How To Burn More Calories When Cycling

A lot of people use cycling as a low impact form of exercise to help shift weight. As well as being low impact, protecting the joints - cycling is also a very fun and stimulating form of exercise, allowing you to travel to new places, or see the same routes and areas with a different perspective. Although cycling alone will not see you dramatically lose weight, when cycling is combined with a diet plan - you can expect cycling to help you get into the best possible shape.

Although moderate cycling can burn around 500 calories per hour, there are things you can do whilst out cycling which can help you squeeze extra calories out of every ride. Below, we run through some tips and tricks in order to help you burn the maximum number of calories per ride.

Don’t Coast

You are only really burning calories on your bike when you are pedalling and increasing your heart rate. With this in mind, try and maximise the amount of time that you are pedalling on your bike, even on downhill descents. Times to remember to pedal include going down descents, as well as when cycling out of corners.

Head Off Road

Undulating and rough terrain can massively increase the number of calories that your body uses during a cycling session. The more rolling resistance that you experience, the harder that your body has to work to propel yourself forward. Those mountain biking across rough terrain can expect to burn more calories, as well as building new muscles and strengthening the core.

Listen to Music

Although just listening to music alone does not burn calories, using the power of music to help your cycling performance is really powerful. The right songs can allow you to dig deeper and have been scientifically proven to increase athletic performance. In some experiments, listening to music allowed cyclists to increase the distance cycled drastically. Of course, it’s important to stay aware of your surroundings when listening to music.

Cycling as Transport

To get into a healthy habit of burning calories more often, use your bike as a mode of transport instead of jumping in the car. Cycling five miles can burn around 200 calories.

Up & Down Hills

Love them or loathe them, riding up and down hills is the best way to burn extra calories whilst out riding. Depending upon how far you are cycling and your recovery times, you can climb whilst in the saddle, and on shorter climbs you can get out of the saddle for an incredibly intense climb. Standing on the pedals when cycling increases the heart rate whilst building core strength.

Buy Bikes Online

At Westbrook Cycles we stock and supply everything you need to get on a bike and get burning calories - from the bikes themselves, right across to personal protective equipment such as bike helmets. You can view the complete range across the site, and as always - get in touch if you have any questions about the best bike for your requirements.