Did you know that if you just ride a mountain bike for 30 minutes or do cycling, it can actually transform your overall health?
Daily biking activities have many benefits, such as strengthening your body, sharpening your mind, boosting your mood, etc.
Mountain biking is not just physical; it also has some mental benefits.
So, in this article, we will discuss everything that happens if you ride a bike for 30 minutes every day. How will it affect your mental and physical health?
Physical benefits of biking 30 minutes daily
Let’s first look at some key physical benefits that happen if you ride a bike for 30 minutes every day. You can use a cycle or a mountain bike; both work well.
Improve Your Heart Health
We all know how important our hearts are. So, if you do regular biking just for 30 minutes, it can actually strengthen your heart and improve circulation.
When you do biking, it increases your heart rate and lowers your blood pressure, which reduces bad cholesterol levels and decreases heart disease risk.
That’s why regular biking will improve your heart health and will keep you away from any heart disease. It can be a heart attack or any other.
Regular Biking Helps You Lose Weight
If you want to lose your body weight, I highly recommend you bike for 30 minutes every day.
It’s actually an excellent cardio workout; depending on your intensity, you can lose anywhere between 200 to 600 calories within 30 minutes. However, It depends on what situation you are riding in.
For example, if you are riding a mountain bike on an inclined hill during summer, then undoubtedly, you will lose more body weight than if you were riding a mountain bike downhill, especially in winter.
So, the more you sweat while biking, the more fat you will burn. But losing body weight while biking is very good. Because you’re not just losing weight but also enjoying the process.
Biking Will Make Your Legs And Core Strong
During biking or cycling, two things are primarily engaged: the first is your legs, and the second is your core.
Multiple parts of your legs are engaged in biking, such as your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and glutes.
So, if you are doing regular biking, all these body parts in your lower body, especially in your legs, will become stronger.
Besides this, you need balance for biking, and your core muscles play an important role.
So, when you are biking, it also makes your core stronger, which can improve your overall body posture and strength.
However, it also involves other parts like hands, etc., but the legs are the first that are mostly involved because you are pedaling on your bike or cycle, and the second is the stomach or core.
Biking increases your endurance and stamina
Biking is very good if you want to build endurance and stamina. Although some are professionals, bikers do other exercises to build their endurance for mountain biking.
However, biking itself can improve endurance. So, if you are biking for 30 minutes or more than that, like 1 hour or more, then after a few weeks or a month, you will realize that you are not getting fatigued as quickly as you used to get.
And that’s what we call increased endurance. Moreover, physical endurance is important for your day-to-day life.
Because you will be able to do other activities like walking, working, etc more quickly, plus, you’ll feel more energetic when your endurance is good.
Joint Friendly Exercise
Biking is a nice way to improve your joint health. Although you can run, biking is gentler on your joints.
And it doesn’t matter how old you are, like 40 or 50, you can do biking. It will reduce stress on your knees, hips, and ankles.
We can also say it’s a full-body workout. If you have been injured for a long time, biking is still a good activity that you can perform on a regular basis.
Mental Health Benefits of Biking Every Day
Now you know how riding a bike or a cycle for just 30 minutes every day can help you physically. Now, let’s look at some more benefits that will affect your mental health.
Reduce Stress and Anxiety
When you ride a bike, your body releases endorphins, which can naturally improve your mood and reduce stress and anxiety.
On the other hand, biking also reduces cortisol levels, which is responsible for stress.
However, if you are facing stress or anxiety along with biking, you would also like to explore other ways to reduce stress and anxiety.
It Can Boost Your Mood
When you do biking, you will do it outdoors, not indoors. So, when you are outdoors, you will breathe fresh air and absorb sunlight.
And… That’s how it will improve your mood. So, if you have a mountain bike, you can visit any of the scenic mountain bike trails in the world, depending on where you live.
However, there are around 27 trails for mountain biking in the USA, which you can visit to ride your bike, or you can also find local mountain bike trails near you.
As compared to a flat road, if you’re riding a bike on trails, you’ll get to see beautiful views, which can naturally improve your mood, promote mindfulness, and reduce any depression symptoms, especially if the trail goes through forests.
Biking will also make your sleep better
If you are struggling to sleep better at night, then you would like to do some physical activities, and biking is one of the top choices which you can look up to.
Biking can regulate your body’s natural sleep cycle.
