Friday, May 18, 2018

Cycling Can Help You Prepare for Trail Running

Cycling can burn 400 calories per hour.  It is one of the best cardio workouts. If you make it part of your routine, it builds strength and endurance.  It helps you get more fit for trail running. Using cycling as an interval training can help you achieve aerobic benefits, with less stress on the body.

Bike Exercises

There are various ways you can do exercise on the bike.  You can ride the bike uphill. You can also do short sprints.  Or, you can do long rides for endurance.

Cycling is a different method of maintaining fitness, especially for trail runners who sustain an injury.   It is hard to run if injured. Since cycling is a low-impact sport, it does not put too much pressure on the back, ankles, and hips.  You can recover from injury quickly if you do cycling.

Compared to cycling, running is a high impact sport.  It can put strain on the joints and leg bones. Constant running can cause stress on both knees and ankles.  When you bike instead of run, you give your bones some time to rejuvenate from the rigors of running.

Even if you bike over long distances, the amount of stress on the knees is still far lesser compared to running.  This allows you to train and stay fit without putting too much stress on your body. Thus, allowing your joints and bones to run faster.

How Cycling Help Trail Running

Cycling improves cardiovascular fitness.  During biking, the body releases blood chemicals, which gives the heart a healthy workout.  Cycling conditions the body for the more demanding pressures of trail running.

Cycling also builds muscles.  It uses the hamstrings, glutes, and quadriceps at varying stages.  It may not put as much pressure on those muscles as running, but it does use them so you can run faster and smoother.

Biking also strengthens your core and thigh strength.  Strengthening these areas is important because it helps prevent injury in trail running.  However, it does not use tertiary muscles or build ligament strength quickly, unlike running.  When you bike, it takes time to build your body and strength in those areas.

Cycling does not boost power and speed.  However, you can easily achieve both power and speed by doing gym workouts.  Gym exercises can complement your biking regimen.

Do a 60 to 90 minute sessions on the bike.  Bike workouts should mimic your running workouts.  If you can run a quarter mile in 60 seconds then do a second bike ride in between running.

Cycling is a great way to train for trail running.  When you bike, you boost your cardio fitness. You also build endurance and strength, without putting too much stress on the leg muscles.

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