Bike riding is a low impact, full body exercise that lets you train in a variety of ways, depending on your fitness goals. You can improve cardio stamina, burn calories, increase muscular endurance or improve your ability to recover for sports. Riding at different speeds using different gear settings will let you create a workout that fits your exercise needs.
Improve Heart Health
The American Heart Association recommends that adults under the age of 65 get 30 minutes of cardio exercise three to five times per week to maintain heart health. You can use biking to create a moderately intense cardio workout or a more vigorous aerobic workout, both of which will help improve your heart function.
Raise "Good" Cholesterol
Regular aerobic exercise can raise your high-density blood lipoprotein, or "good" cholesterol. Riding a bike at 70 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate for 30 minutes or more creates an aerobic workout that will help improve blood cholesterol.
Improve Muscular Endurance
If you work at a physical job or play sports, you'll need to use your muscles continually during your activity. Biking helps improve muscular endurance the longer you pedal. Standing on your pedals, riding up and down hills and pedaling against different gear settings varies your muscle use to add more endurance training. If you use an exercise bike, adding dumbbells to your workouts gives you the opportunity to build upper body muscular endurance.
Improve Recovery
Many sports, including tennis, basketball, football, volleyball, racquetball and soccer are anaerobic, taking place in short, high intensity bursts. It's in between points that you gasp for breath as you try to recover in time to start the next point. You can use biking to train your anaerobic energy system by doing sprints. Find a flat terrain and sprint at a very high intensity for 30 seconds to two minutes. Take a two-minute break, then repeat. This start-and-stop training requires your body to recover each time, building your capacity to do this. You can lower or raise your gear setting to raise your heart rate, depending on the terrain you have. Consult with a health professional before you sprint train.
Burn Calories
An obvious benefit of bike riding is calorie burning. A 160-lb. person will burn 292 calories riding a bike for one hour at 10 mph, while a 200-lb. person will burn 362 calories during that time. Biking can be an integral and effective part of a weight loss program.
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