Body types

I am 6 foot, and weigh 220.  Played baseball and football in high school and a year of football in college. I have excepted the fact that I could carry the top 3 finishers of the race on my back while i run.  Look at the bright side, those top 3 finishers cant touch us when were going down hills!!!!

Fellow Fullbacks:

Thanks for the input.  I've also pretty well accepted that I'm a middle to back of the packer.  Which is okay for me.  I'm old and slow any how.  I just want to finish in what is a respectable time against what I have done previously.

Good luck,

Bruce

Hey,

Im 5 ft 6 and 160.... more muscular than most........... At least you have clydesdale

there should be a pony division

I guess I just gotta HTFU and get faster

This is an extreme example but think back to Lance Armstrong before cancer and after cancer. His body type, riding style, bike fit and physiology was almost entirely recalibrated by the cancer, the surgery and the chemo.

I wager Mr. Armstrong or any cancer survivor would not endorse that as a viable training regimen however.

It does illustrate the human capacity for adaptation. There are more relevant examples in the training setting too. The key factor is profound change. "Profound" being the operative word. If you want drastic change you will have to make drastic change. Your eating habits have to change, your exercise habits have to change- and not just a little.

Therein lies the problem for most of us. We will change to a degree for a while, but sweeping and durable changes are seldom enacted by us, they are usually imposed on us.

Ultimately, I'll suggest it boils down to how bad you want it.

Increase the volume of your training (if possible).  You'll burn the muscle.  I don't know how healthy it is and I'm sure he has "pharmaceutical" help but Christian Bale changes his body type twice a year.

Amen, Nothing better than passing a "skinny person" espcially when they see your body markings dont wrap around your arms or legs.

     I am one of those gazelle types, so I can't speak from experience, but I would think that after a year or two you should start to debulk a bit.  one thing that I can think of that would give you bulkier muscles would be the intensity of your workouts.  If you are swimming, biking, running really hard, then yes, you would put on bulkier muscle. 

     If you ARE doing really hard workouts, then try very low intensity workouts that last longer.  for example: Instead of running a hard 3-4 miles where your pulse is throbbing at the end and you are really sore, etc... try running 6 miles at a pace that seems TOO easy, that you could talk to someone at the same time. 

     Maybe you are already doing low intensity workouts.  If so, I have no more advice for you...sorry.

I'm 6-1 and a fairly muscular 200 and have lifted weights for years, though less so now during the tri season.  Last year with the additonal S/B/R I did get a bit leaner though I probably only lost 5 lbs.  I think I gained some leg muscle from the running and biking and I developed a leaner but more defined physique in my upper body.  So I believe I was shedding at least some fat.

My running and biking times are pretty good in the sprint and olympic distances and I'm happy with that. I could shave a minute or two off perhaps by being lighter, but don't want to drastically change my lifestyle to do it.  I would do better if I was built like the gazelles but I still take pride in having a thicker build and still being competitive.  Now if I ever got serious about the longer distances, I'd look to shed some more weight.

The grass is always greener on the other side I suppose.  I know guys that can't put on an ounce of muscle no matter what they do.  At 5'6", 157...I still retain a lot of muscle from my weight lifting days.

To this day, people still ask me what type of weight lifting I do to get how I look.  When I tell them I haven't done any weight lifting in 2 years...they get pretty upset.

Just remember that there's someone who wishes they had your body type.

You know, I feel the same way about other runners, graceful little gazelles and all.  I have trained up to a pretty good pace (~8 min/mile), but there are always going to be faster runners than me, no matter how much I train.

The Desiderata by Ehrmann was on this lady's office wall, and this is the part that stuck with me:
"If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself."

So just enjoy the sport, S/B/R your pace, and be thankful that you have a healthy body that allows you to do this crazy thing called triathlon.

I like that, very apt. You guys would probably consider me one of the "gazelle types", I'm 6'1 and 180lbs, but my main training partner is 6'3 and about 165lbs and I often consider myself to be the slow, dense one, and he the tall skinny bastard who always beats me, seems to bound along taking enormous strides as if he were weightless.

There's always a bigger fish (or more gazelle-like triathlete)

i'm kinda in the female version in your shoes.  at about 5'4" and 130#, if i lose any more weight i start to look kind of unhealthy, have ZERO energy and want to sleep all the time.  i usually hang out around 135# when doing HIM-esque levels of training (girl's gotta EAT!) and can dip down to around 125# if i'm just running and doing yoga or something...  sure i'm a bit stubby (and baby got BACK,) but i've got some killer quads and a nice-looking upper back/arms.  

after 33 years on the planet, i've accepted i'm a bit of a pear shape, so i work to put the muscle on my pear and just keep running along at the best pace i can do (with the that time i have to train.)