Are Cruiser Bikes Good for Exercise? [YES, and Here Are the Reasons Why]

Cycling has become a part of the fitness world since people discovered its health benefits as a sport. Initially, cycling was seen as a form of transportation and leisure activity. But today, people found a way to integrate cycling into their workout routine.  

Moreover, the use of cruiser bikes in exercising has become more and more popular. Not only it can be a good vacation activity, but it can also provide physical benefits in the form of exercise. 

The use of bicycles in exercising is considered a low-impact workout. Meaning, it is less straining to the body and yields fewer injuries than other forms of exercise available today. Cycling also improves cardiovascular strength, muscle strength, joint mobility, and posture. It also helps in improving the stress levels of an individual. 

Benefits of Using Cruiser Bikes for Exercise

There are a lot of health benefits that cycling offers. One is that it is a practical form of exercise. You don’t have to avail a gym membership to perform this workout. In fact, all you need is a decent cruiser bike, a decent track, and yourself. For individuals who do not have the time to travel to and from a gym, exercising with a cruiser bike is a great way to start physically active.

Aside from its practical benefits, cycling also has a lot of positive health impacts on a person. It may not be as intense as a targeted gym workout. Still, cycling can give equivalent results with a regular application or even better. Below are some of the benefits you can gain from using cruiser bikes for exercising. 

1. They Cause Fewer Injuries Compared to Other Forms of Exercise

User experience is one factor why people are often turned off with the word “exercise.” Some may even think that exercising only exhausts the body but gives slower results. This is one of the reasons why some people turn to other cosmetic alternatives such as liposuction and injecting botox instead of earning fitness naturally. 

Gym gears, such as dumbbells, heavy pulleys, rowing machines, and more, look heavy and are actually heavy. Due to this, they sometimes discourage people who aim for fitness but with less pain. Cycling does not need any additional gear other than the bike itself. It also does not require lifting, pushing, pulling, or anything of the same effort. The only motion it requires a person is pedaling. And the good thing is that pedaling can depend on what the person prefers. It is totally up to you to go on a light-level pedaling for a casual workout experience. It also depends if you would engage in a more dynamic pedaling motion. This is recommended for people dedicated to having a toned body in a lesser amount of time.

The strain cycling gives depends on the pedaling intensity during the exercise. Regardless of the pedaling power exerted, it is less likely to cause any injury to an individual. In fact, when cycling, the biker can wear gears that can help him avoid injuries, such as helmets, knee and elbow pads, biking gloves, and reflectors. Individuals do not wear such gear when exercising inside a gym to prevent them from flexing and sweating more. Regardless, it is still essential to be cautious with or without the safety gear.

2. They Create a Good Muscle Workout

One of the main reasons people enroll in gym classes is to tone their body, particularly their muscles. Cycling helps in increasing the metabolism of the body. This aids in burning excess fats of the lower and core body portions, giving way to show toned and more defined muscles. 

The muscles targeted by cycling as an exercise are mainly the leg muscles. To be specific, it focuses on your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. These are located in the thigh and leg region. Cycling can apply to these body muscles is equivalent to climbing hills. Additionally, cycling also helps in developing muscles in the derriere area.

Cycling can also help in developing better core muscles. It is not the main form of abdominal workout, but it challenges the said area of the body. Since the body’s position when cycling is leaning forward, it requires the core muscles to be more engaged. With the proper knowledge of the body and the bicycle, you can emphasize these core muscles.

3. They Improve Your Strength and Stamina

Pedaling is a great activity to strengthen your muscles and ligaments because cycling is a form of cardiovascular exercise. It aims to strengthen the heart into pumping stronger, promoting more oxygen in the body and better blood flow. The more oxygen the bodily system gets, the more power it can exert towards an activity. 

Cycling using a cruiser bike also gives assistance in sustaining your body despite the activity’s duration. Improving your stamina is another benefit of cycling as an exercise. Stamina is the capacity of a person to endure prolonged activities, both physical and mental. Other than the heart, cycling as an exercise helps in lung strength. It pushes you to breathe deeper, perspire more, and burn more calories. 

4. They Help You Create a Lowkey to Moderate and Intense Cycling Workout

Depending on your level of dedication and time available, cycling can be both light exercise and intense exercise. The duration of pedaling motion with a cruiser bike determines how many calories the person can burn. The pedaling power exerted can determine how much strength can be gained by the body and how much strain cycling can give to the muscles. 

Another factor that can be modified is the height of the gears and components, such as the cruiser bike seat. These bike parts can be adjusted to provide more pressure on specific body parts, such as the abdomen and back. Furthermore, these adjustments can result in a more intense cycling experience. 

