just for burning some cals

david462

i started regularly a couple months ago. at first, after reading a few things on here, ive been riding at around 70% my mhr with about 5 30 second sprints at like 90-95% in an hour 4-5 days a week. i was just doing this cause its what i read to do.

now that i think about it though, im not gonna start competing anytime soon, and im kinda just starting out. my main goal for now is just to burn calories while i ride so i can drink on the weekends and not worry about it. i also just need to gain some more leg muscle so i think just riding will do that.

so my question is, do i have to worry a whole lot about what i do when i ride, or can i just go out there for an hour+ and spin away calories?

patrick_

For maximizing burned calories in the short term ride as long as you can at the highest intensity you can keep up for the whole time (don't ride so hard that you have to cut riding time).

Sprints actually hurt your burned calories stats unless you have extremely limited riding time.

daveryanwyoming

+1 on this post.

Sprints feel hard, but aren't the best bet for burning calories. And I agree with patrick, go as hard as you can for the duration but not so hard you have to cut your ride time short to burn the most calories. You'll burn more glycogen(translate carbs) using that method compared to an easier pace and you'll want to eat some carbs after your workout to fuel the next days activities but you'll still burn more total fat calories vs working at easier endurance levels. So steady rides that require good mental focus as opposed to sprints or long easy mindless spinning.

The other benefit of a more focused and higher level aerobic workout is that you gain fitness more quickly. That means for the same perceived exertion you go harder in future workouts. Bottom line, as you get fitter you burn more calories per hour for the same effort. Yep, you still have to replenish a portion of those calories burned(the portion representing glycogen) each day but you'll still burn more fat in less time with this approach and gain more fitness as well.