How Long Should You Bike for the Best Weight Loss Benefit? | Livestrong.com (2024)

FAQs

How Long Should You Bike for the Best Weight Loss Benefit? | Livestrong.com? ›

Tip. For the greatest weight loss benefit, you should be cycling for at least five hours, or 300 minutes, each week. You can easily achieve this with one hour of exercise per day, five days per week. You can increase calorie burn by cycling longer or increasing the intensity of your workouts.

In order to lose weight, the American Council on Exercise (ACE) says you'll need to cycle at a moderately intense level for at least 30 minutes at a time. To burn even more calories, you'll want to cycle for longer. ACE also suggests incorporating two activities into one cross-training session to boost weight loss.

Depending on your health goals and the intensity of your workout, 30 minutes on a stationary bike can be enough to improve your fitness and lose weight. Adults should aim for a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week to reduce the risk of lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular disease.

For those serious about biking for weight loss, 10 miles a day is a good goal. Although cycling is a great way to lose weight, it will not help you if you don't follow other losing weight strategies. Maintaining your bike and taking safety precautions when riding on roads or trails are important.

Plan to get on your bike and ride for 30-60 minutes, 3-5 days a week. Start every ride with a warm-up. Pedal at a slow, easy pace for 5-10 minutes. Then boost your speed so you start to sweat.

In order to lose 1 pound of body weight, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you consume. Meaning a 125-pound person would need to cycle between 5.5 - 8.5 hours a week to burn 1 pound of fat. Studies suggest a 155-pound person will burn 252 calories in 30 minutes of moderate-intensity stationary cycling.

Lowers belly fat and increases good fat: A 30-60 minutes of cycling (which is a moderate-intensity aerobic exercise similar to exercises, such as jogging, hiking, and swimming) and a healthy protein-rich diet is an effective way to lower belly fat and increase good fat (high-density lipoprotein) levels.

If you prefer to exercise indoors, you can always use a stationary bike. It's easy on your joints and torches massive calories. With discipline and commitment, you could lose a whopping 20 pounds within weeks.

As with beginners, the elderly should ride a stationary bike 20 minutes a day. Two to three sessions per week will suffice.

“For most people, if they have an hour a day, and they are happy doing an hour a day of exercise, then they can expect to lose a kilo a week,” says Andy Wadsworth, a personal trainer and coach.

How fast should I cycle for my age? ›

If you want to burn calories and you're short on time, cycling may be the better option. Cycling burns more calories given the same time and intensity as walking.

Besides being a recreational activity, cycling is an excellent cardio workout that helps one shed weight and lose belly fat.

Pedaling faster puts more stress on your aerobic system, but with training, your aerobic system will adapt and you'll be able to sustain a high pace on flat ground and hills for longer periods of time.

Endurance Training

You should aim to follow the 80/20 rule when structuring your training. Endurance training should be at least 80% of your training measured by time and in fact it delivers more than 80% of the results. In other words, just by riding at a talking pace you will get fitter and stronger over time.

The 75-percent rule states that during a given training week, at least 75 percent of your miles (or time) should be at or below 75 percent of your maximum heart rate (MHR).

Here's how it breaks down: In one hour of cycling, the average person burns 600 calories. To lose only two pounds (1 kg), the average person must expend 7,500 to 8,000 calories. That means you'll need to hit the saddle every day for two hours if you want to shed 2lbs in one week.

By cycling 3 miles a day, you can burn between 150 – 180 calories. Increasing the number of calories you're metabolising is key to helping you lose weight. To maximise the number of calories you're burning, try to stop as little as possible and push yourself to cycle faster and further each day!

Cycling is a great cardiovascular choice for anyone who doesn't want to go running. It's both high-intensity and low-impact, so it's suitable both as a HIT workout and for more moderate sessions. Several studies suggest that cycling for 15 to 20 minutes each day can be beneficial for heart health.

Senior bike riding is perfectly safe and has many health benefits. It will help you lose weight, stay strong, avoid chronic illness, stay mentally alert and live longer. There are some safety concerns regarding cycling for seniors, but they shouldn't dissuade you.

