How fit do I have to be to ride a bike?
We ask the questions that beginners are dealing with and get answers from the experts
STEVEN VIRTUE, FITNESS CONTENT PROGRAMMING MANAGER AT TOTALFITNESS.CO.UK
“Cycling is a very accessible form of exercise and there isn’t a specific level of fitness that you need to have to take it up. What’s most important for beginners is that they get the right kind of bike, both for their frame and the type of cycling that they want to do. It is also important that beginners set achievable and realistic goals when it comes to cycling. Establish a cycling route and continue to measure the time it takes you to complete it – once your speed begins to increase, you can look to add more challenging elements to your route, such as gentle inclines and offroad paths where the uneven terrain can provide increased difficulty. However, you can improve your fitness for cycling through building up your core and lower body strength. Simple core exercises like planks, hollow holds and bird dogs, are a great way to improve stability on the bike, while lower body workouts, such as lunges and squats, will help increase your power and strength-endurance.” such as running, making it a great entry point for people looking to get fit. If you have underlying health concerns and are looking to start a new fitness regimen then get medical advice first, of course. But another great thing about cycling is that as soon as you get on your bike you can cycle and you’ve got the ability to select routes that are less demanding according to your needs and your current ability. As you ride more, you progress and your fitness improves, your capacity to do more increases. Cycling is also an exercise you can do in groups of varying abilities – once we’re permitted to ride socially again. It’s a great motivator to workout and a key component in consistent exercise. Cycling also has a variety of different components in terms of determinants of performance. Fitness is multifactorial; it’s not just about aerobic capacity, there’s also strength, ability, agility, flexibility, strengthendurance and anaerobic capacity that all make up ‘fitness’. By selecting different routes and modalities – using turbos, going on-road, going off-road, doing sprints and endurance rides – and by being eclectic in your approach you’re much more likely to improve each of these determinants of fitness. Cycling is a broad church from a 200-metre sprint on the track to the Tour de France. We can hit every facet of physical fitness on the bike – we just have to be creative about the environments in which we do it.”
“CYCLING IS NOT WEIGHT BEARING SO IT’ S A GREAT ENTRY POINT FOR PEOPLE LOOKING TO GET FIT”