Cycling is one of the best forms of exercise around for boosting your overall fitness and dropping those extra pounds that you have been finding so difficult to shed. It is excellent for your cardiovascular conditioning and the fact that it is a low impact sport means that you don’t need to worry about suffering injuries in the same way that you would with weight training or running.
As the amount of cycling you do increases, your body’s fitness levels improve with it. As such, if you choose to stop cycling regularly you are going to find that everything that you worked so hard to achieve is going to come under threat. Here we look at just a few of the things that will happen to your body if you choose to stop cycling regularly.
Your Mood Dips
Every time you exercise your brain is improving. In fact, exercise is considered to be a key way of keeping the brain healthy and active even into old age. Exercise also triggers the release of serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant and generally keeps your mood positive. That great feeling you have after a good workout? That’s the serotonin at play.
Your body becomes used to having this shot of happiness on a regular basis if you are exercising, so if you suddenly stop cycling regularly you are going to find that your mood starts dipping as a result, making you even less likely to start exercising again.
Your Metabolism Drops
Exercise causes your metabolism to speed up, which is one of the key reasons why you can burn so many calories when you are cycling. In fact, it is believed that your metabolism works at five times the speed when you’re on the bike than it normally does. This accounts for about 400 to 500 calories every hour.
If you stop cycling regularly, your metabolism is going to stagnate and you are no longer going to lose weight if your diet remains the same.
Blood Pressure Rises
Cycling is an aerobic exercise, which means that it encourages your body to release hormones that keep your blood vessels in check and ensures that your blood pressure stays at a healthy level. Cycling on a regular basis has been found to lower your blood pressure somewhere between 8 to 10 points every single month, which reduces the risk of heart issues and other ailments caused by high blood pressure.
If you stop cycling regularly you lose all of these advantages very quickly, and you will find that your blood pressure starts rising again. It will start after about a week and in just a few weeks you will find it is back to the level it was at before you started.
You Might Put On Weight
It should go without saying that when you stop cycling regularly you are going to put on weight if every other aspect of your life remains the same. There is a misconception that the gains you have made will last a long time even if you stop.
In fact, that simply isn’t the case. As mentioned previously, your metabolism stagnates when you stop exercising, which means your body’s ability to burn fat is reduced. This means that if you stick to the same diet you are going to start noticing that your body is getting a little softer in areas that used to be lean and trim. Even if you reduce you calorie intake, you are going to notice your tone softening and your waistline increasing. Over time, the effects will only increase, so be sure to keep getting out there and exercising to keep yourself in top shape.