Bionic Legs?

Recently I had the pleasure of lifting my short cycle truck to put in the back of my friends pickup truck. He thought I must have 'thighs-of-iron' to ride such heavy machine. Well it can't weigh more than 70lbs before it is fully loaded.

Someone once told me that there is nothing a person can do on a bicycle to build leg muscle. Well that can't be true. But if your leg muscles are small and you need more power, you need to go to a gym and work out on a leg press several days a week for a few years.

People with longer legs will have more muscle mass than short legs. But everyone can benefit in having more leg muscle. Just think about all those racer jocks taking steroid.

But the most important part about cycling is pedaling_technique. When I put old Biopace cranks on my bike they really helped me develop the technique of sliding my feet through the dead zones; top and bottom of the crank circle and lifting your returning leg helps. But using new muscles really made my legs hurt at first. After getting in the habit of cranking correctly I changed back to regular MTB cranks with as low a gear as possible; I hardly noticed the difference.

But you still may-not have a low enough gear when using 26” drive wheel, so buy a different bike. A 20” drive wheel is like using a much lower gear. I use a 24” drive wheel.

more on pedaling technique

Leg Press

Aerobic Exercise

Regular aerobic exercise can help you live longer and healthier. After all, aerobic exercise reduces health risks, keeps excess pounds at bay, strengthens your heart and boosts your mood. Healthy adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity — or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity — a day.

For many people, walking is a great choice for aerobic exercise. In fact, walking is one of the most natural forms of exercise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartment_syndrome

You get bigger by overworking your muscles, then resting them with adequate protein intake. Nothing to do with fascia. Stretching before or during a workout is not recommended. Stretch after if you must. Stretching certainly will not make you bigger. If I'm lifting correctly, I get plenty of stretch during the exercises. When I ride long distances, I might stretch every 3 hours or so while I'm eating, or I might not. Depends on how I'm feeling.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/901228-Stretching-muscle-Fascia-for-growth

Stretching doesn't increase flexibility in a muscle. Innervating a muscle adds flexibility to a muscle. It's best to do correct weight lifting movements if you want to gain more flexibility in a muscle. The only power to be gained is to be able to utilize more muscle tissue. There is a reflex associated with stretching that some try to utilize while lifting to maximize the contraction, but the point of that is that the body has a natural stop with that reflex response. Too many people think they can get a benefit from no work, and just try to over-extend their joints or tear muscles and tendons and ligaments. It's all unnecessary and doesn't provide real results in a way that makes sense or achieves progressive results on an ongoing basis.

A liquid trainer is the only kind with enough resistance

http://www.investsask.com/

water and muscle pain: 
 http://commutercycling.blogspot.com/2010/05/water.html

 Running bike?
http://www.evolvebikes.com/elliptigo-elliptical-bicycle/

There are a lot of Rowing bikes 
http://rowingbike.com/site/EN/    http://rowingbike.free.fr/

                                   This machine is the best exerciser. 
                                  Deep breathing can work even when
                                       you can't move your muscles. 

https://www.exmed.net/p-3686-hudson-rci-voldyne-5000-incentive-spirometer.aspx