cycling vs. running

I know this thread has been dormant for awhile, but it's a subject I've studied quite a bit lately.

While both are excellent cardiovascular exercise, overall running has several inherent health benefits over cycling:

- Since running is weight bearing exercise, it does more to maintain skeletal health. Cycling does little (if anything) to maintain bone density.

- Running involves core muscles (abs, back, hip-flexors) in addition to the legs. Since cycling is primarily a seated activity, the focus is almost exclusively on the legs.

I think an ideal training program will include both running and cycling (to give your joints a rest), but unless there's a health reason preventing you from running, overall it produces more overall health benefits.
 
Cycling isn't an easy sport to get into. It's expensive, and in my opinion, is much more difficult to improve your performance. It's also a very anaerobic exercise compared to running with 100% lower body. If by effective you mean best exercise for managing/losing weight, then I would say running is by far more effective.

I bike ~70 miles/week which comes out to be about 250 minutes spent on my bike and approximately 3000 calories. I run ~8 miles/week which comes out to about 80 minutes and 1200 calories. So, for me, it goes something like this:

Biking: 12 calories/minute or 720 calories/hour
Running: 15 calories/minute or 900 calories/hour

This is a very rough estimate and would vary greatly from person to person.
 
Both are great exercises to burn fat and lose weight but I like cycling most as cycling improves coordination. Cycling build strength and tone muscles. Cycling improves heart health, build stamina and reduce stress.
 
At 280lbs or even when I was light at 260 I’d always pop the chain off the dang thing every time I hit a hill, as soon as I stood up on the peddles, to really dig in with some force.
 
Grantes said:
Both are great exercises to burn fat and lose weight but I like cycling most as cycling improves coordination. Cycling build strength and tone muscles. Cycling improves heart health, build stamina and reduce stress.
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I'm not sure what you mean by "improves corrdination" - after you get used to it, cycling is a fairly mindless activity. Granted, so is running, but it's much less expensive.

In terms of heart health, strengthening and toning muscles, and cardiovascular fitness, etc, running does all this as well, and again since it's weight bearing, running well do more for your skeleton.

Any exercise (esp cardiovascular) well help reduce stress, so this benefit isn't unique to cycling.
 
johnbond said:
You want to build muscle

Cycling:- "Cycling power is generated by glutes, quads and hamstrings," says Parker. "So you'll see gains in leg bulk." Hit the dumb-bells, too, to avoid your top-half looking like a stick drawing.
Running:- "You can't bulk up by running, even with hill training," says Grantham. In fact, you'd have to be mad to try. Running spreads strain throughout your body.
Ever see Schwarzenegger running? Exactly.
Winner: Cycling
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In other words, running uses more of your body than cycling, which is why it requires more effort. If you're trying to bulk up, neither running nor cycling is very helpful because they're mainly cardiovascular exercise. However, there is evidence that running will help maintain bone density; there's no such evidence for cycling.

One of the reasons Schwarzenegger is so muscular is because of all the steroids he used when he was younger; something that isn't recommended for long-term health.

As I said before, ideally one should alternate between running and cycling: Running is better for your skeleton, but harder on your joints; cycling is better for your cardiovascular system, but doesn't do much for your skeleton since it isn't weight-bearing.
 
I'm sorry, but "Have you ever seen Schwarzeneggar running" is the weakest argument against running I've ever heard. You could also ask, "Have you ever seen Schwarszeneggar in good health for an extended period of time".

And yes, as Apathizer said, running promotes healthy bone density, as impact exercise increases the rate that your body creates bone tissue.
 
I like the runing every day. I lose some wight for runing. I want to tell you runing is best from cycle. I am runing every morning. i am raning in to 30 to 45 min. I take some heath food for over fitness. runing is best to cycle.
 
I like them both and they are both effective.
For almost 2 months due to the fact that the weather was bad and I couldn't run or bike outside I used to do some treadmill runs almost everyday. After that period I started cycling outside and became stronger from biking and helped me running faster and for longer distances. So one sport helped the other!
Now I do 2 days running and 2 days cycling and I enjoy them both:jump1:
 
WebTech said:
I like them both and they are both effective.
For almost 2 months due to the fact that the weather was bad and I couldn't run or bike outside I used to do some treadmill runs almost everyday. After that period I started cycling outside and became stronger from biking and helped me running faster and for longer distances. So one sport helped the other!
Now I do 2 days running and 2 days cycling and I enjoy them both:jump1:
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Yeah, that's probably ideal. That way you get the skeletal and cardio benefits of running, while your joints recover, but you continue cardio while cycling. Variety is good:D
 
As several people have noted here, running is the more effective way to burn calories over a certain period of time, although there is variance depending on how fast you run or cycle.

