Originally Posted by
Oneder
Well that's definitely not true. Some people have high BP even though they are skinny as a rail. Some of it can be weight related but I don't come to a bike forum to talk about diet tips and there's also people much heavier than me who have better BP. Being fat also increases your BP in a very specific way and I take a BP drug which works against that action (but is not doing anything for me).
If diet is truly 95% of physical health then there is obviously zero point to ride a bike in the first place. I don't accept that and have already seen that is not the case due to my BP decreases since I started daily bike rides.
As far as long hour+ rides go, endurance exercise is also a waste of time for cardio health. I also don't ride the bike to lose fat. I know from experience bicycle does virtually nothing for weight loss.
Sorry, but I respectfully disagree with a few points here.. Study after study shows that you can’t outwork a bad diet. Sure, exercise is great, but you have to run a marathon to burn off a 3000 calorie binge meal (just a nice big burger and a sundae). So in this way, diet is far and away the most important factor and is the necessary first step. Is it 95% of the solution? Well only for someone who eats terribly 95% of the time I suppose.
Not sure why you’d say long hour+ rides are a waste of time for cardio health. Sure, even 20 minutes a day of easy riding is a healthy habit and will add to an already healthy lifestyle. But going out for longer rides certainly has benefits.
Now, we can all agree that real science supports your assertion that BP is influenced by genetics but almost everyone can improve their BP to some degree with diet and exercise.