Causes and solutions of leg thickness

There are many reasons for thick legs. Find out what causes thick legs first, so as to solve the problem in a targeted way.

Many female cyclists are worried that riding fitness will make their legs thicker, mainly because they belong to muscular legs on the one hand, and the other reason is that their legs are not relaxed in time after riding, and their legs are in a tight state for a long time.

Aerobic leg riding will not get thicker.

Just like swimming and aerobic dance, cycling in general belongs to aerobic exercise. Through long-term, moderate-intensity and low-intensity pedaling, the body is kept in a slightly breathless aerobic state, which helps to improve cardiopulmonary function and promote metabolism.

Therefore, as long as you avoid riding a bike to attack the mountain every day, or stomping hard when climbing the mountain, you can ride more flat roads, or adopt a light tread mode with light tooth ratio and high tread frequency on the uphill section, which is helpful to keep your body in an aerobic state of breathing slightly but still barely talking.

As long as it lasts for more than 30 minutes, after the blood sugar, muscle sugar and liver sugar in the body are exhausted, you can start to achieve effective fat burning effect. Fat loss is systemic, and you can't just stovepipe because you mainly use leg muscles when riding a bicycle, but the climbing and high rotation training you encounter on the way can be regarded as intermittent exercise. By alternating short sprints and breaks, your body can continue to burn fat during and after exercise, which is beneficial to body shaping.

Perhaps some women will still be discouraged by their strong impression of athletes. In fact, the human body needs testosterone to make muscles. Testosterone belongs to androgen, and its content in women is very small. Therefore, it is difficult for female friends to gain muscle naturally. Most athletes' physique is obtained through deliberate training for 5 years, 10 years or even longer, and at the same time, with the specified muscle gain diet. Compared with other sports, it belongs to the long-distance endurance cycling race. Some top athletes don't have too thick legs. If ordinary cyclists just regard cycling as a fitness exercise and step on it correctly, they don't have to worry about thick legs.

Posture is the key

Don't think that you don't have to bother to adjust your posture if you are not a professional driver. We know that the correct sitting posture can avoid cervical and lumbar diseases, so of course, you should also maintain a good posture when riding a bicycle to make your body healthier and exercise more efficiently.

▲ Correct riding posture can not only avoid sports injuries and backache, but also increase sports effect.

More and more bicycle shops offer professional fitting services. We can not only find a bicycle shop to adjust the fitting details, but also have a basic concept of riding posture, so as to confirm the appropriate height of the cushion and the handle distance at any time. For example, when the pedal is stepped to the lowest position, the knee must be slightly bent (the angle between the calf extension line and the thigh is about 25 degrees).

If the cushion is too high, it will swing from side to side, and stepping on it will hurt the lumbar spine and strain the knee ligament; Too low will put pressure on the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee. The distance between the handlebar and the seat cushion should be adjusted so that the arm is 90 degrees perpendicular to the body. When riding, your back is in a natural state, but don't be too hunched, your shoulders are relaxed, your elbows are slightly bent, and your abdomen is slightly tightened.

Another important point is not to deliberately press your toes down when you step on it, which will increase the stress on your calf and should make your heel sink slightly, so you don't have to worry about the trouble of radish legs. At the same time, avoid inner eight or outer eight. Only when your toes point to your front ankle can you relax, your muscle strength be correct and your lines be more beautiful.

▲ When pedaling, the toes should lean forward and the heels should sink slightly, which can avoid sports injuries or radish legs caused by improper exertion of calf muscles.

Be sure to stretch after exercise.

Stretching after exercise can not only avoid muscle soreness, but also play an important role in sculpting the figure. Because the muscles in exercise are tense and congested, it is necessary to stretch the muscles through limb stretching after exercise, which can not only effectively relax and increase their elasticity and ductility, but also move joints and lengthen muscle lines.

Here are four stretching movements after cycling. I suggest you do it within 10- 15 minutes after exercise, and each action lasts for 30-60 seconds, and the effect will be better!

1. Stand, bend and stretch the back of your legs.

Take a small step forward with one foot, point the heel to the ground, support the hind foot with both hands, bend the hind foot, straighten the front knee, keep the back straight, hook the toes in your own direction, and stretch the muscles behind the big legs.

2. Standing posture with four heads extended

Hold your ankle with one hand, knees down, support your knees slightly, and keep your body straight. You will feel the tension of the quadriceps femoris. You can slowly push the pelvis forward and stretch your hands and feet backwards to enhance the stretching effect.

3. Kneeling posture, hip flexion muscle group stretching

Put a mat on the floor and take a bow and arrow step, so that the front knee is at 90 degrees, the rear knee is behind the pelvis and the back is straight. At this time, the iliopsoas muscle of the hip joint can be stretched; Then, hold your body up again, grab your ankle with your hands, and pull your body forward with your hands to strengthen the stretching of the quadriceps femoris.

4. Standing pectoralis major stretching

When riding a bike, don't forget to stretch your upper limbs after exercise because your upper body is slightly arched. Hold your hands back, palms inward, shoulders backward, and press your hands down from your ass when riding to open the tight pectoralis major and deltoid muscles.