Don’t you just love it when you get frustrated with something and go out for a jog? Or when you simply want to get fit or lose weight, so you start going to the gym? The feeling of self-confidence and the adrenaline rush are amazing benefits that come from working out. Of course, a workout’s main purpose is to strengthen your body and improve it, but these side-benefits are just as important. But did you know that cycling, especially indoor cycling, can give you a full-body workout? Let’s see how and why exactly this happens and why, the next time you think about working out, you should give indoor cycling a shot!
Burn calories
A workout burns calories. It’s simple, and everyone knows this fact. However, indoor cycling is especially good at this. Burning calories means that you will slowly be losing weight. Of course, people need to intake enough calories to keep themselves healthy, so try to calculate everything.
Improve cardiovascular health
Our hearts are relatively fragile muscles with which we cannot live without. Sitting around and being a couch potato is incredibly bad for the heart. You can die from a heart attack if you aren’t physically active. This means that cycling is great to lower the chances of that happening. I’ve known a few people that had issues with their hearts because they were just sitting around. They gained a lot of weight, and they had to go to the doctor. Don’t let it come to this and start working out!
Achieve toned, shaped legs!
If you ever wanted to have great and beautiful legs – cycling could be the answer! Namely, cycling is quite effective in shaping and strengthening your legs, which isn’t a surprise considering that you pedal and strain your leg muscles each day. After some time, you will see an improvement in how your legs look so don’t be worried if the results don’t come as fast as you expected!
The upper legs and buttocks - These parts of your body get the ‘treatment’ they deserve. Your gluteal muscles and hamstrings benefit greatly from cycling. Indoor bicycles give you the option to adjust the settings. The lower legs - Your lower leg muscles also benefit from cycling so try to experiment with different bike settings!The upper body
You’d be surprised by just how much your upper body works when you cycle. Of course, this is much easier with an outdoor bike because everything moves and you’re trying to keep the balance but with enough concentrated effort, you’ll be able to achieve the same effect with an indoor bike. You can get yourself an indoor bicycle which has arm handles that are movable. This means that you’ll be able to do sort of like a rowing motion to activate your arm muscles and upper body. Also, try to stand up while pedalling because this also makes your upper body work.
Core and arm muscles – If you want a full body workout, you’ll need to concentrate on the core for awhile. You can achieve even greater results if you combine indoor cycling with some other exercises such as sit-ups. Reverse Biceps Curl – This is a neat little trick we recommend you do. Do reverse biceps curl exercises to make your arms even stronger? The trick here is that most gym goers disregard doing this exercise because it works a muscle that is hidden, so they think it’s not important. Give it a shot! Triceps pull down – If you can’t do this exercise at home, visit a gym. Almost every gym has a machine that allows you to do the triceps pull down exercise which will surely strengthen your arms even further!Author Bio
Jennifer O'Neal is a lifelong cyclist, enjoying the thrill of an outdoor ride as much as the one on her indoor cycling bike. She regularly contributes to allexercisebikes.net, a leading provider of exercise bike reviews and education.
