Discussion: Biking creates muscle imbalance?

Since I started riding my bicycle to work, people have been telling me that I must start lifting weights with my legs so that my muscles will not become "imbalanced". I saw an article in the newspaper making the same claim. I also train by running. Do I really need to start weight lifting to keep my leg muscles balanced?

How much do you run and how much do you bike?

See my log.

Yea if you bike you will definitely end up unbalanced.

Mentally unbalanced?

No i think the mental part was caused by something else. I am talking about the circular way my legs move whenever I try to run. And how about when you top out on a hill and start reaching for those gears to shift up. Its real distracting.

Unless you're putting in some pretty serious training on the bike, I wouldn't worry about it. If you are doing a lot of climbing or if your mileage gets into the 300 mi/wk range, you'll also want to do situps to balance the fact that your glutes will develop. Some stretching of the hamstring would also be a good idea.

I've never heard of weights as a remedy for the imbalances that cycling creates. Those top cyclists that do lift (most don't), tend to accentuate the imbalnce by doing squats, and hamstring curls rather than working on the opposing muscles. That's not to say it's a bad idea, just that the elite don't do it.

I think a good bike fit is more useful in injury prevention, which I think is the fear of imbalanced muscles.

Cycling can give you imbalanced muscles, in that you end up with massive quads and spaghetti arms, but I think that's a different issue!

Top elite cyclists are, of course, training only for cycling and don't care if their running is hampered. But I agree with ebuckley (and he knows what he's talking about here!), I wouldn't worry about it. Lift weights if you want.

I think the main issue is the fact that cycling has a restricted motion, so muscles are not stretched during the activity - hamstrings, ITB, hip flexors. When you try to run these are important as hamstring length has a direct control on stride length etc.

The benefits far outweigh that minor downside; if you have dodgy knees you can still do good cardiovascular/endurance efforts with no pounding. The build up of VMO muscles is good for your knees anyway. And you get to drink lots of good coffee.

Agree with eBuckley and Eoin. Cycling may make your muscles tight and can contribute to poor posture - particularly if you don't stretch and don't do much else other than cycling. But as for the "imbalance", what a load of tosh. There's plenty of tri-geeks out there who run and ride just fine without unecessary weight training.

The article I read in the local paper made my BS-o-meter jump. They had a person lift weight while extending the calf and then also curling the calf back towards the thigh. When they compared the weight and reps, the curl muscles could not lift anywhere near the weight and repetitions that the extension muscles could do, so they concluded that the muscles in her legs were imbalanced. Huh? Shouldn't the extension muscles be much stronger because those are the ones that do the work of resisting gravity?

My knees are a bit dodgy. Taking up cycling has enabled me to keep running. Before cycling, whenever I would ramp up the effort for orienteering training or competition, I would end up with knee pain. Pain that would sometimes last for months. Cycling a little seems to stave off the injury for the most part. And when the injury does happen, it helps me to recover more quickly. I am amazed how beneficial it has been. I would never have guessed.

I really don't ride much more than 45 miles per week.

What are VMO muscles?

They had a person lift weight while extending the calf and then also curling the calf back towards the thigh.

That is the most ridiculous test I've ever heard.

BTW, calf muscles are really, really strong. Once you get used to handling the weight, you can move some hefty iron with calf raises. Half a ton is not unrealistic. It gets some attention in a weight room when people hear you put that many 45-pound plates on the sled. Make sure you have some pretty good padding on your shoulders, though.

VMO = vastus medialis obliques, the medial one of your 4 quad muscles on the front of your thigh. Cycling uses it a lot and when it is strong it helps keep your knee cap sliding up and down in the groove it should. When VMO weakens kneecap gets pulled laterally and patellofemoral pain results ie. bloody sore kneecap with running or prodding! And FYI, your quads do the bulk of the work resisting gravity - just try running downhill a bit and you'll find out the next day how much they've worked eccentrically to hold you up.

All that cycling didn't seem to help my knees out a whole lot. Now my Achillesses are hurting too!

