Is Biking Good for Runners? Everything You Need To Know
As a runner, you are always looking for activities to enrich your training. There are great combinations of running and swimming, weight lifting, and calisthenics, but have you thought about biking as an option?
Biking brings significant benefits for runners. It can improve performance, boost endurance and reduce the risk of injury to your joints, all the while building your core, glutes, and quads – muscles you need at their best when running.
In this article, I’ll explain all the benefits of biking for runners and how it improves your overall physical fitness. Let’s start!
Why Biking Is Good for Runners
Biking is a fantastic option for runners. It helps with your running form, stamina, and muscle building. It’s a perfect activity to fill those recovery days, and, in the end, it will help you run faster.
Below are ways biking can help improve your running performance:
Biking Helps Build Your Stamina
Unlike other exercises, biking at a steady pace allows your body to keep working out for more extended periods of time. The cyclical motions are uniform and controlled, which translates to reduced stress on your body, significantly minimizing the risk of joint and muscle injuries. Biking uses all those large muscle groups without overworking them, thus building your stamina.
Biking Helps Shorten and Fill Up Your Recovery Time
For those days after strenuous running training, cycling is an excellent choice. When your muscles are tense, sore, and stiff, and the built-up lactic acid prevents you from getting back on the track, a bicycle can be the activity that will get you out of the house and back outdoors.
It will help to break down the lactic acid that has accumulated in your muscles and help with the blood flow and circulation in your legs, shortening the time you need to be back to your peak energy.
Riding Your Bike Can Help You Improve Your Running Cadence
There’s a lot you can do with cycling to improve your stride rate – the number of steps taken during a specific time period, usually one minute. Fast riding intervals increase your heart rate, thereby accelerating your tempo.
Regular implementation of accelerated intervals with conscious monitoring of pedal revolutions can subsequently be easily applied to your cadence during running. This can also help you avoid overstriding, which is vital in maintaining a perfect running form.
Biking Gives You More Energy
Are you feeling down or tired? Studies have shown that biking, as a low-intensity workout, increases energy levels by 20% and reduces fatigue by 65% while reducing stress levels, anxiety, and even depression.
It prompts your brain to release dopamine, which is linked to energy. You don’t even have to push yourself to be in a better mood; just push your pedals. Participants in the study who rode their bikes at least three times a week dealt with exhaustion the best, which translates into fighting off fatigue better during running, too.
Biking As A Weight Loss Technique
Biking is perfect for maintaining fitness and reaching great physical shape. Riding your bike is also a fantastic option if the goal of your exercise, both running and biking, is to lose weight. In doing so, don’t limit yourself only to running; cycling as a form of exercise is equally good for reaching your desired weight.
The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults do 150 to 300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity. Cycling is one form of aerobic exercise, so even just biking to work covers at least half of the recommended daily physical activity.
Low to moderate intensity aerobic activity like cycling can help you lose weight – outdoor or indoor cycling, when blended with adopting healthier eating habits, allows people to lose weight faster. It also reduces blood pressure and improves your cholesterol levels.
The amount of calories you burn while biking largely depends on your intensity. For example, a person weighing 187 lb (85 kg) can burn the following number of calories while doing different activities for an hour:
- Walking: 400 calories
- Hiking: 532 calories
- Running: 800 calories
- Low-intensity indoor cycling: 622 calories
- Low-intensity outdoor cycling: 888 calories
- High-intensity indoor cycling: 932 calories
- High-intensity outdoor cycling: 1066 calories
Riding your bike at high intensity will burn more calories than a low-intensity cycle. The bike you ride and the route you choose also impact the calorie burn. If you cycle on muddy tracks and rough terrain, you put in more effort and lose more calories.
To achieve weight loss, you can choose to ride your bike to work every day (if realistic) at a moderate speed. Add two to three high-intensity biking sessions to that and watch your pounds melt away.
Your weight loss will reflect on your running, too. You can shave 2.4 seconds off of your time when running one mile for every pound you lose. It will also remove some of the strain on your feet by unburdening the joints, bones, ligaments, and tendons, thereby reducing the likelihood of potential injury during running.
