Like some people I lead a hectic life and don’t have very much free time to go to the health club to raise my physical fitness. I’ve always enjoyed cycling outside and I acknowledge the health and fitness benefits I could gain from cycling but bad weather conditions, heavy traffic and traffic fumes often put me off. A better option I considered would be to look into a piece of equipment I could use at home and believed a stationary exercise bike to be a great choice. After investing much time and effort taking a look at the best alternatives around and what would be probably the most appropriate bike for me, I chose a relatively fancy Proform model costing ?300. After 6 months it ended up as a rather fancy, high priced clothes horse.

What exactly is it that keeps us inspired to maintain a physical fitness regime? I glanced around at my clothes bike after watching a news item on the recent Tour de France and made the decision I needed to revisit the motive why I chose to invest so much money on the bike and to get me back on it. This is what I came up with:

1)Shed excess weight: an individual who weighs 12? stone can burn up 650 calories by cycling for 1 hour, and will tone the legs and bottom in the process.

2)Strengthen heart and cardiovascular system: any cardio vascular exercise such as cycling will enhance the role of the heart. Cycling is excellent as it can train the heart to get stronger which results in much less stress on the heart. The risk factors that result in a heart attack can be lowered by regular cycling and that means you are 50% less prone to have a heart attack.

3)Strengthen muscles and joints: as we get older the strength of our muscles reduces and our muscles begin to shrink. Cycling activates each of the body’s muscles, and because the muscles hold together the skeletal system, strengthening the muscle groups supports and protects the skeleton. Cycling could also avert slipped discs by stimulating the muscles in the lower back and as a non weight bearing exercise, cycling does not affect and damage the joints in the hips and knees.

4)Improve the immune system: cycling will help strengthen the immune system and contributes to a healthy life. Moderate activity such as cycling can increase immune response to tumour cells and prevent other ailments.

5)Mental health: cycling has a relaxing influence because of its uniform and cyclical motion. Stabilising the physical and psychological activities of the body by cycling can serve to decrease anxiety, depression and mental stress.

6)Looking good: Cycling improves body shape, however it also improves the condition of the skin as the improvement in metabolism and circulation can help carry nutrients to the skin and carry away impurities. Cycling also helps boost your notion of yourself which influences how individuals see you.

7)Reduce blood pressure: cycling can help to decrease your blood pressure which in turn may help to prevent a stroke as well as other conditions.

So, along with improving physical fitness and stamina, cycling incorporates a wealth of other wellbeing benefits. Naturally there is nothing like the open road, but a stationary exercise bike can be used any time of day and in any weather, without the worry of inhaling traffic fumes. You can ride safely while listening to tunes or watching your favourite TV programmes, and never have to be concerned about getting knocked off. It’s time to get back again on the bike, and establish some physical exercise into my day-to-day routine.

Stationary exercise bikes for fitness training and health benefits

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/http://www.articlealley.com/seven-good-reasons-to-get-on-your-bike-2394952.html

weight training to improve cycling?

What weight training can I do to improve my cycling? I went out with some mates & we all did a cycling run that had quite a few hills to climb, plus we had to carry our mountain bikes a fair way during the exercise.
I have to admit it near enough killed me. lol
I need to be getting stronger so next time (2 wks away) I’ll be able to keep up & carry my bike without struggling so much.
The hills really got to me & I could only get about half way up the damned things. How can I get my legs stronger to peddle harder & keep going? The guys I was with are all aged between 21 & 39 but they could all peddle standing up on their bikes. I couldn’t manage it past about 30 seconds.
I’m 52, about 15 pounds overweight & I would have said (before yesterday) fairly fit for a guy my age. I’m pretty active & cycle a fair bit but it’s mostly on flat surface though.

I know that climbing hills while cycling would be a good way for me to get up the things in future, but where I live it’s all flat.
What can I do while at home (I can borrow my sons weights) to get me stronger. How many reps etc would I need to perform?

Answer
Like the other answeres said, You won’t see much benefit in two weeks.

You need to realize that at your level of activity, it’s more about overall fitness than specific strengths and weakness. In the coming weeks, just concentrate on riding. Attempting any sort of weight routine right now will not benefit you much, and may actually slow you down. There’s a reason why cyclists do _not_ lift weights during racing season, and that is that it _will_ make you slower. Stronger – yes, but it will actually limit your endurance.

This week:
Go for one shorter (60 – 90 min) MTB ride of mid to high intensity, make sure to include a ‘hike-a-bike’ section.
Go for two road rides of moderate to high intensity of about 60 minutes, be sure to include a couple long hills.

This weekend, go for one long MTB ride and one long road ride, both of moderate intensity

Next week, take one shorter MTB ride and one shorter road ride, both of moderate-high intensity – no more than 60 min. In the two days before your ‘event’, take easy rides – no more than one hour at low intensity. This last part is crucial, you need to approach a your target as rested as possible.

Eat plenty of complex carbs in the two -three days before the big ride. The morning of the ride, eat a balanced breakfast, don’t concentrate on high carbs. You’ll nbeed a reasonable amount of fat intake for endurance fuel. REmember, Cycling is an endurance sport, and the vast majority of your effort will be in the endurance ‘fat-buring’ zone. If you keep burning glycogen (blood sugar) for the whole event, you’ll burn out quick. Carry plenty of water and a reasonable amount of food on the ride, a couple of bananas, a powerbar or two, etc. Stay away from sugary sports drings during the ride, Sucrose can spike your insulin level and lead to a metabolic ‘crash’.

Weight training for cycling has two goals: power for high intensity short bursts, and injury prevention. The only way to increase endurance fitness is to do endurance fitness excercise. Any reputable cycling coach will tell you: The way to be able to keep up at high intensity efforts is to increase your base fitness level so that you don’t go anaerobic as soon. Developing your base fitness means doing lots of time in the aerobic zone, And that means lots of time on the road bike with a heart rate monitor. There’s really no other way around it.

If you want to start a weight training program while still riding, You’ll need a book called ‘weight training for cyclists’ available at amazon.com. As a non-competitive athlete, You can start this whenever you like, just be aware that you won’t see any real gains for a solid month, and you might even feel slower to begin with.