Biking to school as cardio..?

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stephnsuarez
stephnsuarez Posts: 68 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi guys! Alright so I am EXTREMELY busy because it is my last year as an undergrad. And no I'm not making excuses! I've been doing 30-45 minutes of toning dvd's when I wake up, but by the time I'm done I need to shower and get to class! I bike 30 minutes to campus, then throughout the day while on campus about another 20-30 minutes over a course of about 8 hours, then another 30 minutes home. This is 5 days a week. Do you think this is a sufficient amount of cardio? I'm not looking for quick weightloss; too busy to want a quick fix! I'm just askin' if you all think I will lose about 1-2 lbs a week with this method? I just started this Monday!

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  • Panda_Jack
    Panda_Jack Posts: 829 Member
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    Yep.
  • nicothepotato
    nicothepotato Posts: 306 Member
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    I bike to work and count it as my cardio.
  • ruledbyreason
    ruledbyreason Posts: 6
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    That's my main source of cardio, I have a 4 mile round trip to and from school plus whatever side trips I take. I ride pretty hard but even going at a moderate pace it's still great exercise, and you get amazingly toned legs.
  • stephnsuarez
    stephnsuarez Posts: 68 Member
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    Awesome! Thanks all! My roommate said she doesn't think it's intense enough to count as cardio, but christ it really is!
  • overzoelous
    overzoelous Posts: 161 Member
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    You will automatically lose 2 lbs a week if you eat your daily calorie allotment. To answer your main question: yes, that's plenty of cardio a week.
  • Bankman1989
    Bankman1989 Posts: 1,116 Member
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    That's a lot of cardio! I do a lot of cycling so doing 1.5 hours a day 5 days a week is awesome!
  • hschuette01
    hschuette01 Posts: 17
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    Biking is on the list. You bet it's cardio!
  • jamieannmcgee
    jamieannmcgee Posts: 18
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    if you have a smart phone (or a watch) that has a stopwatch just start it when you leave, stop it when you get there and start it back up every time you do it. then log exactly how long you did it for each day. itll give you a specific time for each one. then youll be able to see just how many calories youre burning. and in your log itll tell you if you keep it up how much weight youll lose each week. but that definitely sounds like its sufficient enough for cardio to lose weight gradually.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    It can be cardio exercise--it can also be more basic locomotion. Depends on how you ride. If you want a ride (not necessarily all them) to have the effects of a cardio workout, it's best to ride it like a cardio workout.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    You will automatically lose 2 lbs a week if you eat your daily calorie allotment. To answer your main question: yes, that's plenty of cardio a week.

    Bit of a generalisation there I think. But what I think you meant was that if you reach the calorie goal set (through diet and/or exercise) then you will lose weight. 2lbs is the goal, weight loss is not linear.

    To answer OP's question, I believe it does depend on intensity. I only ride 5 mins to work and since it's cool at the moment, I treat this as a sprint. First minute is a warm up at cruising speed and then I just smash it as hard and fast as I can to work from there. Always huffing and puffing as I walk in the door :tongue:

    I see plenty of people on bikes just cruising along in the easy gears and doing this is not going to burn anywhere near as many cals as going quick (however they may have a much further distance to go?).
  • rococo11
    rococo11 Posts: 49 Member
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    I've biked to work all summer a 50-60 minute round trip 4 times a week. I've lost about 15 lbs using that as more than half my cardio so as long as you're eating right you should do great. Its amazing how good it makes your legs look especially if you change the gears to a higher resistance as you start adapting. Have fun, I'll miss it once school starts

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