Cycling is not only a fun exercise to burn calories and relieve stress, but also might be a great workout for your butt, states the Better Health Channel. Your butt muscles primarily include the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius, but other small muscles are involved in providing the power required in biking.
Muscles Used in Cycling
Cycling primarily is an exercise of the lower leg muscles. In addition to your primary gluteal muscles, your quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles benefit from regular cycling. Further, because you are burning calories and require core stability for cycling, your waistline becomes smaller and your abdominal muscles become more toned. Decreasing your abdominal circumference will make your butt look bigger.
The Gluteal Maximus
The gluteal muscles provide the primary action involved in cycling and are worked the hardest. The gluteus maximus originates on the upper posterior aspect of your pelvis and inserts into the posterior aspect of your femur, or thigh bone. Because of its attachments to the pelvis and femur, the gluteus maximus extends the femur when the hip joint is flexed. This action correlates to the downward motion of pedaling. Therefore, you build your gluteal muscles when you push down on the pedal.
Isolate Your Gluteal Muscle
Certain techniques can help you better exercise your gluteal muscles. Because the gluteus maximus is responsible for the downward motion, standing when you pedal will allow you to better extend your hip joint, resulting in more downward force and gluteal isolation. In addition, cycling up hills will create more force for you to overcome, resulting in a better butt workout. As you progress in your cycling training, challenge yourself with more hill climbs to build your butt muscles.
Recumbent Cycling
Recumbent cycling also is good for your butt but might not be optimal to build strong butt muscles. On a recumbent bike, your hip joint does not flex as much as it would on an upright bike, so your gluteal muscles do not have as much action and are not fully exercised. However, increasing the resistance on a recumbent bike, or riding a recumbent bike on a hill, still will work your butt muscles and might be appropriate for beginner cyclers.
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