Leg muscles are becoming too cycling specialised!

[Globalti]

Went for a hilly 3 mile stroll yesterday evening and realised that although I'm fitter than I've ever been in my life and probably got stronger cycling muscles than ever, my muscle development is becoming ever more specific to cycling; it's almost as if my leg muscles are becoming an extension of the cranks!

Cycling does not promote those ancillary stability and control muscles so walking felt wobbly and I lacked stability; when I tried an experimental trot for a few yards my legs felt terrible. I guess this is the consequence of a lifestyle that is almost entirely sedentary apart from cycling, as well as a recent two-week overseas trip with zero exercise and lots of beer and hotel food. I also guess that in the mid to late fifties it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain muscle tone.

Anybody else noticed this?

 

[coffeejo]

No - one of the many benefits of being a dog owner. Ok, so three days of walking over the Malverns, Long Mynd and the Stiperstones last year was a bit of a shock to the system, but that was a lot more than 3 miles and very hilly! (The dog, incidentally, barely noticed and at the end of each day was raring to go again. )

 

[Hacienda71]

A little, but I play football once a week. I am no good at it, but I view sweating and staggering around a big bit of astro turf trying to kick a round object at a net thingy as good cross training.
I wouldn't want to just cycle and ignore any other forms of other physical activity.

 

[Hicky]

I have to pass certain fitness tests(being in the TA) I've found that if I have to walk/march up any hills I now find it much easier(I do grind up hills on my bike) however for the running tests I tend to layoff cycling as much for a couple of weeks and go running more often otherwise my stride length and turnover suffer.....probably due to the shortening in the muscles.
As coffeejo mentions having a dog helps....he's my running partner.

 

[Rob3rt]

No, I am a man machine and have legs of steel!

Seriously though, no, not a problem I have, when I need to be somewhere, I tend to walk there so I do get some light exercise off the bike, plus I used to run 30-40 miles a week so probably still benefit slightly from that past activity!

 

[ayceejay]

Weight is easier to transport on wheels than on foot, if you are carrying extra walking will be harder than riding. Although I think yours is a problem that will be fixed by stretching.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I used to do long countryside walks but these days I'll nearly always use the bike to go anywhere. I think my walking muscles have atrophied a little meanwhile and I've started to find that I very quickly get a feeling of tiredness and fatigue when walking which is much harder to work through than tired legs are on the bike.

 

[smutchin]

Anybody else noticed this?

Yes. I started running about a year ago, at the tender age of 39, and at first I found it quite hard work - like you, I was fitter than I've been since my teens, thanks to the cycling, so I was able to go reasonably quickly but it was really hard work and hurt for days afterwards. I've got more used to it now though so don't get so many post-run aches and pains.

 

[Crankarm]

If you only do one type of exercise then your muscles will adapt accordingly. It's not rocket science.

Do some running as cycling is good for osteoporosis. Also swimming if you like swimming.

Don't stretch muscles. Massage them instead.

 

[ColinJ]

Even before I got ill, my cycling had become very sporadic so my cycling muscles had become a bit weak but I don't drive so I walk all journeys up to a couple of miles and most up to 7 or 8. As a result, I had no problem strolling about over the local hills even though I was 4 stone overweight at the time.

When I got ill, I could no longer walk even 10 paces, let alone ride a bike but I am finding that my walking muscles are recovering much more quickly than the ones I use for cycling. That is because I do more walking than cycling.

The old expression 'use it, or lose it' applies. Cardio-vascular fitness transfers from one activity to another, but obviously different activities recruit different combinations of muscles.

For a while in my 20s I ran to and from work. A friend cycled. He found that he couldn't run far, and I wasn't great on his bike.

So ...

• Yes to the specific nature of fitness.
• No (so far) to finding it hard to maintain the tone of muscles - when I use them! I suffered devastating muscle loss in my legs last year due to spending nearly 2 months in bed. The legs ended up looking more like arms, which made me feel even sicker every time that I looked at them, but the muscles are coming back now. Obviously, age will take its toll, but the speed at which it happens can be greatly reduced. One of my Scottish family members was still riding his bike into his late 80s!

PS Ben - if you are free on Saturday, come over for my second forum walk and give your walking muscles a workout!

 

[Globalti]

Yebbut he was probably fuelled on haggis, porridge and whisky!

 

[Typhon]

I don't really walk any great lengths so got a real surprise earlier in the year when I walked up Bredon Hill (1000 feet, in deep snow). Whereas before I started cycling I wheezed just walking up slowly, I actually found myself jogging up most of it even though it's about a 10% gradient.

So no problems like that for me. I did say that I'd go and walk across the Malverns to really test my walking fitness but nah....cycling.

 

[thefollen]

It's a bugger- unless you keep doing something the muscles soon forget! Now I'm in the 30s (32) I'm really noticing this. Fair to say my exercise efforts are varied but even with regular cycling, running, bootcamp/boxing, weights and swimming, on the rare occasion I play a game of footie I'll be feeling the DOMs for a day or two afterwards! Even if stopping one discipline for two weeks you'll notice the fitness drop when resuming. Quickly returns though.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

yes - but only when we first went out on tour. after a couple of weeks doing nothing but cycling we noticed the change and made sure to prevent it getting worse. now I can't walk far because of my leg injuries but can cycle, but I have noticed when I do pilates, one of the exercises using legs is difficult on one side, but only because there is a muscle in the way that is not there on the other side (caused by the injury)...

 

[david k]

Went for a hilly 3 mile stroll yesterday evening and realised that although I'm fitter than I've ever been in my life and probably got stronger cycling muscles than ever, my muscle development is becoming ever more specific to cycling; it's almost as if my leg muscles are becoming an extension of the cranks!

Cycling does not promote those ancillary stability and control muscles so walking felt wobbly and I lacked stability; when I tried an experimental trot for a few yards my legs felt terrible. I guess this is the consequence of a lifestyle that is almost entirely sedentary apart from cycling, as well as a recent two-week overseas trip with zero exercise and lots of beer and hotel food. I also guess that in the mid to late fifties it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain muscle tone.

Anybody else noticed this?

i used to do a lot of walking and still do some, i have noticed, despite increased training, that i find long walks more difficult than i used too? this seems to fit with what your saying