saw a photo of the bristol bike fest start and many riders had big well defined quads and it got me thinking ….
I used to be a bicycle rickshaw rider (1997 cambridge) and rode all day hauling people about ( OK not many hills!) and was very strong leg wise but never developed well defined legs. After work I’d often ride home on an old clunker and hurtle past most lycra clad racers with little effort.
Is it mainly down to weights?

Funnily enough, was admiring some quads this morning while i was stuck in the car and pondered the same.

It’s mainly bodyfat.

Definition = low body fat, that’s it.

IMO. No. Big quads come from weights + genetics. Aside from track sprinters they aren’t necessary for biking – thats more heart and lungs especially for roadies

yeah, I find that when I ride a lot of SS or am doing the school run with the trailer that I get some big, hench well defined quads..
I guess that it’s possible to cruise around everywhere with minimal exertion, but as soon as you start regularly laying down power you’re gonna get muscle gain

I’m pretty low in body fat though, and my quads soon revert to sparrowlike dimensions when I’m not riding so much

commuting loaded , touring loaded and bike packing lots has meant my quads are fairly well defined……

i dont have a particularly low body fat….. how ever its a body of two halfs …. my lower body is well defined and my upper body is *flabby(er)

*those that know me may argue differently mind you – but i know what my racing weight and shape was and this aint it 😉

i dont have a particularly low body fat….. how ever its a body of two halfs …. my lower body is well defined and my upper body is flabby(er)

I thought it was just me who had this.

Yes, I have pretty damn well defined quads and calves for nothing more than cycling and a bit of football. I appears to have almost no fat on my legs but a chunk more around my stomach and chest/moobs). I’ll be the first to admit I’m an ugly bugger with a bit of a gut but I have got great pins! 😉

how ever its a body of two halfs …. my lower body is well defined and my upper body is *flabby(er)

+1

Legs of Chris Hoy, body of Chris Biggins.

I used to race XC reasonably seriously (NPS) and had my quads measure every time I had a Physiological assessment at the local Uni (along with lactate / VO2 etc).

Anyway, since giving up cycling and taking up weight lifting (OLy), my quads are much larger than they ever were when riding 16hr a week training plus racing…

If you want big quads, squat.

I’m pretty skinny and have muscles like knots in a bit of string 🙁

Big isn’t the same as well defined though. I have big muscly thighs but too much body fat to see much beyond the overall shape. I do see more when I train more but it’s only vague hints of muscles.

xc racing (and training) is an entirely different type of cycling to what has developed my quads…… when i raced i had no distinct big muscles – it was just excess mass – and not having that mass didnt seem to hinder my results.

much like track riders doing most of their training squatting…..

Big isn’t the same as well defined though.

Bigger muscles will still appear better defined at a given % body fat.

Some people just have physically larger muscles. They may not necessarily be any stronger or more powerful. They will be heavier though, so will require more effort to move. Someone like Chris Hoy has massive quads because of his body type , and lots of work to maximise the muscle strength and power.

But most blokes with big ‘quads’, yes, it’s just body fat. Some people naturally carry more body fat, and combined with big muscles, can have very large quads, but again, they won’t necessarily be any more powerful than skinnier chicken legs. I have the latter, and when I was a bit younger, had no problem out-climbing and out-sprinting other lads with much bigger legs. It’s all about the efficiency, not the size of the engine. 😉

Not particularly defined but “big” and purely from cycling (at the time this picture was taken). Makes finding jeans an absolute nightmare

Legs of Chris Hoy, body of Chris Biggins.

Legs of Bradley Wiggins, body of Christopher Biggins would have been a better turn of phrase shirely?

I have well defined quads but my legs aren’t big. I guess big legs would come from pushing a big gear, I tend to spin and take it easy most of the time.

Wiggins / Biggins. Like it! Much better.

“Makes finding jeans an absolute nightmare”

Lose weight then! Looks like quite a bit of fat you’re carrying there. People store fat in different parts of their body (hereditary genetics). You’re probably of a type that stores it on your thighs. Me, it’s around my middle and arse! 😆

I used to weight train and squatted with a reasonable weight – 140kg. Thighs/butt were chunky and jeans were a problem – had to have several waste sizes bigger than I was.

Now slimmish and quite defined – calves ripple nicely anyway. My thighs look better in the winter which is down to the turbo work I do then – probably as I use lots of resistance.

When I was younger I had big quads from cycling around the Highlands on a high geared singlespeed bike.