And, by the way, not just biking but other exercises, like gymming and playing any other sports, also improve sleep.
I am young, so I personally do running, gym, or biking in the evening so that I can fall asleep better because my body gets tired.
However, keep in mind to focus on high intensity if you are riding your bike during the evening time.
When you are going back home, make sure your body is tired, and you sweat while riding because when your body gets tired, and you go home, take a shower or have dinner, etc.
Then, you will fall asleep quickly because your body will need rest to recover and fix all the muscle issues that you have broken while riding a bike.
It Improves Your Focus And Creativity
Can you go biking with closed eyes? Of course not. And for one time, you can do it on a flat road if you know nobody is coming from the front.
But if you are riding a mountain bike on a technical trail or anywhere else, it’s not possible to ride a bike with closed eyes.
You need to keep them open and have to focus on where you are riding.
Because if your focus is disrupted for a couple of seconds, you may fall down and get injured.
That’s why when you are biking regularly, you are also improving your focus.
On the other hand, you can perform some skills or stunts with your mountain bike and be more creative.
However, you will naturally become creative, and you will have to perform skills when you are riding on trails that involve some obstacles.
For example, sometimes you will have to cross a rock or a root where you will need to perform a bunny hop skill, lifting one or two tires at the same time, too.
And, it also depends on you, how you use your bike, and for what purpose you want to go biking. But yes, it can 100% improve your focus and creativity.
Other Benefits of Biking
Now you know how riding a bike (Cycle or MTB) for 30 minutes can improve your physical and mental health. However, that’s not enough. There are a few more benefits of biking regularly. Let’s have a look at them.
Improve Balance and Coordination
If you are using a mountain bike instead of a cycle, you need to adjust the mountain bike constantly to navigate rough terrain, sharp turns, and obstacles. And this thing will challenge your balance and coordination.
So, it is going to improve your overall stability and reflex. Over time, you will see that you have better control of agility and injury prevention ability in both biking and daily activities.
Bike is a fun activity
If you just want to have a good time and have fun, you can visit a thrilling mountain bike trail, like a steep descent or a trail where you have to navigate a technical section, where you will experience the adrenaline rush, and everything will be so exciting.
I have tried it myself, and I love riding downhill. So biking is also good for fun.
Biking is a good way to build bond with nature
Many mountain bike trails are located in forest and mountain regions, which you can visit.
When you are riding in a forest area, you will encounter wildlife, which is a great way to reduce anxiety, boost mood, and improve overall well-being.
Tips for Biking Every Day
- Start Slow: If you are new to biking, start slow. You can ride 10 to 15 minutes at a normal speed. And gradually, like day by day or week by week, you can either increase your riding speed for 10-15 minutes duration or increase your riding duration from 15 to 20-25 or whatever you want.
- Choose the Right Bike: There are many types of mountain bikes, such as hardtail and full suspension. So, you want to choose the right bike for yourself based on your height and your personal preference. And the riding conditions where you usually want to ride. So, I recommend you invest in a high-quality bike like a full suspension if you are looking for more comfort.
- Warm-Up and Cool Down: It is very important to do warm-up exercises to avoid any mountain biking injuries. You can do workouts like leg swings, dynamic lunges, etc. After every ride, you want to cool down yourself and relax your muscles. For that, you can do stretching or yoga.
- Stay Consistent: If you want to see a result by biking for 30 minutes, you must stay consistent. If you are biking one day and for 3 days you are taking rest, so forget any result. You can’t won’t see any change in yourself. So, be consistent, and for that, you can track your progress using any fitness app like MyFitnessPal. One thing that I personally used is ToDoList or a Journal app where I note down how long I have ridden my bike, and after a week, I increase the duration.
- Mix Up Your Routes: If you keep riding on the same trail every day, your biking journey will become quite boring, and you won’t enjoy it especially when trying to lose body weight. So, to keep it interesting, you want to change trails every few days, depending on when you start feeling bored. But I recommend that if you are new, you should use beginner MTB trails, and later, you can use technical trails as well for more adventure and to keep things interesting.
Potential challenges and how to overcome them
There are a few challenges that you can face as a biker, especially when you are a busy person. So let’s know how you can handle them.
How you can manage time
If you go to school or have a job, then it might be a bit hard for you to ride a bike for 30 minutes every day.
