Poppin' pills & takin' names
Weight. There are few segments of the population more obsessed with it than cyclists, apart from teenage girls and young men hoping to be selected for the highschool varsity ballet team (wrestling). Our sport is unique in the respect that friction between road and rider doesn’t significantly increase or decrease with rider weight, meaning that the amount of weight we carry up and down hills directly reduces the amount of work we do, leaving more juice for going way more fasterer. That, and we wear spandex in conjunction with having high expectations of Looking Fantastic.
Based on what we’ve learned of him, Steampunk shares several genes with the elusive Sasquatch, and as such is a bigger (and hairier) guy than the typical cyclist. This year, he’s taken some pointers from the Spanish Meat Industry and gone to work dropping some kilos and has been kind enough to share his experience with us.
We caution you not to treat any of the following as any kind of medical recommendation. Steampunk is not a doctor, although he plays one on the internet. Before embarking on any diet/nutritional changes, be sure to consult a real doctor or someone who has more than “guesswork” and a sample size bigger than 1 to go from. Also note that Historians are about the last people you want to get advice from regarding anything not to do with things that happend in the (distant) past, particularly physical fitness and well-being; that can’t even agree on the past, which should be fairly simple to settle on because it already happened. Consider another nutritional study conducted by our very own Historian, Joshua, as further evidence of this.
Yours in cycling,
Frank
—
Looking pro is like searching for the Holy Grail: you need to be able to distinguish between your African and European swallows. This kind of attention to detail is something on which the Velominati pride themselves. But rather than a subtle upgrade on my bike, my recent progetto has involved upgrading the engine. Since the turn of the year, I have cut from 87kg to below 80kg while maintaining full piston power in the BFGs (take that, weight weenies!). Though still not in top condition, I’ve been blown away by the difference it’s made to my riding. I’m faster, stronger, and able to climb out of the saddle for longer, more intense periods. I love dancing on the pedals up steep hills. Say what you like, but this makes me look more pro (so sayeth I).
At the end of the day, no matter how slick bike, kit, three-point system adherence, etc., that gut bumping against the guns while you ride in the drops is going to be the first betrayal against looking pro (that, or the heaving lungs and the “tactical” decision to gear down). The soft mid-section does not a casually deliberate pose make. Put another way, the sleeker rider is more able to dish the V. While much of the Velominati rhetoric is about appearance, at the end of the day, I’ve read enough on these pages about the attention to performance detail. After a mucky ride, cleaning the chain is more important than polishing the frame. Performance.
So here’s my story””the short and the wide of it. I went through a breeding and blimping phase in the late 1990s. For good measure, my wife and I had a third child in 2008, almost ten years later. I’m a compassionate, new-age kind of husband (more fool me), and I put on close to 10kg for both of the first two. Older and marginally wiser, closer to 5kg for the third. At the peak of my powers””during grad school””I tipped the scales at 102kg. I stand 175cm. Claiming a muscular build only gets one so far. At that kind of weight, the weight of the bike is immaterial. Or, more to the point, shaving a few milligrams off the bike here or there is denial at best””more realistically, lunacy. Over the past decade, I have hovered around a reasonably fit 87kg without really making long-term reductions. Even this past fall, when good weather allowed me to ride consistently right into December, I couldn’t put a dent on lowering the scales.
Winter is not a friendly season. Not for the cyclist in Ontario, anyway. If being off the bike weren’t bad enough, it’s busy time at work, which means I’m an infrequent visitor to the gym. Off the bike and not working out is a bad combination as I am very good at putting on weight; winter becomes a desperate shill game of trying to sustain the fall weight””if not condition””and limit the amount of work necessary to get back into shape in the spring. But this winter has been different. Since Christmas, I have dropped more than 7kg. I’ll spare the pics, but I’m seeing cut abs for the first time since, like, forever. More importantly, the guns remain huge and the definition is awe-inspiring (so sayeth I). For an otherwise sedentary academic in his mid-30s, I’m pleased with the results. This with minimal exercise (on early January and February rides, I was reminded that while weight loss is good, it does not replace good fitness). But form is already on its way and easier to come by at a lighter weight. This might sound like the beginning of one of those late-night ads on TV: I’ve lost 7kg in 9 weeks while not exercising! How did I do it?
