Uneven muscle development from biking...what to do?

[ADD vantage]

Been biking for about a year and I now do a fairly steep hill in the tallest gear to build up my muscles, as it requires the most effort. It's painfully slow but I can feel the "burn" so it's got to be good, right? Fully understand about cadence and speed--I just make it as hard as possible to build up the most muscle. Is this disastrously wrong if I am not pulling/tearing any muscles?

Also, I have found that one calf muscle is much more developed than the other. What can I do to even them out on the bike? Only thing I can think of is to switch to weights and work them in isolation? But I much prefer biking outdoors.

[Trooper2]

Do a some single leg calf raises on the less developed leg to get it caught up, maybe after every ride do a few sets.

[Cabinet Enforcer]

ADD vantage said:

Been biking for about a year and I now do a fairly steep hill in the tallest gear to build up my muscles, as it requires the most effort. It's painfully slow but I can feel the "burn" so it's got to be good, right? Fully understand about cadence and speed--I just make it as hard as possible to build up the most muscle. Is this disastrously wrong if I am not pulling/tearing any muscles?

I guess this is OK in the short term for a specific purpose, as you have stated, but long term it will kill your knees and it's definately not the most efficient style. I would suggest doing the muscle work in the gym if at all possible, it would be more controlled and probably be more effective.

[Roman]

At very low RPMs you may have a tendancy to concentrate on pushing down with your 'favoured' leg. Try gearing down a few sprockets so that you are pedaling at around 50-60RPM in the saddle and concentrate on developing power throughout the pedal stroke.

You can train to develop this skill by applying the following techniques on gentle drags only at first for around 10-20secs at 70-80rpm as part of a ride (you will put too much strain on your muscles if you try this on a steep hill at low rpms or in a series of intense intervals)
week one - concentrate on applying power by pulling back and up on the upstroke.
week 2 Concentrate on applying power on the forward & back strokes together.
Week 3 Put it all together and focus on generating power throughout the whole cycle - your pedaling action and power delivery will be much smoother and more constant, you will generate more power throughout each revolution (= higher speed!) and you will be developing all of your cycling leg muscles equally.

Always warm up & cool down properly for this training.

If you are already familiar with this training technique sorry for trying to teach you to suck eggs!

good luck!

[ADD vantage]

Roman, everyone else,
I appreciate the advice. Thanks. I didn't know this would be bad for the knees...it ends today.

What are recommended warm up and cool down techniques? I don't do any--just hop on and go and hop off covered in sweat and blast the car's aircon to cool me down (I live in California).

Edited by ADD vantage on Friday 8th June 03:45

[ewenm]

ADD vantage said:

Roman, everyone else,
I appreciate the advice. Thanks. I didn't know this would be bad for the knees...it ends today.

What are recommended warm up and cool down techniques? I don't do any--just hop on and go and hop off covered in sweat and blast the car's aircon to cool me down (I live in California).

Edited by ADD vantage on Friday 8th June 03:45

Start and finish gently to allow your muscles to warm up initially and get rid of the by-products of exercise at the end. 5 mins gentle riding at the start and end for example.