Can cycling reduce love handles? ›

A study published in the Journal of Physiology showed that cycling for at least 20 miles a week led to a 7% drop in visceral fat and a 7% overall drop in fat around the waistline after eight months. Vitamin D can help you lose lard all over, but it's particularly helpful for that replica Goodyear sitting on your belt.

You've gained muscle.

Your muscles respond to the stress of hard training on the bike and in the gym by getting bigger and stronger. And here's an often overlooked fact: Muscle tissue is more dense than fat tissue.

Lung capacity will slowly increase and your heart and blood vessels will work better. Your immune system will become stronger: the level of lymphocytes in blood goes up. The body will be also able to regulate levels of sugar and other substances in blood more easily and your body will store less fat.

Cycling can help change body shape by burning calories and resulting in weight loss or by helping build muscle in the lower and upper body. However, for a dramatic change in body shape, cyclists will need to add strength training, especially if they're looking to increase power for speed over shorter distances.

Cycling is sometimes considered a form of exercise and enjoyment reserved only for children or the most avid of sporting enthusiasts. However, when you peel back the surface of cycling, it's a sport that is perfect for everyone, including people over the age of 60!

Bike riding is a great option for seniors for so many reasons. First, it's low-impact so it's easier on our joints than many other sports, e.g., running. Cycling is an excellent cardiovascular exercise as it gets our heart rates pumping and burns those calories, thus improving our overall fitness level.

If you're wondering if it is better to cycle in the morning or evening, it depends on the goal of your ride. Cycling in the late afternoon/early evening seems to be slightly better for performance, whereas morning rides may be better for weight loss, fat-burning, and appetite control.

Cycling one hour a day for weight loss is an excellent way to boost weight loss. A 180-pound individual cycling for an hour at a moderate intensity burns about 650 calories. If you ride six days a week for a year, you will burn about 202,800 calories, which translates to about 58 pounds of body fat!

Cycling makes knee joint bend and stretch gently and helps to ease the movement of the joint. Cycling also improves the muscle strength around the knee joint, which ultimately protects the knee joint if there are any impact actions. So it's wise to say that cycling promotes knee joint health in many ways.

Is 50 too old to start cycling? ›

Cycling is a great way to get exercise after age 50. If you want to start cycling, there are some things to think about. Find the right bike for you. You will need a bike that fits you.

How Far Can the Average Person Cycle? Statistics tell us that a person of average fitness can cycle approximately 10 miles per hour. In a day, an average person should be able to cover between 40 and 50 miles if they take it steadily and have breaks.

You will need 0.5-1g of carbohydrates per kg of bodyweight each hour depending on intensity, and you should aim to spread that over 2-3 micro feeds every 20-30 minutes.

A study concluded that treadmills are optimal indoor exercise machines for enhancing energy expenditure. Since a treadmill workout is a weight-bearing exercise, you will burn more calories and belly fat per minute on a treadmill than on a regular stationary bike.

According to the chart, for bicycling on a road or paved trail you take the distance you cycled and multiply that by . 3 to convert it to miles walked.

How many miles on a bike equals 10,000 steps? If you're cycling on relatively flat terrain with minimal wind, 10,000 steps would be equal to 15 to 18 miles.

“Cyclists tend to have leaner legs than upper body, so anytime you do whole-body aerobic exercise you will lose fat everywhere, but it is more concentrated in the areas where the muscle is active.

According to Harvard, riding a stationary bike at a moderate pace will burn between 210 and 294 calories every 30 minutes, depending on a rider's weight. If we take this at face value (without considering the individual), then riding for 1 hour a day would take around 8 days to lose 1 pound.

Pedaling faster is much more taxing on your cardiovascular system- thus you breathe harder and faster to try and get more oxygen into the system to generate energy.

What is the most efficient speed to cycle? ›

Energy efficiency. A human traveling on a bicycle at 16–24 km/h (10–15 mph), using only the power required to walk, is the most energy-efficient means of human transport generally available.

