building big muscles

andy610

how does spinning make big muscles or is it only the hills which does this

virtuoso

How does sprinting make big muscles? Well sprinting needs the body to be able to produce a very high wattage (power) and therefore requires a large percentage of fast-twitch fibres and a large muscle cross-sectional area. The body therefore adapts to the stimulius of being made to produce this wattage by hypertrophying muscle hence increasing its cross-sectional area. There may also be some conversion of fibre-type from slow-twitch to fast twitch and theoretically some hyperplasia (increase in the number of muscle fibres) although that is only definite if you happen to be taking growth hormone.

Climbing doesn't produce big muscles because it's the equivalent of lifting the little pink plastic dumbells for 10 minutes.

Infamous

virtuoso, he said spinning not sprinting you are 100% correct though.

andy, spinning doesn't build big muscle, it trains the CV system and the stamina of the cycling muscles, but not strength.

virtuoso

I got out of bed this morning at 5.30, I rest my case.

nolf

As a rule cycling doesn't tend to build huge muscles, look at tour riders and they have tiny little legs (Micheal Rasmussen e.g.)

Doing weights builds big muscles.

Let me put it this way, if you're doing weights you're probably going to do 15/20 reps of a weight a few times and the force applied will be way more than a pedal stroke (unless you're in like top gear going uphill which isn't recommended!). Track sprinters do loads of weights to build muscle mass, it's just that in most cycling you have to go up hill where power to weight is much more important than just power, so exta muscle is just as bad as fat, but heavier!

oldwelshman

I was informed previously that fast twitch fibres are part of your natural physique and connot be increased or produced or converted from slow fibres, which is why sprinters are born not produced, in cycling and athletics.
I was also told as you get older fsat twitch fibres are lost and cannot be recoverred.
If this is not the case it would be possible to convert climbers into sprinters and sprinters into climbers, but this is not the case as far as I know
Can't imaging Chris Hoy leading up the Alpe or Contador down Champs Elysee
This is pretty much what was said in a recent documentary on Colin jackson.
I may be completely wrong so don't mind being prooved wrong

simplesimoncardiff

oldwelshman wrote:

I was informed previously that fast twitch fibres are part of your natural physique and connot be increased or produced or converted from slow fibres

This theory has changed, it is now thought that some conversion can take place.