On The Comically Tiny Biceps and Triceps Of Most Cycling Warriors (don’t copy the pros)

from Rookie’s keyboard,

Hello, friends

This post will be slightly different as it won’t focus on a bicycle component.

Today, I’ll talk about the common body type that many pros and amateur cyclists have.

The usual build of road cyclists includes a flat chest, a thin narrow back, and gloriously tiny biceps and triceps.

The ultra-short explanation is “form follows function”.

Cycling is technically a full-body sport, but only the legs and the hip muscles have to exert significant force.

The role of the upper body is stabilization and some pulling when riding out of the saddle. But the intensity isn’t high enough to trigger muscular hypertrophy.

Big Upper Body = Useless?

Cycling involves a lot of climbing – an activity greatly facilitated by a lighter body weight. The more you weigh, the harder you have to work to get yourself to the top of the hill.

For that reason, pro cyclists have scary low body fat levels bordering on unhealthy.

But body fat reduction isn’t the only path to optimizing one’s body for long hours of cycling.

Avoiding unnecessary muscular development is also helpful. And since the sport does not require a high level of upper body strength, it’s only natural to sacrifice the arms, chest, and back in the name of performance.

Another downside of excessive muscle mass is its effect on endurance. The more muscle you carry, the more oxygen you need to sustain the effort output. Minimizing the upper body musculature reduces that demand.


Many cyclists are quite light for their height. The pursuit of low body weight numbers inhibits future hypertrophy.

Below is a table with the heights and weights of some popular road cyclists.

CyclistHeightWeightBMI*
Alberto Contador176cm/5’9.5″62kg/136.4lbs20.0
Petar Sagan184cm/6’0.5″78kg/171.6lbs23.0
Ian Stannard189cm/6’2″80kg/176lbs22.4
Joey Rosskopf187cm/6’2″76kg/167lbs21.7
Julien Vermote179cm/5’11”71kg/156lbs22.2
Tom Dumoulin185cm/6’1″69kg/151.8lbs20.2
Julian Alaphilippe173cm/5’8″62kg/136lbs20.7
Richie Porte172cm/5’8″62kg/136lbs21.0
Chris Froome186cm/6’1.5″66kg/145lbs19.1
Simon Clarke175cm/5’9″63kg/138.6lbs20.6
Taylor Phinney1.97m/6’6″86kg/189lbs22.2
Ryder Hesjedal188cm/6’273kg/160lbs20.7
Wout Poels183cm/6′66kg/145lbs19.7
Rigoberto Urán173cm/5’8″62kg/136lbs20.7
Pierre Rolland184cm/6’0.5″67kg/147lbs19.8

*BMI – body mass index

Even the tall ones are under 190lbs. It’s impossible to have impressive biceps and triceps when you are light, and most of your resistance training is focused on the lower body.

The body grows as a unit. Even if you train just your arms, their growth will be limited by how much you weigh. If you’re 6’1″ and 140lbs, it would be quite difficult to have truly big arms (e.g., 15 inches+) even if that’s the only muscle group that you’re hitting at the gym.

The body will let you get away with it for a while, meaning your arms will grow a bit without substantial bodyweight increase, but eventually, the gains will plateau.

The only way to reach beyond will be to gain additional bodyweight.


The cyclists with the smallest arms are the climber specialists also known as “grimpeurs”.

Unsurprisingly, those are also the lightest cyclists with the lowest body mass index.

Below is a table including the height, body weight, and body mass index of legendary climbers.

Legendary Climbing Specialists

CyclistHeightWeightBMI
Marco Pantani172cm/5’8″57kg/125lbs19.3
Charly Gaul173cm/5’8″64kg/140.8lbs21.4
Gino Bartali172cm/5’8″66kg/145.222.3
Richard Virenque179cm/5’10.5″65kg/143lbs20.3
Pedro Delado171cm/5’7.5″64kg/140.8lbs21.9
Luis Herrera169cm/5’6.5″57kg/125lbs20
Joop Zoetemelk173cm/5’8″68kg/149.6lbs22.7
Claudio Chiappucci172cm/5’8″67kg/147.4lbs22.6

Track Cyclists = Muscles

Not all cyclists are light. Track riders are very muscular and walk around with legs that make even dedicated bodybuilders envious.

The main motif is once again the search for optimal performance.

Track cyclists are massive because the nature of the sport requires it. They are training like sprinters rather than marathon runners because their goal is to generate a lot of power over a short period.

