Biking, walking, cross training (?) and physiology

[hozn]

I find it a chore to walk the length of Tysons, but riding 100 miles is easy. That may be more than the activity, but from a practical perspective they are very different activities.

[dplasters]

Personal experience that is somewhat relevant – I find myself much less tired after walking 18 holes (4-5 miles and 4+ hours on your feet) of golf/pushing around my golf bag than I used to. Particularly on hilly courses. I hit it further and my back and core are even stronger than before.

They are very different things though. Particularly small muscle wise. Ankles, in particular are used very differently I’d think. I had a heck of a time earlier this spring getting back into running with my wife. I had the cardio ability to run a sub 6 minute mile. The next day my calves felt like they had been ripped in half. I’m still trying to get them back into running happiness.

General joints – cycling is super duper low impact (not so good for bone density, it appears). Even walking has impact. Which is good. But if you aren’t used to it, those joints are going to hurt.

Walking speed can have a lot to do with hip flexibility. Hip flexibility in the office working population is generally HORRIBLE. Working on it could easily make walking easier/more fun and also improve your cycling.

In general, I’d say they compliment each other ok. I don’t think you’ll see anyone using walking/hiking in their training regimes any time soon though. Squats. Those work for both of them though (you know, gotta do something in the winter).

[Terpfan]

I noticed the difference last summer when we decided to climb Mt. Marathon in Seward, AK. We may have taken the wrong trail and it was quite steep (I was on doing a military crawl pulling at tree roots at one point). But it appeared to me I had far less muscle fatigue with the climbing portion than she did. Alternatively, when it came to going back down the hill, I found it much more challenging than her and totally did not have whatever muscle set is used for going downhill. Cardio-wise, I think we were probably fairly equal.

That’s my unscientific take.

[jabberwocky]

As someone who dabbles in running in addition to cycling a lot, I find them to be pretty different. I think cycling actually hurt my running at first, because I had the cardio to push myself far more than I should have. Running is much harder on the joints and supportive tissue than cycling is, and I found I went too hard too fast at the beginning and developed joint issues. After taking some time off from running I got back into it with a more measured approach and did a lot better.

I think there is some translation (some of the muscles are the same and a strong circulatory system helps all exercise) but walking/running certainly hits some muscles that you don’t use much on the bike.

[PotomacCyclist]

As others noted, there is some crossover between cycling and walking, but not too much.

Every endurance sport uses the muscles differently. Sometimes the differences are slight. Sometimes they are significant. Cross-training is good for general health, but if you’re looking to improve in a particular activity, you will need to put in time into that specific activity.

Walking and running are weight-bearing, i.e., you have to support all of your bodyweight during the activity itself. In cycling, your legs are not bearing your bodyweight, except very minimally. This makes the activities quite different. This is why you burn more calories per mile running than cycling. However, it’s easier to bike for a longer time (unless you’re an ultrarunner or ultrawalker and you are used to running/walking several hours at a time).

Walking is low-impact, even though it is weight-bearing. Running is high-impact.

There are different elements of fitness. General cardiovascular endurance (or aerobic endurance [AE]) transfers pretty well among endurance sports. I found in the past that AE even transfers from swimming to running. HOWEVER, muscular endurance (ME), technique (neuromuscular patterns and muscle coordination, small supporting muscle use, etc.), strength and power do not transfer that well. With running, there is also the need to develop more durability to withstand the impact of landing on the road (or trail or sidewalk or treadmill). Cycling and swimming do not develop that durability (bone density, ligament/muscle/tendon durability and shock resistance). So even though the AE may be there, the rest of it isn’t.

If you walk more, you will become a fitter walker. But unless you are a competitive racewalker (those people exist, even at the Olympics), I wouldn’t worry about it that much. If you start to become extremely fatigued, take a break. Don’t forget to drink some water too, especially as summer weather returns to the area. Know your limits by listening to your body. You will know when you are really pushing yourself. Sometimes it’s good to challenge yourself, but you don’t want to do this with every session of every activity, every week. That leads to burnout and overtraining.

[PotomacCyclist]

Other cross-training notes: While my pull-ups are still not that great, I’ve been gaining a lot of push-up strength this year, even though I haven’t been doing that much strength training. Only 1 to 4 upper-body strength workouts a month. Not that much at all. But when I tried the staggered push-ups (one hand placed about 12 inches ahead of the other, then switch sides), the reps kept getting easier. Then I moved to one-arm bench incline push-ups. Those are one-arm push-ups with the hand on a bench. Incline push-ups are easier than regular push-ups, but the one-arm variation is fairly difficult.

Then I found those to get easier, even though I wasn’t doing that many strength workouts. Finally, over the weekend, I decided to give the true one-arm push-ups a try. It felt very similar to the low-one-arm push-ups I did a few weeks ago (holding onto the low handle of a bench, about 3 inches off the floor, one-handed). I managed to do 4 sets of 3-5. I did stick one leg slightly out to the side, but not as far out as Sylvester Stallone did in Rocky. (A wider stance makes the exercise easier, but it’s still difficult).

One-arm push-ups have been on my list of fitness goals for a few years now. One reason is that now I can do a solid upper-body strength workout without any weights, as long as I find a pull-up bar. Pull-ups and one-arm push-ups, in a superset (one after the other, then rest between sets). There are outdoor pull-up bars in Potomac Yard and Crystal City. (Indoors, I like to add some other exercises, like overhead presses, bodyweight rows, etc.) Another reason is that I still have thoughts about trying out for American Ninja Warrior someday, even though I need a lot of work on my pull-ups. (If you haven’t seen ANW, it’s a very challenging multi-stage obstacle course competition that requires agility, upper-body strength, coordination and some lower-body strength, plus some luck. In the six years of ANW, no one has ever completed all four stages in individual competition. The show is a spin-off of the original Sasuke or Ninja Warrior competition.)

On the Japanese version, I’ve seen a few cyclists competing, but not too many. The best people tend to be rock climbers or freerunners/parkour athletes. The rock climbers have excellent hand grip strength, while the freerunners have great coordination and body control.

[PotomacCyclist]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/playing-two-different-sports-does-a-mind-and-body-good-1430754145

Playing Two Different Sports Does a Mind and Body Good
There’s a lot of value in doing other sports that are seemingly unrelated, says one expert

[Dickie]

@hozn 115035 wrote:

I find it a chore to walk the length of Tysons, but riding 100 miles is easy. That may be more than the activity, but from a practical perspective they are very different activities.

This! I’ll ride 200 miles a week but be out of breath walking up 5 flights of stairs to my condo with a bag full of groceries. As my riding has increased over the years and replaced time for hockey and tennis I find my muscles becoming pretty singular in purpose. When I have a long day at work installing or delivering (I’m a woodworker) I ache so much worse now…. also, I’m getting old!

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Dickie 115079 wrote:

…. also, I’m getting old!

Check your tense.

[PotomacCyclist]

Age is just a number.

52-year-old Jon Stewart (not the comedian/TV host) at American Ninja Warrior regionals last year

[Author]

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