November 27th, 2009 8:37 pm
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. The motivations for cycling vary, from just wanting to get a bit of fresh air, to wanting to dramatically enhance your fitness. Generally speaking the type of cycling you do will affect how your muscles will adapt. Cycling for long periods of time, but at reasonably low force, will encourage your muscles to build slow-twitch fibers and improve their endurance levels. Conversely, if you ride at a high intensity over shorter periods, you will develop more fast twitch (powerful) fibres and build muscle size. But which are the muscles that are demanded the most of when riding.
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. The quad muscles thankfully adapt quite quickly to exercise, which is lucky as bike riding forces them to work at quite a rapid rate.
Gastrocnemius (calf). The calf muscle is a great deal smaller than the quads, but no less important when it comes to propelling the bike forwards. Flexing the calf muscles when the leg is in a straight position, points the toes towards and adds a small boost to the overall power output. 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 doesnt 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