The Olympic banners have been rolled up and ready to move on to their next host country, Rio.  No sport in the Olympics has been as such as a success for Britain as the cycling events.  Bradley Wiggins struck gold in his time trial as did Victoria Pendleton and Sir Chris Hoy signalling a very successful Olympic games.

The impact that these cycling events have had on the country has been immediate.  Cycling retailer Evans Cycles have reported an increase of 35 per cent of bike sales and has seen an astronomical amount of traffic to its website since the Olympics.

Paired with the Governments bike to work scheme (a scheme which you can get a bike through your employers without paying tax on it) cycling is on the rise and its popularity can be seen in most big cities and country roads.  But what benefits does cycling have – especially when dealing with weight loss?

Cycling is a great way to keep in shape and has many benefits.  Not only is it cheap it works by improving all round fitness; you will lose fat and burn calories by increasing your heart rate as well as working and toning your core areas such as the stomach and lower back and also legs.  Also by cycling you do run less risk of injuring yourself with an impact injury – because you are pedalling there is no pressure on the joints like when you are running.

Depending on your start weight and the level of exertion, anywhere between 250 and 760 calories can be burnt in just a half hour session.  When trying to lose weight cycling provides the perfect platform as you can maintain a very good level of tempo without feeling too exerted.  The heart and lungs both get a great workout and the workout goes such a long way to improving cardiovascular fitness.

As the heart and lungs get stronger oxygen will be transferred around the body more efficiently, this is important to maintaining peak fitness levels.  Your resting pulse rate will also decrease and this in turn helps a person burn calories even hours later whilst enjoying (a healthy) snack  on the couch.

As your cycling plan progresses the body will start to become more toned.  The thighs will become more defined as well as the calves.  The stomach and hip areas will become tighter and stronger and the difference will be like night and day.

Cycling carries many great benefits and none more so that maintaining a healthy weight which will not only improve how a person looks but also how they feel.  Confidence will increase as well as having more energy to do things; so to sum up you will look great, feel good and hopefully have developed a new hobby!

BIO

Jennifer Jones writes on behalf of Health-on-Line and writes extensively about health and fitness in the UK.

1. Cut up carrots and potatoes into small pieces.  I usually go with one small potato and one large carrot per person.  Toss these in a pan with a little bit of olive oil and heat them on high heat until they’re soft.  Stir occasionally.
2. While the potatoes and carrots care cooking, chop up onions, broccoli and green peppers into small strips.  I usually go with about 1 head of broccoli, one half onion and one half green pepper for every two people.
3. When the potatoes and carrots seem ready (they should be soft and not crunchy), toss the veggies in there.  This is the point where you can also season the mix.  I like putting about two tablespoons of Chipotle Lime marinade and a few drops of hot peppers but this is really up to you.
4. Keep on high heat and stir occasionally until the pepper and onion seem to be softening up.  If things are burning up, feel free to add a bit of water to the mix to slow things down.

That’s it, you’re done.  You just made an awesome stir fry in about 20 minutes!

Option – Since I like protein, I’ll usually make some meat on the side, in small pieces that can be mixed into the stir fry.  I’ve done this with crumbled up sausages, cut up chicken thighs and so on.  Preparation is separate but once both meat and stirfry are done, I mix them together.

Enjoy!

Every time you think about this food, every time you see it, every time you crave it, think to yourself “gah!  That’s disgusting!”  Think of some negative aspects of this food (for me it was the prickly sensation in the back of my throat when I swallowed a cold soda) and emphasize how bad it felt.  Associate the food in your mind with something bad (for me, I kept thinking about all those chemicals and imagined a giant pool of oozing black liquid).  Keep doing this and pretty soon, your subconscious will start building up associations between this food and “BAD!”  Once you’ve done that, quitting is easy.

It took me about a week to stop consuming diet coke this way.

Bonus rule #3, if you're working out in heels, you're doing it wrong.

If you can do 10 reps, you’re not using enough weight – Trust me, adding weight won’t kill you, nor will it bulk you up like a body builder.  It will however make your workouts more efficient and your body healthier.  This is especially true for women who seem to think 20 reps with light weights is a good thing.  Sorry, the point of a weight workout is to challenge your muscles, not wear them out.

If you can read a magazine, you’re not going fast enough – This is for all of you on the elliptical or the stationary bike, reading your magazine like you’re at breakfast.  If you can do that you need to go faster.  A cardio routine shouldn’t be comfortable, it should be challenging and get your heart rate up.  If you want something easy, go take a walk and leave the magazine at home.

Good form matters a lot more than more weight – If you’re swinging your whole body around while trying to do curls, you’re not really doing curls, are you?  Good form helps prevent injury and provides for a better workout by isolating the muscles you’re trying to work on.  In general, the only thing that should be moving is the area of the body you’re trying to exercise.  If something else is moving, you’re doing it wrong.

When in doubt, ask – Find someone who looks like they know what they’re doing and ask for help.  Then find someone else the next day and ask the same question.  Do this repeatedly and sooner or later, you’ll start seeing a consensus emerge on what you should be doing.    People love to help and give advice, so why not use that?  Don’t sit there afraid to do something or, even worse, possibly doing it wrong, when you have a whole bunch of experts standing around you.

The core is what you should worry about – Guys work out their pecs and biceps, women work out their legs and butts.  No one works out their core, or at least not enough.  The core (lower back and stomach) is where the real work gets done.  It keeps us stable, helps out in almost every movement and burns the most calories.  It’s a solid sheet of muscle that goes ignored by most people.  Stop ignoring it and work on the core.  It may not be as sexy as a toned ass or a chiseled bicep, but it gets the job done.

Bonus rule #1, creating a nice body is like creating a nice world, it takes six days a week – Yes, you should be working out at least six times a week.  That doesn’t mean going to the gym six times a week, it means doing something physical like hiking, dancing, playing soccer and so on.

Bonus rule #2, look for ways to workout even when you’re not working out – Take the stairs up, walk down and then walk up the stairs again, work standing up, have really energetic sex, walk to the store, clean your house yourself, build a bench in your back yard.  Stop looking for ways to avoid physical work and start loving the opportunity to challenge your body.

My legs feel weak but my body feels great.  It shoots up my metabolism for the next two hours too, which is an added benefit to the stress release and exercise.  In short, this little staircase is how I keep my ass from getting too wide while sitting in front of the computer at work.

You might not have stairs near you but I’m sure you have something.  A desk you can jump onto, an empty conference room you can do push ups in, a roof you can do pull ups from.  Whatever it is, do it once every two or three hours.  Your stress level will go down and your body will thank you.