Bycling/Biking Questions

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Brady_
Brady_ Posts: 108 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I had a nother post tonight about not being able to go on long runs and do fitness dvd's (Jillian michaels) at the same time because soreness and stuff, but then after i posted i thought, well what about going on a bike ride? it certainly wouldnt beat my love for running, but it seems less challenging fitness wise.

I haven't really rode a bike for a workout well, ever. I was wondering, is it really THAT good of a workout? say I went on an hour bike ride around my town.. speedier than a leisure pase but not mega speedy triathalon speedy, i just dont see how i would burn THAT many calories, same goes for rollerblading. especially when you go down hills and stuff, you end up "riding/gliding" more than actually working out.

Does anyone bike as their many workout and see good results? what kind of calories do you burn?

Replies

  • caterpillardreams
    caterpillardreams Posts: 476 Member
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    Yes Biking is a good workout. I used to do cross country and track. One summer I had to ride my bike all over town to work and back. When I went back in the fall for cross country season, ( I had not ran at all in the summer), I was running better than I had before. My coach even commented on my performance.
    I can not wait till I can bike for a long time again. Still have a newborn who needs me evey hour to hour and a half.
    Good luck

    And yes make sure you are actually working at it, put some resistance into it, you can always make it tougher by doing hills, standing up if you can, and shifting your gears higher.
  • pauljsolie
    pauljsolie Posts: 1,024 Member
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    Looking back at my bicycling sessions, it looks like I burn about 10 calories per minute. I don't usually sweat while biking but I do get a good burn going in the legs. Outdoor bicycling can be better than stationary bikes because all the muscles you use to maintain your balance. It's wierd cuz I never feel like I burn that much while bicycling but my HRM says otherwise. Good luck to you.
  • twistygirl
    twistygirl Posts: 517 Member
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    I love my bike it burns more calories than walking, and real bikers peddle going down hill we don't coast we peddle non stop.
  • jbug100
    jbug100 Posts: 406 Member
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    It depends on where you ride. Around where I live in MA, it's a good workout with lots of hills. I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago and went for a ride (totally flat) barely broke a sweat. The stationary bike is great because you can create hills for yourself. Nothin beats being outside though.
  • RunRideRay
    RunRideRay Posts: 1,536 Member
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    If weight loss is the goal....

    The main point: nothing beats diet, it is the single most important factor

    In terms of sorting out what exercise is best for weight loss, my ranking of them [and I have done many]

    1) Running, but it is a lot more effort
    2) Cycling, but it has to be pedaling 80% of the time
    3) Swimming, it is great exercise... but I just never seemed to loose that much weight

    Adding some strength training to any or all of the above will dramatically accelerate results.
  • significance
    significance Posts: 436 Member
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    I bicycle as my main exercise and it is working for me. I've never been into running - always found it much too hard on the breath. But since I've increased my cycling from 20km/day at 21kph, 4 days a week, to 24km/day at the same pace, 7 days a week, I've found that the occasional half hour jog has suddenly become quite pleasant - so it certainly is improving my cardio fitness as well as burning calories. (Though if I trust my HRM, it only burns half to two-thirds the calories that MFP thinks it should, it certainly beats walking).

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