A simple exercise with a cruiser bike is ideal for maintaining your body, having no specific weight, or building body goals. Casual cycling means a roundtrip within the village without time or speed restriction. Putting more pressure on your cycling routine is an option if you have stricter goals such as more toned legs, decreased weight, and better stamina for other activities. 

This activity can also be done by multiple lapses within a specific time and speed. Cycling is a flexible form of workout, and it suits well different individuals with different objectives for their bodies. 

5. They Decrease Your Stress Level

Whether for casual riding or a workout routine, cycling can help regulate your circadian rhythm. It is your person’s mental, physical, and behavioral cycle throughout the day. Studies show that cycling helps in improving the mood of a person. This allows your body to release and rapidly spread endorphins throughout the person’s system. 

It also aids in producing other bodily substances that positively impact your overall moods, such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. These substances are also called “happy hormones.”

Along with a better mental state, cycling also promotes better sleeping patterns. This is related to the release of good hormones and a decrease in stress hormones in the body. 

Therefore, giving you a better regenerative rest. To support this further, regular exercise in the form of cycling aids your back muscles and joints to be stronger and more ease in movement. This helps you fall asleep better and stay asleep for a longer duration, allowing a complete sleep. 

6. They Provide Comfort to Your Joints and Muscles

A common misconception is that you are not advised to exercise if you have joint problems, worsening your condition. Based on recent studies, exercise, particularly cycling, is suitable for individuals with joint problems. In fact, cycling is excellent for people who have arthritis as it reduces the symptoms of the disease. It is also proven to enhance the quality of living of adults suffering from osteoarthritis. 

Since cycling is a low-impact exercise, it requires little to no weight on joints such as the hips, knees, and feet. It causes limited stress impact to these parts of the body, but enough to lubricate the joints to reduce stiffness and pain. The movement of the joints produces synovial fluid. This fluid is essential in reducing the friction between bones, aiding the overall movement of individuals with arthritis even after cycling. 

7. They Give Your Body Muscles Flexible Movements

Being flexible is something that aging individuals start to worry about upon reaching a particular phase in life. This is because of stagnant activities, decreased time for personal health, and often unhealthy diets. One may notice this when it is painful to rise from the bed. Or when it is already hard to bend the knees while climbing the stairs. Another sign is when it is difficult to bend forward to pick up an item dropped. 

Cycling offers a remedy to regain muscle and body flexibility. Due to the constant movement of the muscles, bones, and joints while pedaling, the body regains its sense of motion. This loosens the stiff muscles of the body brought by a lack of constant motion. Some muscles that regain flexibility with this activity are the calf and quadriceps. 

Additionally, core muscles such as the obliques, abdominals, and lower back gain flexibility due to cycling turns and maneuvers. With continuous activity in these areas, flexibility can be regained and be improved drastically. 

8. They Can Get You a Good Workout, Even for a Short Period

Cycling is an exercise that does not require a lot of time to become an actual workout. This is a great selling point, especially if you have a hectic lifestyle and can only allot a strict amount of time for your fitness activities. 

Any activity that requires movement can actually be considered a form of exercise so long as it helps burn the body’s calories. Based on the latest research from Harvard University, a person who weighs 125 pounds who cycles on a casual level with a moderate speed of twelve to fourteen miles per hour can burn around 300 calories within thirty minutes. 

Additionally, a person who weighs 185 pounds at the same speed and duration can burn 440-740 calories. The faster pedaling you will do, the more calories you can burn due to your effort.

9. They Have Components That Let You Ride Effortlessly

Cruiser bikes are mainly built to provide comfort. Cruiser bikes offer a better and more relaxed riding position than other bikes available today. This is due to the geometric composition of the cruiser bike frame, the seat elevation, and the angle of the handlebars. 

Cruiser bikes also have balloon-style tires, which helps ensure that you will have a stable ride. With its build, cruiser bikes became a preference for light cycling activities, such as recreational events and light workouts. This is one of the selling points that cruiser bikes have. They can provide comfort and safety while helping your body become healthier.

10. They Provide Social Benefits to the Individual

Cycling can be a social sport and workout. Having said so, it provides social benefits as well. Cycling allows you to connect to other individuals and groups engaged in cycling because of its health benefits. 

Additionally, cycling can be a form of bonding for families. Based on a recent study, cities that promote cycling as a form of transportation and workout tend to have happier, healthier, and more engaged communities. This applies within a household, especially if every family member is involved in the workout.