Bike hurt or help quad growth?

[bigtonerealtor]

If anyone has some insight on this please help me out. I am trying to put some size on my legs and have some different thoughts on using the exercise bike to do cardio. Some people say it tones the quads down and may make them appear flat. Others say that it makes them bigger and more defined. Im not saying like some Lance Armstrong stuff. Just doing 30 mins with some resistance on the gym bike prolly 4 days a week. Thanks for the help guys!

[jeff_hardy]

I do the bike...I do low intensity 20 x 2 week

[Gaoshang Xiongshou]

What about riding a mountain bike on the trails and hills? Any extra benefit to legs with that?

[D_T]

I am a serious cyclist and ex competitive bodybuilder. You can make a bike ride into any type of workout you want. A long easy on flat roads makes for great cardio. I can put you through a hard big gear/sprint interval ride that will rival any squat workout you can come up with. Actually right now cycling is the only leg work I do. I'm going out for about 40 miles tomorrow.

Don't mix the rides though. Go really easy for cardio one ride then do hard 15-60 sprint intervals another day. I would avoid off road riding altogether. Cyclists don't have small legs because cycling isn't hard. They have small legs because having to drag the extra weight of large quads up a 10-15 mile climb outweighs the benefit of the extra strength.

[thepump]

You shouldn't be doing cardio to up your leg size. If it works the legs to the point of which growth occurs then it isn't doing what cardio is intended to do for a bb'er (burn fat). Also take into consideration that not all cyclist have big legs, Miguel Indurain who won the Tour de France before Lance had his run of victories had stick legs compared to some other road cyclist.

I would have to agree, cardio isn't to up your leg size. Good sets of squats and leg presses and even deadlifts are going to give you the size you want overall.

[Dr Pangloss]

the only bicyclists with consitently big legs are sprinters, but i assume your squatting, so there is no need to use any kind of HIT cycling for quad size in addition. I dont believe this would help add anything.

[bigtonerealtor]

I understand that cardio is not going to make my legs big. Im not doing it for the size...im doing it to not be a fat ass. I still hv a very intense leg workout with leg press, squats and so on. Im just wondering if it will bring them down some and actually hurt all of my heavy lifts in the long run and will be pissing in the wind?

[Ryan Wacht]

I've actually put size on my legs by riding my bike 5 to 10 miles 2 to 3 times a week. I manage this by lowering the seat so that it sits several inches lower then the handlebars. This causes me to pedal with more of a bend in the legs, resulting in increased quad size, especially around the lower and inner thighs.

[D_T]

it hasn't hurt these guys much.

[DAVIDHARDY]

I remember reading somewhere that Jay Cutler believes that the bike is the best form of cardio for preserving muscle in the legs.

[JYD]

it hasn't hurt these guys much.

damn... looks like i gotta start riding a bike more often huh lol

[bigleemurali]

I feel that if an athlete trains and allows proper rest for the muscles to recover then it will never hinder the growth of any muscle group..

That planning is the problem and lot of the guys burn their hard earned muscle due to cardio.......