Jarrett2

I wonder about this quite a bit. You find studies like this:

Study shows that cycling to work could cut risk of cancer by 45 percent

Essentially says 30 miles a week has great health increases across the board.

And then there are articles like this:

Cycling to extremes: Heart health and endurance sports | VeloNews.com

Which says overdoing endurance sports (such as repeated long, hard rides) can permanently damage your heart.

So what's the happy medium?

How do you use a bicycle to get the most health benefit without causing any damage in the process?

u235

Measure your heart rate manually or with a tracker a few times in your routes while riding. What area or zone are you in? Obviously running or riding all out for hours is different then cruising around. It is not about the miles and riding time/distance overall, it is the effort and excursion you are putting into those miles. Everyone is different.

TrojanHorse

How repeated, how long and how hard? I imagine that only applies to people at the very fringe of the sport (ie, probably not us)

FBinNY 

There's no "right" amount, nor is there anything special or magic about cycling.

What makes cycling somewhat unique is that it's something people actually do on a regular basis, especially commuters.

So there is other evidence that regular, moderate exercise is beneficial. This generally means sessions of about 1/2 hour or so, and a frequency of 3 or more times per week. There's also some evidence that strenuous exercise less only once a week or less may be detrimental, as may be getting carried away with strenuous exercise for long sessions almost every day.

So, factoring out the extremes of not enough and too much of a good thing, figure the right amount is 3 or more hours spread over sessions throughout the week. Commuting 3+ miles each way fits that profile, as does a longer ride on the weekend, and one or two evening rides during the week, or any mix of moderate, regular exercise.

BTW - one of the conclusions I found interesting in the study was the reference to walking as OK but only more than 6 miles a week. Figure that 30 miles by bike takes roughly the same time and effort as walking 6 miles or so, it would seem that the authors might have been more supportive of walking a mile or so to work and back everyday as a good healthy option.

As I said at the beginning, it's now how you exercise, but that you do so on some kind of regular basis. I'm pretty sure that anyone living along a canal and paddling a canoe to work and back would also show similar health data.

IBOHUNT

The only 'damage' I've seen occur for me is the ambulance/helicopter rides.

I don't do many 'just riding around' rides. Out of the 10-12 hours a week I spend riding, not counting warm-up and cool-down is hard intervals. Is my heart about to asplode like @TrojanHorse likes to say a CF bike will? <joking there son, joking>. Doubt it, it's used to working 24/7 365 days a year. At 58, my doctor tells me to come back for my 6 month physical once a year.

RonE

Be careful about what the study really tells us. Although the news seems to make the study sound like it shows causality - that bicycling causes significant health benefits, the study only shows correlation - that those who bicycle typically have a lower risk of death (for instance). But, there are all kinds of confounding circumstances that affect correlation versus causality.

Having said that, I started commuting about 75 miles a week 8 years ago because of the correlation that I saw in several studies at that time where fewer cardiovascular and cancer issues were reported for those who bicycle. Now, I bicycle because I enjoy it and any health benefits are icing on the cupcake.

InTheRain

While I enjoy cycling I think it can actually be unhealthy when taken to extremes. I'm amazed that endurance athletes can accomplish what they can running or cycling. I like watching road cycling races. However, when I look at those bodies on most racers... they do not look like the epitome of health. I know guys are training to get the most out of their cardiovascular systems, starving themselves to keep their weight down... and we know that a lot of cyclists are willing to face the risks associated with PED's and blood doping. Professional cyclists are not at all what I look to as examples of healthy life styles.

One of the healthiest lifestyles that I look to as an example is from a former endurance athlete, Mark Sisson - a former world class distance runner. He'll tell you that his physical body was in horrible condition at the time when he was at his prime as a distance runner.

https://www.marksdailyapple.com/

I don't think there is anything wrong with riding your bike... 30, 40, or 50 miles... and even an occasional century. However, it's not hard to overdue it. Mark's definition of the the appropriate intensity for cycling/running is at a pace where you can comfortably have a conversation with a training partner. He has some interesting theories on exercise. He has seen great results and I've seen similar results with others that subscribe to his theory. He's worth a read.

Jarrett2

I've read pretty much all of his stuff. He's the one that got me wondering about how much is too much.

Prior to diving into his thoughts on chronic cardio, I thought more was always better. I was getting faster and faster on the bike, but feeling worse and worse off the bike. Now after reading up on his experience, I'm wondering how to balance enough without too much.

I love to ride a lot, but don't want to jack anything up in the process.

InTheRain

I don't believe I can consider myself in any danger of over training...it would be rare for someone under 6 feet tall that is classified as a clyde.

rgconner

Not hard at all. If I don't take rest days I get overtrained pretty quick.

I check resting heart rate first thing in the morning. If it is significantly elevated, I take a rest day.

MRT2

Common sense says to back off a bit if you aren't feeling well after hard efforts, or in general. My view is, cycling should be mostly enjoyable, even if there are times when you feel uncomfortable due to hills, wind, or time on the bike. Over the last few years and now that I am over 50, I try to build up time on the bike slowly through the warmer weather. No use injuring myself doing the weekend warrior thing and finding myself sidelined for weeks or months with a physical injury or maybe worse, mental fatigue when the weather finally gets consistently warm.

Rides of 1 to 2 hours in March and April, maybe pushing it a bit further in May to maybe 2 to 2 1/2 hours, before jumping up to 3 hour plus rides around June.

