Hi all,

This may seem strange but I'm trying to loose muscle mass but only in my upper body, I'm 184cm (6ft) and weigh in at 84kg(185lbs). I'm trying to get my weight down because I want to start competing and can see that I'm carrying about 6-8kg up the hills that I really don't need. I however want to concentrate on loosing muscle mass around my shoulders and arms. My mid section is going down and I can see improvements weekly but my shoulders and arms(biceps) are still to big. I don't do any specific exercises for this area so that may be the issue. I have been riding really hard and eating unprocessed, full grain, low carb diet which has really helped but I really don't know how to loose the weight on the arms and upper body. I've thought about swimming but that will just increase the size as this is why the muscles are the size they are.

Thanx

Have you considered just working on your climbing ability? Some hill repeats do wonders.

Hills aren't the problem, I'm pretty strong going up and down the hills. I would just like to be pulling less of me up the hill.

dont try and rid of yourself of all your mass up top. dont know what workout you do but i would start doing more low weight high rep stuff. swimming as you mentioned you may do would be a great option.

as for hill repeats, they make you an animal over time. i started doing them earlier in this year and it helped me get over a hump ive been on for some time now. i stopped doing any upper body, which i know isnt good, and now look like a skeleton. with upside down pears for legs!!!

what bf% are you? Why not try and lose the fat and keep the muscle/strentgh?

KInda like the Lance path to slimming down eh? Just waste away your body, then rebuild only the leg muscles in the gym and with sprints & intervals on the road.

Well, iff'n thats the objective, you have no worries mate.
Just keep packin on the miles, climbing or otherwise. Your arms and shoulders WILL shrink! if you're not doing any specific 'work' on them.
For many of us, who don't compete with any serious considerations, building enough upper body mass and keeping it is THE issue. Especially us codgers, goin into 'senior' status without becoming too upperbody frail is a key thing.
Pack on the miles, ignore the upper body for a few months and by Christmas you'll be 'Rasmussen'.

So if I up the amount of riding I could loose faster?? At the moment I spend about an hour on the bike during the week(off road, only MTB) and on weekends do a three hour stint. I'm scared of over training as I want to compete next year and not burn myself out before the start of the season. I guess I'm starting the training at an awkward time as this is the time of the season when you should be looking to slow down and not increase. Thanks for the input to all. So swimming would be a good way to train upper body without bulking up?? I've seen swimmers and remember myself as a swimmer that once you start the shoulders get a bit bigger, not what I want. My BF% is unknown but I can say that it can't be very high because general pinching around the body does not give much more than skin.

at this point i think youre sounding a bit OCD about this. but if you want to compete you'll have to be a little

just ride, and increase the amount you ride. use a normal schedule. ride sat, sun. rest mon. ride tue, wed, thurs. rest fri. should help things along.

also, you can pick up this book if interested in doing some reading. has some good stuff and also off bike training. and off bike training sounds like youre key worry. serious cycling just make sure you get the second edition.

cheers!

I lifted weights for 4 years. First it was to lose weight. I dropped from 230 to 160, then I started putting on mass and at my high point I was your weight (185) but at 5'7 and under 10% bf.

Thanks to my mother's genetics my knees could not take lifting anymore so I switched to cycling. Now 6 months and 3000 miles later I've dropped down to 148. Almost 100% of the weight I have lost has been fat and upper body muscle mass.

Think about it. You're sitting on your bike burning calories and not using your upper body. Just eat healthy food, it's common sense, and the weight will come off naturally.

And if anything swimming will strengthen your upper body. It will not increase muscle mass. Plus that would be good cross training in the winter.

Got it, thanks guys. So I'll cut back on the munchies, increase riding and maybe swim on the off days.
Just want to know what you think about the situation that it is end of the season and I want to be pumped for the start of next season and not peaking. I'm just afraid of getting to Gee'd up and then I over do it during the time when I should be pacing myself.