What better way to lose weight that to get out in the fresh air and view your local scenery while working out? Ideal for people of different ages, genders, and levels of fitness, cycling is an excellent workout that helps you improve your health and burn calories. Cycling is both sociable and challenging, making it a comfortable and enjoyable way to exercise. With local authorities opening more bikeways and trails in different towns, more people can ride a bike to lose weight.
Cycling is a very efficient way to trim some pounds. Depending on your exertion levels and weight, you can burn anywhere between 75 and 670 calories in a 30-minute session. One major advantage of cycling is that it does not require any specialized training. Most people already know how to ride bicycles, and as the saying goes, once you learn how to ride a bike, you’ll always remember how to do it. Cycling increases your heart rate, which helps your body burn fat and calories for a trimmer figure. Pedal power is a very low impact sport, making it suitable for people who can’t take part in high impact sports or exercises that have higher injury risks. Furthermore, cycling increases endurance and strength, while exercising the major muscle groups in the legs.
While cycling is very efficient on its own, some tips can help you make the most of your sessions when cycling for weight loss:
Ride on Rough Terrain
Riding a bike on a well-carpeted road does not require a lot of energy. To turn up the burn, spice up your cycling session by riding on rough terrain. You’ll need more energy to cycle on uneven surfaces because there’s more rolling resistance than on smoother surfaces.
Cycle on Hills
Climbing a hill requires more energy than cruising on a flat surface. If you want to lose weight while cycling, it’s important to cycle on trails and bikeways that go over hilly terrain. Hills force you to work harder and to exert more energy, which helps your body burn more calories and fat. To conserve energy, cycle up the hill while seated on your saddle. However, if you want to get a good workout in, alternate between the standing and the sitting positions. Cycling up a hill while standing can help increase heart rate and build upper and core body strength.
Spend Enough Time Cycling
While every minute spent exercising matters, it is important to make your training session a bit longer to get the most benefit from cycling. Remember that to lose weight you need to burn more fat than you consume. In essence, you need to burn about 3,500 calories to get rid of one pound of fat. Cycling for an hour can burn 500 or even 600 calories. These calculations imply that longer workout sessions can be very productive if you wish to lose weight faster, that is, if you do not consume more fat than you are burning. Another practical tip is to have at least one long ride each week. During this time, you can ride for up to three hours to burn as many calories as possible.
Try High-Intensity Interval Training
High-Intensity Interval Training involves a hard cycling session for a set period, followed by a recovery session that is one to three times as long as the hard session. Repeat this several times during a workout session to get the most benefits. For example, cycle hard and fast for about 90 seconds, and rest for five minutes before cycling hard again. You can do this for 20 to 30 minutes. Interval training is hard work, but it helps burn calories and super-charge your fitness. However, it is not advisable to do this every day. You can do interval training once or twice a week, and separate the hard training sessions by at least 48 hours.
Listen to Upbeat Music
Upbeat music can help psyche you up and make you pedal even harder. Doing this can help you burn more calories without feeling like you are doing a lot of work. Scientists call this phenomenon ‘rhythm response’. Studies show that humans have a natural tendency to synchronize their movements to the beats of music. A published study in the Journal of Sports Behavior revealed that individuals who cycled for 12 minutes while listening to upbeat music could go an average of 4.4 miles, compared to only 3.9 miles when cycling in silence.
Conclusion
If you are carrying some extra pounds, cycling is one of the best ways to lose the weight. However, it is important to note that pedaling is what helps you burn calories. Coasting along does not burn any fat. Therefore, try and turn the wheels as much as possible, even when going on a slight decent, and you’ll get a leaner figure in no time.
Author Bio:
I am Robert who is a founder of cyclistchallenge.com. As any true cyclists I love my bike, and like to review bikes is fulfilling to me.When I do not ride, I write reliable and fully independent guides on cycling tips, best place to for rider, how to find the best road bikes available, including mountain, road and hybrid bikes,…Welcome to Cyclist Challenge.