Cycling
Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+.
Bodywork, May 1997
Cycling Please excuse hard-core cyclists for that cocky post-ride walk of theirs — they’re just a bit stiff from an exercise that arguably strengthens and tones the sum of your leg muscles more thoroughly than any other activity. The downstroke works the lateral and medial quadriceps, the upstroke works the hamstrings, and the stroke across the All this is to the good, obviously, but if you’re not interested in taking over where Miguel Indurain left off, don’t sweat the technique: Even a sloppy pedal stroke will do quite a lot for your legs, though mostly your quads. “The less skilled you are, the harder a workout you’ll actually get,” says Craig Griffin, endurance track coach for USA Cycling. Griffin would have us
Jim Harmon, a longtime contributor to Outside, runs on the sand in Long Beach, New York. Photograph by David Roth |