Does Cycling Build Glutes? Here’s What You Need to Know

Cycling is known as a great lower-body workout. It strengthens your quads, hamstrings, and calves while improving cardiovascular health. But many riders wonder: Does cycling build glutes?

Let’s jump in and discover whether indoor cycling or a stationary bike can help tone your glutes, and introduce a great glute machine: Tousains Portable Gym Hivegym.

What Are the Glutes?

Your glutes aren’t just one muscle; they’re a group of three:

Gluteus Maximus: The largest muscle in the human body. It typically serves four functions: hip extension, hip abduction, hip external rotation, and posterior pelvic tilt. View this YouTube video to get more details.

Gluteus Medius: It stabilizes the pelvis and abducts the hip.

Gluteus Minimus: Located beneath the gluteus medius, it works with the medius to stabilize the hip and rotate the thigh.

These muscles are important for exercises like sprinting, jumping, and, yes, cycling. Strong glutes not only improve workout performance but also stabilize your pelvis and support your spine. 

Does Cycling Build Glutes?

Your gluteus maximus—the largest muscle in the butt—does activate during the pedaling motion, especially on the downstroke when you push the pedal away from your body. On steep climbs, high-resistance rides, or when you stand up out of the saddle, your glutes work harder. Smaller hip muscles like the gluteus medius and minimus also help stabilize your hips and pelvis, keeping your movement smooth.

However, the primary drivers in cycling are your quadriceps and calves. On flat terrain or during low-resistance rides, most of the work falls on the front of your thighs. Even during tougher rides, your glutes play more of a supporting role rather than serving as the primary muscles under constant stress. In other words, cycling can strengthen and tone your glutes, but it primarily targets the quads and won’t isolate glutes enough to contribute to significant growth.

If you’re riding to build glute, you’ll need to incorporate glute-focused strength training, such as squats, lunges, hip thrusts, or resistance band exercises.

How to Maximize Glute Gains on the Bike

If your goal is to make cycling more glute-focused, the key lies in how you ride, not just how long you ride.

Add Resistance: Riding in higher gears or adjusting resistance on a stationary bike forces your glutes to engage more power during each pedal stroke.

Tackle Hills or Intervals: Climbing uphill or doing short bursts of sprints naturally activate the glutes more compared to steady riding.

Use a Standing Position: Getting out of the saddle during climbs or intervals allows your glutes to drive more of the motion.

Focus on Form: Keep your core engaged and push through your heels rather than your toes. This small adjustment helps activate your posterior chain, including the glutes.

Still, it’s worth remembering: even with these tips, cycling alone won’t replace targeted glute exercises. Pairing cycling with strength training—such as hip thrusts, deadlifts, or cable kickbacks—will deliver more noticeable results.

Glute Machine to Build a Rounder Booty from Tousains

Do you want to make your booty rounder? The Tousains Portable Gym Hivegym is all you need. This portable workout machine is designed to target every muscle in your body, including your glutes.

With its versatile accessories, you can perform exercises such as cable kickbacks, cable squats, and single-leg lying hamstring curls. The adjustable resistance allows for progressive overload from 5 kg to 30 kg with a simple tap on the Tousains app. Not sure where to begin? Download the Tousains app and you will get free training courses!

Smaller than the stationary bike, this machine can be stored even in a drawer due to its compact design (15 cm in diameter and 1 kg in weight). Whether you want to build glutes at home or in a hotel, the Tousians portable gym Hivegym will be the best fitness companion!

Conclusion: Does Bike Riding Build Your Glutes?

There’s no doubt that cycling engages your gluteus maximus, but your quads and hamstrings often take the lead. If you want bigger, stronger glutes through cycling, adjust the resistance, combine cycling with proper stretching, glute activation drills, and targeted strength training.

For a more glute-targeted workout machine, the Tousains Portable Gym Hivegym can be an excellent option. The Tousains app provides various free courses to train not only your glutes, but also your shoulders, arms, back, and legs with this machine. Visit the Tousains website and learn more about the features of this machine!