# The Obligitory Lance Armstrong Weight Thread



## CabDoctor (Jun 11, 2005)

Anyone think lance is fat right now? In all the pics he seems to be caring a tone of upper body weight.


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## slimjw (Jul 30, 2008)

OK, I'll bite.

Muscle, yes. Fat, no. Have you seen the pictures of LA working out on elizabethkreutz.com? Dude is cut and tight. He has stated his gym work is done now and the rest of the season it's all the bike, so he should be sufficiently emaciated come summer...


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## smbrum (Jul 9, 2008)

agree muscle not fat! he has been doing more running and strength training over the last few years as compared to when he was tour champ. he may be up a few pounds but it isnt fat. Toned & strong. I think he will be a bear in the TT's. Hopefully climbing is still on par


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## Bry03cobra (Oct 31, 2006)

slimjw said:


> OK, I'll bite.
> 
> Muscle, yes. Fat, no. Have you seen the pictures of LA working out on elizabethkreutz.com? Dude is cut and tight. He has stated his gym work is done now and the rest of the season it's all the bike, so he should be sufficiently emaciated come summer...


HOLY SH!T....I just went to the site you mentioned above, LA looks like he is ready for UFC not the TDF. I would guess he weighs more now then he ever did in any of his previous tour wins. I guess his plan is to power up the climbs. With the muscle he is carrying now, would love to see his wattage numbers!!!!


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## WAZCO (Sep 16, 2004)

CabDoctor said:


> Anyone think lance is fat right now? In all the pics he seems to be caring a tone of upper body weight.QUOTE]
> 
> I read he's only couple pounds over his weight race. Lance goal was to meet his target weight by the start of TDU. So the mucle mass has to come down.


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## MikeBiker (Mar 9, 2003)

Fat people shouldn't wear black and yellow. It makes them look like bumblebees.


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## jupiterrn (Sep 22, 2006)

MikeBiker said:


> Fat people shouldn't wear black and yellow. It makes them look like bumblebees.


Hey, I resemble that remark!


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## kbiker3111 (Nov 7, 2006)

WAZCO said:


> I read he's only couple pounds over his weight race. Lance goal was to meet his target weight by the start of *Giro d'Italia*. So the mucle mass has to come down.


Fixed it for you.


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## WAZCO (Sep 16, 2004)

kbiker3111 said:


> Fixed it for you.


I'm pretty sure it's for Tour Down Under but maybe i read it wrong.


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## teffisk (Mar 24, 2006)

something is very wrong with pic 37/49 on that site. something a razor could fix. im ashamed of him


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## CabDoctor (Jun 11, 2005)

kbiker3111 said:


> Fixed it for you.


Yeah actually that's what prompted this thread. TDU in a couple week and fat or muscle that's a lot of extra upper body weight. A few pounds can make a big big difference.


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## az_will (Jun 11, 2008)

He's proudly riding a Walmart/ Amazon GMC Yukon road bike!


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## Retro Grouch (Apr 30, 2002)

If I could look that good being "fat", then please pass the gravy!


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## monocognizant (Sep 12, 2008)

CabDoctor said:


> Anyone think lance is fat right now? In all the pics he seems to be caring a tone of upper body weight.


Yeah, He's fat, About 2 percent worth! :mad2:


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## schimanski (Jan 11, 2002)

And I thought I'd seen fat people.


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## Andrea138 (Mar 10, 2008)

teffisk said:


> something is very wrong with pic 37/49 on that site. something a razor could fix. im ashamed of him


Holy fuzz, batman! I wonder if it messed with his wind tunnel measurements.


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## phoehn9111 (May 11, 2005)

I brought the muscle mass thing up on another thread and Creaky advised
that his appearance is comparable at this stage of the training cycle to prior
years.


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## iliveonnitro (Feb 19, 2006)

jupiterrn said:


> Hey, I resemble that remark!


resemble or resent? biiiiiig difference! :blush2:


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## w4ta (Aug 27, 2007)

From New York Daily News, December 4th... looking fit-


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## Jimbolaya (Jun 2, 2008)

My prediction for the '09 tour, Lance wins the Green Jersey. He will reinvent himself again and go for points. Alberto can go for yellow. Saves the team a bunch of headaches and causes just as much media attention.


