Which is better for fitness - commuting or longer ride on the weekend?

[united4ever]

I commute about 15 miles a day round trip. Would this be equivelant to doing a 75 mile ride at the weekend and not commuting in the week? I am not planning to give up my commute but just curious. I am guessing the 75 mile ride would have more impact on fitness/health?

 

[vickster]

I'd say the commute, regular daily exercise, good for mind and body, depending on your commute route, probably less stressful than driving or public transport. All a bit depends on how hard you push maybe too...fitness/health is a many facteted thing

 

[ianrauk]

A daily commute can be the bread and butter of cycle fitness

 

[Crackle]

Daily Commute. It's a fitness of it's own and a base for other things.

 

[nickyboy]

I'm not a commuter but I've changed my pattern to more shorter rides (akin to commuting) instead of fewer longer rides. The basic idea is that I can manage a higher intensity on average by doing more shorter rides so that extra intensity should benefit my fitness

It's working

Of course there's a lot more to cycling than fitness. Longer rides are great because I get to see bits of the countryside I don't see very often. But on a pure fitness basis, more shorter rides seems to work for me

 

[united4ever]

oh great, this commuting lark is the gift that keeps on giving Good point about intensity of short rides, I go fairly fast but would probably not be able to sustain it over a longer ride.

 

[Tin Pot]

I commute about 15 miles a day round trip. Would this be equivelant to doing a 75 mile ride at the weekend and not commuting in the week? I am not planning to give up my commute but just curious. I am guessing the 75 mile ride would have more impact on fitness/health?

Little and often beats occasional overdose every time.

 

[Debade]

I think the daily is better than once per week.

If you are not doing other higher exertion exercise during the week, on the commute home (assuming you do not have a shower at work), you may want to try to get your heart rate up for a few miles, a few days a week. Ride hard for a distance, recover for a similar distance. In other words, do some interval training that pushes your heart. I think that could make a big difference to your physical abilities in the same amount of time as your commute.

 

[Siclo]

Opinions seem to be divided . The theory being on one hand those who exercise regularly tend to do so at a lower intensity, guess the authors didn't study silly commuter racers

 

[ColinJ]

My cycling for years tended to be ... nothing much, followed by the odd longer ride like that 75-miler. As a result, I got overtired on the long rides, and so took long breaks from the bike to recover.

I am often joined on my rides by riders who do a regular cycle commute. I can't think of one of them who isn't pretty fit. Most of them left me trailing in their wheeltracks and had to wait for me at the top of every hill.

A friend of mine transformed his fitness by riding only a couple of miles each way to and from work. I could see the difference immediately when I met up with him after he had been doing it for a few months. I saw him again a year later after a change of job had put a stop to it and he had lost it all again.

I make an effort to do more shorter rides now, as well as 2 or 3 longer rides a month.

I say that the commute would be better, but try and get the odd longer ride in too.

 

[si_c]

My daily commute is around 13miles each way. I push myself fairly hard and average between 17-20mph. I think that does far more for my fitness level than the longer rides I might do at the weekend, it's much higher intensity (I'm usually running late), as they are much lower intensity, and more about time in the saddle than anything as I'm not usually racing.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

I'm in exactly the same boat.

I do a 5 mile and 5 mile commute which is slightly lumpy and intense (150 feet)
I then do a 15 mile lunch ride (600 feet)

The at the weekend I try and do a leisurely 30-50 miles.

So about 90 to 140 miles a week all going well.

The commute definitely gives me a fitness boost.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Depends what you want to be "fit" for.

I'm now fit for trundling around slowly for hours and hours on end, on the basis of long weekend rides. On the other hand last year when I commuted I became quite good at riding 7km on a Brompton.

 

[Debade]

Opinions seem to be divided . The theory being on one hand those who exercise regularly tend to do so at a lower intensity, guess the authors didn't study silly commuter racers

Thanks for posting this. I generally agree with the study. My only issue if that if a person missed the solo weekend ride, the entire weekly exercise is missed.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Get the best of both worlds - Extended commute.