Biking Questions?!!!?

Question

Does riding a bike help you loose weight? If I ride a bike will it help me develop calf and "butt" muscles?

Do you think bulky calf muscles are considered to be s**y on women?

Is riding a bike considered to be cardio? How long shoudl I ride it for if it is considered to be cardio?

Answer 1

You ride a bike for fun, adventure, freedom, joy, independence and exploration. Loosing weight and getting in shape is just a happy side effect!

It can be cardio or aerobic depending on how hard and/or long you go. But ideally you should be having such a good time so as not to even notice.

Answer 2

As long as your calories in are less than your calories out, then you will lose weight...however it will take a while unless you ride a lot.  It is unlikely that you will get large calves from cycling for two reasons: 1) you are a woman and women do not tend to develop large leg muscles from cycling and 2) cycling is an aerobic sport, not weight lifting, thus at no time on the bike are you putting out more than 20-30 pounds of force through the pedals.

To answer your second question, riding a bike is of course cardio.  Not is the length of ride a factor, but also the intensity.  Of course if you are starting out from being a sedentary individual, you should not go over 60-65% of your heart rate, but if you get it cleared with a doctor it would be more beneficial to go as hard as you are allowed, as you will be burning more calores, plus giving your heart a better work out.

Answer 3

Riding a bike will help you lose weight, especially if you are doing it regularly and as cardio, i.e. breaking a good sweat, not just piddling around.

It can help build your calf and butt muscles, but not nearly as much as weight training (calf raises with weight and squats with your heels on the floor).

If you want to affect your butt muscles on a bike you need to ride bent over like on a road bike. If you ride sitting up fairly straight you will only be using your leg muscles, not your butt muscles.

Cardio means getting your heart rate up and keeping it there through exercise. You can go as low as a half hour if you are really working hard, or do an hour or more at an easier but still sweating/breathing-to-hard-to-talk-easil... pace.