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## heathb (Nov 1, 2008)

Regardless of his muscled up build, he still has the genetic advantage that few other guys have with this kind of build. 

Those slow twitch muscle fibers and low lactate production. He'll be able climb just fine with the extra muscle. His mid section if very impressive, you don't find many guys that cut up on a bike, it should help him breath a lot easier during the TT and high altittude climbs.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Hell, he is even more toned than some of my sprinter friends and me too as of this point in time!

Only thing I can compare with him is possibly the low body fat.


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## jsedlak (Jun 17, 2008)

CabDoctor said:


> Anyone think lance is fat right now? In all the pics he seems to be caring a tone of upper body weight.




Ooooooohhh, what is that pretty blue bike there?


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## nicks2192 (Jan 25, 2008)

pick up the newest issue of mens health hes far from fat!


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## Nimitz (Jul 8, 2004)

lol @ fat.

looks like alot of his workouts are "crossfit" stuff.

and nice doing the SEAL obstacle course in Cornando, that thing is a *****...especially when your doing it 3-4 times in a row...

Chad


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## jorgy (Oct 21, 2005)

Ha, ha. A friend was over on the Big Island weekend before last. She saw someone she thought looked like Lance Armstrong but decided it wasn't him because 1. the guy was too big and 2. why would Lance be on the Big Island?

When she got back to Oahu she learned Lance was, indeed, over on the Big Island and it was probably who she saw.


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## M__E (Apr 21, 2006)

no! he's always that size, the others are all tiny climbers in the photo make him look bigger thats all, if anything he's actually smaller than usual...for this time of year and training phase.


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## M__E (Apr 21, 2006)

*hmm..*



Jimbolaya said:


> My prediction for the '09 tour, Lance wins the Green Jersey. He will reinvent himself again and go for points. Alberto can go for yellow. Saves the team a bunch of headaches and causes just as much media attention.


interesting...going 'back' to being a sprinter!  he has everyone fooled!
except us


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## moonmoth (Nov 8, 2008)

Update today from LA's coach:
---------------------------------------------

Ahead of Schedule
By Chris Carmichael

Twenty-five watts in two weeks. Lance Armstrong is gaining fitness so fast that his maximum sustainable power output improved 25 watts from an informal test in late November to a test in Austin, Texas a few days after he returned from the Astana team camp in Tenerife, Spain. One of the biggest questions I had going into this comeback was whether Lance’s body would adapt to training the way it used to. Well, the improvements I’m seeing are roughly equal to what I saw before he retired. Neither age nor three years out of professional cycling seem to be slowing him down. In fact, he’s improving so rapidly that he’s ahead of schedule. Initially I thought the short timeline between Lance’s announcement and his return to ProTour competition would make it difficult for him to be in decent shape for racing, but now I’m actually having to back him off a bit so he’s not too fit too early.

That doesn’t mean you should expect him to go to the Tour Down Under in Australia and win in dominating fashion. He’s going there to train and while he’s ahead of where I expected him to be right now, he’s still near the beginning of a trajectory that should see him start the Tour de France in optimal condition. He’ll do well in Australia, but keep in mind that the primary purpose of that race is to get back into the groove of elite-level road racing and all the off-the-bike routines that come with it.

The biggest impact of his rapid progression has been a constant shifting of his schedule. Originally, we were going to go to Napa, California, a week or two following the Tenerife camp for 7-10 days of big-mileage training. The testing in Austin showed that wasn’t necessary and would have provided too great a training stimulus. So Lance got to stay at home more, which is always a good thing because it means more time with the family and that leads to a happier Lance. Just as with any athlete, the more “normal” Lance’s life is (in terms of the daily balance of kids, training, foundation work, friends, etc.), the better he trains.

