Looking for an exciting way to get in shape? Mountain biking can be the perfect choice for you. There are immense psychological and physiological benefits that come with pedalling through dirt tracks. Find out why mountain biking is one of the most effective forms of fitness.
1. A Refreshing Total-Body Workout
Mountain biking requires full-body connectivity as you navigate through obstacles. In contrast to the repetitive spinning of road cycling. Actively navigating your way through obstacles requires you to stand, sit, gaze, reach, and manoeuvre constantly. Maintaining control through terrains is done by stabilising your weight and tugging on the handlebars, requiring full body activation and stabilisation with the power coming from leg strokes. Keeping your balance while bouncing down rough roads is a core and arm burner when you're descending tough terrain. Going for a ride in the backcountry can be the perfect workout for you building strength and endurance.
2. Cardiovascular Health
As a form of aerobic exercise, powering over peaks and collecting your breath before the next descent will definitely shoot your pulse rate up. With terrains coming in all shapes and forms, it is one of the best choices for interval training with the lungs screaming for air and your legs demanding significant blood flow when surging uphill quickly. Average heart rates of 130 beats per minute or more are common when mountain biking since the whole body receives a good workout. Unlike anything else you may do in a gym, even a brief ride through the mountains can help you burn significant amounts of calories during and after. It has been proven to strengthen the heart, lower blood pressure, leading to improvements in overall cardiovascular fitness, as a result, reducing risks of heart-related issues.
3. Improved Attention and Concentration
Exercising the brain as much as the body. Mountain biking requires a laser-like concentration as you navigate through unpredictable trail conditions, you need to keep an eye on the terrain and while handling the bike. Crashing is imminent unless you maintain a state of constant mental engagement as it involves the continuous processing of variables such as traction, momentum, risks, and bike feedback. In the midst of picking clever paths and figuring out the best approach to traverse each segment, hours fly by. Engaging in such prolonged periods of deep focus has been found to improve attention.
4. Perfecting Balance
Mountain biking is an excellent way to develop overall stability due to the changes in bike weight, the unpredictable terrain, and the standing climbs. By the end of your training, you will have mastered the integration of your core strength, posture, vision, and spatial orientation. In addition to enhancing performance in one sport, the distinctive balancing foundations also improve performance in other sports through better posture and motions.
5. Enhancement of Bone Density
Bikers, in contrast to runners, have to rely on their bent legs and arms to absorb larger impacts. Regular jarring and hits from rocks and roots helps with the fortification of the skeletal systems, leading to an increase in bone density over time. Riders can have a density increase of 5-15% in the hip and vertebral regions, which can help prevent osteoporosis in the long run. You may now endure those painful bumps in the road with a smile on your face knowing that they are strengthening your interior muscles.
6. Calories Burner
A rider weighing 155 pounds can burn 500 calories or more in only one hour of mountain biking through uneven terrain at an average speed of 8 miles per hour! Riding down roads without bumps rarely comes close to that speed. It takes a lot of energy to keep going uphill and absorbing impacts when going downhill. Whereas treadmills and weights target specific muscle areas for a targeted burn, riding through trails raises both heart rate and metabolism for a system-wide surge. Consistently riding off-road trails is a fantastic way to burn calories, and anyone can do it.
7. Advantages of Being in Nature
Many people spend too much time indoors, away from the natural environments that are known to have a soothing effect on the mind. The tranquil woodlands and expansive panoramas with wildlife and fresh air are yours to explore when you hop on a mountain bike. Unlike anything experienced in an urban setting, the sights, sounds, and fragrances of a scenic cruise in a woodland increases the release of endorphins in the brain. This is supported by the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, forest bathing. Shinrin-yoku is the practice of immersing oneself in nature enhancing wellbeing both mentally and physically. Health benefits include reduction of stress, improvements in immune function, enhancement of mental focus, and better sleep quality.
8. Less Taxing Than Jogging
Jogging, with its seemingly effortless gait, is actually very taxing on the joints due to its unnatural biomechanics and lack of control. Over time, many runners experience chronic knee or hip ailments due to the gradual breakdown of cartilage caused by repeated hits. Biking, on the other hand, is a breeze! Bikers are protected from forceful footfalls by wheels. Therefore, robust frame structures avoid painful joint twists, even while the trail rattles violently. This prevents critical areas from taking a cumulative hit despite the unpredictable fluctuations
9. Connect Mind and Body
You can find folks doing disconnected, repeated isolation workouts at any gym. However, mountain biking teaches you how to control moving parts in difficult terrains. You immediately connect cognitive and motor capacities. Riding becomes more enjoyable with practice in several areas including obstacle approach, terrain scanning, equipment settings, and bike weight distribution. Success chains crossing finish lines with large grains repeatedly are created using these tangible micro to macro approaches!
10. Benefits of Being Social
Us humans are social creatures, recently psychological studies in happiness have found that healthy relationships and social interactions are essential elements to happiness. Mountain biking often takes place in groups. Joining a local group ride, race, bike park, shop, club, or simply comparing gear with other riders puts you in touch with a warm and welcoming community. Support from friends and family makes it more likely that you complete your training and put your new skills into practice.
Why Haven't You Gone Mountain Biking?
Above, we see that mountain biking offers substantial benefits both physically and mentally. Finding another exercise offering improvements to so many areas simultaneously is difficult, thanks to its full-body activation, impressive burn rates, nature and social immersion. Invest in high-quality voodoo mountain bike so you can start enjoying all these benefits today. Let’s ride to Mars together.
