Will Cycling Burn Belly Fat?
Whether it’s summer season and you’re wanting to look good on the beach or you want to shed the extra winter pounds to make room for more holiday dessert, we’re never short of reasons as to why you would want to burn your belly fat.
Like most of us, our bellies are areas at which we often build up fat and bulk up in unwanted pounds. Although it seems to be quite easy to gain weight in that area, it unfortunately, is usually the most difficult place to get rid of the fat.
However, if you’ve already gotten into biking or if you’re looking for a fun way to help you feel confident in your bikini, cycling can help you lose that unwanted belly fat and overall achieve a fitter and leaner body. It’s a very mobile, easy way to burn the belly fat right off!
Before we begin our article, we first want to make sure we let you know—there is no magic formula for losing weight. The process of losing weight and belly fat can look different for everyone! With every fat-loss success story, there’s a different path that has gotten them there.
However, one thing is quite common among all the different paths to fat loss success—if you combine a healthy, routine regimen of exercise with a nutritious diet, then you most likely will be well on your way to lose body fat—which will then also be lost from your belly, as well! Hello, six-pack!
Most people think that you can target specific areas of fat on your body when exercising—and although that’s true when it comes to weight lifting or bodyweight training exercises—if you’re doing cardio, it’s a different story.
In most cases, when done correctly, cardio and aerobic exercise can help get your body moving and promote fat loss—but all throughout your body. Every “body” is built a bit differently—with somebody types more likely to gain weight in particular areas. Knowing how or where your body gains weight can help you target it more with exercises—but cycling can be good for everybody type!
If you’re looking to burn that fat by getting on your bike, here are some tips to maximize “burn-age”
Either keep a steady pace throughout your ride or
work with interval training.
Both types of “workouts” are going to be very effective when it comes to losing fat.
If you choose to keep a steady pace, longer rides at a moderately intensive pace are going to keep you at around 60 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, which is an effective cardio and fat-burning workout.
When the intensity is lower, then you’re also more likely to keep up with the pace and finish the workout instead of burn-blasting your body.
However, if you’re looking for an interval training session, this will kick up the gear with calorie-burning—which will continue, even long after your workout is over. From a two-minute sprint to 30-second rest, these interval training workouts on your bike can target the extra fat on your belly and help you burn a lot of calories for a long amount of time.
Just because you’re getting a workout on your bike for the day, that doesn’t mean you can go all-out in the buffet line and not worry about your nutrition.
Losing belly fat and fat overall means having a healthy balance between calorie expenditure and calorie input.
The logical truth here? You need to burn more calories than you consume. Period. If your calorie deficit—when you add in your workout—is more than what you’ve eaten that day, then you’ve done it right.
Although this is simple logic, people want to try and bypass this conversion and come up with a “quicker” way to burn fat—maybe be eating less and depriving their muscles of fuel or by eating more and trying to compensate with the workout. However, it’s important that you don’t take an unhealthy turn.
Making healthy food choices isn’t that hard when it comes down to it. Although you might think you could binge on junk food because of the amount of cycling you’re doing, that isn’t the healthiest attitude.
Hydrating properly—not only during the ride but also afterward and beforehand—is also an important component in your quest for fat-burning weight loss. Not only does hydration help keep you healthy for your ride (so you can complete your workout), but it also has weight loss properties in its own right. Filling yourself up with water can minimize cravings and can help keep you off of those junk food snacks in between meals. If you feel like your appetite is caving in during the day, reach for a bottle of water before you reach for a bag of chips. Most of the time, you’ll come to find that your “hunger” is often just thirst in disguise.
When it comes to eating healthy, you don’t have to be extreme with your diet. By starting off slow toward a healthier day-to-day nutrition plan, you’re more likely to stick with it long after you begin. In the beginning, you can focus purely on certain small changes until they become the norm.
For example, you can try swapping out sugary drinks like sodas and energy drinks with water. This can help eliminate those empty calories that often build around the belly. Once you’ve gotten used to drinking water more often, you can then start eliminating unhealthy snacks, by reaching for fruits or veggies instead. These are just a few things you can do to help you make progress toward a nutritious diet.
Don’t just rely on your bike.
Although biking is a great start to get some cardio in for aerobic exercise toward fat loss, you can also supplement it with weighted or bodyweight exercises on your days off—or even before or after a workout.
You can also do “cross-training” workouts on your days off, which are aerobic workouts that can improve your fitness level. This can help keep you active on days where you’re not cycling, use different muscles that you normally wouldn’t use on a bike and bump up your fitness level!
Although you might think for your belly fat you need to focus on abdominal-oriented exercises.
However, aerobic exercise, in general, can help you burn all that away.
Circuit workouts where you’re constantly moving and changing exercises or full-body, movement workouts like Zumba classes or kickboxing are all fun, great ideas to get your heart rate up and burn extra calories—especially in your stomach area!
If you also want to add in core exercises to help work on the strength of your core, this isn’t a bad idea either. The stronger your core, the better chance you have of tapping into your other muscles and fitness levels to help you burn belly fat.
Get an adequate night’s sleep.
There are so many benefits to sleep—and making sure you get a good, quality night of it. Not only does sleep help promote healthy mental and physical function, but it can also have a pretty weighty impact on your journey to fat loss!
There are a few aspects as to how sleep can affect your cycling as well as your fat loss performance.
First and foremost, if you’re getting a good night’s sleep, you’re less likely to stress during the day. Stress has a huge impact not only on performance, but it can also affect your mood, your emotions, and your actual physical ability to lose weight.
Since you’re lacking in sleep, your body tends to go into survival mode, saving on every calorie you ingest rather than trying to burn the fat away. Your imbalance in mood can also lead you to stress eat, which doesn’t help when trying to lose belly fat (some people turn to stress eating, which can lead to weight gain).
Cycling can help counter stress, combat anxiety, and boost your mood, which can help you get a better night’s sleep—so the benefits work both ways!
Also, if you’re not incorporating a recovery or recuperation, this can impact your sleep quality. Sore or pulsating muscles can lead to a lack of sleep! This means that you need to be actively recovering with foam-rolling, stretching, and even ice baths to help engage lactic acid and promote the healing of your muscles.
Biking and Belly Fat
All in all, biking can be a fun and effective way to burn belly fat—and fat all over the body, in general. So, whether you’re looking to get smaller in the waistline or if you tend to gain weight in that area and you’re looking for a great way to help keep off the extra pounds, you can definitely think about biking for burning belly fat.