Cycling is one of the best equipment used to burn calories and lose weight. A 145lb woman riding for 1 hour at about 12 MPH will burn about 500 calories, up to a speed of 16 MPH and the calorie burn increases to about 835 calories per hour.
You can burn calories by sprinting during the ride.
Since it takes 3500 calories to burn one pound of fat, cycling at 16 MPH for about 4 hours will burn enough calories to burn about 1 pound of fat.
Cycling is low-impact, so it doesn’t put as much stress on the joints as running.
Cycling indoors on a stationary bike can be done when the weather is bad, with little or no change in your calorie burn.
Personally I find indoor cycling on a stationary bike boring, but some do quite a bit of it and there are now simulation machines that make it feel like you are going on a course rather than riding a bike. Some of these work with a trainer and increase the resistance while climbing hills and offer a variety of courses to keep boredom at bay.
You can use a bicycle to get some work done as well as burn some calories that you would never get a chance to do otherwise. Using a smaller bicycle trailer increases calorie consumption as well as providing more opportunities for tasks as you can carry a lot more and this expands the work you can do.
What I mean by that is that I can haul up to 100 pounds with my trailer. Groceries or appliances or whatever. I’ve taken back a week’s worth of groceries from the supermarket. Pulling a 100-pound load up even a small hill will put a lot of resistance on the pedals and improve your leg strength.
Most people consider cycling to be a purely cardio workout, but this is not always true. Taking the bike up hills, especially with the added weight of a trailer, will definitely increase leg strength and is also a great way to strengthen your core.
If you ride a BMX or mountain bike you’ll also build some upper body strength and you’ll burn a lot more calories than if you just ride.
Depending on the type of cycling you plan to do, some preparation may be required and will depend on the type of bike you want to buy.
You should check with a local shop, they are usually very helpful. Yes, they want to sell you a bike, but most shops realize that they want to please you even more and if they sell you something that doesn’t fit, you won’t be coming back. Since they need your repeat business to stay in business, they will almost always do their best to make the bike you buy the bike you ride.
Here are some general rules, but don’t always hold true because everyone is different.
Buy a road bike if you want to lose weight, get fit, ride with groups and just enjoy the speed and agility of road biking in general. If you do this check with a local bike club or shop about how to join a group and have fun getting a fir. I am a member of the Pecan City Peddlers in Albany Georgia and also have contacts in clubs all over the US. I love road biking.
Buy a comfort bike or hybrid if you’re just interested in fitness and don’t mind riding alone, don’t really care about speed, but just want to burn calories and get fir. These will usually have narrower tires so will go a bit faster. They are a cross between a mountain bike and a road bike.
Buy a mountain bike if you live in an area with lots of back roads that aren’t paved, road bikes and hybrids don’t do as well with loose gravel and grass as mountain bikes.
Cruisers are fine, not my personal preference though. That was the main type of bike that existed when I was a kid. These are the kind of single speed bikes we had in the 50’s and 60’s that were fine for tooling around town, but they can get really rough on hills.
BMX cruiser or 20″ for racing. Racing BMX can be done at any age and after the first few times around the track you will either love it or hate it. Most kids love it, adults not so much. PERSONAL Personally I enjoy and love it. Horse riding and even running with my grandchildren. It gives a great workout and after 3 motos (1 race) I feel I have made a good Have exercised
If you want to try BMX, rent or borrow a bike, most tracks keep them on track and will rent or loan them for practice races. Once you try it you have to decide for yourself whether it is for you or not. BMX racing isn’t for everyone, but everyone is welcome to try it. I think it’s great fun, but maybe when I’m old (I’m only 57) I’ll think differently.
