Expando-Quads?

Just wondering if this happens to anyone else, it's the first time this has happened to me . . .

Wearing jeans in the AM, they fit perfectly.

Then I go for a long, hilly, lots of climbs 2.5 hour ride. Very challenging. Come home, shower. Go to put on jeans and suddenly, I can barely inch, pull, tug, wrench over my quads. Everywhere else they fit fine.

It was humorous (to me anyways). For a few hours, I felt like my thighs were in sausage casings. Next day, jeans fit again (after washed, so they weren't just stretched out).

Yup - I've experienced this.... I think it must be water??? I've started wearing compression tights for recovery and I think it helps.

woW! water? how about muscles!! You can pump up your muscles temporarily, they contract more. Body builders know this, it's probably the same thing that happens to you high powered cyclists.

I don't think muscle building happens quite that fast :p - My theory, when you work out hard you make a lot of little micro tears in your muscles. With injury there is inflammation - thus the swelling that Lime is experiencing (and why it goes away- the jeans are acting as compression). I usually experience a temporary weight gain after hard workouts too - another reason I think it must be retained water.

Agreed. I think its probably BOTH muscles swelling and water retention. I went on a long hike last weekend, and drank my whole 100oz camelbak and ate sugar/salt foods to keep my electrolytes up, and after showering upon return, could barely button my jeans. Next day - totally fine.

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Originally Posted by Eden

Yup - I've experienced this.... I think it must be water??? I've started wearing compression tights for recovery and I think it helps.

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Do tights that are 3 sizes too small count as compression tights? :rolleyes:

That's your muscles pumping up. It's not gaining tissue obviously, they just pump up.

hmmmm is this why I weigh more after a long ride?

Do be careful of over-hydrating though - I've read that the best predictor of hyponatremia is weight gain during exertion.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Do be careful of over-hydrating though - I've read that the best predictor of hyponatremia is weight gain during exertion.

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It isn't much, only a pound or so. While I do drink quite a bit, I still don't drink the "recommended" amount per hour... I have found the harder I work on a given day, the higher the scales seem to be - and the weight doesn't go until I take a day off - and I know it isn't from over-eating. I suspect that I am retaining water for some reason.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

That's your muscles pumping up. It's not gaining tissue obviously, they just pump up.

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I thought that might be it. I didn't think it was water because the pants were pretty loose around my hips and waist --they didn't seem bloated at all.

What do you guys think muscles pump up with? Air? It's water! (or fluids anyway)! ;) For every molecule of glycogen in your muscles, there are two molecules of water (I think that's the right ratio). It's different than general body bloat that you might get from salty foods or hormones...

And yes, I get this in my legs too. I would NEVER do a heavy lower body workout (or a tough hill-climbing ride) the day before weigh-ins as my legs can hold onto fluid for a couple of days after a tough workout. For others, it's just overnight. Depends on your body.

I have found that the Zoot Recovery Rx tights really do help to minimize this. They are super difficult to get on though, so unless it's a really hard workout, I don't bother. I don't know that regular tights that are too tight would necessarily work as it's the graduated tightness on the Zoots that supposedly does the work and regular tights would just be tighter in the spots where you are bigger. That's just a theory though - no scientific proof to back it up or anything.

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

What do you guys think muscles pump up with? Air? It's water! (or fluids anyway)! ;)

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And I thought it was my Go-Go-Gadget Super Quads!
;) Just water, well, that's boring.

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

And yes, I get this in my legs too. I would NEVER do a heavy lower body workout (or a tough hill-climbing ride) the day before weigh-ins as my legs can hold onto fluid for a couple of days after a tough workout. For others, it's just overnight. Depends on your body.

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This is good information. I've noticed that on weeks that I have heavy lower body workouts (most weeks) and long rides (most weeks) that I can only tell what weight I have lost the morning after a rest day...

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

That's your muscles pumping up. It's not gaining tissue obviously, they just pump up.

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Trust me on this one...SHE'S RIGHT. ;)

I keep waiting for Hans and Franz to bust into the thread and start telling us how they're going to pump us up. :p

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

What do you guys think muscles pump up with? Air? It's water! (or fluids anyway)! ;) For every molecule of glycogen in your muscles, there are two molecules of water (I think that's the right ratio). It's different than general body bloat that you might get from salty foods or hormones...

And yes, I get this in my legs too. I would NEVER do a heavy lower body workout (or a tough hill-climbing ride) the day before weigh-ins as my legs can hold onto fluid for a couple of days after a tough workout. For others, it's just overnight. Depends on your body.

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Glycogen binds about twice its weight in water. But if you're burning that glycogen...Time to go find a physiology book rather than a biochem book. I suppose it just sits there for a bit until the cells get rid of it?

I love my zoots tights and wear them a lot= Thank goodness for the ac!they definitely help me avoid next day aches and stiffness.

I have the big quad thing going on too. I'm pretty mine has a direct link to the new hilly terrain I'm in though, LOL.:) I have a 3 mile commute (one way), three miles, that's it! Of course there really isn't a flat spot on it and on the way home there is a monster climb. I have been working on staying standing the whole way up it. Wednesday was the first day I got close! Dang with all my stuff in my panniers I'm barely able to carry the bike down the stairs in the morning. I think this may be my new quad issue.:rolleyes:

I always thought it was mechanical, not biochemical - a process that winds up as compartment syndrome ("arm pump" etc.) in extreme cases. Repeated hard contractions making the muscle get kind of "stuck" in its hard, flexed position. It's not burned glycogen that turns your biceps into a tennis ball when you're showing off in the mirror...