What is better exercise, cycling or walking?

What is better exercise, cycling or walking?


  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .

saggyN73

Disciple
What is optimum workout for your body, specially if you are overweight. Is it walking or cycling? Considering you have only one hour available everyday, which one you would go for and why?
 
Swimming. Water will support body weight through the principle of buoyancy. J/K

Btw, walking is not really exercise. I mean, i used to walk 6-8km daily and it had no specific effect. Humans are designed to walk naturally. A lot. Running or even jogging on the other hand is good exercise. But may be hard on joints if overweight. Basically anything that gets your heart and respiration rate up and/or makes you sweat can be considered exercise.

I would pick cycling over walking though as the "better" exercise.
 
Trail walking can really test your body. I live in Shimla so we do have a lot of trails and trust me, 1 hours of that walk will burn more calories than swimming or any other sternous exercise. But if you live in a Plain area then swimming can be tried or you can also give skipping a try too.
 
If you are worried about your knees and other joints, as someone overweight should be (I am one too), then definitely stick to cycling and swimming. Even better, one can also do air cycling to lose weight, but it won't help much with muscle development.
 
How much do you weigh, what is your height and age. Also share you eating habits so that we may help you.

FYI - If it helps, I am 6'3 with weight regulating between 85Kg to 90Kg. I used to be 61Kg with the same height and have been working out for almost 10+ years now so know about a couple of things. Maybe we all can help you.
 
Exercise is 20% of the equation and rest 80% is diet. I'm in no way asking you to go on a fast and deprive yourself of food. Calculate your maintenance calories (lots of calculators available online), and try to maintain a calorie deficit of 5-10%. App like healthifyme give calories of indian foods. Or even better you can try intermittent fasting.

As far as cycling and walking are concerned both are relatively low impact but both will do if you are overweight. You can shuffle between the two and trying doing the one which you enjoy more.
 
true get your diet in check ,stop sugary stuff/unhealthy stuff once you get hold of the urge of having food those kind of food ,your body will naturally feel less bloated bit more energetic . And Basically when we say loose weight than here is one of the best explanation

 
Running in my opinion is the best. Someone overweight can start with walking.
If some joint problems or arthritis then it's a different story but just being over weight doesn't mean someone can't start walking.
Most overweight persons just assume walking or running is bad for knees without trying anything, don't get much convinced by reading on google and watching YT videos.
Cycling or elliptical trainer is the way to go if having some knee or joints trouble.
For someone overweight, walking will produce same results as running for someone with a good BMI.
Initially extra body weight assists in burning extra calories if you're overweight but walking should 've some light to moderate intensity doesn't mean plugin your earphones and enjoy the morning breeze while listening music or calling someone.
 
Calorie restricted diet+ Exercise is what I would recommend. Walking is easier if you are just starting out on fitness. Aim for a minimum of 20-30 mins and build up your pace to a fat burning 4.5-5 Kmph. Cycling has the tangible benefit of breaking into 2-3 short (20-30 secs) sprints per session, which are much easier on the joints. And no reason why you can not do both for 3 days a week each.
 
IMO, jump rope.. most calorie burning, low impact workout out there..
if your knees can handle the initial impact then you can drop weight faster than cycling..
 
I'd add walking up a flight of stairs, maybe 2 or 3 floors every 3 or 4 hours. Don't do like 5+ floors if your overweight as it would be murder on your knees. This is in addition to brisk walking for about 30 to 45 minutes twice a day. During this and the last lockdown, being stuck at home, I managed to go from 90kgs to 75 kgs since March past year. The only change in my diet was the lack of Starbucks coffee and the occasional twice a day ordering out for snacks or the office pizza group ordering.

Though I am pretty sure the lack of ordering out as often as I would from either the Zomato/Swiggy or the office canteen munchies helped a lot more than I am willing to admit.

Edit : Nothing beats swimming though. Literally the best exercise all around. Especially if your on the other side of your 40's
 
Swimming. Water will support body weight through the principle of buoyancy. J/K

Btw, walking is not really exercise. I mean, i used to walk 6-8km daily and it had no specific effect. Humans are designed to walk naturally. A lot. Running or even jogging on the other hand is good exercise. But may be hard on joints if overweight. Basically anything that gets your heart and respiration rate up and/or makes you sweat can be considered exercise.

I would pick cycling over walking though as the "better" exercise.
Not true. Walking is exercise too, provided you walk at pace of at least 6KMs in 1 Hr. I do jogging too but my legs gives me pain throughout the month.

How much do you weigh, what is your height and age. Also share you eating habits so that we may help you.

FYI - If it helps, I am 6'3 with weight regulating between 85Kg to 90Kg. I used to be 61Kg with the same height and have been working out for almost 10+ years now so know about a couple of things. Maybe we all can help you.
I weight 90kg, height 5.9. I also used to be under 80K, but night shifts took toll on my metabolism.

Cycling or swimming first. When body weight comes down then slowly add jogging.
I do jog 6kms under an hour, but sometimes legs hurt. Also during rainy season, it will be hard to do it (excuses ;))
 
Voted for walking despite I enjoy cycling. Staying in a big city, I find cycling quite unsafe. Either I run into bad roads or get run over (had many near misses) by speeding vehicles on good roads (not taking into highways or main roads)Am limited to walking/jogging within my society.
 
Not true. Walking is exercise too, provided you walk at pace of at least 6KMs in 1 Hr.
Does 6km/h get your cardio-vascular rate up? If so it's exercise. Otherwise it's just normal life. Not sedentary, but not exercise either. Since we're talking from the point of losing weight/health benefits.

My personal experience walking 6-8km a day (not brisk though) was it had negligible effect on weight etc. It was mainly for the positive mental effects and fresh air though.

Also, someone overweight should stay away from jogging. It's too easy to fall into bad technique when tired and then destroy your joints. Running or speed-walking is a much better option than jogging.
 
Cycling. But alone cycling isn't going to help much. Even in 1 hour one can do many things like running, cycling and power yoga and quick exercises.
And most importantly after all this dont immediately munch on milk shakes and samosas else you are rapidly gonna gain a lot of shit while still blaming to your 1hr exercise routine... typical blame games..
 
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