Burn More Calories by starting a Bike Routine with the Family

Are you looking for an effective way to improve your overall health and relieve stress without having to do any heavy impact running or jogging? Bike Riding is a relaxing weight loss activity that will provide you with a renewed feeling of freedom as you take in the beautiful local scenery with this proven stress-relieving exercise. For those of you who suffer from joint issues, rest assured that riding your bike is a wonderful low-impact workout that won’t overstress your joints as you burn calories, lose fat and strengthen your body. These health benefits are multiplied when you add in the whole family on these fun outdoor excursions. You will not only hold each other accountable, but there are so many opportunities to create beautiful family memories together as you ride to your favorite family picnic area on a warm afternoon. Still need more reasons that you should ditch the running shoes and get a new bike? Here are 7 major benefits of taking to two wheels:

1) Fight Depression and Decrease Stress Levels  

“Any mild-to-moderate exercise releases natural feel-good endorphin’s that help counter stress and make you happy,” explains Andrew McCullohch, CEO of the Mental Health Foundation.  So if you’ve been feeling a little depressed or sluggish lately your goal should be “just three 30-minute sessions a week which is enough to give people the lift they need.”

2) Make Shopping Trips Fun

Attaching a cargo trailer to any bicycle is surprisingly easier than you might think. Cargo trailers are great if you and your family love to frequent local Farmers Markets or if you need to load up on some groceries for the home. Plus these cargo trailers can hold up to 100 pounds. This is an easy way to build up those calves and tone your leg muscles.

3) Improved Joint Mobility

Due to the bicycle’s inherent design, cycling puts less stress on your knees, ankles, lumbar and spine than walking or running. This is good news for many of you that suffer from inflamed or stiff joints, osteoarthritis, or are recovering from a physical injury and need to find a way to get in a good heart pumping cardio session.

4) One of the Easiest ways to Exercise

Choosing to ride a bike is a favorite exercise of mine because it’s time efficient. Whether you’re cycling for the exercise or if you are using it as a way to commute to work while in the city, you are still losing calories. Depending on how congested your city can become, it’s arguable that bike riding can serve as a faster commute than your car. While that may not be true in every circumstance, you are definitely losing more calories than the regular sedentary act of sitting in your car, burning zero calories, while stuck in rush hour traffic.

5) Help Fido Lose those Extra pounds

You may not realize it but a study conducted by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention found that 52.7% of US dogs are either overweight or obese.  If you have a bigger dog, look into getting a Safe Distance Dog Lease bike accessory.  Although, if you have a smaller dog, look into getting a functional bike pet carrier to transport your pup to a nearby dog park.

As both you and the pooch build stamina, your furry best friend will look forward to these fast paced outings more than your traditional walks around the block.

6) Bike Riding Improves More than Just Heart Health

For all of you fitness fanatics that believe that cycling isn’t as effective as other exercises, bike riding proves itself to be a great physical activity that effectively taxes the cardio-respiratory and metabolic functions of the entire body.

According to the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports “there is strong evidence for: lower risk of early death, heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, adverse blood lipid profiles, metabolic syndrome, colon and breast cancers; prevention of weight gain; weight loss when combined with diet; improved cardio-respiratory and muscular fitness; prevention of falls; reduced depression; and better cognitive function in older adults.”

7) Burn Calories Faster

If your goal is to increase weight loss than I would highly suggest choosing to hop on a bike as your exercise of choice. Harvard Health has published the results of three individuals in different weight classes and how many calories they burned after only 30 minutes of exercise. Take a look on how your new family bike routine stacks up on the list:

While you can obviously bike a lot faster than what’s shown above, it’s exciting to know that if you were to ride for 30 minutes a day, three times a week, you could burn about [highlight2]3500 extra calories – or about a pound of fat – each month![/highlight2]

So if you are ready to kick start your family’s weight loss plan then click the link below to check out the latest deals that we have on our exercise equipment on Aosom.com.