Clenbuterol was first synthesized in…
Well, I have been experimenting with supplements, but nothing that would ever run me afoul of the UCI or any other sporting body (especially the Spanish). More on that in a moment, but the emphasis has primarily been on revamping my diet. With a full family in the house, we eat well: sensibly, making healthy choices, not drinking too much, etc. I always thought that my standard diet was not just good, but really good. Starting on December 26, I cut carbs drastically out of my diet. Instead of cereal for breakfast, I switched to bacon and scrambled eggs. Instead of sandwiches for lunch, I switched to beans, meat, and salmon (lots of salsa and guacamole””strangely, this diet consists of much more cholesterol than my previous practice (eggs and avocados), but I’m stronger, fitter, and lighter). No bread. For dinner, while making rice for the kids, I switched to spinach, which really didn’t take long to get used to (especially as I watched the scale show a smaller number on a daily basis). In addition, I stopped eating fruit (high fructose) and cut out dairy. Fructose is exceptionally good at building and storing fat. Dairy: I don’t understand this one as well””milk has a low glycemic index””but it does have a high insulinemic index; I miss my cheese! The higher protein diet has resulted in my not feeling hungry between meals so much, but in those rare instances, raw almonds””not too many: these pack a massive caloric load!””do the trick. Six days a week, I adhere to the above religiously. One day a week, I binge. Big time. The danger with cutting so many carbs and sugars out of one’s diet is that the metabolism can slow, too. Spiking it once a week has the benefit of ensuring that I’m continuing to keep the metabolism high.
My lone concern with cutting so many carbohydrates was that it might inhibit my energy and performance on the bike. While the season is still young and I’m still finding my fitness””and haven’t yet had a chance to get in a ride of more than 60km””I haven’t felt slow or weak. If anything, I’ve had more energy. During intense exercise, it is also possible to take in carbs, since you’re burning them immediately, anyway. So, energy drinks and bars on the bike are still okay. We all likely suffer from any number of mild and undiagnosed food allergies (or annoyances). I can’t pinpoint it, but I feel much better with this diet, suffer from less stomach discomfort, and have more energy.
Then I started popping pills. I’ve begun a fairly standard regimen of Alpha-Lipoic Acid, green tea extract, and garlic””all powerful fat-burners. Four times a day. The last pill-popping stack of the day also includes Policosanol. Also, I’ve been taking extensive levels of Vitamin D. While 1,000 IU is the recommended daily allowance, I’ve been popping more than 4,000 IU a day, combined with Vitamin A & K, which help in Vitamin D absorption. Vitamin D is a wonder-hormone and worth more investigation””not just as a winter supplement. Chances are we all suffer from Vitamin D deficiency, and that can hurt our performance. Vitamin D is crucial in the creation of fast-twitch muscle fibers and overall physical fitness. Some studies also indicate that Vitamin D deficiency can be responsible for what appeared to be chronic injuries in athletes. I ride without a computer and decided not to get a series of tests and measurements taken for before and after comparison, but I regret that now. I’d be very interested to check BMI, Vitamin D levels, and cholesterol, especially.
The inspiration for the diet and supplements came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four-Hour Body. At first””and from a professional perspective””I was interested in the concept of self-experimentation and the difference between abstract theories and the practical experimentation he did. But I was also interested in the health and nutritional science behind it. There’s some interesting stuff here, not just on weight loss, but also on muscular development, endurance””hacking the body in general, as Ferriss puts it. Given the tone of the book, I don’t think I’d like Ferriss too much if we ever met. He comes across as too much of an egotistical alpha-dog; but for his former national kick-boxing championship title, I suspect I’d want to beat the snot out of him. But the kid’s done some interesting homework here. And my cycling is reaping the benefits at the moment. If you’d told me a year ago, I would weigh less than 80kg, I would have thought you were delusional. I was pretty fit at 87kg””I still carry enough upper body muscle for three Schlecks””and not particularly soft. But looking back, 7kg is a lot of extra weight to carry around. And for it to come off so quickly…
In all, so much of cycling is about tradition, ceremony, routine, and discipline. Being able to bring that praxis out of the saddle and out of the garage and into the other necessity in life (eating) is an exciting prospect that keeps me closer to the bike. As spring appears to have finally sprung around these parts, I already feel like I’m in early summer form.
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Nailed it, brother.
G'phant :
Wow, awesome on the fitness increase!! So you cut out beer ENTIRELY? Huh.
Heh heh heh! ;)
My original response to your response was more or less serious, not that I advocate meals of beer... at least not over long periods of time... But non- jesting, your jest got me thinking seriously... what ABOUT beer? or wine? or Jameson (my drug of choice)?
One could argue, alcohol is a toxin (very much so), and a psychotropic drug, how could anyone seriously say a body would truly "want" (as in "need") that?
Eh. My answer is: LIGHTEN UP! and also: I don't have all the answers, what, am I Kikiwikipedia.com? (OCD people/nearby campers (of which I'm one) out there, full recycled joke disclosure: yes, I confess I used that - Kikiwikipedia.com - in one other comment here. Somewhere.)
