Fitness, Fun, and the Open Road

Who doesn’t love the open road? When it comes to fitness and cycling, there is nothing out there to compare. While many exercises, fitness activities and sports can boost your mood, cycling releases adrenaline and endorphins helping people achieve a partnership through sports with others who share the same love for the open road. Many people who suffered from depression or the anxiety of being surrounded by four walls all day long, found a release in cycling and its adventures. Sometimes it is better to avoid the gym and instead visit the outdoors for some hiking, jogging, and even cycling.

HEALTH ASPECTS OF CYCLING

Cycling is one of the best fitness workouts because let’s face it, almost everybody can do it. How many of you have a bicycle for Christmas and spend hours outdoors riding the streets of your town, from sunrise to sunset? But did you know cycling strengthens the immune system? In a 1000-person study at the Appalachian State University, doctors found that cycling improves the upper respiratory system and reduces the risk of a common cold. People who rode their bikes daily were 40% less likely to catch the flu. Cycling increases the proteins that nourish white blood cells. People who ride their bikes are less likely to catch viruses than the ones who use common methods of transportation. Because you usually bike alone, the chance of catching a virus from another individual is slim to nil.

WEIGHT LOSS

On the weight loss field, people who ride their bicycles burn anywhere between 400 and 1000 calories per hour, making cycling an amazing workout to lose weight and belly fat. As you lose calories, you also improve the quality of sleep. People who incorporate cycling in their daily fitness routine, have increased their oxygen intake. Especially since cycling is a great outdoor activity. There is a relation between oxygen intake and sleep. The more oxygen you take, the better and longer you sleep at night.

RIDDING, FITNESS AND YOUR BODY

While you ride your bike, you exercise your leg muscles. Cycling not only burns fat but also works your gluts, hamstrings, quads, and calves. As you work these muscles, you also burn the fat around them, strengthening only the muscles. Cyclists are famous for their lung capacity. While you are riding your bike, you inhale more oxygen than people who jog or engage in other activities. Even when you ride your bike through traffic. A study in London found out that cyclist’s inhale five times less pollution than drivers, three times less pollution than the average walker, and two times less pollution than the average bus user. Bike riding is a great fitness workout for abs, shoulders, the lower back, as well as all the leg muscles.

THE EFFECTS OF FITNESS ON THE HEART

Riding your bicycle is an amazing cardio workout because it raises the heart rate and gets the blood flowing through the whole body at a faster pace. It is one of the best exercises to engage in if you want to lower your risk for heart disease or cancer. At the University of Glasgow, scientists who study fitness, found that cyclists cut the risk of developing heart disease or cancer by half. Cycling is a low-impact way to exercise. While the injury rate of running is high due to its weight-bearing quality, cycling is not a weight-bearing sport, decreasing the risk of injury. A recent study found that runners suffered 130% more muscle damage and 250% more inflammation than cyclists.

CYCLING AND MOTOR SKILLS

One of the few fitness routines that improve your navigational skills, riding the bicycle teaches you how to find your bearing when you travel through a town or city. While going to work, shopping, or exercising, cycling teaches you how to get oriented and use your city landmarks to find your way to where you need to get to. Riding the bike improves the coordination needed for other activities like driving or operating machinery. Peddling isn’t only about raising our heart rate, it’s also about moving our bodies while we climb or descend. In both instances, we use our core muscles and improve equilibrium. People who suffer from balance deprivation due to accidents or old age see a major improvement in equilibrium after riding their bikes for a short period.

CYCLING AND SLEEP

Many people find that they can sleep better during the night after a bike ride. Fitness researchers discovered, while studying people over the age of 20, that people who enjoy a daily bike ride slept better during the night, woke up rested, and slept throughout the night. Also, people who engaged in cycling lost weight and stressed less, which overall improved the quality of their sleep.

CYCLING & THE BRAIN

Riding your bicycle also increases brainpower. Studies show that elderly people who ride their bikes are less vulnerable to dementia. A 2013 study found that cyclists can increase the blood flow to their brain from 28% to 70%. In some cases, hours after cycling their blood flow remains well above the 40% mark.

Cycling is about having fun, and while you are having fun why not benefit from it. Cycling is a wonderful fitness activity. Riding a bike is about sharing a few moments with your loved ones in the outdoors, by the beach, or on a country road. Just you, the people you love, the wind in your hair, and the tranquility of the world that surrounds you. Because after all cycling is all about fitness, fun and the open road