Cycling is a wonderful way to get in shape and stay in shape. It can be effective for any age level and fitness level. Cycling can also be done indoors and out. It is one of the best activities for exercise.
Benefits of Cycling
Cycling is a great way to exercise your cardiovascular system. Meaning, you will use and strengthen your heart, lungs, and blood vessels. This will in turn decrease your heart rate, decrease blood pressure, and cholesterol. Cycling is primarily considered a non-weight-bearing exercise. This has both pros and cons. The advantage is that it might be more comfortable for your joints, especially for those suffering from joint conditions. The negative is that it is harder to elevate your heart rate because you will be using less muscle than with weight-bearing exercises.
Cycling for Fitness
Because is is non-weight-bearing and therefore easy on your joints, cycling can be done regularly, even daily, without risk of injury. This cannot be said for walking, jogging or running. And, feel free to stay on your bike as long as you’s like, or as long as your bottom can handle it. I’d also recommend mixing up the intensity to get maximum results. Meaning, sometimes go out for long, easy rides to enjoy the outdoors. But, at least twice per week I recommend throwing in some faster, shorter, more intense rides. These will boost your metabolism for greater fat burning.
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Indoor VS Outdoor Cycling
Like all activities for exercise, each has its pros and cons. Indoor cycling is great when the weather is challenging of if you prefer to exercise while watching TV. It’s a great way to stay fit during the winter if you are an outdoor cyclist. It also has the advantage of maintaining a steady heart rate that can sometimes be hard outdoors with the inherent stops ans starts. The con to indoor cycling for many is the boredom of being indoors instead of enjoying the beauty of nature. Another option for indoor cycling is spinning.
For more information, I recommend Training4Cyclists It has a lot of resources beyond the scope of this article.