The impression that you are visiting our site is that cycling is a sport considered valid unless the race. Not so, so much so that if you see the table healthy sports, it turns out that running, cycling, cross-country skiing and swimming endurance sports are considered more healthful.
Among other things, in the Sports section you will find many articles dedicated to those who want to start practicing this wonderful sport. So, theoretically, are equivalent sports for health. Practically, there are distinctions that can be important. Cycling uses a means and techniques that can alleviate much of the commitment of the athlete amateur, negating part of the benefit salutariness intrinsic to the practice of this sport.
Differences between endurance running and cycling.
1.) Training for Sports – Cycling practicing reaching a good level of fitness is definitely more difficult. Realistically, hour ride is equivalent to 2-3 hours of cycling (depends on the location), and then to be trained cyclists it takes a long double or triple compared to what it takes to be a trained runner.
It is unthinkable to be trained subjects only go out during the weekend because it goes against the basic laws of aerobic training (at least 3 workouts per week on a regular basis), regardless of how many miles do you bike on Saturday and Sunday.
In addition, cycling, climatic difficulties are more pronounced if the rider slows down or suspends training due to the weather (winter) or the lack of light (daylight-saving time) saving time) it is obvious that it will always be a subject under trained. Practically, the only cyclists are those who are preparing seriously (at least 8-9 hours per week with three sessions) for amateur racing.
From this first step, we deduce easily that for the vast majority within the population (who has limited time), the practice of cycling should also be combined with other sports (eg, cycling and running over the weekend during the week), if you salutariness want to get the most from their sport.
2.) Fight against overweight – Definitely the cycling helps less for two reasons:
- If he wants to, the athlete using the medium, the trail and the path may consume very little. We compare a cyclist from the road, on route perfectly plan that remains in the wake of 30 km / h with a medium to high technology and one that, more than 30 km / h ordeals alone (without heels) on a country path with a half (MTB) of mediocre technology: the consumption in the second case it may be three times higher than in the first. Instead, in the race for two athletes of the same weight that run 10 km, the difference between calories burned is zero or very small.
- The long duration of the sessions led many cycling enthusiasts to eat more than they should. I happened to accompany recreational cyclists who, on a route plan and modest speeds, each 20 km you ate a finger to ” give energy ” !
3.) Winds – The exact mechanism is anaerobic. On the bike, unless you face challenging climb, the anaerobic mechanism is largely untapped. So much so that after six months of bike (60 km per day on a mountain bike on a level road), I lost all my ” breath “.
4.) Muscles – Here the discourse is to the benefit of the bike. In a difficult test, you will get 60% of the maximum muscle strength while in a race to the bottom of the race (marathon), you get only 20%. Especially the upper part of the leg (quadriceps) is stimulated by cycling much better than by race, where, among other things, have a powerful musculature is counterproductive.
5.) Fatigue – In my opinion, the two sports at the amateur level are equivalent when applied with the maximum by the same person (in the management of fatigue has very psychology of the subject). Many practitioners of one of the sports if they pass the other two situations that can feel confusing: a sharp soreness the next day and an inability to reach their maximum tolerable level of effort (for example, the rate does not go up).
The first point is easily explained by the injuries that are inherent in the two sports (injury due to contact with the ground for the race, and injury resulting from middle position on the bike), the use of different muscle groups and the use of different muscle groups that are used simultaneously in the two disciplines.
The second point is less intuitive and is explained by the fact that the subject has various limiters of performance (efficiency of the heart, muscles, oxygen transportation, etc..) And is locked when the first limiter is in crisis. If the athlete is from another sport who is very difficult to reach its normal maximum level of effort because now, in the new sport, a limiter (important for the new sport, but not sufficiently trained by the old) blocking it.
6.) Injuries – Surely, it is the best bike. In the race, if the runner is not cautious and farsighted, it is quite easy to get injured. On the other hand, the bike is always lurking the fall with disastrous results, so it is not recommended for people over 50 without competitive ambitions.
The rules of health benefits.
From the previous paragraph, it is clear that those who practice cycling health level should plan its activities in a smart way. Let us look at some simple rules.
- If you cannot get out during the week must include at least one output of stroke (coming hour).
- Knowing your conversion factor, remember that the minimum load salutariness are 3 hours of running per week.
- If you are overweight, you have to get used to not eating for distances less than 100 km or three hours.
An hour’s bike ride is how many minutes?
Giving an answer to this question is very difficult because it must take into account several factors, such as the middle of the path and so on. An approximate way, but a summary of the various factors, it is the working heart rate. If you ” coffin “, this frequency is very low, very quick, plain, and wake pedaling easy, so you can go on for hours even with a workout ” normal ” while a few runners with a normal training can run for two hours!
From the point of view of the organic (not to be confused with the expenditure of calories), and then the power workout and / or salutariness Bike likely the relationship is not linear in the sense that it goes from the unit (90% of HRmax) and goes down, but not linearly, up to a conversion factor of 3 (60% of HRmax).
HRmax (Maximum Heart Rate) is the highest number of heart beats per minute (bpm) = 208 − (0.7 × age)
