Originally Posted by
bragi
You're massively exaggerating the health benefits of being on a bike; all by itself, cycling is not going to keep you very fit, unless you put in a LOT of miles. It's certainly a good addition to an overall fitness program, and it's way better than nothing, but it's not a panacea; I'm sure all of us have seen more than our fair share of pot-bellied roadies. If you're riding for fitness, you're going to have to get off the bike and do other things, too. And I'm pretty sure that diet has a much bigger effect on overall health than cycling does. A vegan non-cyclist is probably going to live a whole lot longer than a bacon-scarfing century rider.
Not that many miles, really. maybe 7 or 8 miles a day for most people, and 3 times that for people who are maintaining a large weight loss. Here is what the experts at
webmd say:
It's not like we haven't heard it before: Exercise is an essential part of the health equation, and 30 minutes a day is where it begins.
"Thirty minutes of physical activity is across the board to all adults, every day of the week," says Pate, who is a professor at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. "There is enormous scientific information to support this."
Meeting the 30-minute threshold will help a person maintain a healthy weight and reap health benefits like lowering the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and hypertension, according to the guidelines.
From there, the amount of physical activity a person needs climbs, depending on his weight status.
"For those who are following the 30-minute guideline and gaining weight anyway, they may need as much as 60 minutes a day to prevent weight gain," says Pate.
And at the high end of the spectrum is 90 minutes of exercise every day.
"The 90-minute recommendation is for people who have been significantly overweight, lost a substantial amount of weight, and seek to maintain that weight loss in the long term," Pate tells WebMD. "Data from the National Weight Loss Registry indicates that people who have been overweight succeed in losing and maintaining weight loss for an extended period if they are highly active during the period when they are maintaining the loss."
So, if you ride your bike a mere 3 or 4 miles to work (and the same back home) provides most people with all the exercise they need, provided they do a little something on the weekend. A one mile walk to work would work as well. On the high end, a 12 mile (1 way) bike commute or 3 mile walk would suffice for those who need the 90 minutes per day.
According to the guidelines, all physical activity counts toward the daily total, not just specific "exercise" periods. And nowhere in the guidelines do they specify that you must do more than one type of activity to reach your goal of 30, 60, or 90 minutes per day of physical activity. There is nothing wrong with cycling as the only form of activity, although of course some individuals might want to mix things up for various reasons.
I hope that this clears up some of the confusion. According to the best available information, 30 minutes of cycling every day is sufficient in duration and quality for most individuals. Other people with specific conditions should aim for 60 or 90 minutes of daily physical activity. This can all be done on the bike if you prefer.
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercis...-enough?page=3