10 benefits of cycling

Practicing a sport provides health benefits, in this case cycling is one of the disciplines that most strengthens the muscles of your legs. In addition, cycling decreases stress levels, increasing work performance and creativity in people. It even benefits children in their growth.

1. Helps fight osteoporosis

If you are wondering what cycling is, you should also be concerned about the benefits it brings to your body.

The benefits of cycling every day are multiple. One of them is that it fights osteoporosis. This is because some studies have shown that older cyclists, who suffered from osteoporosis, over time regained the ability to replace bone tissue.

2. Prevents obesity

The second of the benefits is that it prevents obesity, so if you feel a little overweight and you don’t like going to the gym, ride at least 1 km every day by bike to lose weight. Cycling is effective because it increases your metabolic rate, burning body fat. Also, with cycling you will develop muscles and have a much healthier life. Of course, at the same time that you train cycling you must maintain a balanced diet, to see better results.

In addition to this, according to a British investigation, riding a bike loses weight, since the athlete burns 300 calories per hour if he cycles twice a day.

3. Strengthen your muscles

You may not know which muscles cycling works, so you may be surprised how many of them you can strengthen. One study showed that in the so-called power phase of pedaling, ie going uphill, the cyclist uses the quadriceps in the thighs. Likewise, he uses the muscles of the buttocks and calves, as well as the gastrocnemius muscle.

Also, on the descents or the so-called recovery phase, you usually use the flexor muscles in the front of your hips and the hamstrings in the back area of ​​the thighs.

As if that were not enough, cycling strengthens your abdominal muscles, as you need to stay upright and balanced. In addition, you will improve the muscles of both your shoulders and arms, as you will use them to grab or control the handlebars.

4. Strengthen your immune system

Another benefit of cycling is that thanks to it you strengthen your immune system. As Aging Cell has shown, in two interesting articles where they evaluated the immune profiles of 125 adults who had maintained a good level of physical activity, specifically cycling, the result was that the anti-aging effects of this sport also extended to the immune system.

Similarly, they found that the thymus, an organ that produces immune cells called T cells, in elderly cyclists produced these cells just as it did in young cyclists.   

5. Prevents the risks of cardiovascular problems

Mountain bike training prevents the risk of cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks and strokes.

Likewise, according to a Danish investigation, the practice of cycling on a regular basis brings important benefits to the human being, since it strengthens the lungs, the circulation and the heart. Therefore, we recommend you ride a bike every day to reduce the risk of suffering from these problems and maintain good health. 

6. Fight depression

Riding a bike also helps you fight depression. This is a disease that children, young people and adults can suffer from. In this same sense, although the consequences may be different for each person, most have low levels of neurotransmitters, specifically norepinephrine and serotonin.

However, these can be stimulated by cycling, as this sport helps attack chemical imbalances that cause depression and increases endorphins in your body. In this way, you will feel happy and have a positive attitude, counteracting depression.

7. Reduce stress

Cycling sport lowers stress levels. Let us remember that this can be caused by both everyday and work situations and produce various symptoms in the person; for example, headache, lack of energy or concentration, anxiety, depression, insomnia, sexual problems, among others.

Along the same lines, a study conducted by Concordia University found that people who cycled to work had lower levels of stress and better job performance.

8. Decreases the risk of having cancer

An important benefit of having an active life, whether running or cycling, is to reduce the risk of developing cancer, therefore, if you want to continue enjoying a healthy life, we advise you to ride a bike or practice running.

We also mention that cycling helps reduce colon cancer by 40%, breast cancer by 80% and bowel cancer by 60%.

9. Improve your sex life

Sex life is important for every human being and with cycling you will get benefits in this area. This is because cycling increases desire for a partner and physical performance in intercourse. 

10. Improves cognitive functions

Finally, one of the results of cycling is the improvement regarding your cognitive functions. By pedaling daily, the blood flow in the brain increases, preventing you from suffering from dementia or other cognitive diseases in the future.

On the other hand, if you want to ride a mountain bike and also go hiking, we recommend using Gore-Tex gaiters, as they will keep you protected from water and mud. 

In order to obtain all these benefits, a cycling training plan for beginners is important, that is, a routine for people who are just starting out in this sport. In this sense, an excellent option is to train El Salón (road cycling) with a personal teacher. He will help you train correctly, gradually improving your physical performance.