Dr Lachlan Soper on What Happens to Your Body When You Cycle Most Days of the Week

Over the past couple of pandemic years, cycling has increased in popularity and bikes and home trainers have often sold faster than they can come into stock. More people have gone out of their way to cycle or even purchase at-home stationary bikes to work out with, making cycling increasingly accessible to people who’d like a new way to work out. Cycling daily can bring about a number of changes in your daily life, your body, and your mind. Here are a couple of reasons why you should consider cycling daily.

BUILDING STRENGTH IN YOUR MUSCLES

Cycling is a great cardio workout, yes, but it can also be a great way to increase your strength. When you’re cycling with more resistance (higher Watts), you force your muscles to develop stronger. If you cycle daily, you’ll notice a difference in your quads, hamstrings, gluts and calves. Not only that, you may find that your back extensor muscles develop in strength too, and your triceps in your arms develop extra strength and definition. This is because your body uses a number of muscles to stay atop your bike, and constant cycling leads to the strengthening of your muscles.

WEIGHT LOSS, CARDIOVASCULAR AND HEALTH BENEFITS

This is a great, albeit obvious, benefit. Cycling is a high-intensity but low-impact exercise, allowing you to exercise for longer periods of time without worrying about the stress that it may put on your joints. Because you are able to ride for a lot longer time (due to the low impact) than someone can typically run, you may find that you’re losing body fat and weight. It also allows you to lower your risk of chronic illnesses such as heart diseases, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.

IMPROVING YOUR ENDURANCE

You don’t have to cycle for hours upon hours to improve your endurance. A 30-60-minute cycling session can have a number of benefits. The more often you exercise, the more your body gets used to working out. Keep changing the stimulus, from long, easy talking-pace endurance training rides, to shorter, high-intensity interval training to improve your strength, power and VO2 max (ability to uptake and utillise oxygen).

There are a number of health benefits to keep in mind when incorporating cycling into your daily workout schedule. Whether that’s building strength in your muscles, keeping your overall health in check, or improving your endurance, the benefits of regular cycling are endless.

ABOUT DR LACHLAN SOPER

​Based in Mosman, Sydney, Australia, Dr Lachlan Soper, a general practitioner, spends much of his free time cycling through his community and country. Like so many others, Lachlan’s love for cycling started during childhood. Borrowing a bike from his friends, he would spend hours riding through the local streets, never tiring of the joy and fun cycling brought him.

Decades later, Dr Lachlan Soper’s enjoyment of cycling hasn’t diminished one bit. On average, he rides three to five times a week and approximately 10k kilometres per year. He loves that, unlike walking or riding in a car, cycling trips can be taken at one’s own pace and, when participating in group rides, he has the opportunity to meet so many others and hear their stories. To date, his bike has taken him all over the country, including through the Victorian Alps, the New South Wales Snowy Mountains, and from Melbourne to Sydney twice. In addition to cycling for personal goals, Lachlan has also participated in a myriad of charity rides.

Lachlan Soper also appreciates that cycling affords him another way to stay active and healthy for his family—it even provides another way to spend time with his children.