The amateur cycling is a sport that gives us countless benefits to our health: use our fat deposits, improves exercise capacity, it helps us face life with greater optimism and socially is a means of integration into different human groups. What are you waiting for? Get on your bike!
Cycling, understood as a sport and health, without mentioning the professional cycling is an aerobic sport to practice moderately we start eating other deposits: our fat deposits. Use of this body fat and muscle fuel assures us to have much more extensive fuel availability and muscle fatigue occurs much later in cycling than in other sports and this mobilization of our fat deposits causes number of changes in our lipid profile very beneficial for our health.
The human body as a result of regular physical training allows, on the one hand, prevent or delay the onset of certain diseases and, second, to improve the capacity of physical effort. In addition, there is a relationship between physical activity and life expectancy. Regular exercise improves our quality of life, we can from the psychological point of view confront it with more optimism, and better provision, while socially means integration into different human groups.
Those who are new to the sport, must take into account that must be increased gradually in both intensity and difficulty. If it comes to people over 40 years before the start must pass a medical examination to rule out heart or similar diseases, arrhythmia unknown.
It is advisable, before practicing, keeps a good flexibility and adequate muscle tone as it has a protective effect against injury and also improves performance and increases the range of possibilities offered by this healthy activity.
As for contraindications, no professional cycling is a sport that just does, except in those with heart and respiratory diseases in which the doctor has advised against. However, I is especially recommended for those suffering from joint diseases such as arthritis or osteoarthritis, and who want to avoid weight-bearing exercise, as long as the intensity and duration of suits the individual conditions of each.
You may be interested to read another article on LifeStyleQA: Exercise makes you happy, but … is any sport useful?
Benefits of bicycling
A sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for the development of many chronic diseases, thus introduce the sport in general and cycling in particular produces numerous benefits, both physical and psychological health as:
- Reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality in general
- Prevents and / or retards the development of hypertension, and lowers blood pressure values in hypertensive.
- It reduces triglycerides and increases HDL cholesterol.
- Improves glucose regulation and lowers the risk of diabetes non-insulin dependent.
- Improves digestion and regular bowel habits.
- Reduces the risk of certain cancers, including colon.
- Increases the use of body fat and improved weight control.
- It helps maintain and improve strength and muscular endurance, increasing functional capacity to perform other physical activities of daily living.
- It helps maintain the structure and function of the joints.
- It helps reconcile and improve sleep quality.
- Improves self-image and sharing an activity with family and friends.
- It helps release tension and stress management improves.
- It helps fight and improve symptoms of anxiety and depression, and increased enthusiasm and optimism.
- It helps control and improves symptoms and prognosis in many chronic diseases (ischemic heart disease, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, etc.).
You may be interested to read another article on LifeStyleQA: How to start a healthy lifestyle
Tips before cycling
Before cycling, it is important to consider some tips:
- Make the right set of cycling to optimize performance on it and it always the bike that suits the athlete and not vice versa. A suitable setting is greater comfort, improves performance and reduces the chance of injury. As a general rule we try to make the angle between the body and arms do not exceed 90 degrees.
- Pedal at high speeds has been shown more profitable than with low pedaling cadence, and it involves a smaller muscular requirement.
- Foot pedal requires more muscle activity therefore is less energy efficient pedaling seated. Only resort to this position for brief intervals such that when we exceed a difficult terrain, a length of maximum slope or when we need rapid increase in speed.
- Wear special shoes with a high degree of rigidity and proper foot placement represents a substantial improvement in the quality of the technical implementation.
- The path described knees in the frontal plane should be as straight as possible. Any movement that comes out of that verticality is a loss in the force transmitted to the pedals and can produce injuries.
- Another important aspect to consider is that force should only be done by lowering the pedal and try to relax the muscles as much as possible during the ascent phase thereof not realize it correctly can cause back problems because of the stress generated this level.
- All sports must end with a cool down period or progressive return to calm. At this stage the use of passive stretching is highly recommended, especially directed dorsal and lumbar muscles and back of the thigh
- It is also very important to make compensation muscle exercises have an effective muscle without imbalances and focused on the deep, paravertebral thoracic and abdominal muscles.
Leave a Reply