I guess I look at alcoholic beverages the same way I do yumyums full of empty calories. In my view, my brain and psyche and enjoyment of life are all part of my body... and totally denying myself a shot of good sippin' whiskey (which means Mr. Jameson, I'm a one man girl and that's the best man I've found yet) in the evening, or some wine with a meal, or hunk of daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark chocolate every once in a while is nonsensical.
And yes, you really DO "need" those things (in my humble opinion) because they make you happy! (this is all within reason, of course). If you deny yourself all the fun stuff, that's when you get into trouble (I think) -- it just makes you crave it more; psychologically you are punishing yourself for no real reason.
I think we were put here on earth for absolutely no reason at all. It's up to us to enjoy ourselves (among other things), and that includes the enjoyment of the finer comestibles... if you are riding a fair amount/good intensity or generally pretty athletic in whatever way and aren't in college, you'll eventually hear your body say "ok, one was enough, thanks!" and then it won't ask for another for quite a while.
Eventually. It was weird when it happened to me. I won't talk about college/immediate post college days (mostly because I can't remember much, too many brain cells killed off... not helped by later non-alcohol related brain damage from crashing head first all the time). After that required period of hedonism, I wasn't a huge drinker by any means, but I'd go through cycles of, say, partaking of a couple of beers (ahhhhhh Mackeson, Mackeson; wherefort art thou, Mackeson (Triple Stout)??? F'ing Whitbread Brewery stopped selling it in the US, that's where. Sigh.) maybe a few times a week. I don't remember over how long a period or exactly when it happened, but eventually it went: I'd think hmmm how about a nice creamy stout, yum... I'd have one or two sips and I don't know, it just felt WRONG. Tasted wrong. But mostly felt wrong, like, um, I was drinking a toxin or something. Oh, right...
Anyway, that didn't and doesn't happen all the time, I'm not a teetotaler. But it happened enough. These days I just don't WANT a good beer, or wine, or whiskey very often. However, when I do, or rather my bod does, and I hear it (the bod) correctly, OH MAAAAAAAAAAAAN is it good!!!
(more or less the same for sweet stuff... though I swear there have been a couple of times where for months and months I craved peanut butter M&M's, or some other something; I'd actually eat the damned things for meals - only when hungry, stop when not hungry - and I felt fine, didn't impact my lean muscle mass vs. fat TOO much, or my riding... and then the craving just disappeared)
@Karolinka
http://www.themacallan.com/home.aspx
@G'phant
And yes, I did cut out beer entirely. Went from two Heinekens a night to none. For 40 days. (Hoist by mine own petard in explaining Lent to the kids ...) It was truly awful. But it broke the habit. I still drank wine, but not as much. However, and this is the real point, I think the main factor was a more general mental one: I was exercising again, and seeing the good it was doing me, and feeling better about being healthy, and wanting to see continued progress and live in a way more consistent with that. So, apart from the beer, the other dietary changes (no desserts, more salads and fewer sandwiches for lunch, etc) seemed natural and normal. As Minion says, we aren't all going to tread the same paths. But those who get bitten by the bug find that the paths they tread all point in a remarkably similar direction.
minion :
I must confess to a little snickering, imagining SWMBO constantly monitoring ipad use in bed...
Uh, wow, thanks for the thanks, and, well, you're welcome. The pleasure is mine. I still can't believe I've found a group of people who actually READ. Especially my hyper-parethesized stream of consciousness drivel.
I'll tell ya what Kind: The FAST, HOT, and SEXY only-set-of-their-kind-in-north-central-florida Kind, as far as I know! In my humble opinion. No really, aren't they the mack?? I looooooooove them! (I loooooooooove my whole Ride! It's relatively new, for me).
They're Industry Nine (made in North Carolina, USA, amazingly enough), "Ego" wheelset, all manufactured and ano-d in house; clinchers, 1450grams. 30mm deep aluminum (oh, excuse me, "niobium enhanced alloy," ffffffttttt lol) rims (they had "super-ego" carbons available), nipple-less bladed spokes threaded into low profile hubs with intermediary ss piece at hub allowing adjustment. The work on the hubs is AMAZING, they are gorgeous pieces of machinery, proprietary stuff inside as well as out (check out this tour or their facility, shows everything SOOOOOOO cool: http://www.bikerumor.com/2010/06/02/industry-nine-factory-visit-how-their-hubs-are-made/ )
What I have are actually their first stab at road wheels, I think 2009 (they'd been around for quite a while doing mtb etc). I suppose you could say they're a little overpriced ($950 msrp) and blingy; you can get lighter for less etc. But the work is exquisite.
