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Weight gain from XC?



 
 
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  #11  
Old February 19th 06, 07:47 AM
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Gene Goldenfeld wrote:
wrote:

The terrain I ski in has short steep hills which are 1-3 minutes of
max hr way over anaerobic threshold, with about 2-3 minutes of
recovery before the next hill. In particular when skating I try to
have complete leg extension. The amount of force generated by my legs
is way more per extension than what I do while cycling, so I guess it
makes sense that that type of exercise would encourage bulk I didn't
see from biking.


Joseph, you might consider not going max on the hills so that you can
use the area in between to maintain speed rather than recovery.
There's a lot to be gained overall that way.

Gene


I should probably try some other areas that are not quite so up and
down. Where I go regularly has essentially no flat sections, and no
gradual inclines. So the recovery portions I'm talking about are a
little double-poling over the crest, then a descent. The other option
is a golf course nearby, but that is flat as a pancake and is full of
dog-do!

My inexperience on more moderate terrain is going to cause problems for
me with pacing myself on long tours at other places. I suppose I should
try some more variation in terrain to get that experience.

Joseph

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  #12  
Old February 19th 06, 08:00 AM
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Chris Cole wrote:
Gene, a question; more than carrying the additional weight up the hill,
isn't the issue oxygenating the additional muscle mass that larger
athlete has to deal with in the hills? I remember seeing a chart
somewhere that really broke it down. It seems that it is a mathematical
certainty that the smaller athlete will prevail in the hills. Have you
heard this thesis?


In animals in general, the bigger you are the more of your strength you
need just to "hold yourself up" and move your mass.

As an animal increases in linear size, the volume and therefore mass
increase as the cube, whereas muscle strength (directly related to
cross-sectional area of muscle) increases as the square of the linear
size. This is why elephants need such large legs, and don't look like
directly scaled-up mice.

So typically, a "smaller" skiier is usually going to have a better power
to weight ratio, and for a given energy expenditure will produce more
forward motion up the hill and use less energy simply fighting gravity's
pull on their mass back down the hill.

Whether that translates into any significant difference in real life is
another matter.


I think it does translate into a significant difference in real life,
but only really at the elite level. At the elite level everyone is
essentially as fit as a human can be, so other factors become more
important in differentiating peoples' performance. At the recreational
level, differences in condition and the amount of training can
certainly make a much bigger difference. Weight may not be as important
as in cycling because the climbs are not as long, if the Olympic
courses are anything to go by. Cycling seems to have a broader range of
terrain and thus has more specialization for different body types, and
also has a more rigid "template" for what is required to be a top
all-rounder.

You bring up a good point about the scaling of animals. This affects
the aerobic capacity, and thus a persons capabilities on long climbs
which must be done below anaerobic threshold. There definitely
lighter/smaller is better. On shorter climbs where everyone has to
stomp up them anaerobically, the advantage isn't so great anymore.

Skiing is lots of fun (among other reasons!) for me because I feel my
upper body helps my speed, while with cycling it just gets in the way.
And of course, no cars!

Joseph

  #13  
Old February 19th 06, 12:37 PM
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FWIW, I have the same thing happen each year when I begin rollerskiing.
Cycling basically neglects most of the muscles above the waste and I
go from 210 to 220-225 each season (I'm 6-6"). I'm wondering how much
of the gain is from increased bone density; there's been some recent
research on increased bone density from weight-bearing exercise, but I
haven't seen anything about how much weight that would be. I do feel
more buff now than in August...

chris

See you at the Birkie?

  #15  
Old February 19th 06, 02:23 PM
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BeeCharmer wrote:
FWIW, I have the same thing happen each year when I begin rollerskiing.
Cycling basically neglects most of the muscles above the waste and I
go from 210 to 220-225 each season (I'm 6-6"). I'm wondering how much
of the gain is from increased bone density; there's been some recent
research on increased bone density from weight-bearing exercise, but I
haven't seen anything about how much weight that would be. I do feel
more buff now than in August...

chris

See you at the Birkie?


I too am certainly more buff than in August if the attentions of my
wife is anything to go by!

It's good to hear that significant weight gain from the transfer from
biking to skiing is not strange. Perhaps this year my 20+ pounds are a
bit extreme and next year it will be closer to your 10-15 if some of my
upper body development sticks around through the next cycling season.

I've heard things about bone density from cycling, but I always assumed
that was a long term thing, not seasonal.

No Birkie for me, but I'm signed up for my first Birkebeinerrennet
March 18! They closed registration at 11,000 participants, but there
are still start numbers available for foreigners, come join the fun!

