Cycling to Improve Fitness

To be physically fit means that you have a healthy body and are in a state of well-being. Is your body able to perform well when you are working or participating in leisure activities? In other words: Are you fit? In the case of most people the answer is, “No.” But it doesn’t have to be that way.

There is an enormous industry devoted entirely to helping you become fit. Thousands of companies are ready, willing, able to sell you any number of pieces of exercise equipment, gym memberships, and over the counter supplements. Unfortunately, most exercise equipment ends up sitting in your basement gathering dust after the first month or two. Gyms regularly see their new members’ enthusiasm wane in the same period of time until finally the no longer walk through their doors. And when users of over the counter products realize that supplements have nothing to do with fitness they abandon them at the back of the medicine cabinet. Part of the problem is that these methods leave out one basic component that helps people maintain a quality fitness level: fun.

Cycling is fun as well as a healthy alternative to other forms of fitness. We spend way too much time sitting behind a desk at work or at home, and sitting on the sofa as a couch-potato. Remember your grandmother’s reprimand, “You sit around the house too much. Get out. Get some air. It’s good for you!” With cycling you can get out and get plenty of air while taking your mind off of your worries and being stimulated by all that is around you. In a car people zoom by things at such a speed it is almost impossible to be affected by your surroundings. On a bike, you are part of the surroundings and you can’t help but feel that inclusion. Cycling just makes you feel better. And of course it is a healthy activity in so many ways.

There are also many ways you can use a bike for fitness. Long distance cycling may be done individually or as a group. Racing can be done on a track or on a prescribed route across country. BMX style biking, a more aggressive method of racing, is popular in most parts of the country. Free-style biking, like skate boarding, is now a competitive sport as well.

There are four basic advantages to cycling: Cardio Fitness, Flexibility, Improved Body Alignment, and Developing Leg Strength.

These articles will cover each advantage individually.

Please contact us at yanL@downtube.com with any fitness related questions.