Did you know that cycling could be a powerful tool for your mind? The link between exercise and mental health is well established, but finding the right activity for you is key in building motivation to get out there.

Below, we’ve explored the scientific evidence behind cycling’s mental health benefits and inspire you to improve your wellbeing on two wheels.

1. The mind-body connection

Like many other types of sport, cycling promotes the release of endorphins – the chemicals known as ‘happy hormones’ – from the brain. Endorphins not only boost our mood but can reduce the perception of pain too. Endurance athletes tie this to the ‘runner’s high’, a sense of euphoria associated with finishing a good workout.

Regular cycling naturally contributes to consistent endorphin release, boosting mood and reducing negative symptoms of mental health conditions like generalised anxiety disorder. And since bikes need to be pedalled with a rhythmic motion, this can give a calming, therapeutic effect too. 

2. Stress reduction

One of the biggest benefits for any cyclists’ mental health is lower stress!

The physical mechanics behind cycling demand concentration and coordination, making it impossible to worry about daily life and work commitments. Furthermore, being out in nature while cycling can enhance feelings of relaxation and peace. 

Studies show that access to green space directly benefits mental health, with lower rates of depression in areas with lots of natural, open areas. Getting outside on your bike could take you to so many different places, with new routes unearthing diverse terrain and beautiful views too. 

3. Building community

Cycling is a fantastic way to connect with like-minded people. 

Even if you’re not a social butterfly by nature, joining cycling clubs and heading out on social rides can offer connection and a sense of belonging. If you prefer offroad riding, you could challenge yourself with a gravel bike and tackle rocky, hilly terrain on all-day adventures with friends. For speedy pursuits with the all-important café stop, you’ll find your group in road riding. 

Chats on two wheels – whether they’re with long-time friends or newer club members – can feel so much easier and more meaningful than conversations in bars or restaurants.

4. Improved focus

Largely thanks to the endorphins released during and after a bike ride, cycling sharpens our cognitive function too. Regular aerobic exercise of any kind is linked to enhanced memory, improved concentration, and better problem-solving skills too.

For anyone who struggles with their attention or productivity during everyday tasks, cycling makes a fantastic way to channel energy and creativity. It gives you clear downtime away from screens, social media, and the stressors of working life. 

5. Confidence boosting

Whether you’re cycling alone or in a group, doing it regularly can give your confidence and self-esteem a big boost. From achieving personal distance milestones to setting personal bests with friends, cycling makes it easy to feel a strong sense of accomplishment.

This can easily translate into other areas of your life, too. Even though cycling might turn into your main motivation, your newfound confidence will help you to tackle other challenges and set higher goals. 

Cycling for your health

Ready to start feeling better at home and at work? It’s never been a better time to pedal your way towards a renewed and peaceful state of mind. Simply choose best bike within your budget and get ready to make lifelong friends and lasting memories. 

The post How Cycling is Revolutionising Mental Wellbeing appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Free2Cycle, a nationwide initiative, invites businesses, from independents to multinational corporations, to invest in the health and fitness of their employees by encouraging them to cycle to work. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) indicated that physically active workers take 27 per cent fewer sick days.​ Furthermore, ​HR Magazine​ recently published that 33 per cent of employers said that cyclists are more productive at work, while 44 per cent described those who cycle as being more efficient and 89 per cent said that those who cycle to work were more energised throughout the day.​

“As an employer myself, I believe it is a priority to invest in your number one asset – healthier, happier and more productive staff,” explains Free2Cycle’s CEO, Eric G Craig. “Sickness absence costs UK businesses an estimated £29 billion each year, a study published in ​Economic Evidence report for workplace health 2016​ suggests.

Free2Cycle aims to unlock an estimated 7 million of those employees in Britain who are not currently cycling to work but potentially could and would benefit from doing so. Improving health, wellbeing, and creating meaningful, sustainable environmental improvements are core founding principles of Free2Cycle”

The post Reducing Sickness Absence In The Workplace appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

How do you relax after a cycling session? A hot bath? An ice bath? Or do you just collapse into bed?

Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years, but it is not the sole preserve of extremely flexible people who aspire to stand on their heads. People up and down the country are using it as a regular form of exercise or to supplement an existing training regime.

John Moss, Managing Director at Merlin Cycles, says yoga can be the perfect counterpart to a hard training session:

“There’s a lot more to cycling than clocking hundreds of hours on your bike. In order to achieve the best times it’s about taking really good care of your body, and yoga is the perfect solution. It ticks all the right boxes and can help take your training even further. A lot of cyclists discount yoga as being a gentle and easy form of exercise that could in no way help their cycling. Nothing could be further from the truth!”

To help cyclists get the most out of their rides, Merlin Cycles has spoken to experts and teachers across the country to get their top tips on incorporating a gentle yoga practice into your training regime and how this can benefit your performance.

Keep a calm mind

Stay in the zone and use unique breathing techniques to keep your mind completely focused on the journey ahead thanks to yoga. It’s not just a workout of the body!

Cheryl MacDonald, yoga elder and founder of Yoga Bellies, tells us how this can translate into your cycling sessions:

“Yoga will help you feel calm. When you are in a particularly long ride you can calm your mind with your breath, like you do in your yoga practice, and use this to push through the pain. Remember the mindfulness you had in the resting poses and use your yoga training to connect your mind to your breath and relax into the saddle.”

It increases flexibility

Yoga and flexibility go hand in hand, and the benefits it can bring to your cycling are incredible. If your body is supple and flexible, then you are less likely to be injured. Over time your hamstrings and hips, two areas that see a great deal of action during cycling, will loosen off. And with great flexibility, comes great posture.

So what are some of the best poses to help your mind and body in the saddle?

Downward-Facing Dog

An incredibly iconic yoga pose, downward-facing dog is a mild inversion that gets your blood flowing and alleviates tight spots throughout the body.

Holly McFee, founder of Leeds-based practice Yoga Hero, explains how to get the perfect posture:

“A yoga favourite! Come to hands and knees, wrists aligned under the shoulders and knees aligned under the hips. Tuck your toes under and lift the hips up and back to bring you into an inverted ‘V’ shape.”

Savasana

Savasana is considered by many people to be the most difficult yoga pose of them all. Also known as the corpse pose, it requires you to lie flat on your back, perfectly still.

In order to gain the full benefits of Savasana, you need to be awake but also completely relaxed – almost in a meditative state. Try and stay in the pose for as long as possible, 10 to 20 minutes if you can, but even a few minutes will help!

The post The cyclist’s guide to Yoga appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Cycling is one of the easiest ways to keep fit and not only is it kinder on your joints, but you travel three times faster than walking – which uses the same amount of energy. Life on two wheels is a fun one, you can adventure further afield for the same effort as going for a stroll, exploring your local area with your entire family, which improves your mental health, happiness and general wellbeing. Why would you ever stop pedalling?

If achy knees, exercise induced asthma or general mobility issues brought your cycling career to a screeching halt, here’s some good news for you, you can still enjoy the freedom of traditional cycling on what looks like a high-end mountain bike – only, when the going gets tough, you can flick a switch on the handle bars and really have some fun. The discreet state-of-the-art battery powers you along at 15mph without breaking a sweat, for up to 30-miles on a single charge.

The Fenetic Sprint Electric Mountain bike, the latest addition to Fenetic Wellbeing’s wide range of pedal-assisted wheels has been designed to help you get out and about as though you were years younger at a flick of a switch.

It comes bearing a wide-range of sporty features from hydraulic disc brakes, front suspension and alloy pedals to the lightweight aluminium frame and 24-speed Shimano gears that the professional cyclists use.