Biking for Muscle Mass
Most of the workout during biking is done by a few lower body muscle groups – the quads, hamstrings, calves, and gluteal muscles are responsible for a good biking session. In addition to the muscles mentioned above that bear the immediate strain, biking also engages our core, arms, chest, and back, just at a slightly lesser intensity.
Let’s take a closer look at the muscles that develop while biking.
Quads
Most of us often forget these big muscles during our workout at the gym, even though they definitely do most of the work during biking.
Our muscle fibers are divided into two groups – the first consists of red fibers that can endure force for a prolonged time but can’t generate a significant amount of power. The second consists of white fibers that can generate big bursts of power but can’t sustain it for long.
During cycling, we mainly work on the red fibers in the quads, so to make sure the highest quality of muscle workout is achieved, the quads need to be strong and durable. Biking is very effective in strengthening the quads, which is of extreme importance in preventing knee injuries when running.
Gluteal Muscles
Everybody knows that biking does miracles for elegantly shaping your backside, but if you think that glutes are there only there to catch some looks, get ready to be re-educated. Glutes are essential for high-intensity, challenging rides, and, just like your quads, they are what keep your knees safe.
Weak glutes lead to overloading the quads, and this can lead to knee injuries, effectively ending your running career. To avoid this, try pushing your pelvis forward while biking – this will force your gluteal muscles to activate.
Hamstrings
Hamstrings are unfortunately too often forgotten during our time at the gym – quads usually get all the attention. Biking allows you to work on your hamstrings as they’re mostly responsible for pushing the pedals in the most effective way.
Pushing the pedal consists of two parts – the push phase and the pull phase. The upper part of the hamstring is active in the push phase, while the lower part of the hamstring works in the pull phase. An imbalance between the two muscle parts can lead to painful and, perhaps even more worryingly, severe injuries.
Calves
The calves are critical for the pedal pushing during the last part of the push phase. They work in tandem with quads and hamstrings to make pedaling as effective as possible. Calves are easily susceptible to injuries, so a good warm-up and a stretch before biking is necessary to get them in the peak riding state.
Biking also helps in growing, building, and toughening your Achilles tendon – the transmission device for all of the toe-off force when running. A strong Achilles tendon allows you to increase your overall toe-off force by up to three times your body weight.
Why Are Biking and Running Good for Our Body
Biking is a low-intensity cardio activity that provides considerable health benefits for your body. Riding a bicycle, just like running, belongs to cyclical physical activity – this means that the motion we perform is replicated multiple times in the same way until the end of the ride.
Such activities have countless valuable effects on our bodies because they stimulate our cardiovascular system, help in regulating blood pressure, and lower cholesterol levels. They also build our muscles, promote sweating, thereby removing toxins from the body, and help us maintain our desired body weight.
Other Activities You Can Combine With Running
Although biking is an ideal cross-training companion exercise for runners, it’s not the only one that can bring you health and fitness benefits. Here are some other options you can combine with running:
Swimming
Along with running and biking, swimming makes up the holy trinity of the triathlon. Swimming is an excellent option to combine with running because it uses other muscle groups and tires you in a different way.
It’s an almost no-impact training that works basically all the muscles in your body, and it blends strength and cardio workouts, both needed to up your running game.
Here is a fantastic YouTube video for runners who are throwing themselves into the deep end of swimming for the first time – forgive the pun. This video shows you how to structure your swimming training without just wading in the kiddy pool.
Yoga
Whatever your opinion about yoga, know that it is not easy. It is excellent for stretching – if we do not warm up and cool down adequately before and after running, yoga will help us stretch our muscles properly.
In order to practice various yoga positions successfully, it is best to work with trainers, but YouTube and various applications can help with this. Here are some great pre-run and post-run yoga videos from YouTube:
Pre-run yoga for runners
Pos-run yoga for runners
Rollerblading
Similar to riding a bike, we impact the ground less while rollerblading and use other muscle groups than while running. In the beginning, it is not unusual for the muscles around the buttocks and back to hurt, but with time and training, this will stop.
