Cycling provides an effective workout for quads, glutes and hamstrings; however it’s more than just leg work outs depending on intensity; biking can also tone and build muscle in other parts of the upper body too!
Utilising your arms and shoulders while cycling can improve balance and help stabilise you through every pedal stroke, as well as increase biceps/triceps strength.
Quadriceps
As you pedal, the quads are the primary muscle group responsible for pushing down on the pedal and producing power to propel you forward. They play an integral part of pedalling power (about 39% to be precise) as well as keeping your foot on the pedal during its downstroke while supporting your knee when snapping upwards during its upward stroke of pedal cycle. Working alongside glutes and hamstrings they ensure your foot stays securely placed on pedal and help support knee snapping upwards during down stroke of pedal cycle.
Calf muscles – soleus and gastrocnemius – also benefit greatly when riding a bicycle, providing up to 20% of pedalling power during upstroke and downstroke cycles. Bicyclists often boast toned calves thanks to both cycling and targeted strength training exercises that strengthen them further.
Cycling may help build muscle in your legs, but it may not be as effective for building arm and back muscle mass, which require range-of-motion movement. To create an even more muscular physique, strength training at a gym would likely prove more successful.
Hamstrings
Although cycling is generally seen as a quadriceps-dominant activity, your hamstring muscles play an integral part in it as well. Biceps femoris, semimembranosus and semitendinosus make sure that your foot lands at the top of each pedal stroke during each revolution of the leg; when your hamstrings are strong they provide smooth power delivery with every revolution of the leg.
Your hamstrings become most active during the upstroke of pedal stroke, typically between six and nine o’clock, when pushing down on pedals to generate more power while relieving strain from quads when creating high amounts of force.
Your knees need strong hamstrings in order to remain steady when flexing your legs while descending hills or riding out of the saddle, which requires you to flex them regularly when cycling off-saddle or out of saddle. Building these essential muscles through cycling as well as through off-bike exercises such as hamstring curls. Strengthening these hamstrings will both prevent injuries and improve cycling performance – particularly important when doing longer rides such as marathons and triathlons.
Calf Muscles
Cycling strengthens both soleus and gastrocnemius calf muscles, which play an essential part in pedal stroke by pushing down toward the ground at each cycle’s bottom before pulling back up again at its top. Strong calves enable cyclists to press harder against pedals for faster propulsion of bikes forward at faster speeds.
Cycling also works to strengthen and tone gluteal muscles that make up buttocks, specifically the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus groups of gluteal muscles that work in concert during each leg movement while cycling a bicycle.
Cycling also works the arms (biceps and triceps). While most cyclists may not make arm exercises a primary focus of their training regiments, constant arm use during pedalling requires constant use of arms to hold on to handlebars and maintain good position on their bike.
Shoulders
Cycling can provide more than just leg exercise; it also works the muscles throughout your core and upper body, such as shoulders, deltoids, triceps and biceps. Cycling disciplines like mountain biking provide additional challenges in this regard.
Your shoulders are engaged by the downward portion of a pedal stroke when quads and glutes use power down your pedals. Rotator cuff muscles in shoulder blades as well as trapezius muscles are engaged as you pull on handlebars of a bike to accelerate through downstroke.
Modabber recommends cyclists incorporate lower-body strength training into their cycling regimen to ensure a full workout for all major muscles in the legs, such as your hamstrings. In particular, this ensures you receive optimal benefits from each stroke and get maximum power from each pedal stroke.
Read this also: How Do I Protect My Prostate When Cycling?
Core
Bicycle riding works the muscles in both your legs and core, but adding hills into the workout makes a bigger difference. Hills force you to increase resistance and pedal harder, thus intensifying your workout and building muscle in both legs and calf muscles.
Cycling also burns calories and increases oxygen demand, helping you maintain a leaner physique by burning fat while riding. Every liter of oxygen you breathe in will cause your body to release approximately five calories through excess post-oxygen consumption (EPOC), with your metabolism continuing to burn calories even after your workout session has concluded – helping keep body fat low.
Pro-level cyclists require muscular quads and glutes, so it’s crucial that your cycling training includes strength exercises designed to build these muscle groups. Squats, lunges (with dumbbells), glute bridges and deadlifts all focus on building these essential muscles; in addition you can add planks or push-ups into your routine which engage these areas of your torso and back for core strengthening exercises.
