Cycling exercises for weight loss

Cycling is a super effective way to lose weight. Cycling indoors or outdoors, by yourself or in a group, cycling will help you lose weight. Like with any exercise program, it is very important to come up with a workout that consists of a variety of exercises to help keep your body challenged. This will help to burn calories as fast as possible.

Cycling Workout

Most exercises include a cycling workout. Most of them are at intervals, which takes the body through a hard workout, then allows the body to recover with an easy segment. This intensity rapidly increases a person’s heart rate, which forces your body to work harder and therefore learns to recover quicker. The more effort, the more calories you will burn. It is recommended that you wear a heart-rate monitor when exercising to get a good idea of just how many calories you are burning during a session.

Shed Fat

You need to lose 3500 calories to shed one pound of fat. Lowering your calorie intake and increasing your exercise is recommended to lose weight. If a person weighing 155 pounds cycles outside at a moderate pace at twelve miles per hour for one hour, he/she will burn 563 calories. If the same person exercises at the same pace on a stationary bike, he will only burn 493 calories. As your fitness increases your body is able to cycle faster. Your overall caloric burn in an hour will increase to 704 calories when cycling outside and 739 on a stationary bike.

Steady-state Intervals

If you want to increase your average speed, try the steady-state interval exercise. Beginning with a ten minute warm up, then ride for ten minutes at a perceived exertion rate of an eight out of ten. Then to recover you need to pedal easily for about five minutes. Repeat the interval three times. As your speed and improves, you will be able to increase the length of the interval.

Hill Exercises

Hills are natural intervals. If you are riding inside, you can simulate a hill by increasing your resistance or by shifting the next hardest gear. First warm up and then look for a hill that takes sixty to ninety seconds to climb. Climb the hill in a seated position first and try to keep your cadence at about sixty revolutions per minute or higher if possible. Recovering will happen as you slowly pedal back down the hill. Sit for half of the hill and then stand for half on the next ascent to recover. Repeat this, but stand the whole way down the hill this time. For the fourth part of the hill exercise, give it everything you have and quickly go down the hill standing. Then you will need to allow your body to recover by cycling slowly for a while.