Health Benefits of cycling ?

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a_n_t

Senior Member
Location
Manchester
Funtboy said:
I'm hoping the holy grail of playing football might be within my grasp by the end of the year!


i did 114 miles on sunday. legs = fine
1 hour of 5aside tuesday. legs = still hurts to walk!! :sad:
 
515mm said:
In fact, you've probably lost a few pounds of fat but put a similar mass of muscle on, especially those legs.

I didn't notice any difference for the first couple of months until one day, looking in the mirror after coming out of the shower, I thought ''Bloody hell! Who's that young looking bloke?'' I noticed that I had a V shaped torso rather than the O shaped one that had become so sadly familiar and my jaw had become visible and I had just the one chin. I was walking on air for weeks. Haven't really come down:smile:

Keep it up mun! It will happen, I promise.
That's what I keep telling myself!! Anyway, I'm 7-8cm down on my waist according to my belt.

I have lost a few pounds during the course of this year, but I'm not being especially careful about what I eat. I eat quite well: plenty of fresh fruit and veg and all that, whole grains and all the rest of it. But I do eat lots. And supplement the healthy stuff with plenty of cake.
 

jimboalee

New Member
Location
Solihull
There is one school of thought in some medical circles that the heart beats for a certain number of times in a lifetime.
Their point of contention is that the mouse has a very fast HR, but a short lifespan. Dogs and cats have a HR faster than a human but live less years.

Their bottom line is :- Increasing the HR for short lengths of time ( and becoming fit ) lowers the Resting HR and results in a net reduction of beats per day.

It is certainly true for motorcar engines. They only last n kWhrs.
But the difference between internal combustion engines and the heart is the internal combustion engine doesn't get stronger and more efficient when its parked in the garage.
 

Chris James

Über Member
Location
Huddersfield
FatFellaFromFelixstowe said:
Yep I used to suffer from that. Not had to use an inhaler now for over 5 years.

Funnily enough, I have been doing more biking as opposed to hillwalking since my first lad was born.

In that time I have developed asthma for the first time in my life and have now graduated to both a brown and blue inhaler!
 

bazzadigz C+

Senior Member
About 3 years ago I used to be 22 stone.

Now im at the top end of 16stone and have fitted back into the suit i wore for my brothers wedding 10years ago!

my resting heart beat is now 65bmp, i'm now attracting women in pubs (without them getting to know me first, not that i need to as im engaged)

All that on 8.5miles per day! soo to be going up to 14miles and looking forward to knocking that extra 2stone off! :biggrin:

If only it felt safer on our roads im sure the NHS annual bill would tumble with more folks getting back on the bike!
 
Been cycling regularly for about 18 months now, in this time have dropped over a stone [still eat like a horse though] also my resting heart beat is down to about 58 bpm [was 70]. Also seem to get less coughs/colds and require minimal asthma medication.

Only wish I had taken up cycling earlier!
 

yenrod

Guest
J4CKO said:
I am actually starting to see some weight loss now, have not measured it but have had to wind my belt in and make a new hole :rolleyes:

Still am probably carrying 2 stone of spare flesh but I feel so much better, went for a walk at Styal (Styal Mill park in Cheshire) and my legs felt so strong going up big flights of stairs and I wasnt getting out of breath.

I am augmenting my 14 miles a day with walking our new hound Bob the Border Collie, 3 miles last night and its like having a furry personal trainer, not going is not an option, he comes and sits on your feet.

I am now committed to loosing the 2 stone, 28 pounds less to haul uphill so have startted cutting out the crap, I passed on a piece of Tesco "Finest" Cheesecake last night. Am going to have Beer at the weekend.

--------------------

Juh reckon i could tag along too ! :biggrin:
 

iwf

New Member
I started commuting in Feb of this year, but didn't see much weight loss until I started reducing the amount of rubbish I was eating.

All the same I lost around 4kg, but felt 100% better for it. No colds since starting out. Didn't take any notice of cadence or anything, but I was fitter and probably turned some fat into muscle.

coming back from hols in late Aug, and getting a bit of a scare over blood pressure I decided to take the fitness a little more seriously. A cadence monitor and some research changed the way I cycled the 13 miles to and from work around 4 times a week.

Cutting out some of the crap plus the new cycling scheme has seen me lose 6kg since early Sept. Soon I won't be over weight (BMI scoring).

Very pleased with myself, but am worried that in exchanging my Trek hybrid for a road bike the lighter frame won't mean as much work each day. try as I might I still can't get myself out at weekends apart from a 10mile buzz round the local streets on a sunday morning.
 
OP
OP
J

J4CKO

New Member
IWF, sounds like you have made some real progress there !


I don't think cycling is a quick fix, its part of a regime, It has started spurring me on to do other stuff, its great for the legs but doesnt do much for your top half so am contemplating doing weights again (used to be very into it), doing a bit at home but will go to the gym again, the great thing is the way it uses dead time that you would waste sat in the car to do exercise instead of diverting to sit on an exercise bike on the way home and pay for it.

We got a dog a couple of weeks a ago, so I end up walking/jogging 3 miles as well, even if it doesnt burn that many calories I am not at home near the biscuits, same at weekends.

People are noticing that I look a bit slimmer, a walk with my mate the other day showed the difference in fitness, he is aching 3 days later, I didnt even notice it, he struggled with a flight of steps, quite high but I ran up, my hear was going fast but it felt good.
 
I hadn't really thought about it before but seeing posts here has made me realise that I've been much healthier this year in terms of colds and the like, despite warnings from granny that "you'll catch your death of cold if you go out riding in that weather". :eek:

I've just started fortnightly weigh-ins on the scales at the Leisure Centre where I shower. I'm not that bothered about weight loss but figure I ought to be showing some as I officially dropped a trouser size as of last week: my belt confirms that I've lost a few cm off my belly. So I might adapt my eating habits a bit, though I don't want to get obsessive about it.

We always used to do lots of walking but got out of the habit a bit when the kids came along: it's hard to drag them along when they're both tiny. We had one of those back-carrier things, but you can only fit one of them in that and Mrs-LC can't carry enough weight for long enough to make it worth getting another carrier.

However, this year, the Little-LCs have reached the age (5 and 8) where they can start to walk a reasonable-ish distance: 5-6 miles for the Littlest-LC, a bit more for Little-LC, albeit at about 1mph overall. We've sort of trained them up over the last few years, so we were able to do some walks in Wales with them: the Sugar Loaf in April and Cader Idris in August, and it was pleasing how easily I coped with those. Admittedly, we did the distance at a 5yo pace so it wasn't exactly arduous but still ..

As you say, J4CKO, it's my top half that needs sorting .. more swimming I think.
 
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