Riding an exercise bike can help you burn calories and improve your cardiovascular fitness. Exercise programs differ based on the amount of time spent on the bike, the intensity of the workout, and the amount of rest during and between workouts. If you are starting an exercise program using a bike, you may be wondering how the appearance of your legs will change over time. The size of your thighs is primarily affected by the amount of fat and muscle in your leg.
Fat
Fat tissue lies under your skin, around certain organs and within muscle. Excess fat may make your thighs look bigger. Riding an exercise bike burns calories, which contributes to fat loss and smaller thighs. You may not lose fat on your thighs just because you are using your thigh muscles, since your genetics determine where you lose fat from. A body fat assessment can tell you what your percentage of body fat is and if you can safely reduce it.
Muscle
Riding an exercise bike requires many muscles to contract, but changes in muscle size depend on your training program. There are two types of muscle fibers within a muscle belly, Type I and type II. Type I fibers are used for distance exercises, while Type II fibers are used for powerful activities like sprinting and resistance training. Type II fibers increase in size with activity, while type I fibers don't. Everyone has a different percentage of Type I and Type II fibers in their muscles.
Endurance
Endurance training involves riding the exercise bike for more than 30 minutes at about 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, according to Jeffrey A. Potteiger, in the book "Essentials of Strength and Conditioning." This type of exercise is also referred to as long, slow distance training. The longer you ride the bike, the lower your work intensity will be. Changing your work intensity can be accomplished by changing your pedaling speed and bike resistance. Endurance riding won't cause your thigh muscles to get bigger because Type I muscle fibers are used and they don't significantly increase in size.
Sprinting and Hills
Sprinting involves pedaling quickly for a short period of time, while hill training involves pedaling against a high resistance for a short period of time. Both activities use Type II muscle fibers and may cause your muscles to get bigger if you work hard enough and often enough, Baechle says. However, the amount of muscle gained isn't significant.
High Intensity Intervals
High-intensity interval training involves short periods of high-intensity riding, such as a sprint or hill, followed by a rest interval at a lower intensity. This type of training uses both types of muscle fibers but is more likely to influence fat than muscle size, according to a 2008 article in the American Journal of Physical and Endocrinology Medicine.
References
- "Essentials of Strength and Conditioning"; Thomas R. Baechle, et al.; 2008
- American Journal of Physical and Endocrinology Medicine; "Relationships Between Exercise-Induced Reductions in Thigh Intermuscular Adipose Tissue"; Michael T. Durheim, et al.; 2008
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