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9 powerful benefits of mountain biking: strengthen your body
Mountain biking provides many powerful and healthy benefits, from keeping your heart in good condition to helping you sleep better.
9 Powerful Benefits of Mountain Biking To Strengthen Your Body
There's nothing quite like the adrenaline rush of speeding down a single-track on your mountain bike out in nature surrounded by awesome views. Mountain biking gets you outside to amazing places, it helps you meet cool people, and you also get tons of health benefits as a mountain biker. Check out these 10 mind-blowing benefits you can get when you go for a mountain bike ride.
Aaron Gwin
© Bartek Wolinski
01
Biking Gets Your Heart Pumping
When you climb up long hills or do a fast sprint to the finish line, your heart pumps fast to get plenty of oxygen to your muscles. When you mountain bike, you use major muscle groups like your quadriceps, hamstrings, and calf muscles. These large muscles need lots of oxygenated blood flowing through them, and your heart has to pump hard to get the blood cranking through your system.
So, the next time you're grinding up that hill, your heart rate's up, and you're feeling strong, thank your healthy heart for getting the blood flowing. Watch this heart-racing film on Red Bull, "Going In," showing superb athletes whose blood is pumping strong as they compete.
02
Biking Builds Strong Muscles
We all want strong muscles to make us look fabulous, but we also need them to keep our bones strong. You pretty much use every muscle group when you ride. Keeping balanced on your bike when flying over rough terrain and climbing up tricky ascents uses your core muscles, which helps to give you powerful abdominal muscles. Maneuvering your bike over rocks, logs, and muddy terrain requires upper body strength, so you're also getting your arms strong. Pedaling uses your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves to keep your lower body toned.
Even when you're not able to hit the trails with your mountain bike, you can still work out to stay on top of your fitness routine. Many of the MTB athletes who faced challenges in 2021 used their downtime to build up their muscles and work on strength training. Do you need some motivation to help you train inside? Check out these MTB athlete's training playlists.
Aaron Gwin
© Filip Nagy
03
Biking Is Easy on Your Joints
Engaging in strenuous physical activity like running, jumping, or bodybuilding can have a serious impact on your joints and ligaments. Because mountain biking is a non-load-bearing way to get physically fit, your joints, especially your knees and hips, don't take such a beating. If you're looking for ideas on indoor training tips from MTB athletes, check out these moves.
04
Biking Is a Great Stress Reliever
When you're feeling frustrated, have anxiety, or just need to blow off steam, getting on your mountain bike and hitting the trail can help you decrease stress levels. If you have a million different thoughts running through your brain, riding your bike can help you clear your head. Instead of listening to the chatter in your head, you have to focus on tire placement, picking your line, and not running into a tree or riding off a cliff. In some ways, mountain biking is like meditation. You let all of that noise in your head evaporate, focus on the here and now, and after a strenuous, sweaty ride, you'll feel much calmer inside.
Hannah Bergemann
© Katie Lozancich
05
Biking Improves Your Reaction Times
When you're sailing downhill at top speed, you need to have quick reactions to make decisions such as body posture, braking force, and which direction to turn the front wheel as things come at you in rapid successions. The more time you spend on your mountain bike, the quicker your reaction time becomes. Building your reaction time involves improving the connection of your central nervous system to the peripheral nervous system. The stronger the connection, the quicker you can control your movements so you don't end up flying over the handlebars of your bike.
06
Biking Helps You Sleep Well
After a day of burning calories and energy, sleep will come easy. Your body needs sleep to rebuild muscle and for the brain to do a bit of housecleaning by removing toxins while you sleep. If you tend toward insomnia, a late-afternoon or evening ride can help you sleep better. Exercise causes your body temperature to rise, and once you're done with your bike ride, cool off, take a shower, and get some good nutrition in you, the post-exercise drop in temperature can help you fall fast asleep.
07
Biking Gets You Out in Nature
Getting outside in the natural environment just makes you feel good. When you can take a few minutes to look around at the view, whether you're riding slick rock in the red rocks of Utah or over granite rock in the Dolomites of Italy, the views are generally outstanding.
At Red Bull, we have MTB competitions you can watch that are set in wild places and will make you want to book your next trip, pack your bike with you, and let your wanderlust take over. To get inspired to see the beautiful scenery that mountain bikers around the world get to experience, check out our trailer for the gorgeously filmed movie, The Old World. The film shows how some of the world's top MTB riders train, the amazing terrain they ride through, and the amazing natural world they get to race in.
Stefan Svitko
© Filip Nagy
08
Biking Puts You in a Good Mood
Just watching these guys at Crankworx makes you feel on top of the world. When you're out doing twists and flips, flying downhill, and going over obstacles, in your head you're high-fiving yourself. When you ride, endorphins get released that make you feel over-the-top fabulous. Riding also releases serotonin, which is a natural chemical in your body that helps to prevent depression. So if you're feeling blue and want to improve your mental health, strap on your helmet, armor up, and get out and ride.
09
When You Bike, You're Part of an Awesome Community
One of the best parts of mountain biking is the amazing people you'll meet. People from around the world come together in one place to cheer each other on during downhill competitions or to enjoy riding as a group on a mountain biking adventure. After your ride, you can share stories of your travels around the world, make suggestions for the latest-and-greatest MTB gear, and make fast friends with like-minded folks who enjoy the wild world of MTB.
Once you've experienced how great you feel after an epic ride and how you end up smiling at the end of the day, you'll want to ride as often as you can.