However, they've now revamped their road wheels to standard straight pull bladed spokes (though they're the pricey Sapim X-rays), outside nipples on rims (same rims I have)... they're still priced the same, weigh the same as the originals ($950, 1450 g for set)
There was some slight pooping about some problem with the T spoke ends/rims of the originals, like I have, some hefty riders were somehow or other pulling them apart (it may have been one incident, possibly two, but it's like shark attacks, the way it made news).
Also the engineering needed to make bladed spokes work with I9's signature hub-threaded design was a friggin' lotta work (and is one of the things I like - it looks way cool) for them, took a long time (they've always been famous for crazy lead times... but they really care about their work).
And my understanding is that King of the Wheel Universe Zipp Wheels engineers declared spoke nipples at the rim didn't really have a significant effect on aerodynamics, so now everybody is back to original straightforward rim nipples (where else can you say nipples so many times completely innocently? heeheeheeeheeheeheeheee!).
I'm a beast (lol j/k) but at 5'7" 125 lb unlikely to tear wheels apart; they're pretty damned light and stiff and the whole bike leaps out from under me by psychic command. And the wheels look hot and match my frame purrrrrrrrrrrfectly. I got no complaints.
(the quick releases are Salsa coz they were a better matching red; the cog set is a Dura-Ace block -- which I'm sure all Velominati know is pronounced "dur-ah'-chee")
The equivalent wheelsets Industry Nine makes now are the i30 and i35 (http://www.industrynine.net/i30). Eh. Still great quality, but I can't help it, I just like the gagetry (industrial yet still sleek) of the originals.
Hub shell in production, I want to wear it:
(from the factory tour article mentioned above,
http://www.bikerumor.com/2010/06/02/industry-nine-factory-visit-how-their-hubs-are-made/ )
When I raced I was 76kg and at peak weight about four years ago I was 100kg. Calorie counting and a return to racing got me back down to 80-82kg in four months, then due to life getting in the way of the bike I went back up to 90kg the following winter.
Despite injury and children that has kept mile riding to less than 160km in that time, more by luck than judgement, over the last 18 months I haven't put on any weight (it's probably just that my muscle has converted to fat).
But I'm still a few months from peaking and could do with getting back down to 80-82kg and this is where I have the problem. For all the effort in maintaining a diet off the bike, tiredness and stress of fatherhood sees resort to snacks a little more than I'd like and so the weight is maintained not lost. The difference that would be made is to ride the bike, but that requires time and health, which are something I haven't had much of recently.
Beer was the big cut, but the one thing that calorie control taught me was portion control. Having raced a trained pretty much all the time from the time I was a kid until 5-6 years ago, I'd never had to think about how much I was eating. The problem happened when I stopped riding the bike as much and I carried on eating as much as I'd always done.
G'phant :
HEINEKEN? That could explain a whole lotta problems. Blech. It's like AMERICAN German beer. Be glad you gave it up, you deserve better!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Awesome! I can't think of a better reason to explain why I am a staunch and regularly non-practicing ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-ex Catholic!
Amen.
harminator :
@Steampunk:
Right on!
Uh, well, no. I mean RE. the diet (as far as some mapped out plan you're following). My GI systems terminates normally.
Just for another view (not of the termination of my GI system), see my posts above (42, 44, 72, I think) and like Steampunk I'm not saying it's right for everybody, but after diet struggling and being at war with a body I didn't trust, it worked for me, so it seemed worth sharing.
Right on, Homer. I mention that at length too, if you're interested.
Ron :
To quote myself, because I should have gone to sleep hours ago and am running out of thinking juice - Uh, wow, thanks for the thanks, and, well, you're welcome. The pleasure is mine. I still can't believe I've found a group of people who actually READ. Especially my hyper-parethesized stream of consciousness drivel...
and I'm glad I'm not the only one around here who uses "awesome." Not because it's left over from... from... I have no idea what decade. But because of the real meaning of the word.
And boy howdy are you right about training to listen to your body. Or your grey matter. And time, too. All of that happened to me and/or was worked on over a long period; and a lot of it was worked on by "my elves" (subconscious, I guess, but I hate that word) -- your head is gnawing on and digesting ideas, absorbing and changing, even when you don't realize it. Which is nice to remember when it seems like you aren't making any outwardly noticeable progress. Probably something is happening underneath.
(you probably got it, but eating until "not hungry," AND eating only when you are actually hungry, AND, the one that was most difficult for me, eating what you "want." which can take some work getting past baggage about what you want and why you want it!)
Cyclops :
Very cool. Less stress is a good thing. Yup.