Home Leg Workout for Cyclist
Strong cyclist who can achieve great speeds or do long distance endurance rides or the ones who could climb a steep hill like a mountain goat are not just made by spending a lot of time on the saddle. Strength training off the saddle plays a major important role.
This strength training part also plays a very important role for those who are looking to lose weight. Just Cycling or jogging doing cardio efforts might not be enough to lose weight. You could read up on tricks to lose weight with cycling here.
In case you do not have enough time to go to the gym then you could try these simple home leg workout, more so if you are a cyclist or one who is looking to lose weight. These home workouts can done with body-weight as resistance or if you want you could get some dumbbells, bars or a resistance band.
Muscle Groups that you should target
1. Quadriceps: These are the primary muscles that you use while pushing down on the peddle. These are also your largest muscle group in your leg
2. Calf’s: Calf muscles are the supporting muscles that are heavily used while riding off the saddle, be it climbs or during sprints.
3. Hamstrings: Hamstrings are the supporting muscles which are often ignored the most. However these play a very important part in your riding and also help in maintaining your form and keep you away from injuries. These run in the back of your thigh up to your glutes. A strong set of Hams would ensure that you have better core muscles and stabilize your back and help in reduction of back injury or pain.
Workout and Exercises
My basic 15- 30 minute leg day work out typically involves the following exercises. I target 1-2 sessions per week with each exercise being repeated over 3-5 sets of 12-15 repetitions each with a rest of 30 sec to 1 minute between each set.
Squats for quadriceps and core strength.
Lunges for quadriceps and hams.
Calf raises for calf strength.
Reverse squats for hamstring strength.
