Cycling for Weight loss, or muscle gain?

smileitconfusespeople

I need to add more exercise into my routine and fancy cycling but, do you gain loads of muscle or can it help with fat loss too, as i don't want to gain any more muscle just lose fat and tone what i have. I do live in a hilly area

dad106

Cycling is cardio.. Which means, no it will not have you gain muscle.

The only way to lose fat is through a calorie deficit.. so as long as cycling helps you keep a deficit, then yes it will help you lose fat.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Muscle gains will be quite minimal if anything. If you're going from zero exercise to biking you might gain a very slight amount of muscle, otherwise probably not. It does burn some calories so it should aid in weight loss.

Mokey41

It's great cardio. I gained a little thigh muscle but nothing extreme and noticed that it helped strengthen my core as well.

Cyclink

Muscle gains from cycling are going to be minimal in a short time span (and be almost non-existent if you are losing weight in general).

If you spend months or years cycling at pretty high intensities that keep your legs under stress, your legs will gradually become pretty well muscled. It's not going to be noticeable nearly as quickly as it would in the weight room.

jacksonpt

As others have said... muscle gains will be negligable, if that. It's endurance cardio, so it's not prone to muscle growth. Add to that a calorie deficit and you won't see any muscle growth.

In time, with a calorie deficit you may lose weight and burn fat which will help expose the existing muscle that was previously hidden by fat. People often mistake this for muscle growth. It isn't... the muscle is already there, you're just showing it off.