How You Use Your Leg Muscles
Interesting article on what muscles you actually use when you are pedaling. there is room for a little skepticism as this is coming from a mtb/bmx site. It would be great to get more info on such things from the science perspective. Here is the start of the article( continued HERE):
One of the most persistent myths in the mountain biking world surrounds
the pedal stroke and goes something like this: " Without being attached
to the pedals you can not use your hamstrings properly, which forces you
to rely too much on the quads to power the pedal stroke. By not being
able to curl the knee joint during the upstroke of the pedal stroke you
create muscular imbalances and tire out the quads faster." That is what
most of us have been told. However, this understanding of which muscles
are used and how they are used during a pedal stroke is completely
wrong and potentially dangerous over the long run.
When I ask why
someone thinks that the muscles are used that way during the pedal
stroke, I am invariably led to some variation of this picture/ chart:
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