Only on closer inspection will you notice a few crucial differences, like the 250w electric motor cleverly disguised in the rear wheel – it does all of the hard work for you while you pedal as you normally would, and you can chose precisely how much assistance it gives you.

Up front on the handle bars is another piece of morale-boosting tech, a back-lit screen which not only tells you important information like the battery life and the temperature around you, but exciting facts about how far you’ve travelled and how fast you’ve managed it in – how’s that for a sense of satisfaction?

So perhaps it’s time to come out of cycling retirement and dust off your helmet to go out on a fun and health-improving bike ride with your family on your pedal-assisted Fenetic bike.

The post How to Keep Pedalling into Your Golden Years… appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Global fitness brand Les Mills, creator of group fitness programmes including, Bodycombat, Bodypump and Bodyattack, reveals the hottest fitness trends for 2014. From making the most of the early morning commute, to a shift in our eating habits, Dave Kyle, head trainer at Les Mills, has over 15 years experience in the fitness industry and has used his expert insight to provide the top trends to look out for in the new year.

1. GETTING YOUR FIVE A DAY THE FUN WAY
Getting the recommended daily fruit and vegetable intake is not always on the forefront of everyone’s minds, but this is something that is set to change in 2014. People will start becoming more conscious about their consumption of greens, and in the New Year we will see healthy cocktails, jam-packed with vital vitamins and nutrients, soar in popularity. Busy lifestyles means that people have less time to spend in the gym. Here are a few ways we will be making our workout work for us:

Beetroot Juice Powder

ZINGOLOGY POWDERS
Introducing the most fun way to actually enjoy your five a day. Zingology fruit and vegetable whole food & juice powders provide the real flavour and nutrition from the freshly harvested products for months – and they are so easy to use. Zingology whole food & juice powders can be used for baking, drinking, cooking, mixing and even taste good off the spoon! www.zingology.co.uk

2. HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING Less time in the gym, more effective workout People will focus on making their workouts short but effective, seeing a boost in popularity of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts, such as 30-minute LES MILLS GRIT SERIES. HIIT workouts are short, fast and scientifically proven to provide better results than any other type of training.

7 MINUTE WORKOUT CHALLENGE
By Fitness Guide Inc Open iTunes to buy and download apps. Researchers have selected 12 exercises that are performed for 30 seconds with 10 second rest intervals. This high-intensity training with little rest results in higher daily metabolism and is the equivalent of working out for over an hour – for only slightly longer than 7 minutes. £1.49

3. VIRTUAL FITNESS
As the digital age moves forward, people will also be looking at new and innovative ways to work out, including taking part in virtual workouts – workouts you can watch online or via DVD – without stepping inside a gym. Virtual fitness programmes allow fitness fans to take part in a workout of their choice and at their own pace. Programmes such as BODYBALANCE, BODYCOMBAT, BODYPUMP, CXWORX and SH’BAM will be available via the new technology.

4. MICRO GYMS
Already a hit across the US and Australia, the UK will see a rise in the number of Micro Gyms popping up across the country this year. The client focused gyms are designed for those who are short on time, but want to take part in effective training. These gyms offer a specialised and often unique workout environment and many offer 30 and 45-minute workouts; perfect for those who want to work out in their lunchtime.

5. TAKING THE ACTIVE COMMUTE Integrating our workout regime into our daily commute will be on the rise in 2014. There will be a real insurgence in people using their commute to work to get in shape through walking, cycling, and jogging. If you’re looking to cycle to work, but not sure where to begin, RPM is perfect for fitness enthusiasts and beginners alike. A team coach takes class-goers on a journey through hills, flats, mountain peaks, time trials, and interval training, all choreographed to music that is set to lift spirits.

CYCLE TO WORK
Cyclescheme enables employees to get a bike tax-free, saving on average about half the cost. It’s completely free to join, and easy to administer online. www.cyclescheme.co.uk

For more information about Les Mills, or to find a class near you, visit www.lesmills.com

The post 5 fitness trends for 2014 appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.