My legs, are in good shape, starting to get muscular, but I can't seem to lose any weight around my stomach, I am 5" 11 160 LBS, What am I doing wrong, I ride about 6 days a week, and try and ride about 2 hrs per day. Any suggestions?

I have the same problem...but I think it's the bottle of Home Brew I drink each day after my ride!! I would recommend 1. Not doing that! and 2. sit ups and crunches.

Your weight versus height appear pretty healthy to me.

Thanks Gus, and yes that bottle of homebrew probably has something to do with it.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I think the process of adding muscle and riding regularly, all year round, is a slow but victorious
process.

I say, keep riding and be patient. You don't have to be ahead of anyone in this race, you just have to finish.

I've been riding for about eight months now and am finding the legs are really getting there. Waist wise after a good start I seem to have plateaued a bit, probably because cycling seems to make me ravenous...

Richard

If you can get youself it a fat burning workout, you should be able to get some of that fat gone. If you burn fat some of must come from the waiste area, no?

I have the same problem. I have "great looking legs" according to the ladies at work (don't let my wife find out ), but my middle is kinda soft. I guess it's because I have a tech support job and SIT at a computer all day and my only exercise is riding and yard work.

I've looked at all the "Great Looking Abs" articles in Mens Health magazine and all their exercise plans require a trip to the gym, unless you have a weight machine at home (which I don't).

If I do crunches every morning before heading out to work, how long will it take to get firmed up?
Will crunches and sit-ups really help that much since I sit so much?

Here's my 2 cents free:

Try riding in the morning not eating anything for how long you wish. That would help burn fats off. However, maybe you still have to do exercises to target the area where you wanna burn off fats.

The logic of not eating before you ride is to get your body to burn fat instead of carbohydrates you have stored in your body. Then by doing the exercises that target specific areas, it might further help burn the fats there.

Still, you have to be persistent and not give up hope. There cannot be results overnight, but soon, you'll notice marked improvements. REMEMBER : Stretch before and after your exercise, think that helps to get the burnt fats away from the areas.

No one wants to hear it, but the flab around your waist won't go away unless you perpetually "starve" yourself.

Jumping up and down for a while might "tone it up" a little so it doesn't show so much.

If you do choose to diet down to the point where there are no visible fat cells clinging to your waist - the side effects are likely to be continuous feelings of hunger, restlessness and irritability.

A small price to pay for "looking good".

I have to disagree with you here. fat is fat and cycling can burn fat from anywhere on your body (but will take more from your legs should it be there). It is never necessary to starve oneself to loose fat.

Liposuction - The easy way.

Hi Crazy

Gee 5'11" and a whopping 160 lbs !!! Damn, break out the harpoons....thar she blows!!! You dont need to lose any weight at all unless you have no muscle tone. Work your upper body ...you dont wanna look like the skinny milk toast pro riders do ya ?

Ride Safe....Dudley

Hey hey, who ya calling skinny?

I here am a skinny! So, there's nothing much to be ashamed of. Anyway, it does help in aerodynamics efficiency doesn't it? I have long legs and not too long body. My shoulders are not wide and thus there would be less drag ( something I'm more than happy about )! I do have my muscles built, but not to a huge extent, just that you can't see the bones

I would first have to ask. What percent of your weight is fat? Than go to work. The first thing is that cycling does nothing for your abs or intercoastals. So do the ab workouts. Also, Oxologic gave you excellent advice when he said ride 1st thing ( if you can ) in the morning. The less you can eat the better before the ride.
Heres another example:
If you weight 160 and ride at 16 MPH for 3) 1.75 hour rides you will burn appox 1 pound of fat.
Don't give up..keep riding...

I am not skinny or in shape (well, if you think round is a shape). I have found that during a good spin of 100 rpm I am using more abdominal muscles to keep my hips from bouncing. I don't think that cycling is a primary workout for the abdominal muscles, but strong abs helps spinning. (and my abs are weak)

I would say if your beginning to grow old or maybe early 30 upward, the male bodies tend to have this belly, please correct me if I am wrong, even if you exercise regularly, you will have those unsightly belly ,

I think a combination of all of the above suggestions will work the best.

You do have to continue riding.
You will have to decrease your caloric intake (but not starve yourself)
You will have to excersize the target area.

Doing all of these things in moderation will produce good results in most people.

Right you want to tone your abs and lose a bit of weight?? Ok then
1. keep riding but use lower gear and increase cadence, Uses more aerobic energy- carbos stored in your muscle at first, but then when thats depleted the energy system swaps and draws the fat out and convets it into carbos for use by the muscles, hence burning fat!!
2. increase the distance your riding as well but keep the revs up and don't go into big(heavy) gears
3. decrease the intake of Kcals per day to just below the amount your using, this will make the body utilise the fat as energy quicker, cause that fat is the bodys reserve energy store!!
4. do situps, crunches to tone the abs or another good one expecialy if you sit at a desk for hours a day or dont have time/motivation for lots of situps is to just tense your abs for 5 seconds then relax for 5 and repet (as many times as you need to) so easy to do at the desk!!

I hope this helps

Yes, sit-ups will help. Twist while you do them. The key is to do them often and lots of reps. Take the time...it pays off. It is important to have a strong core.

I was slacking off on sit-ups for the past month because I was focasing on cyling and my back started to feel sore. I realized I was neglecting my upper body. So, I started back to the gym for some boxing and weights. I feel better already.

If you want to burn fat and strengthen the abs, try the following. Resistance training, you have to build muscle in order to burn fat. If you build more muscle you will also burn more fat in your everyday movements. But dont just push weight, do a circuit training routine. Move from one exercise to the next with little or no rest in between sets. Also do crunches not situps, they are a waste of time and energy. When doing situps the hip flexors come into play and the abs actually do very little. Crunches on the other hand isolate the abs more efficiently. And there are several crunch movements that you can do. If at some point you feel as if you have hit a wall and nothing is happening, try adding a 5 or 10 pound weight plate on your chest. More resistance. And as far as having a flabby midsection after 30 that is totally false. If after burning the fat from the rest of the body and the only fat stores left are in the abs then the body will go there for energy. Do all of this along with cycling and just watch the inches slip away.Dont use a scale,muscle weighs more then fat and as long as your growing you wont lose weight, just fat. Sorry about the long post. Hope it helps.

This year I changed my primary ride to a single speed cyclocross bike with a 44X16 gear. I still ride my other bikes, but I commute and train on this one. I live in a hilly area, and most of my rides have a cosiderable amount of climbing. My arms, chest and stomach are more ripped than they ever have been, and I think it is from the SS. When i hit the hills I have to stand, and I have 4 different climbing styles depending on the pitch. Since I cant shift to a lower gear, I have to politly ask the rest of my body to pitch in - and it is definetly a full body workout. In 8 years of serious, year round cycling, I have not found a better full body workout than this. Now just send me 4 easy payments of 29.95.......