Does cycling make your legs bigger?!

yellow_pepper
yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
edited September 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Due to ankle problems, I had to find an alternative to running, so I took up the recumbent (sit-back) cycle at the gym, and started using that for 30 minutes per day at 20 mph and high resistance (level10).

I've gained a couple since I've started this activity, and while my legs are firmer than ever, they are noticeably bigger. And I am very unhappy about this!

I suppose you should only get bigger from cardio - or any exercise! - if you also gain weight, so I need to rein in my eating, and that means no more big dinners out with the boyfriend! He's away this weekend, so I'm using this time as an opportunity to get my eating back on track...

But, has anyone else found that cycling has made their legs bigger?! I heard this would happen from a grad school classmate who used to be an avid cyclist, but I never believed it until now. :grumble:

Replies

  • yellow_pepper
    yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
    Due to ankle problems, I had to find an alternative to running, so I took up the recumbent (sit-back) cycle at the gym, and started using that for 30 minutes per day at 20 mph and high resistance (level10).

    I've gained a couple since I've started this activity, and while my legs are firmer than ever, they are noticeably bigger. And I am very unhappy about this!

    I suppose you should only get bigger from cardio - or any exercise! - if you also gain weight, so I need to rein in my eating, and that means no more big dinners out with the boyfriend! He's away this weekend, so I'm using this time as an opportunity to get my eating back on track...

    But, has anyone else found that cycling has made their legs bigger?! I heard this would happen from a grad school classmate who used to be an avid cyclist, but I never believed it until now. :grumble:
  • Tiddle
    Tiddle Posts: 762 Member
    yup, atleast it has for me. my legs are getting super toned, but bigger.
  • yellow_pepper
    yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
    :sad: :mad: :sad:
  • runnerdad
    runnerdad Posts: 2,081 Member
    Cycling at high resistance can fall more into the strength building versus cardio activity, and you can build some super quads and hamstrings. You may want to turn down the resistance to make it more of a cardio / slimming activity.
  • bergies10
    bergies10 Posts: 1
    I wondered this myself and asked my spinning instructor (certified with BA in sports and nutrition). Not sure if this is "medical" but he indicated that when you're strenuously working the same muscle, there is a buildup of "lactate" or "lactic acid" that can give you the feeling of fullness in the legs. Also the blood supply to provide oxygen to those muscles increases, giving the feeling of fullness. To build a muscle, especially for a woman, he indicated that the muscle had to be worked to exhaustion or close thereto. Spinning or bicycling lasts quite a while and doesn't seem to "exhaust" the muscle. If it did, you wouldn't be able to bike for more than 5 minutes. He said as the soreness moves out of the muscle, the legs won't be "bigger" but stronger. I don't know if this answers, but it's a good starting point. I've always been told that the only way to "build" a muscle is to max it or exhaust it and then it repairs itself, thus building itself. Maybe someone with more of a strength training background can answer more full, but I think instead of building the muscle, you're just discovering it is there and can be strong.
  • yellow_pepper
    yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
    I actually am one of those rare women who puts on muscle really easily and quickly. I need to be careful, as that is not my aesthetic ideal at all.

    Seriously, when I was 14, I was jacked... And I still have a lot of that muscle tone left over. When I started working with a trainer in October, I gained weight, and he even remarked that I'd put on lean mass and told me I had to be careful if I didn't want to look like him. I ended up quitting his program.
  • crosstitcher0563
    crosstitcher0563 Posts: 110
    I used to bicycle all the time when I was younger-- sometimes 3 hours a day! I never noticed my legs getting bigger, but my butt disappeared! It got so that I couldn't sit on any hard surfaces.:bigsmile:

    I miss those days. I'll have to get back on the bicycle and ride the hills again.

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  • yellow_pepper
    yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
    I see... I'm just not doing it long enough! :wink: Will try a full hour at lower resistance to see if it makes any difference.
  • Nich0le
    Nich0le Posts: 2,906 Member
    I have always loved cycling and mountain biking and I never thought my legs were bigger than they needed to be.

    That being said, yoga and pilates are two great tools to elongate the look of your muscles. Anytime you build muscle counteracting with a stretching routine will help keep the muscles from getting bulky or bulbous.
  • KourtneyLee
    KourtneyLee Posts: 45 Member
    As a training cycling instructor, it's not just the class itself that may be bulking your legs - it's about your form, your diet, and genetics.

    You can't change your genes - some people bulk up more than others, in every area of the body, so some bulk is inevitable no matter what.

    Your diet has a huge influence on the "bulk" you may be experiencing as well - a lot of people think that because they just torched a ton of calories during their cycling class means they can eat whatever they want, usually including a lot of bread and pastas into their diet. Severely cut this carbs out, swap for complex carbs and only eat those complex carbs on a more minimal basis. Make healthy choices, and make your workout worth it by balancing it out with a healthy diet it.

    Your form is something A LOT of people forget about. If your abs are not engages - meaning you aren't making the space between your ribs and the top of your hip bones as small as possible - during your class, if you don't have a flat back, and aren't focusing on the movement on the bike with your legs, you could build muscle you wouldn't have usually if you had good form. Many focus on pushing down on their pedals, when you should be in fact focusing on pushing FORWARD and pulling BACK.

    Finally, stretching afterwards is crucial - elongating your muscles after any and every workout also prevents injury.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Some people got guns, I got quads.

    Spent many years in highschool on my bike, and they grew to massive powerful things. Then again, i had enough testosterone to ruin an entire entry list for the tour de france.

    Getting back into cycling my quads and hams are getting super solid again, so yeah... your body will adapt and build muscle as needed. A lot depends on load and technique.
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