Will I become scrawny if I don't lift weights? (muscle, lifting weights, gym)

[Rawkfist]

I am a 21 year old male, but I'm not afraid to admit that I don't care for lifting weights. It's just not very fun. I'm not scrawny by any means now 6'0" and 180 lbs, and I am very happy with my weight. However, I am worried that if I don't lift weights I will lose what muscle tone I do have.

Lately, I have gotten more into cycling. I've been doing 10-15 miles rides a few times per week, and I intend to do a lot more. I also own a rowing machine which I use occasionally.
I just don't like lifting weights. Is there any way to build a little more muscle in other ways?

[CaptainNJ]

yep, you will be scrawny

[tommodonahue]

You'll likely develop a small upper body and largelower body.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Rawkfist

I am a 21 year old male, but I'm not afraid to admit that I don't care for lifting weights. It's just not very fun. I'm not scrawny by any means now 6'0" and 180 lbs, and I am very happy with my weight. However, I am worried that if I don't lift weights I will lose what muscle tone I do have.

Lately, I have gotten more into cycling. I've been doing 10-15 miles rides a few times per week, and I intend to do a lot more. I also own a rowing machine which I use occasionally.
I just don't like lifting weights. Is there any way to build a little more muscle in other ways?

You're fine. This is all you need. It's more exercise than a lot of people get. If you didn't exercise at all, you could lose some lean muscle mass, and you'd get flabby, not scrawny.

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by Rawkfist

I am a 21 year old male, but I'm not afraid to admit that I don't care for lifting weights. It's just not very fun. I'm not scrawny by any means now 6'0" and 180 lbs, and I am very happy with my weight. However, I am worried that if I don't lift weights I will lose what muscle tone I do have.

Lately, I have gotten more into cycling. I've been doing 10-15 miles rides a few times per week, and I intend to do a lot more. I also own a rowing machine which I use occasionally.
I just don't like lifting weights. Is there any way to build a little more muscle in other ways?

I ride a bike 20-40 miles a day and am happy with the way my lower body looks - great tone and definition. My thighs are pretty large, but they're solid - my calves and tibs are pretty extreme, too, and for better or worse, my ass could probably deflect bullets

Before I started hitting the gym again though, I had started to notice that while I wasn't necessarily losing definition in my upper body (i.e., becoming scrawny), the parity between how my lower body and upper body looked was bothering me. I was worried I'd start to look the way that the Tour De France riders in the French animated movie "The Triplets of Belleville" looked:



I'm much more a fan of "real world" type exercises like cycling, running outdoors, etc, but have actually really started to enjoy the gym. Also, I discovered that after doing some pretty intense core workouts (300-500 crunches, 120lb weighted twists, 270lb back press, etc), I raised my average spinning speed to about 22mph on flat land, and have myself GPS'ed at 35mph in a flat-out burst, from 18 and 30 (respectively). I can also hold the burst for about four minutes before needing to spin, instead of about 1.5-2 minutes.

I use a rowing machine and overhead press for my upper back and between this and the core exercises, I feel no muscle fatigue anywhere but my legs and butt after a 3 hour ride.

So, my advice would be to do some weight training, if nothing else because it'll ultimately help your endurance and speed on the bike - and believe me, it does!

[CaptainNJ]

girls will be able to beat you up

[Lital_The_Best]

Yeah, you'll get pretty skinny and thin. You can either do lots of "extreme calisthenic" bodyweight exercises or lift weights or both. If you don't like lifting, well, start liking it. If you want results but don't like doing the exercise, do it until you start to like it, till it starts becoming easy. Plus, exercising is all about challenges (physical and much more mental), and this is certainly a new challenge that you should embark on and conquer. Once you see results and improvement, it'll be a new thing for you.

[burgler09]

Yep, get out and lift weights.

With your build you have, if you do a combination of both you should be able to get really big

[Ulysses61]

Not every man wants to get "really big" and plenty of women find that look unappealing. The OP likes cycling and dedicated cyclists usually have great physiques with killer calves. No one has ever seen a bulked-out cyclist and he hates lifting weights so why not stick to cycling? Do what you love to do.

[CdotSmith]

If you don't like to lift weights...don't lift weights. Do some body weight exercises, do your biking/rowing and increase your calorie intake, you should be fine.