Health Benefits of Cycling
Doctors recommend a weekly routine of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of high intensity exercise each week in order to maximize your health and wellness. Cycling is an excellent way to support your physical and mental fitness, helping you to burn fat, build muscle, and boost endurance. Let’s review the health benefits of cycling and provide three workouts for each level of experience.
Why Should You Start Cycling?
First, let’s discuss why cycling is so beneficial. Whether you’re going for a casual ride around the block or you’re tackling a tough hill, cycling is an excellent way to burn calories, achieve your target heart rate, and support overall cardiovascular health. It’s not just good for your body; it’s also great for your wallet and the environment.
Cycling and Physical Health
Weight Management: As long as you’re moving and burning calories, you are supporting a healthy weight loss, but cycling has been shown to be an excellent way to promote fat loss. A study published in the International Journal of Obesity demonstrated that those people who rode a bike to work and during their leisure time lost as much weight as those exercising in the gym. The catch? The greater the intensity, the more weight they lost.
Cardiovascular Health: Studies published in the British Medical Journal demonstrated that cycling as a part of your daily commute to work can significantly reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and overall mortality.
Anti-Aging Benefits: We have our actual age and our biological age, or the age our body thinks it is. Telomeres are an essential part of human cells that affect how our body ages. The longer and stronger the telomere, the better your body’s health. When telomere’s break down, so does our body. A study published in Preventative Medicine shows that cycling can help to lengthen and strengthen our telomeres well into old age, suggesting it has substantial anti-aging benefits.
If you have any of the following conditions, it will be important to contact your doctor before beginning a cycling program:
- Cardiovascular issues (e.g., heart problems, high cholesterol, etc)
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Chest pains
- Major surgery
- Acute illness
- History of smoking
Mental Health
Mind-to-Muscle: Cycling has been shown to help the body improve its brain-to-muscle connectivity. A study published in Schizophrenia Bulletin showed that schizophrenic subjects had better brain connectivity as well as more white matter in their brains after completing a cycling program for six months. This has huge implications as a natural method of treatment for mental distress.
Brain Booster: There is an essential compound called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) that protects neurons, boosts brain cell growth, and supports the learning and memory-formation process. The more we have, the better. Cycling has been shown in a study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports to elevate levels of BDNF in the brain.
Alleviates Depression and Anxiety: Multiple studies have been released showing the correlation between leisure-based physical activity, with an emphasis on bike riding, and the alleviation of mental distress. Studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and Behaviour Research and Therapy demonstrate that taking up physical activities such as cycling can dramatically reduce the symptoms associated with depression and anxiety. Just like with weight loss, the higher the intensity, the better the results.
Economic and Environmental
Saves You Money: According to several news sources such as Washington Today, it is estimated that cyclists save an average of $8 per day when biking to work. If you work the traditional five-day work week, that’s a savings of over $2,000 per year!
Good for the Environment: Cycling to work or in place of a trip to the gym allows you to do your part in cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions, which have been linked to promoting climate change. According to the Australian Department of Transport, biking six miles per work day will reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by over 3,000 pounds per year.
Helps the Country: According to Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, the United States could cut its dependence on foreign oil by encouraging drivers to cycle more. Approximately 462 million gallons of gasoline could be saved each year if people simply spent 1.5% of their time cycling. That’s it!
Cycling for Fitness
If your focus is to achieve specific health and fitness goals, cycling is a great way to do it. As mentioned above, it has been shown to promote weight management, improve cardiovascular health, and lower your risk for disease. Let’s jump into several fitness goals and the proper way to cycle in order to achieve the best results.
Cardiovascular Health
If you want to improve your cardiovascular health, you must first figure out what your maximum heart rate is. This is the maximum number of heartbeats per minute. An approximate yet reliable way to calculate your maximum heart rate is to take the number 220 and deduct your age.
For example:
- 18 years old
- 220 – 18
- Maximum heart rate is 202 beats per minute
From your maximum heart rate, you can calculate your target heart rate; or the number of beats per minute you should be striving for during your workouts. If you want to improve your cardiovascular health, depending on your ability, you want to strive between 50% and 85% of your maximum heart rate.
