Physical and Mental Benefits of Mountain Biking
Physical Benefits
Increased HR Means Better Health
Watching someone mountain bike can be a little deceiving. When watching athletes perform, they often times appear as though they are effortlessly gliding around on their bike. This couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, biking takes a lot of energy, and thats a good thing. It has long been known that getting your heart rate up is not only beneficial, but important to your physical health as well.
Low Impact Sport
Mountain biking is a low-impact sport. That means that it has less wear and tear on your body. Unlike running, your body isn't put under constant pounding stress while biking. That means that mountain biking can be a great option for long term, daily workouts.
Balance and Coordination
One other benefit to mountain biking is more unique to the sport itself. As you can imagine, riding around mountain trails gets pretty bumpy. Pair that with the skill it takes to keep from falling over, and you've got a recipe for improved coordination and balance. The ever changing trails keep you on your toes and really help you to learn how to better control your movements.
Mental Benefits
Exercise Helps You Feel Good
If you didn't already know this, exercise can have a very positive effect on your metal health. In fact, Many studies have suggested that physical exercise helps people to get better sleep, be less anxious and it can even help to reduce depression. This can be especially true with longer, more intense exercise like mountain biking. To top it off, getting a good workout in has the potential to boost your self-esteem. No wonder so many people enjoy this sport!
Getting Outdoors
Mountain biking is best done outdoors, sure there are a few indoor bike parks here and there, but we're talking about pure "mountain" biking. (Heavy emphasis on the mountain part.) Getting outside and into nature has a variety of benefits. We know this because studies in ecotherapy have found a link between getting outside and things like depression, anxiety and stress. If thats not enough for you, by getting into the sun, your body creates vitamin D. This is important because vitamin D can help you lose weight, reduce depression, and fight off disease. And to top it all off, mountain biking gets you into places you might not normally get to go. Kind of exciting, right? Sound like adventure!
Getting Into a Community
So we've figured out that simply getting exercise outdoors can improve your life, but it gets better. When out mountain biking, you'll notice that it's kind of rare to run into someone riding alone. This is because the sport has some amazing community. Pick up the sport and soon enough, you'll start to find other people that enjoy it as well. One thing leads to another, and bam! You've got friends again, no more lonely nights on the couch, you've got friends now! (ok, you may have had friends before, but still.) Mountain bikers can be found all around the world, and the best part is that there is no shortage of places to ride. Trails are constantly being maintained and created all over the place. In case you're not persuaded yet, check out the video below, you can really get a sense for why people love this sport:
Call to Action
By now you're probably itching to get out and ride, and we won't make you stick around much longer. But please consider joining our biking community on Facebook. We have a closed group specifically build for bikers. If you're interested just click the button below.s