Cycling though has the advantage of being more easily incorporated into your lifestyle because (depending on the city you live in) it can be just as fast as taking the bus, faster than walking and sometimes almost as fast as taking a car. So if you're able to replace some motorized transport with cycling (something that's much less easy to do with running) you can fit in more time for it everyday and just have it become a natural part of your lifestyle, rather than something you have to set aside time for. Just my two cents.
 
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I do both - I run then ride after my run. Bike is much easier on the body ( makes me sweat like nothing else) but I enjoy the challenge of my run. I hated running before I got into it. It took weeks of pushing myelf before I got into it completely. You just have to push through the pain barrier. You get a much better high from running than the bike - that's what I find anyway :)
 
Well I take spinning classes a couple times a week at a local gym. They say that depending on how hard you work you do about 15-20 miles in a 60 minute class and burn 500-1000 calories. I think it's a good workout and i'm the same way, I don't like running that much. So I do spinning to get the same benefit
 
tyson_nutritionfix said:
Cycling though has the advantage of being more easily incorporated into your lifestyle because (depending on the city you live in) it can be just as fast as taking the bus, faster than walking and sometimes almost as fast as taking a car. So if you're able to replace some motorized transport with cycling (something that's much less easy to do with running) you can fit in more time for it everyday and just have it become a natural part of your lifestyle, rather than something you have to set aside time for. Just my two cents.
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I agree - cycling is a great form of transportation that also provides some exercise. However -at the risk of being overly contrarian- it's also pretty easy to combine walking/running with public transit, which is much more cost-effective than cycling. I was thinking about getting back into cycling, but bikes are so ridiculously expense now, it really put me off. I'm certainly not discrediting cycling entirely; in the long run it might save you $ over public transit. But it certainly ain't cheap.


dmg43098 said:
Well I take spinning classes a couple times a week at a local gym. They say that depending on how hard you work you do about 15-20 miles in a 60 minute class and burn 500-1000 calories. I think it's a good workout and i'm the same way, I don't like running that much. So I do spinning to get the same benefit
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Except spinning doesn't give you the all the benefits of running. Sure, you'll burn lots of calories, but it will do little for your bone density. Remember, the people teaching your class are selling you something, and like most salespersons they're likely exaggerating the benefits of their product.
 
samdisuja said:
I thought cycling is more effective than running. You don't get bored while doing cycling. Calories burnt a lot in cycling.
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The 'boring' aspect is entirely subjective. For me personally after the novelty wore off, I now only find cycling slighly less boring that running. After you get used to then they're both fairly mindless (for me anyway).

While cycling is good cardio, overall more calories are burned running. Of course calories burned depends on intensity and duration, but with cycling the bike is actually doing much of the work for you: The bike supports your weight, and going downhill requires little or no effort. When running/walking you're always exerting at least some effort. Cycling affords the rider opportunities to coast, which pretty much just sitting (no real effort).
 
If you're looking for long term health and fitness, go with CYCLING.
The reason being that you have a negative phase in your each step in running and your joints absorb a substantial PRESSURE on that!!
While in the case of cycling there is no negative phase, there is a continuous motion, and you avoid that pressure!
:)
 
Choose what you enjoy doing

Both of them are effective exercise to lose weight if you do regular and intense exercise. Running is a high-impact sport, the heavier you are the more pressure you will be putting your joints under every time your feet hit the ground. Cycling, on the other hand is a low-impact sport, no matter how heavy you are, it has less risk of injuring yourself.

But the key to remember here is the more time and distance you spend doing the workout, then the more calories you will burn.
So I were to choose between cycling or running, I’d prefer cycling. It is more fun than running. You can do cycling by yourself or with family member or friend, exploring the countryside. While cycling, it is possible to talk with each other while going on a bike ride. Things that harder to do when you are running, especially if you are unfit.
 
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