For example:
- The same 18-year old from above wants to improve his cardiovascular health and trains at 70% his maximum heart rate
- 70% of 202 is 141 beats
- In general, the 18-year old will aim for 140 to 150 bpm
Burning Fat
To trigger the highest level of fat burning, you’ll want to ride between 50% and 60% of your maximum heart rate.
Building Muscle
To focus on building muscle in the legs, you’ll want to use a higher resistance setting on the bike and switch between higher and lower intensity. For example, 10-second sprints followed by a minute of leisurely riding.
Improving Endurance
To improve your endurance, you can switch between high and low intensity but do so at a lower resistance setting.
Cycling Workouts
If you have your bike and you’re ready to hit the path, you can use one of these cycling workouts to help you achieve the goals mentioned above. Select the workout that best fits your ability. Download the full workout here.
Beginner Level
MONDAY:
- 10-minute warm-up
- 10 repetitions of 30 seconds at 100 RPMs (revolutions per minute)
- 1-minute recovery time between sets
- Cool down for 5 minutes after the last repetition
TUESDAY:
- 30-minute easy ride
- Cadence between 85-92 RPMs
WEDNESDAY:
- 15-minute warm-up
- 4 sets of 4 minutes at 55-65 RPMs
- Recovery is 3 minutes – Easy riding between sets
- 5-minute cooldown
THURSDAY:
- 30-minute easy ride
- Cadence between 85-92 RPMs
FRIDAY:
- Cardio: Walk, hike, or swim
SATURDAY:
- Warm-up for 10 minutes
- Alternate between 20 to 60 seconds with single-leg pedaling for a total of 5 minutes
- Quick tip: Eliminate dead spot at the top of stroke by pushing toes forward in shoes at top
- Cooldown: 10 minutes
SUNDAY:
- Leisurely ride for 45 to 75
- Enjoy the day
Intermediate Level
MONDAY:
- 10-minute warm-up
- 15 repetitions of 30 seconds at 100 RPMs
- 1-minute recovery time between sets
- Cool down for 5 minutes after the last repetition
TUESDAY:
- 40-minute easy ride
- Cadence between 85-92 RPMs
WEDNESDAY:
- 15-minute warm-up
- 4 sets of 5 minutes at 55-65 RPMs
- Recovery is 3 minutes – Easy riding between sets
- 5-minute cooldown
THURSDAY:
- 40-minute easy ride
- Cadence between 85-92 RPMs
FRIDAY:
- Cardio: Walk, hike, or swim
SATURDAY:
- Warm-up for 10 minutes
- Alternate between 30 to 60 seconds with single-leg pedaling for a total of 5 minutes
- Quick tip: Eliminate dead spot at the top of stroke by pushing toes forward in shoes at top
- Cooldown: 10 minutes
SUNDAY:
- Leisurely ride for 55 to 75 minutes
- Enjoy the day
Advanced Level
MONDAY:
- 10-minute warm-up
- 12 repetitions of 45 seconds at 105 RPMs
- 1-minute recovery time between sets
- Cool down for 5 minutes after the last repetition
TUESDAY:
- 45-minute easy ride
- Cadence between 85-92 RPMs
WEDNESDAY:
- 15-minute warm-up
- 4 sets of 7 minutes at 55-65 RPMs
- Recovery is 3 minutes – Easy riding between sets
- 5-minute cooldown
THURSDAY:
- 45-minute easy ride
- Cadence between 85-92 RPMs
FRIDAY:
- Cardio: Walk, hike, or swim
SATURDAY:
- Warm-up for 10 minutes
- Alternate between 50 to 75 seconds with single-leg pedaling for a total of 7 minutes
- Quick tip: Eliminate dead spot at the top of stroke by pushing toes forward in shoes at top
- Cooldown: 10 minutes
SUNDAY:
- Leisurely ride for 70 to 85 minutes
- Enjoy the day
