How Often Should You Cycle To Get Fit? A Complete Guide

Whether you are a beginner or a professional, everyone has the goal of getting fitter. That being said, training is a way to challenge our bodies to adapt and become stronger and fitter.

To keep progressing in our fitness journey we need to either increase the difficulty of the workout or increase the number of days or duration of the activity. This means riding further, harder, or more often.

However, if you are stuck in a routine of doing the same amount and intensity of cycling, you will find your fitness will plateau. That means your fitness will stagnate and may even decline over time.

So knowing this, how often should you cycle to get fit? Well, a lot depends on the amount of training you are doing, your background, time available, and your ability.

In this article, we discuss how often you should cycle to get fit and whether just cycling alone is enough to improve your fitness.

How Often Should You Cycle To Get Fit?

Improving your condition requires the right amount of training. That means not doing too much that your body breaks down, but enough to constantly see improvements in your fitness. Then this needs to be paired with the right amount of recovery each week that helps you take advantage of the gains you have made from the training.

So, how often should you cycle to get fit?

If you are a complete beginner, cycling 3 times a week for 20-30 minutes will help improve your fitness. However, after the first month, you should look at increasing this to either 4 days a week, or by increasing the duration of the rides by 10 minutes.

By doing this, you will prevent the body from adapting to the training. Like any exercise routine, it is important to place stress on the body and pair it with the right amount of recovery. That means every few weeks something in your training needs to be adjusted to allow more stress to be placed on the body. When it comes to cycling, it usually involves increasing the length of your rides, riding more days each week, or adding intensity to your training.

When it comes to a more experienced cyclist, cycling 3 days a week won’t cut it. You will need to increase the number of days you train to either 5 or 6 days a week. Once you are at this level of training you will then need to structure in more intense cycling workouts to get the same benefit as riding in each week.

However, for the average person, cycling 3-4 times a week is a decent amount of cycling that can help improve your overall fitness.

Can You Get Fit Just By Cycling?

Since cycling is a great cardio workout, you can get fit by just cycling.

While cycling is a great way to improve muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness, don’t expect it to make running or other sports easier. Even though cycling can help your fitness, it won’t help you adapt to the impact of landing on the pavement or help strengthen your core under load as running does. However, that doesn’t mean cycling can help your running it just won’t offer some of the advantages of getting fit by running.

Since cycling is a cardio workout, you will burn close to 400 calories an hour. It will also help to strengthen the lower body, including your legs, hips, glutes, and calf muscles. It is also a low-impact exercise that places less stress on your body than running or weight training. That means it can be performed by a range of people and fitness levels, making it easier for people to improve their fitness when they start.

 

Is 30 Minutes Of Cycling A Day Enough?

For most beginners, cycling 30 minutes a day or every second day is enough to improve their fitness level. But like we have discussed, this will only improve fitness for a short amount of time. Then you will need to increase the duration to see the same improvement.

By being consistent and starting with 30 minutes of cycling a day, you will start to notice an improvement in your aerobic capacity. This will enable you to ride longer or ride faster at the same level of effort.

What Is The Disadvantage Of Cycling Over Other Activities?

While cycling is one of the best forms of cardio, it requires the most time. For time constant people, cycling may not be viable. If you only have a limited time to train each day and you are looking for the best exercise to improve your aerobic fitness, look at running or rowing instead.

However, if you are looking for the best low-impact exercise, cycling can help improve your fitness while placing very little stress on your bones, tendons, and ligaments.

Another disadvantage to cycling is the cost. Other sports like running or swimming require very little upfront cost. Cycling on the other hand requires the purchase or rental of a bike, helmet, and clothing. For some people, this can be an expensive sport to undertake. So, if cost is a deciding factor, look at other sports like running or swimming which require far less upfront cost.

Other disadvantages of cycling over other sports include:

– Weather conditions
– Dangerous drivers
– Road hazards
– Storage for your bicycle
– Unsafe roads

If you are a beginner, learning some basic handling skills can also put people off. Learning how to ride in a group, descending hills, and dealing with changing weather conditions are all something you need to learn when cycling.

With all that being said, cycling is still one of the most popular forms of getting fit. It also allows you to get outdoors, and experience the country you live in while placing very little stress on the body.