Cycling Training Plans For Weight Loss & Endurance

Cycling provides an effective way to improve cardiovascular and muscular endurance, as well as lose weight. A well-designed training plan varies the intensity and duration of exercise intervals to promote a variety of positive adaptations. Weight loss is a result of burning calories, and several factors influence the number of calories burned during cycling. Consult your physician before undergoing any exercise program.

Burning Calories

To achieve weight loss, you must create a negative energy balance, which simply means expending more calories cycling than you consume through food. Cyclists are categorized as "active adults," and the National Strength and Conditioning Association recommends not consuming less than 1,800 calories per day and limiting calorie restriction to a negative energy balance of just 100 to 200 calories per day to promote healthy weight loss.

Burning Fat

A negative energy balance of 3,500 calories will result in a 1- to 2-lb. loss in body fat, according to the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Using the Everydayhealth.com calorie calculator, a 150-lb. individual cycling for an hour at a moderate rate of 12 to 14 mph will burn 544 calories. Further, fat loss is optimized at an exercise intensity of 60 percent to 65 percent of your maximal heart rate. This is often referred to as the fat-burning zone.

Improving Endurance

Any workout effort lasting longer than about 70 seconds is fueled aerobically and considered an endurance event, according to the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Cyclists must perform repeated intervals at an intensity of 60 percent to 80 percent of maximal heart rate for this duration or longer to see improvements in endurance. You should vary the length and intensity of your workouts within this zone to promote variety and continual adaptations, according to Peak Performance Online.

Considerations

Three exercise factors influence the number of calories burned cycling and the extent to which endurance is improved. Cycling at higher intensities burns calories more quickly but limits fat-burning and endurance, according to Peak Performance Online. Longer cycling durations lead to more calories burned and greater endurance improvements. More frequent cycling sessions can improve metabolism and result in more calories burned per session.

Program Design

For general health, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends 30 minutes of exercise at least five days per week. Within this 30-minute time frame, the Sports Fitness Advisor suggests performing repeated cycling intervals of three minutes or longer with a 1-to-1 work-to-rest ratio to achieve cycling-specific endurance improvements. You can vary the amount of work and rest, but strive to meet the ACSM's guidelines to improve endurance and promote weight loss.