assess muscle gains in a short period of time like a week. However, over several months you can measure your fat percentage that will allow you to easily calculate your lean mass versus fat mass. An inexpensive body fat scale (Tanita) will let you do this. Because of inaccuracies, you will need to take data over time and look for trends.

Generally, most US adults get more than enough protein in their regular diet to support muscle maintenance and growth.

cheebahmunkey

k, not sure what you mean by assessing it in a week. I'm not looking to do that at all. I have a Taylor scale (which I admit I don't trust) and currently it has my body fat at 8% but I'd like to get more definition. I've had the scale for almost a year now and it has been somewhat innaccurate in the past. I just wanted to get a better idea as to how much protein I should take in instead of carbs and fats. I'm not looking to become a body builder or anything but I want to get more muscle mass. I'm pretty sure my legs can get more defined but I guess ya never know.

supcom

If you want to have more muscle mass then you need to do weight training. I forget the protein intake recommendations, but as I recall they are pretty modest, even for body building despite what the protein supplement industry wants you to believe. Unless you are eating a very atypical American diet you should be getting plenty of protein to build muscle.

Trekke

How do you burn 3000 calories on a 20 mile ride? What calculation are you using? This figure seems totally inflated.

cchandler

He said 3000 for the DAY.

cheebahmunkey

thank you for actually reading my post.

NoRacer

I'd track body composition over time using some method of assessing it. Some people like to use bio-impedence methods (i.e., like the Tanita body monitors) and some like to use measurements of subcutaneous fat using calipers. The thing is, it needs to be assessed over time.

spunky

That's not necessarily true. It all depends upon the type of riding you do. Is he climbing hills, facing 20 mph headwinds, sprinting, pushing large gears? All of those will increase muscle mass. Sure, weight training helps, but it's not the only way to get stronger. I prefer to do most of my leg training on the bike anyway. One of the traps with weight training is building up too much bulk on the quads and not enough on the smaller supporting muscle groups.