There are no two ways to do that. Indoor cycling hurts everywhere, but specifically, which muscles spin?
This HIIT training arguably pushes the leg muscles the hardest, with the gluteal muscles, quadriceps and hamstrings taking care of most of the work. Other parts of the body are involved during exercise, but these are the main muscles that keep pedaling.
However, because the muscles are active at various points of pedal rotation, you can expect to feel the muscles burning at different stages. Here’s how they work together to keep things moving.
Gluteal muscles
When cycling upright in the saddle, your feet do almost 100% of the work and the core helps stabilize your upper body. The two major leg muscles, the gluteal and quadriceps, carry out most of the workload and generate most of the power during cycling.
Each revolution of the pedal uses different muscles in different parts. The buttocks (the muscles on the surface of the buttocks) wake up and work hard when pushed down during the first stage of pedal rotation.
“When you push the bike out, the gluteus maximus, especially the gluteus maximus, is most active, and you move the hip from the flexed position, moving it in the direction of hip extension,” said physiotherapist Lindsay Hurst. increase.
Quadriceps
The quadriceps (quadriceps) also work hard during this downward cycle stroke. These are the large, strong muscles in the front thigh.
“In this phase, the quadriceps contract and keep pushing the pedals toward the floor, stretching the knees,” says Hurst. “The rectus femoris, which is part of the quadriceps group, is the most powerful at this stage because it is the most powerful.”
A 2016 study by the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that the rectus femoris was most activated in quadrants 1 (1st quarter section of pedaling rotation) and 4th quadrant (final section) of crank rotation. ..
Hamstrings
The hamstrings, the muscle behind the thighs, shine in the second half of the pedal rotation (when the legs return to their original position). To a lesser extent, the calf muscles behind the lower legs can also help here.
If the cyclist is wearing a clipless pedal, this upward “pulling” movement is facilitated (this means that he is wearing a special rotating shoe that clips to the pedal of the bicycle).
“When the pedals start to move backwards and the knees start to bend, the hamstrings also become active,” says Hurst.
Other muscles
There are several other muscles that you can train while riding a bike, many of which you may not have thought of. “The ankle sole flexors and dorsiflexors also help stabilize the pedal’s foot,” says Hurst.
And you shouldn’t feel that your arm muscles are also left behind. Shoulders, biceps, triceps, and pectoral muscles move away from the saddle when climbing steep (virtual) hills, sprinting fast sections, pushing high resistance areas of spin class, etc. Sometimes I do a lot of work.
Your core should do some good work, as your core works to keep you upright and supportive when you are out of the saddle.
References
da Silva, JCL, Tarassova, O., Ekblom, MM, Andersson, E., Rönquist, G. , & Arndt, A. (2016) Activity of the quadriceps and hamstring muscles during cycling as measured by intramuscular electromyography. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 116(9), 1807-1817. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3428-5
