Brief advice from Bike&Ride, a professional bike service in Portugal.
Cycling is a great way to improve your health and strengthen your body. A regular bike ride can be a suitable replacement for any workouts in the gym or fitness clubs. At the same time, compared to the latter, it will be much less exhausting.
What exactly is the benefit of cycling? This will be discussed in detail below. This article will also discuss the possible harm of cycling.
Using a Bicycle
A bicycle is one of the few vehicles invented to date that helps people get from one point to another faster and improves their health.
In terms of efficiency, cycling is in no way inferior to running. If you move fast enough, you can burn up to 1000 calories per hour. Such a ride positively affects all muscle groups, including the one responsible for blood circulation, that is, the heart.
Many famous people living both in our country and abroad actively promote a healthy lifestyle by using bicycles as their main means of transportation instead of luxury cars. They get to their place of work on them and also use them when necessary to go somewhere else.
Less famous people follow their example: ordinary teachers, office workers, etc. That is why the environmental situation in those countries where many have switched to bicycles has significantly improved: exhaust emissions into the atmosphere have decreased. Consequently, people’s health has also improved.
Currently, cycling is being actively introduced in our country – unique paths for cycling are being created.
Benefit
If you devote at least a small part of your daily cycling, tangible results can be seen in just a few weeks. And if you continue to ride only a bicycle, your health will improve daily.
1. Strengthening Muscles
Cycling is most beneficial for the leg muscles. After all, the legs are involved in pedaling. The muscles that bend and unbend the knee joints will strengthen after each bike ride.
However, cycling has a positive effect not only on the leg muscles. After all, during the ride, you have to not only pedal but also hold the steering wheel. Therefore, this activity is also beneficial for the arm muscles. In addition, the back muscles and the press are also strengthened.
2. Weight Loss
It is no secret that cycling helps burn calories. The body can burn several hundred calories in just one hour of cycling. The exact figure depends on various factors such as riding speed, physiological individual characteristics of a person, bike model, road relief, etc.
Many people start cycling regularly precisely to get rid of unnecessary weight. Moreover, you do not need to do any special exercises to lose weight – just ride, and the body will begin to lose weight day after day. So, if you continue training for 30 days, your body will become lighter by about 3-5 kg. Few other ways to lose weight can compare with cycling in terms of effectiveness.
3. Getting Rid of Cellulite
Many women use bicycles to get rid of cellulite. During the ride, calories are actively burned, and blood circulation improves.
4. Increasing Endurance
Cycling makes the body more resilient. In general, any load on the body increases endurance. So, riding this two-wheeled vehicle is no exception.
5. Improving Breathing
If you breathe correctly while riding, your respiratory ability will improve overall after a while.
The main rule of breathing during physical activity is that air should enter through the nose and exit through the mouth.
6. Improved Blood Circulation
Since active cycling has a beneficial effect on the heart muscle, the circulatory system as a whole also improves significantly. After all, if the heart works well, then the blood circulates better, which means that each organ is saturated with oxygen, which is necessary for normal functioning. So, riding is useful for the whole body.
7. Stabilization of the Emotional and Psychological Background
A bicycle ride brings a lot of positive emotions to a person. Rapidly changing landscapes, new places, and high speed contribute to improving mood. And if a person is not alone on a bike ride, then friendly, pleasant communication also plays a positive role.
In general, during cycling, many hormones of joy are released in the body. In addition, adrenaline is produced, which gives vigor.
8. Improved Vision
Regular cycling trips will also be helpful for those who have vision problems. According to experts, the problem can be solved entirely it won’t work with your eyes, but there will still be some positive results.
A bike ride after spending a long time in front of a computer screen is very beneficial for your eyes. It will help you relax and eliminate dryness and discomfort.
Possible Harm
A bike ride can bring many benefits to your body. Everything that was listed above is far from a complete list. However, like any other activity that puts a particular strain on your body, cycling can sometimes lead to serious negative consequences. To avoid this, you must, first of all, be more careful.
Injuries
Although cyclists’ average speed is not that high, at about 10-20 km/h, this will already be enough to cause serious injury in the event of an accidental fall or collision with an unwanted object.
Falls especially often occur when pressing sharply on the brake handle. In addition, injuries can occur without falling. This should be remembered, first of all, by beginners who have not previously ridden a bicycle and suddenly began to devote a lot of time to this activity. In this case, the load on the body will be enormous, and soft tissues may be damaged.
Contraindications
Even though cycling can have a positive effect on the heart, it is still contraindicated for those who suffer from cardiovascular diseases.
In particular, you cannot ride a bicycle after a recent stroke or heart attack. And those who suffer from high blood pressure should, first of all, consult a doctor.
Pregnant women should be prudent when riding a bicycle. After all, one slightest wrong movement, especially at high speed, can lead to a fall.
Riding a bicycle is not recommended for people with a curved spine and intervertebral hernia.
Conclusion
A bicycle is a cheap but very useful and convenient form of transport. It can also significantly improve one’s health.
Fulfilling simple requirements before the trip is enough to get the most benefits from riding without worrying about possible negative consequences: take a first aid kit just in case, stock up on water, and dress lightly but warmly enough. It would also be a good idea to consult a doctor.
