Unless you choose an exercise that you enjoy, you’ll soon get bored and throw it in, and of course you already know that exercise is important if you want to lose weight. Now this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but have you considered cycling? I for one am not that keen on cycling I prefer my home workout DVD’s.
But nonetheless cycling could be something you, yourself could really enjoy and shed those pounds in the process. Today you’re going to learn some effective techniques that will show you how to shed the pounds while cycling.
Provided by Outsideonline.com
Get Cycling And Shed Those Pounds
Spinning those pedals provides a fat-scorching workout that’s gentle on the joints, and actually fun to do, no matter how much you weigh. Here are eight easy ways to get leaner by bike.
SPIN BEFORE BREAKFAST: Set up your trainer in a pleasant, convenient spot and saddle up each morning for 20 minutes before breakfast. A recent study in the Journal of Applied Physiology reported that you burn fat better riding in a fasted state than when you’re fueled up. Though you wouldn’t want to try to do your longest, hardest workouts unfueled, this simple morning start up will burn more than a 1,100 calories a week and fire up the fat-burning process. It’s a trick pro cyclists have employed for decades, says Andrew Pruitt, Ed.D., director of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine in Colorado. “When I traveled with USA Cycling, the riders couldn’t have breakfast until they pedaled 20 minutes.”
HIT IT HARD: Okay, okay. This one may not be easy per se. But it is fast. Real fast, which cycling lets you be without beating you up the same way, oh, say, sprinting down the street in your running shoes would. Research—most of it done on stationary bikes (presumably because it’s safer and easier than treadmills) shows that high-intensity sprint cycling helps get you lean, mean, and fit fast.
Just 30 seconds of big gear, full-throttle sprinting sends your levels of human growth hormone (which helps boost lean muscle and burn fat) soaring 530 percent. Other research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that just two weeks of alternate-day interval training boosted cyclists’ fat-burning ability by 36 percent. Short sprint workouts also raise your metabolism so you keep burning fat after you’ve racked the bike and hit the showers. Laval University researchers found that even when sprinters burned half as many calories during their actual workouts, they still lost nine times more fat in the long run as those who went longer (and burned more calories) at one easy speed.
WEAR LYCRA: Ditch the baggies and buy a Lycra cycling kit. It’ll keep you honest at your next all-you-can-eat buffet and prevent unwanted pounds. According to Cornell University weight loss researcher Brian Wansink, “signal clothes” like fitted pants help us track our weight gain and loss. Without snug clothes to sound the alarm, the needle on the scale inches up quickly. Wansink’s team found that prison inmates gained an average of 20 to 25 pounds six months into incarceration (despite abysmal food and plenty of time to exercise) without recognizing the gain because the baggy shapeless orange jumpsuits give no feedback. For active folks, there are no more unforgiving signal clothes than skin-tight Spandex cycling attire. Buy some with no room to spare and keep them in heavy rotation. Get the rest of the techniques here.
Okay, as you can see cycling is a very effective way to lose weight, so if you think this could be a fun way for you to workout, why not get pedalling. After reading this, I myself am not going to completely rule it out either, not to sure about the skin-tight Spandex quite yet though.
Funny moment: A bit irrelevant, but I just had to share this thought with you. My other half is on this weight loss journey with me, and when I read the bit about the skin-tight Spandex, I pictured him and for better words I PMSL… Okay back on a serious note, if that’s what it takes to get the results, then that’s what it’s going to take. Brave it up soldier!
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