Does Cycling Build Muscle?

If you enjoy spending time on a bike, you might be wondering, “Does cycling build muscle?” In general, cycling is considered an aerobic exercise because it causes your heart to pump blood faster and trains it. However, there are many muscles that can be built at the same time.

Generally speaking, cycling is going to help build muscles in the lower body. If you’ve ever known someone who spends a lot of time on a bike, you may have noticed that their legs are very toned.

There are several large muscles in the lower body that can become trained through cycling. First, your quadriceps muscles do much of the work. These are the muscles that make up the front of your thigh. As you pedal the bike, these muscles contract and release.

The back part of your thigh, known as the hamstring, also gets a good workout as you extend and flex your legs with the pedaling motion. In addition, the gluteal muscles also contract during pedaling.

These large muscles burn a lot of calories and through the repetitive pedaling motion they also gain size, strength, and definition. The lower leg also gains muscle in the areas of the calves and shins.

While cycling builds muscle in the legs, it can also help contribute muscle development to the core of the body. You have to use your core to stay upright on the bike, so these muscles will also contract and flex.

Though you may not think of cycling as a bodybuilding workout, it does actually help to strengthen and build muscle along with helping you to develop endurance. Rather than providing so much resistance that the leg muscles fail, cycling offers an opportunity for the muscles themselves to gain endurance.

But if you want to really add a lot of bulk to your muscles, cycling isn’t going to be the best activity. Instead you’ll want to focus more on traditional strength training activity designed to grow muscle tissue.

Cycling is a wonderful and healthy activity and if you enjoy it, you shouldn’t worry too much about how much muscle you’ll build. But if you want to focus on bodybuilding, cycling isn’t the top choice. In fact, because it requires so much energy it may actually keep you from adding a lot of mass.

If you’re wondering if cycling builds muscle, the answer is yes – but it’s more likely to lead to lean muscle rather than the bulky muscle you see on a body builder.

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