Over the past few weeks, Lance has been doing more back-to-back volume, meaning he’s been doing three-day blocks of 4-, 5-, and 6-hour rides. The intensity is steady and reasonable, right now he’s averaging between 200-230 watts for the duration of those rides. The idea behind the three-day training blocks is to build the kind of endurance needed to compete in stage races. It’s one thing to ride three long days in a week, but separate them by an easy recovery rides or days off. It’s another to ride four hours one day, recover overnight and then go out and put in five hours at the same intensity the next day, and the next. Physically, these blocks induce a lot of training load (more than you could reasonably accumulate in one ride), which in turn leads to adaptations that improve the ways working muscles utilize fuel. Psychologically they help riders get into the routines that will sustain them through stage races: good eating habits, proper recovery techniques, going to sleep early, etc.
Around Christmas/New Year's, Lance traveled to Kona, Hawaii for more training. He went out there he can continue putting in the miles, and I’m going to put him behind the motor for some motorpacing as well. With the Tour Down Under coming up quickly, a few hours of race-pace training behind the motor certainly wouldn’t hurt - well, at least it won’t hurt for me. Here's what his pre-Tour Down Under training looks like:

December 29-31---3-day training block
3-4 hours daily at endurance pace staying below 315watts, climbs at 340-380watts

January 1: Recovery ride

Jan 2-4----3 day training block
Day 1: 4 hours at endurance pace staying below 315watts, include 1hr at Tempo power, 350-380watts, low pedal cadence during Tempo (60-70rpm).

Day 2: 4 hours at endurance pace staying below 315watts, include 2-3 10-minute MuscleTension Intervals at 45-50rpm, uphill at 350-400watts with 8-10mins recovery between intervals.

Day 3: 4 hours at endurance pace staying below 315watts, include 1hr at Tempo power, 350-380watts, low pedal cadence during Tempo (60-70rpm).

January 5-6: Recovery rides

Jan 6-8----3 day training block
Day 1: 5.5 hrs with 3 climbs of 15-30minutes at 380-420watts, last 60mins behind motor for leg speed.

Day 2: 4.5 hours with 2-3climbs late in the ride of 15-30minutes at 380-420watts, last 60mins behind motor for leg speed.

Day 3: 4 hours at endurance pace with 2 climbs of 15-30minutes at 380-420watts, last 60mins behind motor for leg speed.

January 9-10—recovery rides, maybe on the TT bike
Day 1: Recovery ride
Day 2: Recovery ride

January 11: Possibly an Ironman test on the TT bike??

January 12: Depart for Australia?


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## pdh777 (Oct 7, 2005)

Wonder if other pros realize how much that core helps him with endurance and power.

They should adopt similar training methods - even the skinny climbers should build up thier core.


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## heathb (Nov 1, 2008)

Couldn't agree more. If your core is totally ripped it anchors your upper body and lower body and for me I find that have extremely low body fat in the abs section increases your ability to breath really deep. The diaphram isn't being hindered behind the blubber so you can take full belly breaths alot easier when your in the drops.


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## tri-ac (Aug 4, 2008)

moonmoth said:


> January 11: Possibly an Ironman test on the TT bike??


what's an ironman test?


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## Susan Walker (Mar 21, 2008)

tri-ac said:


> what's an ironman test?


Maybe 180 km on the bike?


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## CabDoctor (Jun 11, 2005)

tri-ac said:


> what's an ironman test?


I was thinking it's some sort of gauntlet involving people, throwing, and sharp objects.


....but I could be wrong....


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## Doctor Who (Feb 22, 2005)

Tempo power 350-380 watts? Uhhh, that's my sprint.


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## Pablo (Jul 7, 2004)

pdh777 said:


> They should adopt similar training methods - even the skinny climbers should build up thier core.


You can probably have a strong core and not be ripped. Contador didn't seem to be hampered by a "weak" core.


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## ping771 (Apr 10, 2006)

moonmoth said:


> Update today from LA's coach:
> ---------------------------------------------
> 
> Ahead of Schedule
> ...


"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. [Lance Armstrong] will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster." Puhahahaha!


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