Joseph

  #16  
Old February 19th 06, 03:25 PM
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Randy writes:

Randy An important, or NOT so important factor to this equation is that
Randy muscle, whether lean or bulk, weighs more than fat. This happens to me

Muscle is denser --- a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle

Randy when off-season, I lift weights. The theory is for MOST endeavors the
Randy added strength translates into more power, and of course, in the base
Randy metabolism rate muscles burns far more calories than fat does.
Randy I probably added to the confusion with the above.
Randy Come to think of it, I'M confused now.

The added muscle must be specific to the activity to be useful in that
activity. Chest, arm and back muscle does not help a long distance runner
or biker.

Randy wrote:
Hi,
At the end of November when I put my bike in the garage for the
winter
I weighed 93kg. I have been skiing about 8-12 hours per week (50/50
classic-skate) and which is at least 3-4 hours more on average than I
did on the bike. I also think my skiing is more intense than the bike
riding was (at least during the fall). I haven't changed my diet in any
way. My weight is now 103kg. I notice that certain parts of my quads
are much larger now, and my triceps too, and I suspect other places
too. Fat is hard to judge, but I think it is pretty constant.
Is it common for skiing to encourage the development of bulk
muscles? I
for some reason always assumed it would be slimming like running. I
certainly didn't expect to gain 10kg in 3 months! It dosen't bother me,
I am just curious about the development.
Joseph



--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in rec.skiing.nordic...)
  #17  
Old February 19th 06, 03:42 PM
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With warmer/hot temperatures the body swells and weight goes up. A
national coach said 4-5 kg is pretty normal.

Gene

"BeeCharmer" wrote:

FWIW, I have the same thing happen each year when I begin
rollerskiing. Cycling basically neglects most of the muscles above
the waste and I go from 210 to 220-225 each season (I'm 6-6"). I'm
wondering how much of the gain is from increased bone density;
there's been some recent research on increased bone density from
weight-bearing exercise, but I haven't seen anything about how much
weight that would be. I do feel more buff now than in August...

chris

See you at the Birkie?

  #18  
Old February 19th 06, 04:08 PM
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Here is a link that I think relates.

http://home.hia.no/~stephens/size&end.htm
and also;
http://home.hia.no/~stephens/skiphysi.htm

More questions than answers?

/john

  #19  
Old February 19th 06, 06:09 PM
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jgs wrote:
Here is a link that I think relates.

http://home.hia.no/~stephens/size&end.htm
and also;
http://home.hia.no/~stephens/skiphysi.htm

More questions than answers?

/john


That was very informative. Particularly the part about LT and it's
relative irrelevance to XC compared to other endurance sports. This
seems to make sense to me based on my observations of my own stomping
up hills. The part about efficiency not being decisive is also
interesting. I guess a certain amount of "wheel-spin" is ok as long as
you have the power to put down.

Here is a link that discusses the scaling issue a bit mo

http://www.cranklength.info/scaling.htm

All in all, all this info and people's observations are getting me
excited about my prospects as a skier. I had essentially written myself
off, and was only thinking of skiing as a way to stay in shape for
cycling. I thought my size was insurmountable. Due to my size, my
cycling is very specialized, but perhaps I can be a much better
all-round skier than cyclist. It may just be that "getting the pin" at
races like Birkebeiner are a possibility, while the same level of
performance on a bike is a distant dream.

This last week has been an eye-opener for me. New, proper equipment has
made me realize I was going much slower than I should have been. And I
did a short club race on Wednsday (my first ever) and found out I am
not as slow as I thought. With the new gear I have noticed that I
rarely get passed by folks anymore too! This mixed with the realization
that my size isn't a show-stopper is a real invitation to give it my
all.

Joseph

  #20  
Old February 19th 06, 06:22 PM
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These posts are from 1996 yet still seem to hold up well for the most
part. Peter H might want to take a look at the second article in light
of the recent discussion about the physiology of skating and striding.

There have been a few changes in technique since then that might
modify his comments here or there. I also suspect that stride cadence -
and not just stride length - has become a differentiating variable at
at least the top levels. For example, watch Becky Scott and Julia
Tchepalova relative to others on the climbs at Canmore. This may be a
function of the trend in recent years toward steeper climbs on
repeating shorter loops (done for cutting costs and easier TV access
and spectator viewing).

A google search for Stephen Seiler turns up a few interesting pieces,
including the male-female differences article in running. His
co-author on the latter, Steve Sailer, a political conservative, also
wrote an insightful piece just after Annika played the Colonial in 2003
(he had predicted correctly how much she would miss the cut by).

Gene


"jgs" wrote:

Here is a link that I think relates.

http://home.hia.no/~stephens/size&end.htm
and also;
http://home.hia.no/~stephens/skiphysi.htm

More questions than answers?

/john

 




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