Aim to maintain a cadence (measured on the cycle console in revolutions per minute or RPMs) of 80 to 100 RPMs on “flat ground” (low to moderate resistance) and 60 to 80 RPMs on “hills” (moderate to high resistance). If you find yourself struggling to maintain 60 RPMs, decrease the resistance.

Rule 67. when cycling on the road, only pass to the left of large vehicles when they are stationary or slow moving and you should proceed with caution as the driver may not be able to see you.

Cycling is steeped in a tradition of toughness and a willingness to go beyond what we believe we are capable of. This is the essence of Rule #5: the mind pushing the body beyond our perceived limits. There is no absolute; it is a relative measure.

The correct number of bikes to own is n+1. While the minimum number of bikes one should own is three, the correct number is n+1, where n is the number of bikes currently owned. The idea behind n+1 is that you should own one more bike than the amount you currently own.

To maximize your safety, always wear a helmet AND follow the rules of the road. Bicycles in many States are considered vehicles, and cyclists have the same rights and the same responsibilities to follow the rules of the road as motorists.

As with rule 37, which states that the arms of cycling eyewear should always be placed over helmet straps, never under, explaining: “This is for various reasons that may or may not matter; it's just the way it is.” At least rule 14 – shorts should always be black – is more self-explanatory (as the book points out, ...

The 3:1 rule is no more

This meant the maximum length-to-width ratio of the component could be no greater than three-to-one. If a tube was 2cm wide, for example, it could have a maximum permitted length of 6cm. This rule was intended to limit the maximum size, and therefore effectiveness, of any aerofoil sections.

Cycling one hour a day for weight loss is an excellent way to boost weight loss. A 180-pound individual cycling for an hour at a moderate intensity burns about 650 calories. If you ride six days a week for a year, you will burn about 202,800 calories, which translates to about 58 pounds of body fat!

In conclusion, cycling more and eating better will certainly help lose belly fat. But the benefits of cycling aren't reserved for lean riders and weight is no barrier to cycling.

How much weight will I lose if I cycle 1 hour a day? ›

“For most people, if they have an hour a day, and they are happy doing an hour a day of exercise, then they can expect to lose a kilo a week,” says Andy Wadsworth, a personal trainer and coach.

Cycling Boosts Heart Health

It's both high-intensity and low-impact, so it's suitable both as a HIT workout and for more moderate sessions. Several studies suggest that cycling for 15 to 20 minutes each day can be beneficial for heart health.

If you want to burn calories and you're short on time, cycling may be the better option. Cycling burns more calories given the same time and intensity as walking.

Steady cycling burns about 1,200 kilojoules (about 300 calories) per hour. If you cycle twice a day, the kilojoules burnt soon add up. British research shows that a half-hour bike ride every day will burn nearly five kilograms of fat over a year.

Cycling can help change body shape by burning calories and resulting in weight loss or by helping build muscle in the lower and upper body. However, for a dramatic change in body shape, cyclists will need to add strength training, especially if they're looking to increase power for speed over shorter distances.

A person who weighs 180 pounds will burn about 9.7 calories per minute that they walk and 8.2 calories per minute biking at 10 mph. Therefore, walking typically burns more calories than biking at a similar pace — and is thus more beneficial for losing fat.

A study concluded that treadmills are optimal indoor exercise machines for enhancing energy expenditure. Since a treadmill workout is a weight-bearing exercise, you will burn more calories and belly fat per minute on a treadmill than on a regular stationary bike.

Besides being a recreational activity, cycling is an excellent cardio workout that helps one shed weight and lose belly fat.

Thirty minutes of cycling burns 200 calories on average, although that number depends on a few factors, including your weight, the intensity of your workout, and the resistance, Chew explains.

To give you an idea of distances and speed, the average cycling speed for a beginner is about 12mph. This means that in your first week, you'll be covering distances of up to 2 miles. After eight weeks, the 10-mile ride shouldn't feel daunting at all.

How much weight I will lose if I cycle 20 minutes? ›

What many do not know is that a daily cycle ride of only 20 minutes is sufficient to achieve this target! Regular cycling helps in burning around 1,000 calories a week, and even cycling at a mild pace of 12 mph will help you burn 563 calories per hour, says research.