Bikeforumuser0019

Meh.

I think 98% of people can exercise as much as they want and will only experience positive health side-effects.

Any report that suggests otherwise is probably a) only applicable to the outermost edge of the bell curve for what is normal, as some have already stated above, or b) wishful thinking for people who don't want to exercise (and, likely, any advertisers who make money off of such people).

dr_lha

All I know is whatever the right amount is, I'm not doing enough of it.

bbbean 

The people who overtrain to the point that they have long term health problems are not ordinary cyclists, or even normal racers. The degree to which you'd have to commit your life to do that sort of damage would effectively interfere with everything else you do LONG before you had long term health damage.

For ordinary folks, recreational riders, etc, you can ride as much as you want. Remember to take the occasional rest day, ride a fitted bike, and try to eat something decent when you do eat and you'll be fine.

Jarrett2

I hope that is true, but I have no proof of it. I can find lots of reports of amateur and professional endurance athletes having heart problems. The reports also don't pin point a certain level that causes the damage as it just doesn't seem to be known at this point.

Flatbroke

It took me a long time to grasp the idea that the heart, as an engine is to a car, is the motor to my body.

That being said, i try to warm up the body and avoid long high revs and hit he rev
Limiter (not that I can). Since I can't change the oil( blood) I try and drink at least a gallon of water a day to help flush it out the filter (kidneys and liver).

Every ride used to be a dang race for me since I was always the slow guy and had to go all out to keep up.

I don't do that anymore and ride at my pace even if that means riding alone. I won't be getting an invitation to an Tour Event, won't be having my name on clothes, or standing atop a podium but Riding has become more enjoyable.

Jarrett2

That's something that hit me when reading Sisson's work. He mentioned other muscles of the body having a pain response mechanism. Meaning, if you push your legs too hard, they will say, that's too hard.

Your heart, on the other hand, doesn't have that feedback mechanism. We don't know when we are using it too hard during intense exercise.

u235

Take your pulse manually every so often or wear a chest strap. Compare you numbers to the statistical averages of zones for someone your age. You may feel you are over doing it but it your heart rate is 130 and middle aged, unless you have known existing heart conditions, that is not over doing it (disclaimer: consult a doctor at least). Over time checking your heart rate you will get familiar with your heart rate and can probably guess or feel what it is with increasing accuracy. If you are "out of shape", over time, the same amount of work results in a lower heart rate and easier breathing. One thing I read is that a good indicator of heart condition and over working is the speed at which your heart rate drops immediately after exercising. If you were keeping track over time and you notice it starts to go down slower than normal, you MIGHT have over done it a little that day.

Overall start slow and work your way up. At some point along your progress, your legs will hurt, then your shoulder, maybe your left knee, the lower part of your leg, your breathing will be excessive, some strange pain in your lower abdomen and so on, as time goes on and your body gets used to all of that, things get better.

No talk about over working your heart is useful unless you start taking notes of your heart rates.

bbbean 

There are lots of PEOPLE with heart problems. Exercise isn't a silver bullet that magically fixes whatever previous problems existed, or whatever genetic pre-dispositions you may have. When an athlete develops a health problem, you need to look at the persons entire medical history and family/ethnic predispositions in assigning a cause for the problem.

That said, there is a vast wealth of research showing that exercise reduces the liklihood of heart problems (among other things), and a relative paucity of research showing any problems. The few studies I've seen to show a negative impact from athletic training have focused on avoidable bone/muscle/joint issues, arthritis, nutritional deficits or extreme training.

Ultimately, though, talk to your doctor. An MD is in a far better position to offer medical advice than a bunch of anonymous posters in a forum who may or may not have any medical training.

BB

JohnJ80

For the average person, the risk of inactivity is far, far, far higher than the risk of too much activity. The damage from too much activity is much rarer in the population than from too little activity. So ride until you have a problem.

J.

Jarrett2

More evidence:

Arrhythmias in Endurance Athletes | Nourish Balance Thrive

Jarrett2

24 minutes talks about the sweet spot, basically saying they don't know what the "right" amount is.

Only if you do it hard and long enough, that issues will arrive.

Said it is definitely intensity driven, all out, all the time will get there quicker and possibly for sure.

Mid 40's is where its showing up and that's decades earlier than naturally occurring afib.

Has to do with systemic inflammation being present, ie. (my words) high carb intake that many endurance athletes engage in.

Alcohol factors in to afib. Caffeine as well.

The lower the intrinsic heart rate, the higher the chance of afib. Said @ 50:44 (so much for feeling good about my low resting heart rate)

Jarrett2

To field some earlier comments, I understand that no exercise is worse for your heart than some exercise.

But a lot of the people here don't fall into the no exercise camp. Some people here are riding every day and riding 5, 6, 7, 8,000+ miles a year. All while trying to get faster and faster to win races and/or move up the leaderboards on Strava. That means me too.

The idea is that starting to cycle is pretty much a great thing for anyone's health, but clearly there is a point where too much cycling starts to cause issues. Finding that level is impossible to define at this point, but some indicators have been posted above.

Granted, many people will never reach that level, but there are some here that will. It's worth discussion and awareness, imo.

Jarrett2

The book referenced in the podcast:

https://smile.amazon.com/Haywire-Hea...&tag=nouris-20

justin70

I think of the heart more like a fuel pump for the body