biking vs. walking

[Sagebrush]

Does anyone now which is better excerise (cardiac wise) riding a bike or walking?? And last question is there some equation like walking 2 miles is like riding a bike 4 miles or vise versa???

Faye in Idaho

 

[fyrfytr]

Hey Faye,
I know at cardiac rehab they put more emphasis on the treadmill than on the bikes. I hope this helps you out some.
Dave

Keep your fires small!
____________________________________
Surgery: 4/21/03
Aortic Aneurysm Repair
AVR, with a St. Jude Mechanical
Heart Center of the Rockies

 

[John Cochran]

Faye,
Biking, walking, swimming...it really doesn't make any difference as long as you are getting your heart rate in to the desired target range for at least 30 minutes. I find a combination helps keep from getting bored, and biking is a nice low impact activity that is easy on the joints.

During my rehab, they split biking and walking almost 50/50.

--John

 

[ccrawford]

Faye - Biking is around 4 or 5 times more efficient than walking. That is to say if you biked four or five miles, that would be about the same expenditure of energy as walking one mile. In terms of which is the best exercise in a given time period, walking would be the best choice as it uses a larger range of muscles. Hope this helps.

 

[Jean]

Faye, Although walking may use more muscles, I prefer to bike as I can raise my heart rate more and can last longer on the bike. I bike at about 10 mph for about an hour. With my bum knee, I could never walk that long nor get the heartrate up that high. I have small hills around to vary the output. I think it depends on which you can stick to best...just doing it is the best. In the winter I use my stationary bike with the handlebars that I move as I ride for upper body exercise.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

It is probably best to use a variety of exercises.

When I was walking my hilly paved street (2 miles a day), I noticed that I had some moderate pain in my hips and occassionally in my legs. Now that spring / summer has arrived, I push mow 2 acres and am clearing brush from a tree 'harvest'. I no longer get those hip and leg pains which suggests the impact of walking on the paved road every day may have been detrimental.

Bottom Line: "Variety is the spice of life" (and exercise !

'AL'

 

[B Cattell]

Hi Faye,
Ref your question regarding cycling/walking efficiency. My husband Les has a major interest in cycling and found these websites for you to peruse. He says you only need one fifth of the
energy to cycle one mile as compared to walking one mile.
http://www.cptips.com/energy.htm
http://www.users.soton.ac.uk/~gk/scifi/cycling.htm
http://pwp.value.net/~fitness/sreport1.htm
http://www.chuck-wright.com/calculators/bicycle.html
http://www.papimi.gr/zeromuscleefficiency1.htm

 

[Sagebrush]

THANKS

THANKS

Thanks to everyone for their thought into this matter.

Bev, those are very helpfull websites. I encourage everyone to check them out !!!

THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL WHO REPLIED,

FAYE

 

[ccrawford]

Faye - I would also encourage you to seek out a good cardio rehab center for a couple of reasons. 1. They can show you some great streching exercises which I highly recommend as part of your workout. 2. They can help you with understanding warm up and cool down processes. If you have a hard workout and then just quit, there is a good chance the blood will pool in your legs and you run the risk of being dizzy or passing out. Keeping your legs going after a workout keeps the blood flowing back to the core and mitigates the risk. Try and find the right mix of exercise for you and that includes the fun factor. Chris