Cycling for Fitness

  
   
 
  • Never again wipe down a piece of sweaty gym equipment – cycling is exercise in the fresh air
  • You’ll share a bond with Madonna – she is one of a growing band of celebrity cyclists
  • Cycling is great for your love life: Not only will your body be honed, but your strength, stamina and aerobic fitness will all be improved.
  • Cycling doesn’t only tone your legs – it’s great for your bum, too
  • Turn back the clock without resorting to surgery – cycling gives a level of fitness equivalent to being 10 years younger
  • Why diet during the barbecue season? Riding a bike burns about 300 calories per hour
  • Cycling will make you rich! Okay not rich, but bicycles don’t need road tax, MOT, insurance, fuel or to pay for parking
  • Cycling can even help you stop smoking. It’s true; regular physical activity encourages other healthy behaviour
  • Feel a glow of self satisfaction as you tell your friends that your cycling is helping to reduce noise and air pollution as well as traffic congestion

Regular exercise is important for health. Just twenty minutes a day doing something that leaves you slightly breathless, greatly improves your overall fitness.  It is hard for lots of people to fit even this into a busy lifestyle, so using a bike is ideal, because time travelling is also time spent gently keeping fit.  People who exercise live longer and have fewer illnesses. Cycling also helps keep your weight under control.

Cycling is the best way to get fit and stay fit! Cycling is a low impact exercise and doesn't put the high loads on your joints as jogging, or even walking can do! The smooth rotary action of pedalling helps to maintain healthy joint and connective tissue, preventing many skeletal problems in later life. As we say on the front page of this site, 'cycling is the only means of road transport that actually increases your life expectancy'.

Equally, cycling can reduce stress. Driving in urban traffic is a frustrating experience, often leaving you tense.  By bike, journey times are more reliable and it is often possible to stay away from traffic and bypass queues.  Something that lots of cyclists value is a sense of freedom, a break from the rest of the day and being in touch with the world outside.  Going from a centrally heated house to a car and then an air-conditioned office deprives you of contact with your surroundings.

Many fitness clubs run spinning classes using static machines, but these are nothing like as enjoyable as the real thing. Cycling will get you out into the countryside, where you will discover quiet roads, country pubs and pretty villages that car drivers never normally see! Get out into the countryside, feel the wind rushing past as you glide effortlessly along, this is the cycling that we know and love!

With very little practise you will be amazed how far you can ride. Experienced cyclists think nothing of riding a hundred miles in a day! Whilst this is obviously a little ambitious  for a newcomer, most people who have never ridden beyond the end of their road, can soon manage a touring ride of up to fourty miles with very little practise.

Cycle Training East's instructors have skills in all aspects of fitness training, from competition cycling for 'Elite' category riders, to coronary recovery programs or loosing weight programs for complete beginners.

As well as our 'Bikeability' National Standard Instructors, we have British Cycling Coaches and Sports Coach UK Coach Tutors. (yes, we train the coaches as well as the riders!) We can take you from participation level to the peak of competitive fitness.

We can also put you in touch with suitable cycling clubs and/or groups who have others at a similar fitness level to you. (not all members of cycling clubs are super fit!) Riding in company is even better than riding by yourself and helps to provide an incentive to turn out regularly for a longer ride. You will find that many cycling events are put on every year for the less fit rider. Charity rides and Randoneeś are an example of these. (a Randonee is a timed ride over a set distance, say 30, 50, or 100km). Look at the following web-site link for an example of the range of cycling club activities.                        Chelmer CC

Where ever you want to go-

Think health, Think bike, Think 'Cycle Training East'