So, I would recommend you wake up early, around 5 o’clock, or cut time watching Netflix or YouTube or scrolling on social media.
If you wake up early, like 5 a.m., you can ride your bike in the morning for 30 minutes. Or if you still don’t have time, you can ride during the evening.
And still, if you don’t have time in the evening, then ride 15 in the morning and 15 in the evening.
But somehow, you need to ride; you know what’s your schedule. If I speak about myself, I personally have time in the evening, and I also wake up early in the morning (4.am). So I don’t have any issue with that.
Look for Weather Conditions
If you are going far away from your home to ride your bike, then make sure to check the weather conditions and also the trail conditions.
You can use apps or websites like Trailforks or MTB Project.
There, you can find details about any trail, like its difficulty level, trail reviews, and the recent condition of that trail.
Plus, you want to wear proper mountain biking clothes based on the conditions and, most importantly, don’t avoid essential mountain bike safety gear.
Don’t Feel De Motivated
If you are mountain biking every day for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or even 1 hour and do not see results, don’t get demotivated.
It will take some time to see results; you just have to stay consistent, plus you want to focus on high intensity.
You can ride a bike for a longer duration; if you feel like you are riding for 30 minutes but still not getting results, then you need to ride more than 30 minutes with a bit more speed than usual so that you can feel more tired.
Besides this, you can also ride your bike with some friends, join local biking groups, or participate in challenges to stay engaged.
Sedona Mountain Biking Network is one of the best places where you can find shops that offer organized mtb group rides, but they charge money for that.
Conclusion
Riding a bike for 30 minutes every day is a great way to improve your physical and mental health, or we can say your overall well-being.
Regular biking improves your cardiovascular health, helps you lose weight, reduces stress and anxiety, improves focus, helps you stay active, and, most importantly, lets you have a good time with nature, it also improves balance, coordination, etc.
So now you know there are many benefits of biking every day. But to get all these benefits, you must stay consistent.
Is 30 minutes of biking enough for weight loss?
If you are riding a bike at turtle speed for 30 minutes, and you aren’t feeling exhausted or tired, you won’t lose any weight.
So, if you think logically, you must feel tired and exhausted, and for that, you need to ride your bike with a high intensity to break down your muscle tissue and make yourself sweat. And that’s how you will burn fat and lose body weight.
That means it’s all about the intensity. So yes, if you ride with a high intensity for 30 minutes, you will lose weight, but if you aren’t feeling tired, breaking down muscles, and just riding normally for 30 minutes, you won’t lose weight.
Plus, you want to follow a good weight-loss diet and allow yourself to recover properly. Most importantly, you have to stay consistent.
Keep in mind that you won’t see any results within 2-3 days. It can take a month or maybe more than that. You can take a picture of your first day of riding a bike, and then after 30 days, you can then compare.
Can I bike every day without overtraining?
Yes, you can ride your bike every day without overtraining, but it also depends on your intensity.
If you are riding at a very high intensity, then you must have at least one rest day, which can be Sunday.
And especially when you are biking for a specific goal like weight loss in which high intensity and body and rest are very important.
But if you just want to ride your bike for 30 minutes just to improve your mental health, then yes, you can do it every day at an average speed and have a good time outside in fresh air.
What gear do I need for daily mountain biking?
You can have basic mountain biking gear like a suitable helmet and clothes. But besides this, you can also have extra gear like padded cycling shorts, gloves, knee pads, shoes, etc., for extra protection.
But in my opinion, a helmet is the most important thing that you should not neglect.
And based on condition, you can have waterproof or thermal gear like a jacket, etc.
More importantly, don’t forget to have a hydration pack or spare tube or pump if you are going for a very long ride.
But for 30 minutes, it’s okay to keep them at home. Just make sure to make a pre-mountain bike checklist in which you’ll ensure everything is fine, like the right tire pressure, helmet, chain, etc.
How does mountain biking compare to road biking for daily exercise?
Both are great mountain biking and normal road biking for daily exercise. They are excellent for cardiovascular and muscular benefits.
But I personally love mountain biking because you can take it to uneven terrain and have more fun on various trails. And it requires more strength, balance, and focus.
On the other hand, if you are totally new and just want to enjoy riding for a short time, then you can go with a simple road bike, which is good for steady endurance training at higher speed.
I personally like both, but my favorite is mountain biking because it’s all about off-roading. But I also like simple road biking because of its high speed.
