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Cycling is one of the most popular forms of cardiovascular exercise that delivers a myriad of physical and mental health benefits. Outdoors, cycling is used as a popular mode of transport, a health-promoting leisure activity, and is also a fully professional sport. Indoors, cycling is performed in gyms, indoor cycling studios, and more recently in the home, especially with the rise in popularity of smart and connected bikes and online cycling classes.
To illustrate just how popular cycling is, according to data published by Statista, around 22 million bikes are sold annually in the EU and over 3 million bikes per year are sold in the UK.
Cycling is primarily classified as a form of cardiovascular (or aerobic endurance) exercise, that predominantly uses the muscles in the lower body to power the pedals, while the core and upper body play more of a stabilising role.
Like other forms of cardiovascular exercise, the heart, lungs, and wider circulatory system are challenged as they are forced to deliver more oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to the active muscles so that they can continue to function at a high level and for prolonged periods of time. With repeated cycling sessions, the cardiovascular system adapts to become much more efficient, resulting in a range of physiological benefits, including:
Cycling is an endurance activity that challenges the lower body musculature in its capacity to continually contract over extended periods of time. Under higher loads/resistances, cycling can develop power-endurance, which is the ability of the muscles to sustain higher levels of force output for longer periods of time. When cycling outdoors, this simulates a mountain or hill climb. Under lower or more moderate loads/resistances, cycling is typically performed at higher speeds for prolonged periods, which develops speed-endurance. This typically simulates cycling on a flat or downhill when outdoors.
Both indoor and outdoor cycling result in a range of physiological adaptations that ultimately increase the ability of the active muscles (discussed next) to continue generating force to power the pedal strokes. These adaptations include:
Cycling involves all the major muscles in the body, although it’s important to underline that not all the muscles are loaded in exactly the same way. Cycling is a lower-body dominant exercise that activates the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calves (see below for more detail) to power the pedal strokes.
The muscles in the arms and shoulders contract statically (isometrically) in order to provide stability for the upper body. Similarly, the core muscles (deep and superficial) also contract statically to connect the upper and lower body, creating stable platform for the lower bod muscles to generate force.
Good levels of core stability are important in cycling because the core is the foundation of the lower-body cycling action. If the core muscles are weak, instability and compensatory movements (e.g. pelvic rocking side-to-side) will occur, which will reduce the force produced by the lower body and will almost certainly increase the risk of lower-back pain and/or muscle strains in the muscles attaching to the pelvis (hamstrings and quadriceps). A good stability programme must therefore always be a stable of any conditioning programme for cyclists.
The lower-body muscles primarily contract in the following way to power the pedal stroke:
Two other important features about the cycling action and muscles pertain to the tibialis anterior and the gastrocnemius muscle:
Firstly, the tibialis anterior sits on the front of the shin bone (tibia) and serves to stabilise the ankle with the calves. However, it also actively pulls the toes back, which is an important feature of the upward pedal stroke when cyclists are wearing cleats or toe clips.
Secondly, the gastrocnemius muscle is often referred to as the ‘second heart’ because it plays a crucial role in actively pumping blood back uphill (against gravity) towards the heart and lungs for re-oxygenation. This muscle actively massages blood in the veins, driving it back towards the heart and lungs. When during the cycling action when this muscle is active, it plays a crucial role in creating a highly efficient cardiovascular system.
We understand that much of the information presented in this muscles section is a little technical for the average recreational cyclist. However, if you do take your cycling seriously, understanding how muscles function to drive your cycling action can be invaluable, both from a performance and injury prevention standpoint. If you wanted to learn more in this area, most personal training courses provide lots of education, training and support on subjects just like this.
Cycling, whether performed indoors or outdoors, offers a wide-range of benefits to an individual’s health and wellbeing, physically and mentally. While some of these wider health benefits are featured below, this range if far from exhaustive:
Throughout this article we have explored some of the broader benefits of cycling and have attempted to simplify some of the scientific language, to make the content more palatable and easier to understand. This information presented in this article is supported by the science, and is representative of the type of content that those completing an indoor cycling instructor course would learn throughout their qualification. This information is supported by the science and has been written by a leading subject specialist in this field.
If you are interested in starting a regular programme of indoor cycling, we can certainly help. Here at Echelon, we have a wide-range of smart exercise bikes that are specifically designed to help you to get your health, fitness, and wellbeing goals on track. Discover how you can start your fitness cycling programme from the comfort of your own home with the Echelon Community.