Bicycling is one of the best, easiest, and most popular forms of exercise there is! It is also one of the least expensive, because quality bicycle equipment lasts so long. It is a superb muscle-toning and aerobic exercise, but no matter how much or how far you ride, you will never start looking like Arnold!
To get the most benefit from a bicycling-fitness program, be sure to consult with a physician before starting. Here we will cover a few of the basics and tell you some of the things that will make your workout more successful, safer, and fun.
To get the most benefit from a bicycling-fitness program, be sure to consult with a physician before starting. Here we will cover a few of the basics and tell you some of the things that will make your workout more successful, safer, and fun.
Bicycling is mainly an aerobic (meaning "with oxygen") exercise. Aerobic exercises elevate your pulse rate, increasing your cardio-vascular activity.
The other "kind of exercise is anaerobic ("without oxygen"). Strength training and weight lifting are anaerobic exercises. They break down and re-build the bodys muscle tissue, but generally don’t elevate the pulse rate.
The three main components of an aerobic workout are: frequency (how often you exercise), intensity (how hard you exercise), and duration (how long you exercise). In general, to get the greatest benefit from a calorie burn-off, aerobic, and muscle-toning standpoint, you want to exercise 3 to 4 times a week with your pulse rate in the suggested target zone for your age for a period of at least 20 minutes. You ONLY get an aerobic workout, the primary cardio-vascular benefit, when your pulse rate is elevated. The basic formula for determining your recommended pulse rate is as follows: (We will use a 40 year old person for our example.)
1. Begin with a maximum pulse rate of 220, and subtract your age. (Subtract 40 from 220, the remainder is 180.
2. Multiply the remainder by 60% and, again, by 80%. (60% of the remainder 180 is 108 BPM [Beats Per Minute]. 80% of 180 is 144 BPM.)
3. You have now calculated the pulse rate where your body starts to get an aerobic benefit (108 BPM), AND A MAXIMUM pulse rate (144 BPM) you probably shouldn’t exceed.
4. The more "fit you are, the higher a pulse rate you can, and will want to, sustain. Consult with your doctor to determine whats best for you.
Most people who try to take their own pulses with their finger on their wrist or at the carotid artery in the neck while working out UNDERESTIMATE their pulse. It is very difficult to count while exercising. That is why God invented Heart Rate Monitors!
PULSEMETERS or HEART RATE MONITORS
· The reason to use a pulsemeter or HRM when riding your bicycle (or an exercycle) is your pulse rate defines the amount and the extent of aerobic benefit you are getting.
· The only way to accurately and safely determine your pulse is with a pulsemeter (heart rate monitor).
· There are 3 kinds of pulsemeters that, for a wide variety of reasons, should NOT be relied upon…if used at all!
· A "finger-cuff unit into which you insert your fingertip.
· Another is like a wristwatch strap that "reads your pulse from your wrist.
· A third uses a small clip that attaches to the earlobe and is connected by a wire to the "read-out unit.
· The only reliable kind of heart rate monitors on the market has an elastic chest strap with a small, battery-powered transmitter snapped onto it. When strapped on, it "reads and wirelessly "transmits your pulse to a battery-powered, watch-like receiver you wear on your wrist.
· The accuracy of most good quality pulsemeters is nearly equal to hospital heart monitors and EKG machines.
· Some HRM double as digital wristwatches and also display the time of day.
· Pulsemeters with upper and lower "limit alarms are a wise choice. They can be set for your lowest and highest recommended pulse rates, and will "beep at you when you are either below or exceeding your "aerobic target zone.
2. Multiply the remainder by 60% and, again, by 80%. (60% of the remainder 180 is 108 BPM [Beats Per Minute]. 80% of 180 is 144 BPM.)
3. You have now calculated the pulse rate where your body starts to get an aerobic benefit (108 BPM), AND A MAXIMUM pulse rate (144 BPM) you probably shouldn’t exceed.
4. The more "fit you are, the higher a pulse rate you can, and will want to, sustain. Consult with your doctor to determine whats best for you.
Most people who try to take their own pulses with their finger on their wrist or at the carotid artery in the neck while working out UNDERESTIMATE their pulse. It is very difficult to count while exercising. That is why God invented Heart Rate Monitors!
PULSEMETERS or HEART RATE MONITORS
· The reason to use a pulsemeter or HRM when riding your bicycle (or an exercycle) is your pulse rate defines the amount and the extent of aerobic benefit you are getting.
· The only way to accurately and safely determine your pulse is with a pulsemeter (heart rate monitor).
· There are 3 kinds of pulsemeters that, for a wide variety of reasons, should NOT be relied upon…if used at all!
· A "finger-cuff unit into which you insert your fingertip.
· Another is like a wristwatch strap that "reads your pulse from your wrist.
· A third uses a small clip that attaches to the earlobe and is connected by a wire to the "read-out unit.
· The only reliable kind of heart rate monitors on the market has an elastic chest strap with a small, battery-powered transmitter snapped onto it. When strapped on, it "reads and wirelessly "transmits your pulse to a battery-powered, watch-like receiver you wear on your wrist.
· The accuracy of most good quality pulsemeters is nearly equal to hospital heart monitors and EKG machines.
· Some HRM double as digital wristwatches and also display the time of day.
· Pulsemeters with upper and lower "limit alarms are a wise choice. They can be set for your lowest and highest recommended pulse rates, and will "beep at you when you are either below or exceeding your "aerobic target zone.
Bicyclists who use their bikes as a part of a fitness regimen indoors OR out, SHOULD use a heart rate monitor, AND anyone with any type of cardiac problem or who's involved in a cardiac rehabilitation program should absolutely use a heart rate monitor.
