Cycling is a great way to exercise but it is also a good way of burning fat, as exercise generally tends to do. If done correctly, any exercise you do can lead to you losing fat, but some methods are more efficient than others. Cycling can be a great way of getting rid of fat from your body and will not stress your body or joints, for that matter, like running.
If you want to lose fat but do so efficiently, here are some methods which will help you do that.
Fasting – Fasted Riding
Instead of getting up and eating, the best thing you can do for yourself is get up and have some coffee or another form of caffeine intake you prefer and sit on a bicycle and pedal away to a different town to have breakfast. Fasted riding is shown to improve fat burning in cyclist, albeit you should be careful when are performing it.
Riding or performing any high-intensity exercise on an empty stomach while your carbohydrate levels are low, thus you are low on glycogen, you have a risk of fainting and peeking out way too early. Set a moderate pace and do not make your journey tremendously long. If you have to burn fat, chances are that you are not a professional athlete, or have the performance level of one.
VO2MAX – High Intensity Exercise
People tend to shy away from the high-intensity exercises as they tend to be the most demanding and they tend to put you in a very sore position afterwards. They are extremely necessary, however, as they are anaerobic by nature and burn more calories, thus helping you lose fat. That is not their primary purpose, however.
VO2MAX exercises help you increase your aerobic performance and raise your aerobic threshold, in other words, the level on which you can perform before you muscles start producing lactic acid. If your aerobic level increases, you can workout at your aerobic pace for a longer time and thus burn more fat.
Weightlifting – A Simple Alternative
Weightlifting is considered important, especially in modern cycling training routines. At least once or twice a week, you should consider doing compound exercises such as the deadlift or the squat. Strength training stimulates anabolic hormones in your body which also help burn and convert some fat into much-needed energy.
Oh, it helps that you also grow muscles from such exercise. While not exactly cycling, it is more than related, as studies have shown that many professional cyclists suffer from low bone density due working under no skeletal pressure (which weightlifting solves).
Get caffeinated (it helps burn fat by providing you with energy) and get out to cycle (first and eat later).