Newbie Question

Heat_Wave

Female here.

Recently got into cycling to lose weight. I'm 7 lbs off the ideal weight for my height.

Just wondering, will cycling 20km each day give me big thighs? I really don't want to increase the size of my thighs, if anything I want to try and make them slim!

I've only just started cycling.

Thanks

Pinch Flat

I would say if anything it's going to slim your legs down.

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Pinch Flat wrote: »

I would say if anything it's going to slim your legs down.

According to male friends who cycle daily they said their thighs have increased in size due to cycling. Really hoping this isn't the case.

quozl

I took up cycling about 6 months ago and my thighs have gotten very slightly but perceptably bigger.

However:

I'm a bloke like those male friends of yours and testosterone makes it easier to build muscle.

I'm also trying to make myself stronger - doing big hills, cycling fast, using a turbo trainer - not just commuting. And still I've still had a pretty small difference. I think I'd need to do gym work to make a significant difference.

Like you, I had little fat to lose and in my case being typically male none of it was on my thighs if I'd had some fat on my thighs to lose then I'm sure that would have more than balanced out the slight increase in muscle there. I've been losing it from my waist instead.

So, I'd guess that Pinch Flat is right. I've also never seen a woman whose legs I thought were dis-improved by cycling!

Pinch Flat

I've been back on the bike a few years now, I clock up about 1000km (ish) in a good month between commuting and weekend spins. Haven't noticed any difference in thigh diameter, is anything my trousers fit better. Maybe I'm doing it all wrong....:pac:

Chips Lovell

Long story short, no, you're about as likely to get big thighs from cycling as you would from running.

It takes a lot of specific work to increase muscle mass to the point where your thighs would get noticeably bigger. Cycling 20km a day isn't going to do this.

ford2600

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I've been back on the bike a few years now, I clock up about 1000km (ish) in a good month between commuting and weekend spins. Haven't noticed any difference in thigh diameter, is anything my trousers fit better. Maybe I'm doing it all wrong....:pac:

Im male and cycle about 1000km month. If anything my legs are even skinner, very defined but certainly skinner.
I spin a lot and can't sprint so maybe that's the reason.

Caroline_ie

I am 5 foot tall and I have been cycling for the past 7 years. I wear a size 8/10 clothes and my quads are 56cm. And guess what I still go to the gym and squat my body weight on a regular basis.

Kristina Vogel doesn't have big thighs, she's just fast!


On a serious note, if the fact you might get big thighs puts you off cycling, then just don't cycle. I love cycling too much to care.

Lumen

Cycling will give you buns of steel.

Men will want you. Women will hate you.

Or something.

Heat_Wave

Would it depend on the weather conditions? For instance it was extremely windy on my journey into work yesterday, to the point where I was cycling on the lightest gear at a very slow pace (I must have looked desperately unfit to the traffic ), and by the time I got into work my thigh muscles were exhausted.

However the journey home I cycled with the wind at a high gear and got home in half the time.

As I said I'm a complete newbie to cycling so I am very interested to learn more.

Thanks

Heat_Wave

Caroline_ie wrote: »

I am 5 foot tall and I have been cycling for the past 7 years. I wear a size 8/10 clothes and my quads are 56cm. And guess what I still go to the gym and squat my body weight on a regular basis.

Kristina Vogel doesn't have big thighs, she's just fast!


On a serious note, if the fact you might get big thighs puts you off cycling, then just don't cycle. I love cycling too much to care.

I would find that picture extremely off-putting tbh.

Lumen

The forces involved in cycling are much lower even than walking.

Pedalling is 60 reps per minute, or more. So over an hour you will do thousands of reps. That will not give you more muscle mass.

If there is an exercise designed to avoid making you more muscly, cycling is it.

Heat_Wave

Lumen wrote: »

The forces involved in cycling are much lower even than walking.

Pedalling is 60 reps per minute, or more. So over an hour you will do thousands of reps. That will not give you more muscle mass.

If there is an exercise designed to avoid making you more muscly, cycling is it.

On a low or high gear?

Or would the gear even make a difference?

Lumen

Heat_Wave wrote: »

On a low or high gear?

Or would the gear even make a difference?

Not really. Any exercise you can do for more than a minute at a time isn't going to build muscle mass.

Having said that, new cyclists tend to push a harder gear than necessary.

Dance on the pedals!

quozl

Heat_Wave wrote: »

I would find that picture extremely off-putting tbh.

She didn't get those thighs from cycling. She got them from serious, serious gym work.

She's an elite track sprinter - she has to train like a body builder. You're more likely to end up with legs like Chris Froome



This is a podium from a sprint stage:


The first is the type of cycling you'd be doing, the 2nd is not.

