You’d be surprised at the distances that some people cycle in a day.
Forget the usual bike enthusiasts who are happy to own the latest model in town. There are cycling freaks out there who take the art of bike riding to obsessive levels, putting in mad miles every day like they’re training for a zombie apocalypse.
This level of cycling brings up one fundamental question, how much riding is too much? Where is the line drawn as far as the number of miles a normal human being can manage in a day is concerned?
These are the questions we’re going to fully address on top of looking at the benefits and the limits. So if you’re bike enthusiasts who have been thinking of doing a long trip on the weekend, you may want to sit down for this.
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How Long Should I Bike for a Good Workout?
Biking is one of the most effective workouts that combine fun and major calorie burns. This is why many doctors recommended cycling for people looking to lose weight or keep heart disease in check.
When biking, the magic number is 400 calories burned in an hour while strengthening your body at the same time. Not many activities have this level of efficacy.
Depending on the results you aim to achieve, there are bikes that give people different results. Beginner riders who just started riding, for example, are advised to get a normal road bike and use it on the flat path to get their body acclimatized before scaling up to 20 miles and above.
For those looking for a much tougher fitness routine, then a heavy mountain bicycle is what you need. This will fortify your core muscles in the upper body as it trims down all the fat slowly.
The recommended biking duration should be 30 to 60 minutes for 3 to 5 days a week with good hydration and proper rests in between. You have to give your body time to heal after every workout to avoid pushing too far and inflicting permanent damage.
How Many Miles Should I Bike a Day to Lose Weight?
Losing weight isn’t like instant tea; it takes time and requires a combination of many workout routines and proper discipline. With cycling involved, the chances of reaching your goal much faster are heightened.
As previously mentioned, people burn about 400 calories per hour when they power cycle. With the average speed of a normal bike sitting in the region of 14 miles to 20 miles per hour, and considering that cycling for anything more than 2 hours is too extreme, then you’re looking at between 15 miles to 30 miles per day for the best results.
You don’t have to ride like this every day because the body needs to rest; therefore, you can space out the rides throughout the week, skipping one day or two in between. You have to switch up your diet too, cutting down on fatty foods while increasing energy-rich ones to give you the power to deal with the road.
Will I Lose Weight Biking 10 Miles a Day?
Biking 10 miles per day is more than enough ride distance to give you the results you need if losing weight is your ultimate goal.
Ten miles isn’t too much and neither is it too little for most people; it could be described as just right, especially for someone starting out with road bikes for the first time. It can be brutal to the body if you push yourself too hard.
The effectiveness of a 10 miles per day ride depends on various factors.
First is the route terrain. Cycling 10 miles on a flat paved route isn’t the same as riding 10 miles on a mountain trail; you use more energy to burn many calories for the latter as you have to deal with bumps, winding paths, and difficult climbs.
The type of bike also determines the effectiveness of this ride endeavor and how fast you achieve your weight loss goals.
A normal road bike isn’t that hard to handle over a long distance, but when you throw in a fat-tire mountain bike that can weigh up to 45 lb, then you’ll most definitely use more energy to ride over a long distance, and that’s much better. This ultimately is good for your weight loss goals as you’ll be burning more calories in the process.
If you’re a new rider, you can start with an exercise activity ride of 5 miles before graduating to 10 miles then 12 miles until you can comfortably handle 20 in a single day.
Can You Lose Belly Fat by Cycling?
When dealing with body fat, people are advised to concentrate their weight loss exercise workouts on the core muscles of their stomachs to increase the number of calories burned. This increases the body’s metabolism, heart rate, and the secretion of fat-burning hormones that also suppress your appetite.
How do you achieve all this with a bike?
The best way to deal with belly fat is to engage in a short quick race activity over challenging terrain. This form of high-intensity ride workout will even get rid of the visceral belly fat at a much faster pace than the usual lower-intensity gym ways.
The exercise races shouldn’t take a little bit too long and should be spaced out between breaks and proper hydration. You could do this ride about 5 times on a designated day several times a week, and you are sure to start seeing results.
What to Avoid: 4 Safety Tips to Keep in Mind
Just like any other form of weight loss exercise, there are some things you need to avoid doing when on a bike ride that may lead to injuries and other undesirable issues. Some of the notable ones include the following.
Don’t attempt to ride an improperly set up exercise bike. Exercise bikes need to be calibrated for the road, and this is done through serious checks before every ride.
A poorly calibrated ride may end up giving you back issues and other complications.
1. Stay hydrated
Failure to hydrate as you ride is dangerous.
Always carry enough water with you at all times to avoid feeling dizzy or, even worse, passing out in a remote place in the middle of nowhere. Have a protein shake later on.
2. Do warm-ups
Make sure you warm-up first before the exercise ride to avoid muscle cramps. Do some stretches and even jog a bit in the morning to rev up the body, making it ready for the road.
This increases the body temperature, your basal metabolic rate, stabilizes your heart rate, and gets the body flowing as well as preparing you mentally to burn more calories.
3. Wear the right clothes
Wear the right attire to stop anything from coming your way.
You need an uninterrupted cycling session of about 30 minutes to 60 minutes before taking a break. Therefore, wear the necessary riding gear to stop anything from getting caught up in the chains.
4. Take time to rest
Rest afterward by getting a good night’s sleep. Don’t rush through your routine doing 100 miles a week or 40 miles a day.
Doing long rides every day may sound like a great way to burn a good number of calories, but without proper healing and rest, you’ll simply be punishing your body instead. Set aside at least one to 3 days a week for rest.
The Bottom Line
Bike rides are fun, and at the same time, they can help keep your body in shape. You can combine other forms of health exercises as you get accustomed to doing long rides.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that you should never stop the rides even after achieving your goals; consistency is key as it’s easy to slip and get back to an unhealthy lifestyle.
Maintaining your health and fitness is much harder than cutting down weight. Also, becoming a consistent rider even when you don’t feel like it is the secret to staying fit all through.
If you’re a man or a woman looking to lose some weight through cycling, there are countless workout sites that teach people how to exercise properly using their bikes. Be sure to check them out.