We’ve all seen those pictures of professional cyclists that have the best looking asses in those wonderful bike shorts. After seeing this, usually the first question on your mind is: Does cycling make your ass look good or do they have good asses because they’re simply incredible athletes? The short answer is that it’s mostly because of the cycling and here’s why.

The Muscles Involved

Biking usually involves the quads and hamstrings with a major contribution from the calf muscles. However, the butt muscles are equally as important and engaged during cycling. The gluteus maximus, the largest and most superficial butt muscle you have, helps to extend the hip as you pedal. As a contributing muscle, the gluteus maximus gets quite the workout when you cycle.

The other two butt muscles, the gluteus minimus and the gluteus medius, are equally important for cycling. Both of these muscles are hip abductors and are involved in the outward rotation of the hips as well as lateral motion. While the gluteus maximus provides the bulk of the power, the two smaller butt muscles provide stability.

Tone

Because cycling continuously works these muscles they become more toned the more you cycle. For everyone this toning causes a different effect in the body. This change in appearance is usually in the form of some added muscle mass which culminates into what many would call a ‘tight’ butt. For example, more cycling equals more tone which equals less jiggling.

Fat Loss

No matter what your reasoning for beginning to cycle (health or racing) fat loss will occur and it will definitely occur in your butt. This is the primary reason why cycling makes your ass look good. The butt is a huge problem area for people because of the fat deposits that seem to build up so easily directly in the butt and just below it. When you cycle and work the muscles in your butt, you will also be burning off the fat deposits that seem to take up permanent residence there. These fat deposits are the jiggly things that go away with toning.

One of the best benefits about cycling is that it really does make your ass look better. Your glutes will be stronger, more toned, and those stubborn fat deposits will begin to melt off, leaving you with a tight butt that looks great in those skin tight bike shorts.