Do You Prefer Indoor Cycling or Outdoor Cycling and Why?
“Do you prefer indoor cycling or outdoor cycling?” Several people have asked me this and I think they can be wonderful in their own way and for different needs and levels of fitness. Several factors play into which kind you should choose when starting to work out on bikes. This year, I began a dieting and fitness journey in order to improve my health and activity levels. I began with walking around the block and soon worked my way up to the stationary bike and then on to biking on my mountain bike outdoors. The first factor to take into consideration is stamina. On either bike, you can stop at any time to take a break but with the outdoor bike there are added levels of strain on your legs and body produced by the differing terrain, altitude and obstacles along the road or path that need to be taken into consideration. While on a stationary bike, you can adjust the levels of resistance on most new models in order to control the amount of energy you need to exert in order to keep your pace. Mountain bikes also have this in the form of gears which range from 1-20 on most bikes and the difficulty gets higher as the number gets higher.
Image via Wikipedia
Also, when thinking about your stamina and abilities to bike, it is helpful to begin on a stationary bike. If you bike until you’re legs are exhausted, it’s very simple to get off of the bike and go sit down or do another activity. While biking outdoors, there is the added factor of getting back to your home or starting point once you have hit that level of muscle exhaustion. This is often a difficult factor and could lead to overtraining which can cause muscle fatigue and injury in extreme cases.
Indoor cycling Vs. Outdoor cycling
The benefits of biking outdoors are numerous. The scenery can be beautiful on an outdoor trail which makes working out more enjoyable. The feel of the wind on your face and body as you move keeps you cooler and helps regulate your body temperature which in turn keeps you feeling more refreshed than if you were to be soaked in sweat in a room with no airflow. The different terrains give the body a constant need to adjust itself and the strength that it needs to use and build to be able to keep going.
The downfalls of biking outdoors are smaller and include fighting against the elements. It’s difficult and miserable to bike in high humidity or through a thunderstorm and this can throw off your workout schedule. Additionally, there is no way to bike outdoors in the winter if you live in an area that has snowfall. There is also a need for more protection during outdoor biking. You need to protect your body from the sun by using a sensible amount of sunscreen of a high SFP block rating as well as a helmet for safety reasons.
Indoor cycling can be performed in nearly any attire and has no need for safety wear or sun block. There is no beautiful scenery for the most part but I enjoy having my stationary bike located in a room with a television. That way, I can watch my favorite shows or a movie while working out and it creates a distraction from the actual pedaling which often leads to longer workouts. Sometimes, I even read a book while I work out by not holding onto the handles of the stationary bike and I can enjoy my reading, do assignments, and catch up on the news etc. while I am also improving my fitness. I’m a fan of being able to multitask and make things more enjoyable whenever possible. Sometimes, when logging my exercise on a stationary bike, I have comments from friends saying ‘I bet the scenery was lovely!’ which is sarcastic but sometimes it can be true. When you need a break from being outdoors or you are just wanting a quick work out, its best to do it indoors where you can relax a little bit more and be more comfortable either in your own home or at your local gym.
A little bit of outdoor and indoor cycling …
Image by tejvanphotos via Flickr
Both modes of biking provide good results in muscle building, fat burning and providing your body with the exercise it needs in order to stay healthy. The choice of which is better is really a personal choice and for myself I enjoy indoor cycling on a daily basis with the addition of outdoor cycling when the weather is good or I can use it as a form of transportation. Using outdoor cycling as transportation has the added benefit of getting yourself to another location without spending money for gas. With gas prices reaching record highs in the last year and predicted to follow the same pattern again in the future, it is wise to use your body’s own power to get around town if you have the ability to do so. By cycling around town, you are also decreasing your carbon footprint and helping to lower the levels of pollution in your area which provides numerous health benefits for both nature and the human population of the area.
Regardless of the method of biking that is chosen, the results will be shown, and your body will become much healthier than it had previously been in a sedentary lifestyle. You have the opportunity to not only improve yourself but the lives of those around you and that is something that the world could use a little more of. It’s a small step to improvement but it is definitely a starting place. I can see how both of the methods of biking could be wonderful and helpful in their own ways and would recommend that a person starting out begin with an indoor cycling and build their way to an outdoor cycling and then continue until it can be used as a form of transportation in addition to a form of fitness related exercise.