The Muscular Fitness Benefits of Cycling

Cycling is one of the most popular sports in the world and it is estimated that there is over 4 billion bikes world wide now. Some use cycling as a means of getting from A to B, whilst others cycle to boost their fitness and tone up their muscles. The fitness benefits for your muscles varies quite a lot depending on which type of cycling you do. If you cycle very long distances at relatively low intensity, your muscles will become very good at endurance and will build many slow-twitch fibres. Conversely, if you ride at a high intensity over shorter periods, you will develop more fast twitch (powerful) fibres and build muscle size. So which muscles get worked the hardest when you ride a bike.

Quadriceps (thighs). When cycling, its is the muscles at the front of the legs that provide the majority of the forces and thus are worked hardest. These muscles work to extend the knee joint and provide a downward force on the pedals, which is then passed onto the crank. Racing bikes in fact are designed to locate the quads directly over the crack so that maximum efficiency is achieved. When cycling fast, these muscles are contracted and relaxed hundreds of times a minute and so they need to be in good shape.

Gastrocnemius (calf muscles). The muscles of the calf work just as hard as those of the thigh, and relative to their size they produce a lot of power.When the leg is straightened by the quadricep muscles, there is still a percentage of power that can be gained by flexing the calf muscles and pointing the toes downwards. Pinarello make pedals that dynamically pivot to squeeze every last bit of power juice from the calf muscles.

Hamstrings. After the quads have forced the leg down and helped move the bike forwards, the hamstrings work to to pull it back up again and reset the leg ready for another push. This doesn’t require much force on a standard bike as the rotation of the pedals pushes the leg up but when you use cycling shoes that clip to the pedals, a large amount of additional force can be generated by these muscles in the upward movement