The muscle fibers responsible for fast and explosive movements are called fast-twitch whereas the fibers working the hardest during endurance events are known as slow-twitch.

Fast-twitch fibers are capable of significantly greater hypertrophy than slow-twitch fibers. Hence weightlifters, sprinters, and track cyclists display so much muscularity – they’ve optimized their network of fast-twitch fibers through training.

Sprinters are not penalized for being too heavy because their races do not require insane endurance and end very quickly in comparison to a cycling tour.

And while track cyclists technically don’t need very big arms either, the anabolic environment that they create for their legs has an impact on their upper bodies too because the organism works as a unit.

Of course, track cyclists don’t develop their musculature only on the track. They follow strength training regimens including basic barbell exercises like squat and bench presses.

The table below contains the stats of elite track sprinters.

Track Sprinters

CyclistHeightWeightBMI
Harrie Lavreysen181cm/5’11.5″91kg/200lbs27.8
Mateusz Rudyk176cm/5’9″86kg/189lbs27.8
Tomohiro Fukaya169cm/5’7″79kg/173lbs27.7
Azizulhasni Awang168/5’6″67kg/147.423.7
Jair Tjon En Fa166cm/5’5.5″75kg/165lbs27.2
Denis Dmitrie176cm/5’9″92kg/202lbs29.7
Paul Nicholas170cm/5’7″75kg/165lbs26.0
Sándor Szalontay179cm/5’11”88kg/193lbs27.5
Yudai Nitta173cm/5’8″77kg/169.4lbs25.7
Jason Kenny177cm/5’10”80kg/176lbs25.5

The average BMI of the track cyclists in the table above is 26.86. Whilst the average BMI of climber specialists from the previous table is 21.3. That’s a 19% difference in favor of track cyclists.

You would be hard-pressed to find a track cyclist with a BMI under 20.

MTB, BMX, FreeStyler?

Mountain bikers, BMX riders, and other cyclists doing stunts are also heavier up top. Many techniques involve the upper body.

For example, bunny hopping, which is the base of BMX riding, stresses the back because the rider is holding the bars and extending his hips – a motion similar to a barbell pull like a deadlift or a power clean.

It’s not uncommon to get sore spinal erectors when learning moves like bunny hops and manuals.

Additionally, gaining extra muscle mass is useful for improving joint stabilization during landings. And since the elbows and the wrists take some of the impact, it helps to have strong forearms, biceps, and triceps.

Unlike road cyclists, freestylers do not receive a penalty for being heavy because the discipline consists of high-intensity effort followed by plenty of rest.

A Catabolic Environment

Pro training sessions last multiple hours. That amount of cardio harms muscle building because it raises cortisol (stress) levels while also burning a substantial amount of calories.

When you add the usual low caloric diets meant to keep the bodyweight of the rider low, you get a recipe for a highly catabolic environment hindering hypertrophy.

When the required protein and calories aren’t present, no amount of training can make a muscle grow.

Also, the gruesome cycling regimes destroy the central nervous system of the riders and prevent them from exerting a lot of effort in the gym.

Recreational Riders Shouldn’t Copy The Pros

Minimizing upper body hypertrophy by limiting your body weight and adjusting your training is pointless for recreational riders.

You are not going to win anything…so you might just as well build your upper body and avoid looking like a malnourished cadet who can’t do 10 push-ups.

Include basic upper body exercises that target the primary muscles.

Below is a table with movements classified by the muscle group that they work:

BackChestBicepsTriceps
DeadliftsBench pressBarbell curlsLying Triceps extensions
Pull-upsDipsDumbbell curlsTriceps push-downs
Barbell rowsOverhead press

Adding a routine combining some of the exercises above would be very beneficial to a recreational cyclist who wants to have a balanced muscular development.

Below is an example upper body routine:

Deadlifts – 2 sets of 5 reps
Bench press – 3 sets of 10 reps
Pull-ups – 2 sets of 6-8 reps
Triceps extensions – 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Biceps curls – 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Performing the routine above even once a week will do a lot to boost the untrained upper body of a cyclist.

However, I recommend doing it 2 times a week, except for the deadlift as it burns the CNS.

And if you are a cyclist who hates going to the gym, you can simply do lots of bodyweight exercises like pull-ups, dips and push-ups. I also recommend getting some generic adjustable dumbbells for dedicated arm training. You could also purchase some elastic bands to perform corrective exercises at home.

Until next time,

Rookie


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