Lumen

quozl wrote: »

You're more likely to end up with legs like Chris Froome

You're really selling it now.

This is Liz Hatch. Possibly NSFW.

Of course it's a lads mag picture so it's probably photoshopped.

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Lumen wrote: »

You're really selling it now.

This is Liz Hatch. Possibly NSFW.

Of course it's a lads mag picture so it's probably photoshopped.

Yes, now her legs I would like

quozl

Lumen wrote: »

You're really selling it now.

I have to admit, I did smile to myself while writing it

Chris Froome really does have lovely legs

Caroline_ie

Tom Boonen has the best legs in the men's pro peloton, closely followed by Fabien Cancellarra.

I find Froome's legs disturbing.

Lumen

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Yes, now her legs I would like

I'll have the rest. Then she won't be able to run away.

niceonetom

What do I have to do to get legs like this?

petethedrummer

quozl wrote: »

You're more likely to end up with legs like Chris Froome



This is a podium from a sprint stage:


The first is the type of cycling you'd be doing, the 2nd is not.

Genetics plays a bigger role than the type of training you'd be doing, IMO. Chris Froome couldn't develop legs like Hoy and Forstemann with all the weights in the world. Elite sprinting draws people with a tendency to build more muscle & quicker. It's an accelerated genetic selection of a particular body type. The sport doesn't necessarily create the body type. The cream of a particular body type (+mentality etc..) rise to the top that sport.

Any female body builder you see with big muscles is jacked up on roids. It's difficult for women to build big muscles. It's difficult for most men too. You need a myostatin deficiency to grow ridiculous muscles. So I wouldn't worry about it. You can of course make your thighs bigger with copious amounts of cake but that's a different pathway.

You won't necessarily end up with Chris Froome legs by doing long distance cycling either. Again that's accelerated natural selection. Being the best at winning mountainous grand tours requires a certain body type or a range of similar types to succeed. Long distance cycling won't mould the body to a particular shape outside of its preset limits.

Looking at the elite of a sport and expecting the same bodily outcome by practicing that sport is a recipe for frustration.

I advise the OP to walk into any amateur men's football changing room and take a look around. They're all doing the same training for years and years. Yet they are all different levels of muscularity. Same training, wildly different outcomes. The Swimmer's Body Illusion

eeeee

OP I am a lady and I do 20k min every day with 40k+min weekends. I can personally say cycling does not make your thighs massive, or increase in size at all. It does great things for your arse though

ETA 20k a day isn't really enough to change your shape at all I find. Also you start doing 20k a say and it just spirals-distance is addictive!

The Big Lebowsky

If you reckon lots of cycling will give you thunder thighs, then maybe you should have a look at Bradley Wiggins.

Heat_Wave

gadetra wrote: »

It does great things for your arse though

Ooh really? How so if you're just sitting down?

Everyone is making 20km sound very small... is it?

Note: I'm only a beginner

cdaly_

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Ooh really? How so if you're just sitting down?

Everyone is making 20km sound very small... is it?

Note: I'm only a beginner

You're not just sitting down. Your glutes are working out throughout, burning off fat and getting toned.

20km is hard at first but it won't be long before 20km is just a warmup...

Briando

Kristina Vogel is beautiful.

@OP I've done hundreds of km a week and my thighs are not at all big. Just a little more toned.

eeeee

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Ooh really? How so if you're just sitting down?

Everyone is making 20km sound very small... is it?

Note: I'm only a beginner

20k is about 20 mins, so not far at all. On the asre improvement, you're using it the whole time on the bike. It's you're engine

cdaly_ wrote: »

You're not just sitting down. Your glutes are working out throughout, burning off fat and getting toned.

20km is hard at first but it won't be long before 20km is just a warmup...

^^This is so true, distance is addictive. My legs feel all unused, jumpy and jittery is I do less than 200k a week. They can't stay still if they are under spun!

Heat_Wave

gadetra wrote: »

20k is about 20 mins, so not far at all. On the asre improvement,

Sorry, just checked MapMyRun, I'm actually doing 14km each way.

14km in the morning takes approx 40 mins as it's mostly uphill.

14km home in the evening takes approx 30 mins as it's downhill.

Surely for a beginner that's good?

Sure when it's windy it's a killer.

eeeee

Yup!

cdaly_

Depends on how uphill it is but those times are pretty ok. When it's windy, pick lower gears, pedal faster and crouch down with your hands as far in towards the middle of the handlebars as you can to minimise wind resistance.

Darkglasses

gadetra wrote: »

20k is about 20 mins

Maybe in an elite Team TT!

eeeee

Darkglasses wrote: »

Maybe in an elite Team TT!

Sorry did not read what I wrote! It is 20 mins for 10, I just put the total distance together in one go (there and back oops!). Doh!