The resistance element of biking can help you burn fat and build muscle, specifically around the glutes, quads, calves, and hamstring. If cycling is done correctly, it’s a great way to build muscles because it exerts efforts on the larger muscle groups, except for the chest.

Moreover, the review on Bike Smarts states that individuals joining BMX riding has improved cardiovascular and increased their strength. Take note, however, that the volume of strength and the parts of the body that builds muscle vary depending on the style of BMX riding. Hence, BMX biking provides an essential full-body workout.

This post will inform you about the beneficial ways of biking to muscle building.

Endurance and Strength

Some people would describe biking as an endurance exercise only, and it doesn’t build strength because there are no weights lifted. Further, endurance workouts aren’t as good as strength exercises or building large muscles. 

However, biking can do both endurance and strength, depending on your exercise. In order to achieve both, the bike rides must require strength training and endurance. For instance, using the highest gear while riding requires more strength and allows the biker to reach a good speed without pedaling fast. In fact, cycling does more work when the rider is heavier. That’s why some bikers carry heavy backpacks as additional weights. 

Another instance is biking up hills at a fast pace will need a lot of strength. Hence, some bikers sprint up hills using the highest gear to accomplish both endurance and strength exercises in muscle building. 

Aside from enhancing the biker’s endurance and strength, there are various unknown health benefits of biking.                    

Interval Training

Muscle building through biking isn’t always extreme. The biker can incorporate interval training as a good way to lose fat and build muscle. The rider tends to do alternates between hard, extreme activities, and easy exercises. 

For instance, a biker can alternate between a fast pace and a slow pace, such as alternate between cycling uphill, downhill, and then on flat roads. The biker has the option to change the gear for resistance training. Also, walking is another alternative when the rider breaks from biking

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) helps build muscle because the exercise requires the body to utilize more of its muscle tissue to exercise. Hence, the greater the muscle fibers used during exercise, the higher is the potential for muscle growth. The study on the effects of interval training on muscle size concludes that HIIT can be an effective exercise method to affect muscle size in obese individuals.

Modifying the intensity of the exercise allows the biker to do more, including the rest time at the halfway point. Also, it’s concluded that two intense bike rides are way better than one, long, less intense cycling for building strength.

Exercise Bikes and Elliptical Trainers

Using exercise bikes, elliptical trainers, and other similar sorts can help build muscles by changing resistance and speed. You can also incorporate interval training in building more muscles. 

Here are the ways you can integrate interval training using exercise bikes or elliptical machines:

  • Spending most of the time using an elevated resistance mode and biking to a fast pace
  • Reducing the speed and resistance for short breaks, then increase the intensity once more
  • Increasing the time allotted for lower intensity when needing time to recover

However, it’s better to exercise outside because biking outside works more muscles than using elliptical trainers. Climbing up hills can provide more resistance than a stationary exercise machine. Aside from that, it’s cooler exercising outside because of the wind and you can enjoy the scenery. Basically, it’s more fun to have a fun destination than biking in a fixed place for an hour.

Three Hours of Cycling in a Day

Biking for three hours a day and more time in a week can hurt the biker. It’s important not to pressure yourself from biking workouts. It’s best to have biking for three hours a day and can be good if it’s broken further into two or three rides.

When you want to improve the endurance, bike for three hours straight. While if your target is to increase and build muscle, bike three, one-hour bike rides.

Before starting the routine for three hours a day, you should work it up. You can increase the duration and intensity gradually. Unfortunately, biking more than three hours a day and extending to more than six hours a week can damage your progress. If the biker is doing a lot of work and isn’t improving, then the cyclist is exercising too much or performing too slow.

Conclusion:

The tips above on the beneficial ways of biking can provide ideas on strategies, particularly on muscle enhancement. It’s important not to stress the workout in aiming for more building muscles. Rather, it’s best to set balance, flexibility, and fun during biking.

The evidence that you’re building muscle from biking is that the exercises are becoming easier. The biker feels great and stronger, too. The process of achieving your target goals can be complicated but the joy of after-effects can be overwhelming.