Fitness & Nutrition For Cycling

Cycling is a cardio activity that provides an effective way to lose weight and improve your overall cardiovascular health. Because it is non-weight bearing, it is a good choice for those with knee issues, especially when you use the recumbent bike models. Cycling places great demands on your body, so it is important that you support your workouts with proper nutrition and added physical activity to help you avoid injury and muscle strain.

Adequate Calorie Intake

Cycling as a cardio workout burns a significant amount of calories. At a leisurely pace riding less than 12 mph, a 150-pound person will burn 270 calories an hour. Now, if you increase your intensity to ride 14 to 16 mph, the calorie burn goes up to 720 calories an hour for a 150-pound person. You must therefore, take in adequate calories, specifically carbohydrates, in order to fuel that activity. According to the National Academies' Institute of Medicine, you should be getting 45 to 65 percent of your caloric intake from carbohydrates.

Stretching

As part of your overall good fitness, you will need to stretch preferably every day in order to avoid tightness in your hips and the fronts of your thighs. The standing quad stretch, for example, will help limber up your quadriceps so that you can approach your cycling workouts with greater flexibility. Stretching will also help prevent knee and back pain.

Weightlifting

Weightlifting will help support your cycling workouts and increase your performance. It will also help maintain the strength you have created through this high-intensity exercise, especially important during the times of the year when you cannot be outside cycling. Bicycling.com recommends a gym workout that will focus on your entire body with exercises such as the leg press, which targets your quads, glutes and hamstrings.

Abdominal Exercises

Abdominal exercises will improve your balance and coordination in cycling as well as all of your activities. You have several options to allow you to target your deep abdominal muscles for improved performance. You can use a stability ball or medicine ball to isolate and target these muscles at the end of your workout.

Maintaining Blood Sugar Levels

As you bike, your body burns glycogen reserves from your muscles. Glycogen is the stored form of sugar. When you weightlift, you increase your body's ability to store glycogen, giving you extra reserves when you challenge your body with cardio. You can also maintain your blood sugar levels by supplementing your stored glycogen and the sugar in your blood with sport drinks. The natural products company MotherNature.com recommends drinks that contain sucrose, glucose, or glucose polymers rather than fructose for the greatest benefit.