How Many Miles on a Bike Is a Good Workout?
Give yourself a pat on the back if you have taken on the interest in riding a bike daily to work out! It is a top-notch cardio workout! And you can burn a good amount of calories by just riding for one hour of the cycle. But burning “a good amount of calories” might not be what you are actually looking for.
Instead, you might be thinking of getting into shape by riding the bike. Well, if that is the case for you, you might be wondering how many miles on a bike is a good workout. Well, the good news is that you came to the right place to get your answers.
We, a team of professional cyclists, know all about biking for exercise. And we will let you know all about the topic in this in-depth discussion.
Cycling for Working Out
The general rule of thumb is that the faster you go, the more calories you will burn. However, when it comes to how many calories you will burn while cycling, it will depend on a couple of factors.
But if you go back to the rule of thumb, the heavier your body is and the faster you bike, the higher the number of calories you will burn. And the good news is that Harvard Health Publishing came out with some valid estimates on how much you should bike to burn a certain amount of calories. Here are the main takeaways:
- 596 calories in one hour if you ride at 12 mph to 13.9 mph
- 744 calories in one hour if you ride at 14 mph to 15.9 mph
- 892 calories in one hour if you ride at 16 mph to 19 mph
Take into consideration that these estimates are for a person that weighs around 155 pounds. Now, if you have a body weight of 185 pounds, the numbers will be a little different. And they will look something like this:
- 710 calories in one hour if you ride at 12 mph to 13.9 mph
- 888 calories in one hour if you ride at 14 mph to 15.9 mph
- 1066 calories in one hour if you ride at 16 mph to 19 mph
As you can see, the calories you will burn will highly depend on the speed you are riding the bike. Also, you need to consider your body weight.
That said, even if you target the lowest number of calories, you will be cycling for around 12 miles in an hour. And depending on your body weight, you will burn 710 or 596 calories. And that is a lot of calories to burn for an average of 10 miles bike ride.
What Kind of Bike Should I Get for Working Out?
The estimates that you have just gone through above for biking outside. However, Harvard Health has also ranked stationary bikes as the most efficient cardio machines in the gym. With that, you can burn 800 to 900 calories per hour. Yes, it will also depend on your body weight and the speed you are setting the bike at.
On that note, the thing that makes stationary bikes easy to ride is their padding on the seat. They also have pretty wide pedals. Some of them will even offer you a generous amount of back support. So, if you are looking for biking for hours with the most comfort, stationary bikes are the best pick.
Nonetheless, you should get a BMX or Mountain bike for outdoor riding. It will be possible to get the highest overall outcome from those bikes. But that does not mean that you can not work out with other bikes. You just have to pay a little bit of attention to the seat position, speed, and time you are spending with it.
Talking of which, you can also get padded seats on the road bikes. And if you do some modifications on the bike, you can enhance the comfort level to a high amount.
Final Words
So, how many miles on a bike is a good workout? Well, regardless of your body weight, 12 miles to 13.9 miles in an hour is a good bike workout. But if you are looking for an intense bike workout, your should target higher miles per hour.