"Big" legs???

[mali]

hello everyone! I am new to cycling, and have one question to the girls who understand: will cycling make my legs bulky. bigger, gigantic? I am hoping that cycling would mould my legs, firm the muscles (they really need it) I am 32 years old, and do not want to look "big - can anyone tell me how to avoid it?

While I am here, another how do I eat enough to have strength to ride and at the same time keep my body slim? Since I started cycling, my appetite has increased, so I want to eat more, but I need to loose fat in my body, how do I balance this out?

I hope I dont sound vain, but how I look is still important to me!!

 

[Roquen]

Hi mali,

There is a lot more to getting big legs than one factor like cycling! Any athlete will tell you big legs come from eating a helluva lot of protein, lifting some pretty heavy weights and so on.. Cycling will definitly tone up your legs, what sort of distance are you riding? As it is cardio vascular exercise it isnt exactly going to make you huge (just the cycling) , if you look at most road riders and many track riders that are female, they are often quite slim girls, some of the sprinters are huge, but they work very very hard for that! (trust me, Im doing it)..!

If you want to lose fat you need to work out a good balance of protein and carbs in your diet, enough protein to fuel your muscle growth and enough carbs for energy, but too much carbs will then be stored as fat which is a little tougher to shift! If yo uwant more specific help, email myself or Duckwah (from this forum) as we can both assist you with that sort of specific thing.

 

[zen_grrl]

The size of your legs will also be effected by they way you ride. If you use harder gears all the time and really push this will build a lot more muscle than spinning on an easier gear which will tend to tone you up instead.

 

[ant evans]

You won't get big legs unless you are using the bike as a gym machine... i.e. pushing like hell in high gears. For hours. Which would be horrible.

Your quads will grow, but this is exactly why a woman cyclist's legs are a fine thing to behold, particularly to other cyclists. That little bulge outside and above the knee should be worn with pride.

 

[mali]

Thanks to you all, I feel much better now. And I will e-mail Roquen for more specific help.
Ant evans - I hope my legs become fine to behold