Cycling vs Running – Which Workout is Better For You
The debate engages athletes, doctors, and scientists—anyone interested in determining whether one sport is superior to another in delivering physical, mental, and environmental benefits.
Personal preference plays a significant role in this choice. If you dislike running or biking, no amount of evidence will convince you to pick the less appealing option. However, we’re here to present the facts, which don’t lie.
While it’s natural to favor your preferred workout, set aside your biases and consider what the facts reveal.
Which contributes most to cardiac health?
Women’s Health magazine contributor Mallory Creveling is a fan of both sports, noting that “both make me sweat buckets.” Her conclusion aligns with the idea that the best exercise is the one you enjoy enough to stick with, avoiding boredom or harm to your body.
Dr. Michael Smith, an avid cyclist, states, “Biking is about as ideal as a cardio exercise gets. It provides a low-impact workout that builds strong legs and improves heart health.” He highlights that cycling strengthens the heart, which is particularly reassuring for those concerned about a family history of heart disease.
Cycling is great for your heart and easy on your joints—and who wouldn’t benefit from a ride through lush scenery that makes life feel eminently worth living?
Which can help you burn more calories?
Leah Groth advises Livestrong.com readers to stand back and wait for the fireworks when initiating a debate about whether biking or running delivers a better workout!
Her research into calories burned during both types of exercise is enlightening and worth a complete read. “Generally, running and cycling result in a similar number of calories burned. But as with all workouts, the exact caloric expenditure depends on the intensity and duration of the workout.” Here you can read the whole article.
To up the number of calories you burn, you can increase your speed, add hills to your route or try interval training, alternating between bouts of speed and recovery periods.” Groth uses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculations to prove her point, ending the debate by concluding that when it comes to calorie burn, “it’s a tie.”
If you’re leaning toward biking because you have a hunch you can burn more calories by riding, add these habits to your routine, says Marc Lindsey, contributing to the MapMyRun.com blog. Eat after you ride — not before — alternate the amount of intensity you employ, stop coasting when you ride downhill (keep pedaling, man), and add a few moderate-intensity rides to your weekly schedule if you don’t already do so.
Does biking or running build more muscle?
Whether you’re aiming to build just your leg muscles or every muscle in your body, choosing between cycling and running requires an understanding of anatomy, writes Judy Kilpatrick for Chron.com. She explains that “running and biking use the same muscles, albeit in different ways.”
Both cyclists and runners tend to have well-developed lower-body muscles, but upper-body and core muscles are also crucial for these activities. Running develops strong quadriceps and hamstrings, while cycling also engages these muscles. Unlike running strides, pedal cranking requires a pushing and pulling motion, activating both quads and hamstrings throughout most of the crank cycle.
Calf muscles benefit more from cycling because “muscles get a greater workout as the foot points and flexes during pedal cranking.” Additionally, when it comes to core muscles, biking takes the prize. The process of balancing body weight while riding a bicycle significantly contributes to stronger core muscles.
Which workout is your best choice for weight loss?
Having narrowed down your exercise choices to running and bicycling in an attempt to lose weight, of course, you want to know which will do the job faster. “Either activity can contribute more greatly to weight loss than the other, depending on your exercise approach,” writes William McCoy for Chron.com.
But like the other experts cited in this article, this winds up as an apples to oranges comparison because other factors come into play that determine the speed at which weight can be lost.
That stated, whether you ride a bike or run, the intensity and frequency you apply to your workout determines how fast you lose weight since the objective, in both cases, is to burn more calories than you consume. For those who seek numeric verification, a 190-pound person who rides a bike can burn around 690 calories an hour at 13mph.
Up the speed to 15mph, and the same biker can burn up 863 calories. On the other hand, if the same person runs, he or she can burn about 690 calories by running for an hour at 5 mph and 863 calories by running for an hour at 6 mph.”
Will cycling or running be kinder to your budget?
When James Fell launched his website Askmen.com, his desire to help guys be the best men they could be, so when he took on the topic of running v. biking, he minced no words.
Says Fell, “It’s possible to spend a crapload of money on both of these activities, especially if you’re traveling to run marathons like I’ve taken up doing. Every five months, it’s a new $150 pair of shoes, plus a small fortune over the years for a variety of all-weather running clothes.”
But if you’re up for making your favorite sport an obsession, you’re going to drop big bucks for a proper bicycle and then make sure it’s maintained to your standard so you neither break down at inopportune times nor find yourself with no means of transport.
“My bike alone is nine years’ worth of running shoes,” Fell reports, which is why he felt obliged to declare running the winner in the battle between cycling and running when comparing expenses.
So, have you decided which seems like your best bet?
By now, you’ve probably realized that both of these activities easily compete in the aforementioned categories, but what about the factors that can make a major difference in the way you live your life?
James Fell went above and beyond when he compared the two and proclaimed that biking is off the enjoyment chart when compared to running, making this outrageous comment: “I have a road bike that can reach pants-crapping speed when going down a steep hill, and it really lets you know you’re alive.”
But perhaps the best reason to choose a bike over those trendy running shoes has to do with a long list of benefits that are beautifully articulated in our awesome article here. We came up with 35 reasons your life can change for the better if you prioritize biking over running.