My wife thought my legs were deformed when she first saw me in shorts. Any off the shelf trousers I could fit my legs into had a huge waist.

These days though it’s mainly fat I think, and the waist on the trousers now fits. 🙁

So yes it’s possible to get big quads purely from cycling, but I think it needs to be singlespeed and a high gear with a few mountains thrown in.

clodhopper – Member
“Makes finding jeans an absolute nightmare”
Lose weight then! Looks like quite a bit of fat you’re carrying there.

Not there I wasn’t. That was just before I raced the 2014 EWS when I was training lots and was light and strong.

I have one very well defined calf, and one that’s well, not!.

Has came from years of playing football, with all my kicking from the right foot and I’d probably imagine the vast majority of my sprints started off with that leg too.

It’s not really surprising that pretty much every injury I’ve had has been on my left side!.

Quads are reasonably well defined and a reasonable size. Much like everyone else, bottom half is pretty tidy and toned, top half is a lot more relaxed 🙂

Chicken legs here.
I find it really hard to build and maintain muscle mass.
Managed to build a little after a full winter of short duration, high effort big gear sessions, and lost it all again within a month of transitioning to more threshold type intervals 🙁

I have one big thigh and one little one since my knee injury. I look like a fiddler crab!

saw a photo of the bristol bike fest start and many riders had big well defined quads and it got me thinking ….
I used to be a bicycle rickshaw rider (1997 cambridge) and rode all day hauling people about ( OK not many hills!) and was very strong leg wise but never developed well defined legs. After work I’d often ride home on an old clunker and hurtle past most lycra clad racers with little effort.
Is it mainly down to weights?

Leg wise you probably weren’t very strong, since cycling doesn’t require any extra leg strength than what you need for walking. You were probably very fit though. Look at Bradley Wiggins, or any of the tour contenders. There’s nothing to them, yet they’re faster than anyone. I guess for sprinting and track riding big muscles might be beneficial. They also look cooler aswell.

When I was younger I had big quads from cycling around the Highlands Chilterns on a high geared singlespeed bike

& three months of fully loaded touring on an unsuitably geared bike* through the alps topped them off in my late teens too

* 2 x 5 the front rings were 42 & 46! ah the ignorance of youth

“Not there I wasn’t. “

I’d say you were, and do carry a bit of fat naturally. It’s not a major issue, many people do.

“Look at Bradley Wiggins, or any of the tour contenders. There’s nothing to them, yet they’re faster than anyone. I guess for sprinting and track riding big muscles might be beneficial. They also look cooler aswell.”

Not sure about looking ‘cool’ (imagine the chafing!), but some track riders do seem to have massive quads. Robert Fosterman has the biggest in the sport, surely! 😯 But people like him are freaks.

Mine are quite well defined just from cycling. Not as much as when I lifted weights as well, but to be honest lifting weights is shit so I can live with that.

Leg goals right there, though for the full effect I’d like to tan lines too.

A couple of years ago (when I still rode bikes) in the midst of racing a LOT I got to 7-8% body fat.And unbeknownst to me ,got a six pack (aged 41).No weights, just not eating a lot and riding loads.
Somewhere under the 13kg I’ve put on since, I’d like to think it’s still there….hiding.
Always had tiny calves though 😥

that chap’s legs in the photo above look freakish …as though he’s got elephantitis or some other disease. anyone on here like to look like that?

Is it mainly down to weights?

No. Training properly. Low body fat. Intervals.
Last thing anyone on here needs to be doing is weights. Once you can dedicate 12-15 hours a week to training and the same again to recovery (not sleeping) then it might be worth looking into some sort of weights program. But probably more beneficial to ride your bike more.

Robert Forstemann has Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy, which goes to explain why he is that size.

But probably more beneficial to ride your bike more.

But you’re not going to get bigger quads doing that, heart & lung function yes and quads as required to pedal which ain’t much IMO. So unkess your are mashing uphill in a high gear repeatedly for muscle size and definition you need specific excersizes / weights.

This thread reminds me of when I was a teenager and the boys in the next street used to call me “legs like a footballer and face like a pig” 😀

yes. especially with 1×10 setup.

I have legs like Robert Millar’s….

arms

I’d say you were, and do carry a bit of fat naturally. It’s not a major issue, many people do.

Classic singletrollocks. Back under your bridge.

Steroids + track (resistance training) =

Robert Fosterman has the biggest in the sport