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Which is the better cardio exercise between jogging and biking?

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psteng19

Diamond Member
I'm trying to do some cardio but I absolutely hate jogging.
Not only is it bad for my knees, I find it generally boring and unpleasant.
So I'm going to be riding a bike instead.

So between 30 minutes of biking and 30 minutes of jogging, which is the better cardio exercise?

I've never measured my pulse during either so I'm not sure which one results in a higher sustained heart rate.
Also, take into consideration the impact on the joints from each exercise.
 
In just 30 minutes, I bet running is the best. But to really burn fat, you can ride for several hours with an elevated heart rate.
 
Without knowing any actual numbers I'm going to say that jogging is the better cardio exercise. I know I'm more winded after running than after biking for the same amount of time. But I would guess that this could vary with the terrain and speed used for each.
 
They are about the same, but only if you push your VO2 limit on the bike. Cardio wise, anything that requires you to do small repetitive movements for endurance is good for cardio. Calorie burning, running is better slightly, unless you really push yourself on a bike.
 
This is a good question, I was just asking myself this while I was at the gym.

Not to go to far off-topic, but another question: what is a good number of calories to burn doing cardio daily? And is 20-30 minutes of cardio every-other day good enough?
 
Originally posted by: ducci
This is a good question, I was just asking myself this while I was at the gym.

Not to go to far off-topic, but another question: what is a good number of calories to burn doing cardio daily? And is 20-30 minutes of cardio every-other day good enough?
Click to expand...
It depends on how hard you push yourself.

 
The arguments that one is more strenuous than the other are a bit tenuous. If you think jogging is more strenuous, pedal harder....

Biking is the superior exercise (from a cardio perspective) because is is easy on the joints and can be fine tuned to your body's needs on a moment by moment basis through the use of a heart monitor.
 
Depends on how long you plan to jog or bike ride. For a short amount of time, jogging will burn more calories. But if you want to go for several hours, biking is a great, low impact, cardio activity.
 
The problem with biking is that you may find yourself coasting downhill.
What I try to do is at least pedal backwards to keep the legs moving, even if there's little to no resistance pedaling backwards.
 
Assuming you are like most people, when you jog your heart rate is higher and more varied than when you bike at a normal pace. If you mean spinning type cycling, that's different. I like jogging but it doesn't like me, so I use the elliptical mostly.
 
I mostly run, I mix in the bike occasionally (do a spin class roughly once a week). I've gotten to the point where a regular 30-40 min jog doesn't tire me out very much, so I mix those in with a couple of hard interval days (probably run 3-4 times per week). The spin class can be tiring if you push yourself hard, and I am always drenched in sweat afterwards..but then again I'm usually wasted if I do hard intervals

Overall, its much easier to coast on a bike, but I'm sure if you tried you could make biking a better workout than a run
 
Not only is biking more gentle on your body, it also provides you with a low impact / high cardio excercise. I ride a road bike and have slowly been pushing up my mileage. Every few minutes ill sprint to strengthen my quads. Riding your bike on a steep hill that is long is a killer. You will get more of a cardio excercise climbing ( In bike terminology means riding uphill) vs flat terrain if you dont bike as far. However if you bike for a long distance on flat terrain its just as good but targets different muscles.

There is a reason professional cycling is considered one of the most demanding and taxing endurance sports on the planet.
 
The problem with biking for cardio us that the exigencies of riding among cars and other traffic, not to mention negotiating difficult road surfaces, makes it hard to keep in an aerobic range. I use a stationary bike or an elliptical for cardio.
 
It all depends on the effort.

You could have a joy-ride on a bike at 3 MPH on flat terrain and do almost no effort at all. Or you could try to ride at high speeds or very hilly terrain. Two completely different things.

You could chug along jogging at slower than walking pace. Or you could mix in intervals of running or even sprinting. Two completely different things.

Thus either form of exercise could be better cardio depending on how you do them.
 
And swimming still works well for good exercise, good cardio, and low impact, though it does tend to make you go "mindless" while you're doing the laps, and you sure can't watch tv while you're doing it! 😉

Does anyone know if they still make those ladder climber exercise machines? The ones where you alternate your hand and foot movements up & down, much like climbing a ladder? I never got a chance to try one of those out, but it seems if you could get your intensity up on one of them, that would give a butt-kickin' cardio workout! 🙂
 
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