The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Heart Association (AHA) recommend that healthy adults under age 65 engage in moderately intense physical activity for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, to gain cardiovascular benefits and help prevent chronic illnesses. To lose weight or maintain weight loss, they recommend 60 to 90 minutes five days a week. Both walking and bicycling can offer a moderately intense workout.
Walking
The Mayo Clinic says walking is a gentle, low-impact form of exercise that requires no special training or equipment. Walking at a moderate-to-brisk pace constitutes moderate-intensity exercise. Walking strengthens the muscles of the foot, calf, thigh, knee, hip, buttocks and arms. Walking is particularly beneficial for toning the muscles of the lower body.
The ACSM says a walking program should start out gradually and that consistency is the key to gaining health benefits.
Bicycling
Writer and cyclist Ken Kifer says biking increases heart rate faster and is able to sustain that rate longer than walking, and biking can be used as a means of transportation, making it an effective way to incorporate exercise into daily routines. The website Exporatorium.edu says the main muscles at work in cycling are the quadriceps and hamstrings in the upper leg, and the gastrocnemius and soleus in the calf.
Benefits
Both walking and bicycling offer a myriad of benefits. According to the Mayo Clinic, regular walking and biking can lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol, raise HDL ("good") cholesterol, help manage weight, lower blood pressure and even decrease the risk of glaucoma.
Walking has a few benefits that bicycling doesn't offer, however. Walking can foster emotional connections with other walkers, benefiting mental as well as physical health. Walking can be done almost anywhere--a hotel, airport, even a cruise ship--while biking requires long stretches of unobstructed surfaces as well as special equipment. The ability to walk almost anywhere may increase consistency, which leads to more long-term benefits.
Biking's benefits include the ability to travel further faster and the ability to keep the heart rate higher longer. Some bicyclists report an increased sense of well-being and accomplishment after a ride.
Calories
Martica Heaner, an exercise physiologist and nutritionist, says the number of calories burned during an activity depends on the intensity and duration of the exercise. MSN's Health and Fitness Interactive Tool allows a person to calculate the number of calories burned during an activity. A person weighing 150 lbs. walking at a brisk pace on a flat surface for one hour will burn approximately 259 calories. The same person bicycling at a vigorous pace (14 to 16 mph) for one hour will burn 682, almost three times the number burned walking for the same length of time. Even biking at a light pace (10 to 12 mph) will burn 410 calories.
Drawbacks
Bicycling and walking both have inherent risks. More pedestrians die every year, but there are more pedestrians than cyclists, so numbers are hard to compare. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported there were 689 bicycle fatalities and 43,000 bicycle traffic injuries reported in 2007, compared with 4,378 pedestrians killed and 69,000 injured in 2008.
When motor vehicles are factored out of the equation, walking appears to be a safer form of exercise. The major drawbacks include sore muscles, foot pain, knee pain, shin splints and blisters. The most common injuries from bicycling are knee pain and deterioration, hand numbness, muscle cramps, foot pain, blisters and injuries from falls such as abrasions, broken bones and concussion.
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