10 benefits of cycling.
Why cycling is good for weight loss, fitness, your health and your mind

AllieDen - Dec 2020

Cycling has had something of a resurgence lately, and with good reason. More and more people are using bicycles for their commute to work, joining cycling clubs, or going cycling with their friends and family at the weekend. If you're wondering whether you should get on board and buy a bicycle for yourself, the answer is a resounding "yes". We're going to tell you 10 benefits of cycling for your mind and your body that will show you that you really should be getting on your bike!

1) Cycling improves your heart and lung health

Cycling increases your VO2max. This is a measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen your lungs can take in and can show you how well your heart and respiratory system is functioning. The higher the VO2max, the better, and cycling has been shown to increase.

2) Cycling improves your overall fitness

Your VO2max can also be used as a measurement of your overall fitness. When athletes are training they use this value to determine how high their fitness level is. In professional cyclists, their VO2 max can get as high as 80 in men and 70 in women. Cycling can also be a mixture of aerobic exercise (exercise that uses oxygen) and anaerobic exercise (exercise that uses glucose), depending on the type of cycling you are doing at that moment  This makes it an excellent way of improving your all-round fitness.

3) Cycling reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease

Because cycling can be an aerobic exercise, it can improve your heart function, make your muscles more efficient at getting oxygen from your blood, and reduce your cholesterol.

All of these will help to reduce your risk of getting cardiovascular disease and improve your quality of life.

4) Cycling helps you to lose weight

Losing body fat can be difficult for many people. It is one of those things that seem quite simple on paper but in practice can be a lot harder. When it boils down to it, losing weight comes from burning off more calories than you take in.

You are always burning calories, even when you are sitting and doing nothing. This is known as your resting metabolic rate. You can also burn more calories by doing literally anything other than sitting still, including doing the housework or fidgeting.

Of course, taking part in more intense exercise will help you to burn more calories, and cycling is a form of exercise that will help you to burn a high number of calories in a short space of time. Thirty minutes of moderately intense cycling can burn 240-355 calories, depending on your body composition. Not only that, but cycling will also help to increase your resting metabolic rate. This will mean that you will burn more calories, even when you're sitting on the sofa!

5) Cycling can help support your joints

Some forms of exercise, such as jogging, can be damaging on your joints. If you are older or if you suffer from painful joints, this can make exercise more difficult to take part in. Because your body weight is taken off your legs when you are cycling, it places less strain on your joints, making cycling a more accessible exercise for many people.

6) Cycling helps tone your legs

If you've always wanted more definition in your legs, or if you want your legs to be stronger, then cycling is the sport for you. Peddling can help build up your glutes, quads, calves, hamstrings, and flexor muscles. If you cycle regularly, it won't take you long to notice the difference in your leg strength and definition!

7) Cycling also helps strengthen your core

The effect that cycling can have on your legs seems obvious, but what a lot of people don't realize is that cycling also helps to strengthen your core. While you are cycling, you are constantly balancing and holding yourself in the correct position, and this works your core muscles.

And, as a bonus, it will also improve your arm and shoulder strength as well. Cycling really is an all-over-body exercise!

8) Cycling improves your balance, posture, and coordination

Because of this constant balancing, cycling can also help to improve your posture, your balance, and your coordination. This won't just mean that you will be able to walk through life with your head held high, it will also reduce your chance of having a fall, and potentially fracturing something.

9) Cycling can help you make friends

Cycling can often be a social activity. Joining a cycling club can help you to make new friends, but you don't have to join an official club to be able to enjoy the social benefits of cycling.

You will find that you will probably run into the same people on your usual routes, and it will help you to start conversations with other people who have similar interests.

Social interaction isn't just good fun, it can also help maintain your brain health. Regular interaction can lower the risk of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety and can help to reduce your chances of developing dementia. 

(https://www.mercycare.org/bhs/services-programs/eap/resources/health-benefits-of-social-interaction/#:~:text=Benefits%20of%20Socialization%3A,let%20them%20confide%20in%20you).

10) Cycling can make you happier

Cycling is an outdoor exercise, and exercising outdoors can go along way to increasing your wellbeing. Cycling outside can help increase your energy, improve your positivity, make you feel revitalised, and reduce tension, confusion, anger, and depression.Basically, if you go out for a ride, you will come back happier! There is a reason why 18% of daily bike riders are happier with life!

So there you have it: 10 reasons why cycling is good for you, and it really is good for you! Cycling can help improve your physical health, increase your fitness, reduce your risk of all sorts of diseases, help you lose weight, and improve your mental health and wellbeing (as well as helping to save the environment!). There has never been a better time to get involved in cycling. More and more places are becoming bicycle-friendly, and more and more people are starting to cycle.

Don't get left behind! Pick yourself up a bicycle and start enjoying all of the benefits of cycling right away.

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