Sorry, there is no way cycling is bad for Achillesss unless you spend all your time out of the saddle, or unless you ride 2000km a day or something

Kathy Watt used to be a great runner but when she tried a couple of duathlons after years of just cycling she couldn't run because her calves were way too tight. That would be bad for your Achillesss. She might have done something like 2000km a day though.

tRicky is sore because he doesn't do any run training at all and then went and raced 9.3k on the bitumen and then two orienteering courses all while subconsciously favouring his other pre-injured side.

If cycling is tightening up you calves, you need to look at your cleat adjustment. The ball of the foot is probably behind the pedal spindle - it should be directly over it. If that's not it, you're likely riding too big a gear. Finally, saddle height can be a factor. If it's too high, you usually get hit behind the knee, but it can affect the achilles too because your toe is pointed more than it should be.

Coincidentally, I am starting to get some pain in my left knee. The epicenter is approximately two inches above my patella. The pain is not sharp, and I feel it after cycling when I extend my leg against some resistance. Typically when I am taking of my cycling shoes. When I poke around the tendon above my Patella, I can feel some bumps or ridges that feel like that go across the tendon. I wonder what this could be?

Sounds like you are terminal. But of course, I am not a dr. Go get a proper bike fitting if you haven't already.

I've survived some pretty long runs on the back of mostly bike training. If you've got a running background, the key seems to be running regularly rather than lots, to avoid the gumby legs.

Besides being able to tell the difference between Arabica and Crema beans on smell alone, another side-effect seems to be that you get wicked strong for running up hills.

Achilles. Check for leg length difference on top of all the other good suggestions.

you have all cheered me and my dodgy knee up no end. I have probably started my return to some form of fitness for foot O correctly, with upping the bike riding and gradually getting back into running distances.

Anyone have any ideas why my knees would start to hurt when I ride but they don't usually?

ebuckley, thanks for the info on the cleat placement. Just bought a new pair of biking sandals and haven't seemed to get the placement right.

Your welcome, but I'd strongly suggest that if you're at all in doubt you have somebody actually watch you ride. The fore/aft is the most important admustment, but you also want to make sure the rotation is right. Most pedal systems allow some amount of rotational float, so it no longer has to be perfect. Back when cleats were fixed, you really had to get the angle spot on or you would mess up the tendons on the side of the knee.

To Kas:
Anyone have any ideas why my knees would start to hurt when I ride but they don't usually?

Have you changed the position youride on your bike. The knee is stressed more when you sit more forward on your bike. In that case your knee is flexed more than 90 degrees when you do most of the work pushing down and pulling up.

If you think that might be the problem, try adjusting your position, or a simple bike fit from any local bike shop will fix it.

Yeah, thanks Nikolay, I'll try it out.

Also Kas, If you do allot of climbing while in the sadle in a really tall gear to gain muscle you can damage you knees.

Also, I do allot of cycling and I'm not a bad runner and I noticed that as soon as I started the cycling my uphill running really improved, could this be true?

Also, I think riding is a really great sport for endurance cause you can spend around 4 hours easily in the sadle and all the while your heart is pumping, your lungs are working and occasionally you have to make a big effort like in a climb or a sprint. I know cycling isn't exactly working the same musle groups but it has only helped my running.

Cycling helps running uphill, but probably not as much as simply running uphill. Cycling helps downhill running A LOT.

The GP doc says the painful bump on my quadriceps tendon might be a cyst. He referred me to the orthopedist.

I was just reminded of a cycling/running problem I have experienced over many (20) years.
When I cycle a lot, and don't run, when I start running again, I get severe pain on the inner part of my quads. It's a narrow area from about mid thigh to the knee. Running downhill really brings it on, but I have had it on flats too, uphill usually not.
I would say though, that cycling has certainly improved my uphill running, and vice versa.
Not sure about the downhill part though, for me biking seems to make matters worse there. Although it could be that the downhill muscle gets really hammered in biking.