By Shaun Ahearn – Gym Program Online Comparatively speaking, cyclists have some of the strongest legs in sport. Leg strength is varied greatly, especially when comparing the awesome power of a sprinter, to the enduring strength of a mountain climber. The quadriceps and gluteus maximus are prime muscles involved in the action of turning the cranks propelling the bike forward. This means due to physics the focus is on pushing the pedal forward and pulling the pedal backward in order to create horizontal motion (in essence get away from the up/down thinking). The pedaling technique of forward push/backward pull is not really understood outside of cycling ranks and even within it is misunderstood. When riding technique is solid the ankle joint is pulled forward using a leg extension action and scraped along the ground using a pulling action that continues into the first part of the leg flexion. There becomes a major involvement of hamstrings and calfs here that is under-utilised by most cyclists – that’s for another article.?Today we have the leg extension/quad activation. There are many things to consider when looking at working on quadriceps strength.? Your strength training should ideally be practical and functional ? ie on the bike. Resisted high cadence work is ideal to increase your power, while highly resisted, low RPM work will obviously increase endurance. Targeted muscle strength should also be considered when looking at specifically building quad strength. The Leg Extension machine is an ?old faithful? when building the quads, however despite how simple the machine appears, it is performed incorrectly far too often.
Key Points for the Leg Extension:
- Adjust the back rest so that your knees align with the pivot point on the machine. This prevents undue pressure to the knee.
- Adjust the footpad (when possible) so that the pad sits at the bottom of your shin (or on the tongue of your shoe).
- Brace your abdominals and lift the weight, exhaling as you lift.
- Unlike all other gym exercises, focus on locking out the knee as high as you can ? This does NOT load the joint, but engages the vastus medialis oblique (VMO) on the inside of the quad.
- When lifting, ensure your feet are pointing straight up, or if anything, turned slightly outward ? under no circumstances let your feet point inwards (Internal rotation disengages the medial side of the quad and isolates the ITB and lateral part of the quad).
- For endurance, aim for 15-20 repetitions. For power, aim for 6-10. Regardless of your goal reps, you should fail before you actually reach it ? If you don?t, it?s not heavy enough!!
Green line illustrating a full knee lockout, engaging the VMO. Blue lines showing slight foot turnout, again focusing on VMO strength. The locking out of the knees and ensuring a vertical or slight outward roll with the feet is crucial when looking at strengthening the quads. Far too often I see athletes, often cyclists, with disproportionately strong Iliotibial bands (ITB?s) on the outside of the quad, and weak vastus medialis oblique (VMO) muscles on the inside of the quad. The result is that leg biomechanics are often altered, and can lead to diminished performance, or even medical conditions such as patellofemoral syndrome. Patellofemoral syndrome is where the patella (kneecap) begins to mal-track, being pulled ever so slightly towards the outside of the leg, simply because the outside of the quad is far too strong for the inside. ?Common symptoms of this includes pain around the patella, and general tightness in the leg musculature., especially on the lateral (outside) of the leg. Biomechanically, there may also be signs that you are at risk of patellar maltracking. ?Over 80% of cyclists with patellofemoral pain had excessive medio-lateral deviation during the downstroke. (that is, the knee was buckling in and out). In the control group with cyclists with no pain, most had a linear pattern to the downstroke.? (‘Abnormal patterns of knee medio-lateral deviation (MLD) are associated with patellofemoral pain (PFP) in cyclists,’ Med Sci Sport Exerc, vol. 28(5), p. 554, 1996). 
Green line showing linear pattern to downstroke. Red line showing medial deviation. Other than simply training the medial part of the quadriceps muscle, stretching, in particular the lateral component is also important. To target the lateral quad and ITB during a quad stretch, lay on your side, and bend your top knee for a conventional quad stretch. Then, place your bottom foot on your flexed knee, providing downward pressure ? This will change the angle of the stretch, targeting the outside of the quad and the ITB. 
Top leg in a conventional quad stretch, then bottom foot pushes down on the top knee, causing lateral pressure, stretching the ITB. In summary, increasing overall quadriceps strength will undoubtedly improve cycling performance. Getting smarter with your quad training (strength and stretching) will minimize your risk, or even improve adverse training effects such as patellofemoral syndrome. For a visual description of the Leg Extension, please see our YouTube link: Or, check out our site at www.gymprogramonline.com
Shaun Ahearn
Director, Gym Program Online gymprogramonline.com
