Beyond the Banana Seat
(Essence magazine, May 2001) Biking is a great,
grown-up fitness routine.
Remember
the feeling of the wind on your face as you pedaled through the
streets on skinny brown legs? Although your banana-seated baby
is probably long gone, cycling is still a thrill—and a wonderful,
boredom-resistant way to shape up your heart, hips and legs.
It’s a calorie buster, too: According to the American Heart
Association, a 150-pound person can burn up to 240 calories an hour
while cycling at just 6 miles an hour.
“You
have several things going on when you ride, says spinning and aerobics
instructor Tanya Brooks of World Gym in Largo, Maryland. “You
have the aerobics workout, which burns calories and gets your heart
going. And if you want to lose weight, it’s a great activity,
because everyone can ride.”
Get
in shape for biking with heart-friendly exercises such as low-impact
aerobics step classes and elliptical machines. You need strong legs, but
upper-body strength is also essential: Try lifting light handheld
weights and doing abdominal crunches. Spinning classes (indoor
group cycling) at your gym can also help you get into top cycling shape.
Maryland
resident Naomi Lewis took biking to the next level—for a good
cause—when she rode in the Washington, D.C., AIDS Ride presented by
Tanqueray last year—a for-day, 330-mile trip. Lewis says a ride
like that requires a fitness level she had to work up to gradually.
She prepared by lifting light weights and doing stationary cycling at
the gym, and by riding 50 to 100 miles on the weekends.
Whether
you occasionally pedal through neighborhood streets or put some serious
miles on your bike, the point is to flip that kickstand up and take off!f!
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