Does Incline Biking Build Glutes?

Biking is an effective means to tax your cardiovascular system without the constant impact your body takes from other cardio activities such as jogging. Aside from increased cardio fitness, biking also has an affect on your lower body muscles particularly your glutes and quadriceps. Biking on an incline will enhance this affect, making it possible to build and develop your glutes.

  1. Crash Course in Glute Anatomy

    • The glutes are a group of three different muscles. The gluteus maximus is the largest of the three and makes up the shapely part of your butt. The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus are located beside and slightly to the front of the maximus. During the downward motion of a pedal stroke, the maximus works to extend your hip while the two smaller muscles act as stabilizers.

    Importance of The Incline

    • Riding your bike on a level surface will have a positive affect on your backside but if you add an incline here and there, the amount of work your glutes will have to do will increase significantly. In order to build muscle, the muscle itself must be stressed repeatedly on a regular basis. Incline biking will add the stimulus necessary to build your glutes.

    Determining Factors

    • The extent to which incline biking will build your glutes is dependent on a couple factors. The first being the grade of the incline -- the steeper the hill, the harder your glutes will have to work to power your bike upward. The second factor is the amount of time spent incline biking. For example, spending five minutes of a 60-minute ride will have little effect. However, spending 20 to 30 minutes riding at an incline will give your glutes a challenging workout. To state it simply, the steeper the hills and the longer your ride, the more incline biking will build your glutes.

    Added Bonus

    • The added incline in your bike workout increases the overall intensity of your workout. With increased intensity comes increased calorie burn. This calorie burn can translate to weight loss over time. Shedding excess fat will not only result in a thinner you but also give you a chance to show off those glutes you worked so hard to build.