Riding a bike, either a stationary exercise bike or regular bike, is an effective cardiovascular workout. In addition to challenging your heart, lungs and circulatory system, riding a bike also places a big demand on many of your skeletal muscles. Sprint cyclists often have very large muscles while endurance cyclists are typically more slightly built. Regardless of the type of cycling you do, the muscles you use to turn the pedals are the same.
Hip Muscles
The strongest muscles in your leg are those around your hip joint. The muscles on the back of your hips, specifically your gluteus maximus or butt muscle, extend your hip to drive your leg downward. Your hamstrings, consisting of biceps femoris, semimembranosus and semitendinosis and located on the back of your thigh also contribute to the extension of your hip. Your hamstrings also work to pull the pedal backward at the bottom of the downstroke while the illiopsoas or hip flexor muscles pull your leg back up. The muscles of your inner and outer thigh, the adductors and abductors respectively, work to keep your hip aligned and prevent your knee from rolling in or out as you pedal.
Knee Muscles
The muscles around your knees tend to be the ones that you feel working most when you ride a bike. Your quadriceps, consisting of rectus femoris, vastus midialis, vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius, contract strongly to extend your knee as you push down on the pedals. Your hamstrings, which cross both hip and knee joints, take over from your quadriceps to complete the turning of your cranks.
Ankle Muscles
Your ankles play an important part in transmitting the force generated by your strong upper-leg muscles into your bike pedals. The gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of your calf hold your ankle rigid during the down stroke while the tibialis anterior or shin muscle holds your ankle in place during the up stroke. These muscles also actively flex during the action of pedaling and make a small but important contribution to the total amount of power you can generate when cycling.
Other Muscles
Although cycling predominately uses your lower body muscles, there are some notable upper body muscles involved in bike riding. Your lower back muscles -- collectively called your erector spinae -- work along with your rectus abdominus or abs to hold your spine in position as you ride. The broadest muscle in your upper back, the latissimus dorsi, works with your biceps and triceps in your arms help you generate more force when you ride your bike standing up, as when riding up hill or sprinting. Although these muscles are not working as hard as your legs when you ride your bike, they are still important.
References
- "Anatomy of Exercise: A Trainer's Inside Guide to Your Workout" Pat Manocchia; 2009
- "Principles of Anatomy & Physiology, Ninth Edition"; Sandra R. Grabowski and Gerald J. Tortora; 2000
- "An Illustrated Atlas of the Skeletal Muscles"; Bradley S. Bowden and Joan M. Bowden; 2002
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