Cycle Your Way To Weight Loss

Of all the possible exercises there are to help you lose weight, cycling is one of the best.

If you want to lose weight and are looking for the perfect exercise, or if you’re looking for a great calorie burning exercise to add to your exercise repertoire, this article is for you.

We’ll tell you why cycling is so great and what it can do for you, what you’ll need to get started and provide helpful hints that will help you to cycle effectively and safely for the rest of your life.

The benefits of cycling

Cycling has many health benefits, particularly for those that want to lose weight. Here are just some of the great aspects of cycling:

• Cycling is one of the easiest aerobics exercises to start with because it offers a very wide range of training intensities, including very low levels of intensity.

• Cycling is a non-weight bearing exercise so it is easy on the joints, muscles and tendons.

• Cycling burns a lot of calories (more than 500 per hour at a moderate pace for someone weighing 80kgs).

• Cycling can be a relatively inexpensive activity to participate in.

• Cycling can be a very social activity and is easily performed in a group or with family and friend.

• Cycling can be done indoors or outdoors.

• Cycling provides aerobic training (for the heart and lungs), resistance training (for leg muscles) and isometric (static) resistance (for the arms and other muscles in the upper body).

• Cycling can be done relatively safely at almost any age.

• Cycling is a perfect cross-training exercise for running, swimming, skiing, etc and can add variety to any exercise program.

• Cycling is becoming safer as state governments and local city councils invest in dedicated bike tracks and designated bike lanes on city and country roads.

Why cycle?

If you want to lose weight, there are many reasons for you to consider cycling as part of your daily exercise regime.

Here are just 10 of the great things cycling can do for you:

1. Help you burn excess calories and lose weight.

2. Improve your cardiovascular fitness and gain more energy.

3. Help you avoid lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

4. Help you to increase your exercise intensity in a slow and controlled manner.

5. Help you combine exercise with spending time with your partner, children or friends.

6. Help you meet people (by joining a cycling club for example).

7. Help you add variety to your current exercise routine.

8. Help you combine exercise in the fresh air with exploring new places and enjoying new scenery.

9. Help you tone, strengthen and shape the muscles in your legs, bottom and arms.

10. Provide you with exercise that is easy to build progression (faster and/or longer rides) and intensity variation (varying your riding speed and distances) into.

What you need to get started

One of the greatest things about cycling, is how easy and relatively inexpensive it is to get started (assuming you can ride a bike of course and even if you can’t that is not an insurmountable problem).

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