
What Happens to Your Body When You Cycle Every Day
Cycling has certainly experienced a boom in popularity over the last year or so. With a wide range of high-tech at-home stationary bikes available, cycling is more accessible than ever. However, there’s nothing quite like a group cycling class. The energy is unbeatable, and you’ll find yourself pushing harder to improve your fitness.
If you start cycling every day — or on most days — you’ll notice a number of changes to your body and your mind. Here are a few things you can expect when you start cycling every day.
Your Legs Get Strong
The most noticeable benefit of cycling every day: Increased leg strength. Your quads, hamstrings, and calves will grow exponentially if you pick up a daily cycling habit.
Your Core Gets Stronger
Cycling doesn’t strengthen your legs alone. Don’t be surprised if your abs feel sore after an intense cycling workout, because it works hard to keep your body stable atop the bike.
You Build Muscle
You may see cycling as a cardio workout, but bump up the resistance on your bike and you’ll feel your muscles burn along with your lungs. Cycling classes that include strength training intervals are a great way to build muscle.
Your Body Sheds Fat
Cycling every day is a great way to lose weight and body fat if those are your fitness goals. High-intensity but low-impact, cycling provides all the benefits of HIIT without taxing your joints.
Your Endurance Improves
A 30-, 45-, or 60-minute cycling class can improve your endurance, your optimal heart rate zones, and your VO2 max, all of which make you a better athlete.
Your Mental Stamina Increases
Cycling isn’t easy. Pushing yourself through a cycling class every day is one surefire way to improve your mental strength and resilience.
Your Disease Risk Plummets
Doing any form of exercise daily is known to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.
Your Immune System Runs Smoothly
In additoin to warding off chronic diseases, cycling will keep colds and stomach bugs at bay. Your body rewards you for your hard work by staying healthy — so you can hop back on the bike every day.
You Improve Balance, Coordination, and Stability
All that movin’ and groovin’ means you have to keep your balance. Learning to toggle resistance mid-workout and move from the bike to the floor and back (if you’re interspersing strength exercises) is also great practice for general coordination.
Your Bone Health Improves
Cycling is a bona-fide form of weight-bearing exercise, since you use your body to power the bike. If you add in elements of World Gym cycling classes, such as bodyweight strength exercises, your bone health will improve significantly.
You Become Happier
The benefits aren’t all physical. Regular exercise, including cycling, is heavily linked to lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.
How to Start Cycling
To people who haven’t ever cycled in a group before, the classes might seem intimidating, but that’s far from the case. At World Gym, cycling represents a community. Our GroupX classes are high-energy, exciting, and loads of fun. You’ll work hard and you’ll work up a sweat, but you’ll be doing so in the company of people who have the same interests as you and a certified coach who has your best interest at heart.
You don’t need any experience to start cycling — your GroupX coach will help you get situated on the bike and teach you the basics. You don’t even need to know how to ride a real bike to use a stationary bike, because our Precor stationary bikes help keep you stable throughout the entire ride.
Each World Gym location has its own schedule of cycling classes and coaches, so make sure to check with the location nearest you. Many World Gym locations offer different types of cycling classes to keep things interesting and help you get the most out of your membership.