Physical exercise is a well-known way to improve your health, wellbeing and mental health. The list of scholarly articles written on this topic is vast and the correlation between these three factors and physical exercise can be observed even after the first workout. Every person out there should find a type of activity that makes them feel great and helps them maintain their health.
There’s something for everyone even if you nurture the mindset that you hate exercising. That’s because you view exercise as a chore and something you don’t like. However, if you change your mindset, i.e. the way you perceive exercise, you’ll be amazed by how much you can accomplish after some exercise consistency.
So, we can conclude that the best way to find exercising enjoyable, is to find the type of physical activity you’ll be passionate about. Let’s take cycling as an example.
A study has shown that people who bike to work were reportedly calmer and more productive at work in comparison to those who didn’t cycle to work. On that note, we’ll dive into the positive effects of mountain biking on your life, productivity and how it can make you faster.
Stamina is the key to being fast
Cycling every day can help you build stamina. But, mountain biking can truly test your endurance and help you build stamina that is made of steel. Regular cycling mainly activates your lower body.
In comparison to that, mountain biking is more demanding because your entire body will get tense and muscles you didn’t even know existed will be sore after you finish your trail. Off-road terrains or mountain trails will make your arms sore because you’ll have to maneuver the handlebar a lot.
Rough terrain, slopes of different heights will boost your lower body because you’ll have to paddle hard to come to the other side of a slope. So, if you want to build your endurance and stamina to be faster in life, take up mountain biking.
More muscle equals more strength
When you have more muscle, you’ll have greater muscle strength, which further affects your speed, agility and endurance. Even though cycling is considered a low-impact exercise, mountain biking can be a high-intensity exercise.
It’s quite understandable because cycling through mountain terrain requires a lot of strength and endurance. Cycling targets lower body muscles as the primary group, while your upper body will be affected as well. If you want to be faster in life, you have to build muscle mass.
Less fat makes you lighter and you move with ease
People who have problems with excess body weight, no matter how large that excess is, are slower than those who don’t have trouble with their weight. The solution here is to engage in an activity that will slowly burn excess fat and help people with weight problems achieve that lightness of movement.
When you don’t carry all that heavyweight, it’s easier for your body to do what it’s designed to do – to move. Mountain biking is once again the answer to this problem.
Make sure you get one of those strong and durable mountain bikes which will serve you a long time and support your fat loss journey. You can even use an online calculator to find out which one of the mountain bikes is fit for your size.
Your sleep will improve
If you sleep better, you’ll be energised. When you have more energy, you can perform tasks at a faster speed. If you’re faster, it requires you less time to finish things, so you’ll have more time for other pleasurable activities in life.
Do you get the gist of what we’re trying to insinuate here? Just like any other exercise does, mountain biking is also a great tool to improve one’s quality of sleep. Even if you cycled for 30 minutes max, you’ll notice how you sleep better and deeper afterwards. Better sleep equals better performance in any area of your life.
Less stress equals more energy
If you hop on a bike after a difficult day and hit your favourite slopes, you’ll notice how your thoughts are no longer obsessive and how the stress of a difficult day is replaced by muscle contractions.
When your muscles contract, they trigger the release of endorphins which further reduces anxiety, tension and stress. Also, spending time in nature, away from the concrete and busy streets will also change your stress response from tense to relaxed. Mountain biking will help you decrease stress and boost energy levels. You’ll no longer be jittery and nervous and you’re performance will improve.
Mountain biking affects your brain
Photo by Axel Brunst on Unsplash
Physical exercise like mountain biking can be a mental exercise as well. You’ll have to think fast in most situations because you’ll have to maneuver around rocks, branches and other difficulties you’ll inevitably encounter.
Your spatial awareness will increase as well because not every mountain trail is meant to be taken. Not only that, but mountain biking will increase blood flow even to your brain, boost brain cell generation and aid your memory, thought processes, attention and decision making. When you can focus better, remember things with ease and think clearly, you’ll inevitably become faster, and more productive at work.
…and cardiovascular health
Once again, if you want to have more energy and move with explosive speed, you have to be healthy. Mountain biking helps you reduce the risk of having issues with your cardiovascular health.
All it takes for you to have a healthy heart is to cycle 20 miles every week. If you ride your bike through thrilling trails, you’ll further boost your stamina due to varying terrain difficulty.
You’ll have the urge to eat smarter
Food is fuel for our bodies. Mountain biking helps burn between 600 to 800 in just one hour of cycling. With this in mind, you’ll have the urge to eat quality food to preserve energy, replenish energy levels and feed your muscles.
Since we primarily eat food for energy, when you improve your diet and watch what you eat, you’ll have more energy and you’ll be faster. You’ll get into the habit of eating smaller but more frequent meals to preserve and maintain energy levels. So, you’ll never go through changes of energy caused by meals throughout the day.
People who cycle to work or enjoy mountain biking regularly take fewer sick days. They are also motivated to pursue their goals just like they are motivated to reach the end of their biking trail. All in all, the correlation between mountain biking skills and being faster in life is quite obvious. All you have to do is test our theory and see for yourself.
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