What kind of exercise is biking considered

Even if you decide to bike in areas you usually drive by, you might be surprised by what you notice and appreciate being outside taking it all in. Biking may have been your means of freedom in those earlier years, but it might have also given way to the newfound independence of driving a car as a teenager.

Enjoy the outdoors like a kid again and hop on a bike. For access to exclusive gear videos, celebrity interviews, and more, subscribe on YouTube! More Videos. Account My Account Sign Out. Cycling is mainly an aerobic activity, which means that your heart, blood vessels and lungs all get a workout. You will breathe deeper, perspire and experience increased body temperature, which will improve your overall fitness level. Cycling can improve both physical and mental health, and can reduce the chances of experiencing many health problems.

Cycling is a good way to control or reduce weight, as it raises your metabolic rate, builds muscle and burns body fat. Cycling is a comfortable form of exercise and you can change the time and intensity — it can be built up slowly and varied to suit you. Research suggests you should be burning at least 8, kilojoules about 2, calories a week through exercise.

Steady cycling burns about 1, kilojoules about calories per hour. If you cycle twice a day, the kilojoules burnt soon add up. British research shows that a half-hour bike ride every day will burn nearly five kilograms of fat over a year. Cardiovascular diseases include stroke, high blood pressure and heart attack. Regular cycling stimulates and improves your heart, lungs and circulation, reducing your risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Cycling strengthens your heart muscles, lowers resting pulse and reduces blood fat levels. Research also shows that people who cycle to work have two to three times less exposure to pollution than car commuters, so their lung function is improved.

A Danish study conducted over 14 years with 30, people aged 20 to 93 years found that regular cycling protected people from heart disease. Many researchers have studied the relationship between exercise and cancer, especially colon and breast cancer. Research has shown that if you cycle, the chance of bowel cancer is reduced. Some evidence suggests that regular cycling reduces the risk of breast cancer. The rate of type 2 diabetes is increasing and is a serious public health concern.

Lack of physical activity is thought to be a major reason why people develop this condition. Large-scale research in Finland found that people who cycled for more than 30 minutes per day had a 40 per cent lower risk of developing diabetes. Cycling improves strength, balance and coordination. It may also help to prevent falls and fractures. Riding a bike is an ideal form of exercise if you have osteoarthritis, because it is a low-impact exercise that places little stress on joints.

Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Traci Copeland is a fitness trainer based in New York. Beyond all of that, biking can also be a great workout with benefits beyond getting your heart pumping. We asked the experts how bicycling benefits the body, what muscle groups it works, and how to decide what type of cycling is right for you and how frequently you should do it.

Meet the Expert. Biking can also help get you stronger without overly taxing your joints. And if you or your body are not a fan of higher impact cardio like running or jumping exercises such as burpees, biking is an effective alternative. As you may suspect, biking requires a lot of lower body work. Different parts of your legs are activated throughout each pedal stroke.

There are a number of levers you can pull to level up or level down any bike ride. Everest in one day. For example, according to Harvard Health Publishing , a pound person can burn calories in 30 minutes riding a stationary bike at a moderate pace, and calories in 30 minutes riding a bike at mph.

There are no hard and fast rules on how long and often you should ride a bike, as it depends on individual fitness levels, goals, and more. Consistency with any exercise, including biking, is the key to results. Beldini says if you cycled times a week and did strength or cross-training on the other days, you would likely see improvements in strength, VO2 max the highest rate of oxygen consumption attainable during maximal exercise , cardio function, balance, coordination, and core stability.

Listen to your body and ride at your own pace. Indoor biking can provide more control for a beginner rider, allowing someone to feel more comfortable and safe standing on the pedals or balancing on the bike, says Beldini. And then, of course, you have more control of your environment, including whatever throwback playlist you feel like listening and singing along to.