So i have introduced cycling into my workout. I was wondering which gear is the best to ride at to get the optimal result. I am looking to burn fat and gain muscle in legs and abs. Sent from my SGH-I747M using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Ok now i see how that may have been misleading. No i dont mean steroids. I mean, my bike has 8 gears, 1-8, 8 is the most difficult. Is riding fast on a light gear more effective or high gear at low speed? Sent from my SGH-I747M using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I don't know much about cycling but I have always held an unwarranted prejudice that it is the easy way out of doing hard exercise. The way I see it is if you aren't challenging yourself at all (riding in gear 1) then you are wasting your time.
I would check out some YouTube videos. I know you want to have a pretty steady cadence regardless of gear to be the most efficient. If you want to gain muscle, which I'm not sure you can do but cycling, you might tone but not build. Anyway your best bet would would be to.stick to the tougher gears and really try to pump your legs. Intervals where you're peddling super hard for a minute or two then rest for 30 sec then do it again would also be better then just a steady ride
keep in an easier gear and work on cadence, stick to the gear that will keep you spinning 80-90 rpm. thats best for aerobic exercise. running sprints and climbing are great ways to mix it up on the bike.
I also think you should find gears that allow for high cadence. For a proper bike workout, you should find your feet going around pretty fast, faster than you see recreational riders pedaling and you should be breathing pretty hard; you should feel about equal burn in your lungs (or your breathing muscles) and your legs.
Dude learn what bikes gears are for haha! The lower gears are for going slower and require less power to make the bike move (They are also used for going up hills and making it easier) and the higher gears are for going faster, as simple as that. So when you find one gear easy and you aren't gaining speed then change up a gear, then again when that gets too easy. If you want to burn fat stay in a fairly high gear (around 6) and stay at a moderate speed for a long time and try to not change gears especially down. I don't know if you drive a car but it's the same concept, when a car gets to a certain amount of rpm then you change up a gear to allow you to go faster, and then when you get to having too little rpm for that gear to make the car move then you change down a gear. Simple!
I never went lower than third, mainly because I didn't want the outermost teeth on the middle set of gears to be free to rip holes in my trouser legs XD Limited me to shifting up/down in multiples of three but I only really had 3 gears in my mind anyway; incline (3, 6, 9), decline (24) and anything in between was a cruising speed. I find it hilarious when I see people struggling to balance because they're going so slow. Get off 1x1, you're just being inefficient. Sent from my Nexus 4 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
If you want to burn fat then a lower, easier gear works better. You want to get you legs moving quickly and steadily, that's why you see people in spin class pedaling as fast as they can. There is a medium to be found though, while pumping your legs 100 miles an hour on gear one might help burn fat, you'll look dumb and won't get great results. If you just want more muscle in your legs a higher gear, lower cadence is good. It makes pedaling much more physical, where you have to really push to get going and stay moving. Really though the best is probably somewhere in between, that way you can keep up a fast cadence to burn fat but still have enough resistance to gain muscle as well. Increased muscle can also help with fat burning, as the more of it you build the faster your body will burn calories.