Cycling is one of the most widely enjoyed aerobic exercises around the world. It is a great outdoor activity that you can do on the city streets or nature trails.
Aside from its enjoyment value, does cycling aid in weight loss as well?
In general, running burns more calories than cycling. But it is also a high-impact exercise and puts hard pressure on your muscles and joints, whereas cycling is more soft on your joints.
Cycling helps you to improve your overall health and gives you a good amount of weight loss too.
In addition to weight loss, following are some additional benefits that you will get from cycling:
Cardiovascular health
Cycling is one of the best exercises to improve your cardiovascular health. It helps to strengthen your heart so that it can pump more oxygenated blood to your body. If cycling is your good-to-go aerobic activity, you should limit your cycling to not more than 45-50 minutes a day. Studies suggest that any aerobic activity of more than 5 hours a week could be detrimental to your cardiovascular health.
Building muscles
Cycling can help you to build lower body muscles including the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calves. Pushing pedals while cycling is resistance training that helps to build leg muscles mainly quads and calves. Hence cycling could be a good aerobic exercise to develop muscles.
Burning calories
Cycling is a good calorie-burning workout. It burns a good amount of calories however the number of calories burned depends on the intensity and length of time you do it. Cycling uphill could burn more calories compared to normal cycling. How many calories your body burns also depends on factors like age, gender and weight.
Positive start
Begin your day with a healthy activity like cycling, which helps you boost your circulation, elevates your mood and helps you to make positive choices as the day progresses. Cycling in the morning with an empty stomach will help you in fat loss, enhance endurance performance, and boost your energy and metabolism levels all day.
Conclusion
Cycling is one of the best exercises that you can do in your daily schedule. It is the best way to stay in touch with nature too. Additionally, it is a wonderful way to lose weight enjoyably. Always remember to drive safely, especially when the weather is bad or on busy roads.
