Any runners and/or cyclers here?
I'm in pretty poor shape but I've started lifting consistently for the first time in my life and I'm very optimistic about the future. While reading about what activities I should partake in to improve my health running always comes up with it's seemingly infinte benefits to both body and mind, what about cycling though? Is it on par with running?
I feel like running might be boring enough for me to give up early, while I've always enjoyed a good bike ride.
I'm Dutch, so not a sports cyclist, I just use it as my main form of transport. In my experience it is way more enjoyable, less of a strain on your joints, and easier to get into. Plus you get pretty strong legs from it.
Cycling hands down, especially if you live in Europe. Better in the joints, can plan much longer distances which make for a less boring trek, in every category cycling wins except one, cycling costs money
Thanks for the advice bros, do you suggest any particular kind of bicycle if I decide to get into it? Anything in particular I should pay attention to?
Cycling is better if you can coast.
don't go expensive. If you make a commitment to cycling just get a cheap long lasting bike that u can always have around and will always be able to get you from point A to B. Rocky mountain have a lot of good quality cheap roadbikes.
I'm a cyclist.
Usually ride 25 miles a day, it's fun. Weekends I can do anything from 100-175 miles because I like to go for long rides when I have time.
Buy a cheaper bike and see if you enjoy it, have a friend who dropped $2000 on a bike and I've seen him ride it less than 10 times.
With all that in mind, I want to start running too, it feels like a different kind of cardio compared to cycling.
Yeah: get into mountain biking if you want something fun, get into roadbiking if you need a reliable form of transport. You could get into both if you have the time and the cash. I started up mountain biking and love it. What keeps you motivated is learning how to ride progressively more and more difficult shit. Plus you get jumps, berms, tabletops, and loads of other interesting trail features vs monotonous road.
How do I bike for more than 30 without feeling like I took a hammer to my gooch?
Cycling is a whole lot easier on your joints. You can also get pretty crazy quad definition from HIIT cycling.
go to /n/, they have a bike-buying thread that wil help you. Usually it's based on your local craigslist but if you're not in the US that's usually not a good option. But look for a good reliable second-hand road bike and you won't need to spend more than a couple hundred bucks.
your bike fit is wrong, you shouldn't feel uncomfortable. When cycling you sit on the parts of your pelvis that stick out (sometimes called your sit-bones by cyclists). They go on the back of the saddle and you shouldn't really be touching the front end of the saddle much. Try reading up online how to fit your bike to you, or take it to your local bike shop and ask them to help. It's very important your bike is well fitted to you, if not you'll get gooch aches, loss of bloodflow down there, you can get knee pains if saddle is too high and it gets a lot more tiring to cycle if your saddle is too low.
Also don't fall for those huge gel saddles, they won't fix the problem and if you're that fat you need a 30cm wide saddle then you should probably start off with walking/swimming first.
Would cycling be a good warm up before running?
I need to get into cardio and I was thinking of biking 20mins to a local track, then running for another 20mins
Living in the Netherlands is dank as fuck because we have seperated bike lanes from traffic. I bike every day to the gym
I enjoy running more. I get so bored on a bike.
yeah sounds good, make sure you stretch before running. i bike to and from gym and i feel warmed up and ready to go when i get there.
I want to start biking but I don't know where to begin or where I'd bike, I live in the city.
Competitive cyclist here, pure chance that I happened to stumble upon this thread since I very rarely come to Veeky Forums aside from picking up some strength training tips for the off season.
I train on the bike about 15-20 hours per week, at high intensities, and I have to tell you; it is literally impossible for me to maintain any muscle on my upper body. I eat about 3500-4000kcal per day to maintain 145lbs at 6'1'', and I have to eat so many carbs that I feel bloated and uncomfortable often.
Of course, for your purposes simply to get a bit of cardio in I would recommend cycling, it's by far the most enjoyable thing I have ever taken up, nothing compares to the feeling of flying up mountains and passing people who are struggling to maintain a cadence, once you get into it you might even give up weight training altogether!
tl;dr - give it a go, highly recommended activity!
You need to weigh time and effort as well as gains. Cycling takes more time and less effort, but fewer gains unless you ride for 90-120 mins. Running takes much less time (40-60 mins or less) and is significantly harder but has much faster gains and impact on health.
If you're in poor cardiovascular condition I'd suggest buying a bike and working up to 15-20 mile rides as a starting point and then try running.
Remember that form is very important to both of these and running/riding with bad form can cause a littany of problems. If you have the money get a bike with clip in shoes as they will automatically place your foot on the correct spot.
Good luck user
Find your nearest bike store and ask about the nearest trails for beginners. They'll fix you up with a cheap bike and you can learn from there
>doing cardio
Not gonna make it
Now I keep hearing that I should strech after my workout, not before. Is this a meme or am I just stupid?
But it makes the base of my pee pee hurt
It's highly repetitive and gives you one-sided and unbalanced muscular development
What's it about? Maxing out your oxygen transport capacity?
Also bikes always need maintenance, unlike a barbell
I do both and enjoy both a lot. That said for my purposes (weight loss) running burns a lot more calories and gets my heart thumping a lot harder than cycling. Really though, both are very enjoyable, I just find I push myself harder when running and enjoy easier riding on the bike for longer periods.