Powerfull, Muscular Legs!

[BadBreaks]

Maybe this is exactly what cycling is supposed to do so bare with me!

Can you achieve lean and muscular legs through cycling alone? I feel stupid asking this but is cycling, cycling, cycling good enough in terms of exercise to make you a good cyclist? And to make your lower half generally fit?

Naturally, you need to be working hard enough but in principle. Is cylcing all you need?

BadBreaks

[Gee3]

So far for me it's helped. But it also takes good nutrition. I also do leg lifts, extensions, calf raises and squats as well as a couple days on the trainer for an hour or so. I'm sure others will tell you even more. I just need to get a good routine and stick with it.

Cycling has helped me tone up and loose weight everywhere. A friend that used to be a semi-pro cyclist recommended lifting weights too to help with upper body/arm/back strength.

Just put in the miles, eat smart when on and off the bike and you'll tone up. Good luck.

[VosBike]

I find that without adding some weightlifting and excercises specificaly for muscle building (for instance, low cadence huge gear intervals) my legs will be too weak to be at my best.

However, I'm an extreme endomorph and I find it incredibly hard to put on muscle, despite a high protien diet and lifting, so you might be able to be happy with the results of cycling alone.

[Roody]

Cycling alone will give you beautiful legs. Throw in some hills to make sure. If you cycle a lot, You're probably not in the gym much. Devote most of your gym time to upper body and abs. This is a good balanced program if your main training goal is to have good overall fitness.

(Unless your main training goal is to be a racer--they follow very different routines with more lower body work and less upper body development. Don't get confused about your goals. Remember, a lot of the good advice on this forum is specifically for racing, so it's poorly suited for general fitness.)

[DannoXYZ]

Maybe this is exactly what cycling is supposed to do so bare with me!

Can you achieve lean and muscular legs through cycling alone? I feel stupid asking this but is cycling, cycling, cycling good enough in terms of exercise to make you a good cyclist? And to make your lower half generally fit?

Naturally, you need to be working hard enough but in principle. Is cylcing all you need?What do you mean by "good cyclist"? If you want lean and "muscular" legs, yes, cycling is all you need. "Muscular" can mean buff and strong legs or toned and defined; the 2nd is easier with cycling, to get big, you need weight-lifting in the gym. Some of the info here is for general cycling-fitness, some is for racing and at times appears contradictory. Some people are into rapid weight-loss, which will not give you the long-term results of being as fast as you can. Others are into ultra-endurance events which requires another type of programme. Racers who want to lose a little bit of weight, have mega-endurance and be fast in the sprints and hills have the most difficult task. So you'll want to be more specific with your goals, then adopt the training that'll get you there. :)

[BadBreaks]

Thanks for the responses. I will elaborate a bit more.

I cycle purely for fitness and fun though naturally I want to improve at it even if it is only for myself. I'm not in bad shape or totally unfit, so basically my goals are to generally be fit and rid myself of the couple of bits of flab I've acumulated here and there. I don't know if cycling is ANY good for abs but I guess it is important over all in terms of cardio exercise.

I'm off the road at the moment though will probably get back on it in a few weeks. I find it is easier to push myself on a trainer. For the last two weeks I've been doing about 50 mins of 80% + HRM every second day. I know I need to grow this so by the end of the week I hope to do 1 hr 30 of it and be hitting 2 hours every second day within the next couple of weeks. I also so some push ups and crunches

I'm a fairly slight person so I dont really need to loose any more weight. I just want to stay trim and be fit. So when cycling I hope it will pay off in terms of being able to run when playing a bit of soccer or just being more able to swim a few lengths if I choose to. Things like that.

BadBreaks