While rollerblading, always think of safety – it is best done on paved and flat surfaces, such as roads without traffic, tracks, or large parking lots. Quality rollerblades and equipment are a must.
Try these Nattork Inline Skates for Adults from Amazon. These rollerblades with CNC-integrated aluminum alloy bracket designs for men and women come in all sizes and three color combinations – black and yellow, white and blue, and white and silver.
With small front/rear wheels and a large middle section, they allow for an easy switch between pro and beginner mode just by re-adjusting the position of the wheels.
Walking/Hiking
We often don’t even perceive walking as a sporting activity but simply as a means to get from point A to point B. However, active walking is actually a fantastic exercise. By active walking, I, of course, don’t mean walking to the gym or Starbucks to get some coffee – choose a planned route and walk it at a brisk pace.
It is vital to spend as much time walking as possible, at least 45 minutes. Hiking is even better – changes in elevation will get the blood flowing in your veins, making it a great cardio exercise. Both walking and hiking reduce your risk of stroke and high blood pressure.
Since hiking is an exercise under a weight load, it also helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
If you decide on hiking, it’s best to do it the right way. You can kickstart your hiking adventure with these TrailBuddy Trekking Poles – Lightweight, Collapsible Hiking Poles for Backpacking Gear from Amazon. This aluminum has 54-inch (173 cm) walking poles that are high in quality and low in weight while still providing security and comfort.
They have a lever lock that is easy to operate one-handed, and since they are collapsable, they can even be used as kids hiking poles at only 24.5 inches (62 cm).
An Elliptical Trainer
An elliptical trainer is a fantastic option for runners, especially for recovery time. Since it is a lower-impact exercise than running, it will give a much-needed break to your muscles, tendons, and joints without sacrificing your aerobic workout.
As you get started, you can try this Niceday Elliptical Machine, Cross Trainer with Hyper-Quiet Magnetic Driving System from Amazon. This elliptical trainer with a magnetic system is quiet, with only 20DB, which comes 90% pre-assembled and provides double resistance levels compared to other trainers.
It has a 16 lb (7.2 kg) flywheel and a high gear ratio without the use of any electrical energy. It has a 400 lb (181 kg) weight capacity and a robust, heavy-duty frame with a long life guarantee.
If you are short on space or like to get your workout in while working or surfing the web, then the Niceday Under Desk Elliptical – Mini Bike Pedal Exerciser (available on Amazon) can work wonders. It uses a non-contact magnetic control system to provide pedaling resistance.
It also provides a silent experience with a noise-canceling track that lowers the training noise to only 20 DB, allowing you to go about your work undisturbed. Get the most bang for your buck and all the benefits of cycling without any injury risk.
Aqua Jogging
Aqua jogging incorporates all the same movements as running without having the same impact on your ankles. Studies have shown that regular deep water running has an extremely favorable influence on the results of your land running because of an increased cardio output achieved during the course of aqua jogging sessions.
Should aqua jogging float your boat, you can get started with the AquaLogix Total Body Pool Fitness System from Amazon. This top-rated cross-training deep water running resistance set consists of bells and fins and comes in four colors.
The bells help combine the quick tempo cardio with muscle building, while fins provide balance and add resistance to knee hinge movements and hip articulation.
You can also try the Sunlite Sports High-Density EVA-Foam Dumbbell Set And Swim Belt (available on Amazon). This all-in-one set comes with 2 high-density EVA foam water weights, 1 swimming belt, and 2 swimming gloves. It also includes an illustrated training manual with videos to help you on your road to building muscle endurance with low-impact training.
Conclusion
Biking is by far the best option for cross-training for runners. It blends seamlessly into the already well-thought-out routine runners usually have. Regular biking sessions also complement running by working the muscles that are less active during running.
In addition, it builds up stamina, perfects the running form, and helps you complete the recovery time after hard training. With the rise in your fitness level, biking also reduces the chance of injury.
By strengthening and boosting muscular endurance, biking does the most important thing of them all – it makes you a faster and better runner.
