Why Cycling Is Good For
You
Riding a bike isn't just fun, it's an antidote to many of the ailments that beset the modern man. If you're a regular cyclist, your chances of dying from heart disease- the western world's biggest killer - plummet.
Your weight stabilizes at a healthy level. You look and feel better. You even cope with stress better.
A Bike - Always Better
All exercises are good for you, but cycling is one of the best kinds. Running stresses the ankles, knees, hips and Achilles' tendons. It's hard and it hurts-especially if you are over weight. Weightlifting builds muscles but won't make you fit.
Only swimming is better than cycling as an all-round aerobic work-out. But it's nowhere near as convenient, and can't be integrated into daily life like cycling can. You can get useful exercise on your bike by cycling to the shops. All you can do when you go swimming is swim, and you have to make a special effort (and pay money) to go and do it.
Cycling requires no special facilities, and almost no cash outlay once you have your bike. Anyone from four to 84 can participate.
A healthy heart
The heart is basically just a muscle that pumps blood,
and like any muscle you can make it bigger and
stronger through exercise. If you don't force it to
work hard occasionally-three times a week for twenty
minutes is all it takes - it will become weak. The
sluggish flow of blood means that it may also start to
clog, with deposits building up on the linings of the
arteries like lime-scale in piping.
Your heart then strains to pump a given volume of
blood. If you place demands on it - running upstairs
one day, perhaps - your heart can't cope, and seizes :
heart attack.
Regular exercise makes the heart into a more efficient
pump, and the sluicing of the blood around the body -
up from five liters a minute at rest to 25 liters
during exercise - helps keep the valves and arteries
clear.
Cycling also combats the secondary causes of heart
disease : high blood pressure, obesity, and stress.
Exercise lowers blood pressure. Good news when you
consider that men with only moderately high blood
pressure stand to live about 15 years less than men
with low blood pressure.
How to A better body
Cycling uses the biggest muscles in the human body,
specifically the quadriceps in the upper thigh, and
the gluteus maximum in the backside. The calf muscles
are also used. So if you want to tone your legs, get
riding.
Cycling is likely to make you fitter and leaner.
Non-strenuous cycling burns up around 250-300 calories
per hour. A kilogram (2lb 30z) of body fat contains
about 7,700 calories. To lose one kilo you'd have to
cycle for at least 25 hours, which at half an hour a
day, every day, is seven weeks. It's not an instant
weight loss scheme, but it beats starving yourself. It
will help if you also eat less fatty and sugary food.
But fortunately regular cycling can actually help you
regulate your appetite. Try it. If you are not
overweight, you can eat more than a sedentary person
without increasing you bodyweight.
'Mens sana in corpore sano'
A healthy mind in a healthy body' - the Romans
recognized this a couple of thousand years ago, and
it's still true. It's why PE is one the school
curriculum. It's why people who are glowing with
health have a positive, can-do outlook on everything.
Cycling, like any exercise, is also a good antidote to
stress. You go out, ride hard, and 'get it out of your
system' in a way that you just can't do if you climb
into a car. This makes cycling especially good for
commuters : instead of cursing your way through a
traffic jam, you arrive at work calm and collected,
and you arrive at home refreshed. Perfect.
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