If you want to burn calories faster, you have to give up your sedentary, calorie-free lifestyle and start practicing low impact aerobic exercises like cycling. You will be delighted to know that even though you are overweight, riding a bike can dramatically improve your fitness and help you lose weight. Here’s how:
Low-impact activities are those where you don’t use any muscle, so you don’t need to exert extra effort in order to lose weight or improve your fitness. This is the most recommended form of exercise for people who want to lose weight, since it burns more calories and it is an all-around workout, too. Low-impact cycling is a safe, low-impact, adaptable cardio exercise which can burn calories in a reasonably fast rate of 500 750 calories an hour, depending mainly on the individual’s weight, speed, and style of cycling you’re doing. If you’ve just begun cycling, the relatively new exercise is bound to boost your metabolism and you’ll be losing weight quite soon.
However, if you’ve been riding for some time, you probably already know that even moderate cycling can be quite tiring. In fact, most experts recommend that you ride at a speed of about 6 mph when you first start out. That should give you an idea of what to expect when you’re riding. And you’ll also understand that even moderate-intensity cycling burns a lot of calories. So, how can you make riding your bike less tiresome and, therefore, lose weight?
The answer is simple: combining cardiovascular exercise with resistance training. Riding a stationary bike is one great way to both burn calories and tone your muscles, but not enough of a workout to lose weight in a reasonable amount of time. Biking is actually a great way to lose weight. The trouble is that it’s often difficult to get into a great rate of speed while riding stationary bikes.
By performing interval training or sprinting exercises, you can quickly increase your heart rate and quickly get up to a great speed without it ever feeling like you’re going uphill. Interval training is the ideal way to lose weight cycling. It allows you to burn several times as many calories as you would by simply jogging but doing it with intervals really lets you burn a lot more per minute. An elliptical machine or treadmill is a great way to get started, as is a StairMaster machine for the home.
One of the keys to losing weight with cycling is consistency. Even when you’re not biking, try to perform other kinds of exercises regularly, such as weightlifting or swimming, as these activities are very effective in burning calories. Try to find at least one other form of exercise for every day you devote to cycling. This is true for both men and women who are losing weight cycling.
There’s a lot to lose weight cycling efficiently. When you first start out, focus on keeping your heart rate under control. Then, once you’ve developed a good rhythm, increase the intensity of your exercise gradually, but always above your target heart rate. Bike with intensity until you notice a gradual decline in your heart rate. Then, come back to your targeted heart rate and continue with your exercise.
A final suggestion: If you’re not sure you can complete bike training rides on your own, enlist the help of a professional trainer. A good trainer will let you know if you’re on pace too slowly or too fast for your goal. He or she may also be able to make suggestions to help you add some bicycling stretches to your normal routine. Using a bike computer isn’t nearly as essential as hiring a trainer, but using it can go along way to helping you lose weight cycling.