Does Cycling Reduce Belly Fat?

Cycling And Its Benefits

Cycling is a sport that can be enjoyed during any time of the day. Be it a breezy evening or a early morning, cycling can be a leisure sport. It also comes with the benefit of burning fat.

It has a massive effect on your body and helps burn calories. When compared to other forms of cardio, cycling puts minimal stress on your joints. Additionally, it is a best form of strength training and strengthens your heart, muscles and lungs.

Experts believe that sit up and crunches can be a best form of exercise that helps improve core strength. However, the stomach fat can be stubborn and requires a holistic approach to reduce burn the stubborn fat cells.

Scientific evidence states that high-intensity intermittent workouts have potential to reduce belly fat. However, the way you combine your workouts will have an effect on burning calories.

How Does Cycling Burn Belly Fat?

Belly fat increases the risk of diseases like heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure and other lifestyle illness. Before starting any workout regime, it is important to understand how it will impact the body and help burn the calories.

Cycling To Burn Body Fat

During workouts the leg muscle will have a demand for energy and forces the body to break down fats and carbohydrates to produce enough energy.

NCBI states that the body uses carbohydrates as energy source during high-intensity intermittent exercises. The body uses carbohydrates as a primary energy source as it provides two times higher amount of energy when compared to fats.

The Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition states the importance high-intensity intermittent exercises that helps burn the stubborn belly fat. Additionally it states that the breakdown of body fats occurs when the exercise intensity reaches between 45 and 65 pre cent of VO2max.

VO2max is the maximum rate of oxygen the body uses during exercise. So this is the maximum level of oxygen the body can use safely during workouts.

Determine Your Workout Intensity Level

The intensity plays a major role in burning fat. This does not mean you should run at a high pace for an hour. The best way to reduce the belly fat is making your body to use the oxygen level between 45 and 65 per cent VO2max.

Usually, you can monitor your VO2max when you workout in a laboratory. A mask will be used, where you will be breathing through the mask and it will determine the oxygen used by the body, when you workout. However, this type of testing method is not accessible to all.

Instead you can try the Borg Scale technique to determine the intensity of your workout or your physical activity. The Borg Scale is a self-reported measurement and runs from 6 to 20. The level 6 activity is the lightest and will not require any exertion, whereas, level 20 activity will require maximum effort.

On a scale of 6 to 20 in Borg Scale, cycling is placing at the activity of 13-14. This level is considered as moderate and tends to increase your heart beat.

Cycling can be performed either single or with friends. If you workout with your friends, it will help you keep up with your pace. Another benefit of working with friends is that you can motivate each other and you will not miss out any workout regime.

However, working out at a moderate pace can help you achieve your goal and can work out for longer time. Try to include cycling for more time, which helps burn the belly fat.

The Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, analysed the impact of workout duration. The experiment determined that belly fat burning occurs after 90 minutes of sustained sub-maximal workout.

Consider Cycling In The Morning

Cycling in the morning hits different. Additionally, workouts in empty stomach or fasted state have better results. The body tends to use the fat cells and the calorie burns occurs easily in a fasted state. However, the intensity of workout still matters.

A study was conducted on medium and low-impact aerobic exercises. The participants were advised to run in a treadmill at 25 to 45 per cent of VO2Max. The results determined that the body tend to shift towards body fat oxidation for energy.

Additionally, the study suggested that consuming carbohydrate rich snack during cycling or other workouts can reduce the body’s ability to burn fat.

Cycling Vs. Running

When it comes to high-impact workouts running and cycling tops our mind. These workouts are popular globally, and best for people who want to stay in shape, and revamp their health.

Running is a full-body workout. It impacts your muscle and improves cardiovascular endurance. The rate at which the body burns fat, will depend on how fast you run and the time of running. The weight of your body and fat mass of the body also matters.

For example, if you weigh 68 kilograms and run at 6 mph, you would burn about 660 calories in 60 minutes. Running on a flat land, uneven area or sand will also have an impact on calorie burning and helps burn more calories.

The area and time of running matters in weight loss. There are other factors that can impact cycling too. Factors that impact cycling are weight, distance covered, speed and fitness. If you are fit the body tends to burn less calories as the body will be efficient in using energy.

If both running and cycling are combined together, the body can burn more calories. However, these workouts are not magic to melt your belly fat. It is also important to maintain a healthy lifestyle, eat a balanced diet and work out regularly.

Working out for a day intensely will not give you good results. Consistency is the key to reduce belly fat and stay healthy.

Does Indoor Cycling Burn Belly Fat?

People who cannot go for cycling outdoors tend to choose cycling indoors. If you want to workout, consider your weight and overall health. Cycling can be easy on your knees and suitable for people who just started.

Running can be challenging for beginners and will require endurance. Running for certain distance can be lead to short of breath and you have to maintain a same pace. So depending on your requirement choose, indoor or outdoor cycling.

More Exercise Recommendations

Choosing a appropriate exercise depends on each individual and the time of workout will depend on the intensity of the workout. Regular exercise will help maintain healthy weight and helps you shed calories easily.

Try to spread the exercise evenly throughout the week and reduce time spending sitting or lying down. You can try high intensity interval training. Or try to mix it with both high intense and medium paced workouts.

Some workout recommendations are

• Brisk walking
• Water aerobics
• Dancing
• Tennis
• Hiking

Conclusion

Cycling can be a fun sport and also helps reduce weight. It will be easy on joints and also burns calories.

Moderate cycling for about 60 minutes helps burn about 300 calories. Spot reduction is a myth and if you want to lose fat you have to concentrate on your whole body. Apart from workouts, healthy eating is also essential to lose weight.

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