Cycling

simonlac
simonlac Posts: 2
edited January 6 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi, has anybody tried Cycling as a way to burn calories and get fit?

I have just bought a new Mountain Bike and am hoping I can use it, even locally, to help things along.

Trying to loose about 30 kgs so I am no lightweight and I haven't done any cycling for over 20 years.

The seat initially felt very thin and mmmm, interesting lol compared to my Motorbikes over the years so I am hoping it gets better soon on that front. And I'm on day one, done about 1 mile so far!

Just wondered if I would benefit much from doing, say, 1 hour of cruising around the housing estates a day etc.?

Once I get used to it and haven't collapsed from too many years smoking lol, might venture further away?

Any thoughts would be appreciated, thx :)

Simon in Northampton!

Replies

  • paul_draper
    paul_draper Posts: 91 Member
    You can go a long way in an hour on a bike even if you're unfit. If you're just riding locally you'll soon get bored so why not look up some local cycling groups (they're not all racers) and find some longer routes. Try googling Skyride, CTC and British Cycling. Make sure you've got some warm clothes especially gloves.
  • batlou
    batlou Posts: 97 Member
    I am not sure about the UK but here in the US most states have Mountain Biking clubs that have regular get together's. That would be my first thing to check. There are a lot of different ways to interpret going for a bike ride. A joy ride for an hour around the neighborhood would likely not do as much as putting the hammer down and seeing how far you can go in 1 hour. Mountain biking on the trails is great because the hills will provide natural intervals and the reward of a steep fast descent after a puking your way to the top is worth it.
  • daj150
    daj150 Posts: 815 Member
    Well, it sounds like a hybrid would have been better for you if you prefer biking on the road. However, it doesn't really matter in the beginning. I equate cruising on a bike with walking while talking on a cell phone...it's better than nothing, but not really helpful for good progress. As a rule of thumb for starting out, this is a super basic guide to follow:

    1. Start out with 15-30 minute sessions of just getting used to the bike. The seat isn't going to get much comfier, sorry. The purpose of these sessions is to get acclimated with balance and biking mechanics.

    2. Once you are comfortable, try doing 30 minute sessions of intervals. For example, 10 minutes of a slightly challenging pace, following by 5 minutes of furious peddling (or find a really nice long hill to climb), then 10 minutes of a slightly challenging pace, then 5 minutes cool-down.

    3. I highly recommend finding a good road "coarse" where you get a decent mix of flat, uphill, and downhill. Then you just want to vary the intensity,

    If you are using a Heart Rate Monitor, then shoot for 50% or more of your workout in your 60%-75% max heart rate range. For the intense parts, you will climb up to 80%+. However, you mentioned smoking, so you will want to drastically reduce these percents initially. You can build up to these numbers eventually.

    Either way, always record your results and make sure your biking sessions see improvement over time. Mix that with healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle, and positive results will follow.

    Once you venture away, find parks or local trails. Trail biking is AWESOME! Insane workouts too. Enjoy!
  • ejwme
    ejwme Posts: 318
    yes. start off slow - even if your lungs didn't limit you, there's two types of muscles that you'll be using for the first time on a bike: the muscles to make you go, and the muscles to hold you up. The muscles to make you go are mostly the larger muscles on your legs, moving the pedals. These are obvious and improve quickly. The muscles that hold you up on the bike are your core, and finicky little muscles - these (at least on me and my husband) improve more slowly. So what might happen is you're toodling around your neighborhood, going a good pace, and maybe can do like 10 miles without hurting much, but the next day all kinds of weird places hurt, or you've got saddle sores like nobody's business... This is your posture and support muscles lagging behind your legs.

    On the saddle - it takes time to build up the muscles that hold you up to the point that you're not sitting funny, and it takes time to build up callouses to the point that sitting even properly is comfortable for long periods of time, but you can also just have the wrong size/shape saddle, or it can be too low or high or at a funny angle (it's adjustable! I promise!). If you take your bike to your local bike shop (not a big box sports store, but one that specializes in bikes), let them know where you're coming from and what you're doing, they should be able to help you out and make sure your bike is fit properly. This can be intimidating, so you can hold off on this for a while without doing yourself harm. It's just something to keep in mind if you find cycling to be a bigger pain in the butt than you're comfortable with ;)
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