When you’re looking to improve your fitness levels, there are many different ways in which to achieve that goal. You can join a fitness class, go for a run or walk, or even try weight training or cardio exercises. However, pulling that dusty old bicycle out of the garden shed may also be more beneficial than you think. Here are five reasons to get your bike out of hibernation and start pedaling.
A Fun Form of Exercise
Going for a walk or run is a valid form of exercise, but it can also be quite dull if there’s nothing or no one to entertain you. If you haven’t got any music flowing through your ears, or you’re not talking to a friend as you walk, it can become mundane. Biking, however, is an exciting adventure. You can head to parts of town you never knew existed, find biking trails and tracks to enjoy fabulous scenery, and travel various roads you usually wouldn’t venture down.
In essence, going for a ride on your bike can open your eyes to new parts of your town or city you otherwise may never discover.
Low-Impact Exercise
Pounding the pavement can be a high-impact form of fitness training that can take its toll on your body. While it’s beneficial for helping you to lose weight and improve your fitness, it’s also not a suitable option for everyone. Old injuries may reappear with a vengeance, and you may find shin splints become a problem as well. Biking, on the other hand, is a very low impact exercise option. Even those who suffer from aches and pains can find a healthy balance of effectiveness to comfort on a bike.
Benefits All Muscles
When you begin working on your fitness, you’re able to target specific parts of your body. However, choosing to hop on a bicycle offers the opportunity to focus on them all. As you’re pedaling, you’re using many different muscles. You then use more when you’re using the handlebars or navigating various paths and trails. Once you get off your bike, you will feel like you’ve had a proper workout.
Beneficial for Stamina
There’s a reason many athletes include cycling in their fitness routine – it’s because it helps to build your stamina. Even if you’re cycling only a few times per week, you will begin to notice the difference to your overall fitness in no time. Using your bike can even improve your strength as well as your aerobic fitness.
Form of Transport
If you’re lucky enough to live in proximity to your place of business or the local town centre, then a bike can become more than just a way in which to get fit. While you’re working out all of those muscles, building stamina and improving your fitness, you’re actually getting somewhere. Therefore, instead of getting in the car to head to work, why not take your bicycle? You can get fit all the while getting some fresh air and saving money on fuel.
If it has been some time since you’ve thrown your legs over a bicycle, there’s no time like the present to give it a try. Even if it has been several years since you last used one, as the old saying goes, “it’s like riding a bicycle, you never forget”.