Why not take up cycling?

I tried swapping running with cycling for a few months but honestly as somebody who spends a good portion of my time on my ass, often with suboptimal posture in front of a screen I hate the idea of exercising still sitting on my ass with bad posture.

The most important thing imo is to find a form of cardio you enjoy. It's not worth stressing over the differences between forms of cardio just find something you like and make it a part of your lifestyle.

Reagarding knee injuries, sure intense running with bad form is more likely to get you an overuse injury but those heal quickly, long term studies don't show increased knee/hip risk for runners.

Strength exercises are also very important for runners. Getting all the muscles arounf your hips, knees and ankles stronger significantly reduces the chance and severity of injuries and has a ton of other benefits.

	▲	prmoustache 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		If you are sitting on your ass (as in the normal definition of buttocks) when cycling, you are doing it wrong or you are riding a recumbent. Typically you sit on the part in front of your hip, which also has its downsides as it is quite a delicate area where pressions on the wrong area could lead to issues.
	▲	sandos 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		MTB is the solution here. You can't really sit down when it gets a bit rough.

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FpUser 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>"Why not take up cycling?"

I was a cycling maniac for some time. It fucks one up (knees, back, elbows) anyways. After 10 years of that I cut it down to occasional pleasure rides. Luckily all my pains had stopped after a couple of years.

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carbonbioxide 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

isn't jogging more impactful to the knees than cycling? I've seen this over and over.

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tybit 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, but it’s a common misconception that impact is a bad thing.

The body, including bones, muscles, tendons and joints, adapt to stress. Many people do too little, not too much, as they get older.

There’s a limit to that recovery of course, and balancing it with stress is not always simple.

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riku_iki 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> isn't jogging more impactful to the knees than cycling? I've seen this over and over.

my brief reading of studies shows there is no proven negative impact on knees from running. Some studies suggest there is positive impact: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11320545/

I can speculate that running is very natural to human, and body evolved for running through the evolution, and cycling is not natural movement.

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FpUser 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I no longer regularly jog / run / cycle, only occasionally for pleasure. I either swim or hike steep hills or if weather is ugly just put treadmill on 15% incline and walk very fast for an hour or so. Wastes energy like crazy and leaves my knees intact.

	▲	prmoustache 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I think diversifying the physical activities is a good thing. Also avoiding using your domotics, motorized vehicles, elevators and escalators, kitchen/cleaning robots/electric devices when there are manual replacement as well as not using domotic, does a super job on its own. People have become lazy, pretend they don't have time to do stuff, then have to actually dedicate additionnal time so that their body doesn't suffer from their lazyiness. This is bonkers. One day my brother saw me shirtless and asked me if I was going to the gym. I said no, I just have 2 young kids, carry my groceries including cat litter by foot, use a shovel to clear snow, use a manual coffee grinder and kitchen whisk and only use my car when it would take me more than 1 hours / 30kms by bicycle, etc. And I had an office job. Being active, fit and healthy shouldn't involve having to "exercise".
	▲	kakacik 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		There is the downhill part of the hikes, unless you have ski lifts or similar way of getting down. I used to do running a bit before major paragliding accident, and I hiked like there is no tomorrow and still do... subjectively the hiking down part felt more stressful on knees than running (maybe not on concrete/tarmac).

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kaffekaka 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Running absolutely impacts the knees, but the compression of meniscus for example is what circulates nutrients into it so some impact is necessary for healthy knees as well.

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lostlogin 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

A poorly adjusted cleat is absolute hell on the knee.

It can be difficult to fix too as once your knee is sore it takes ages to come right so it’s not clear if adjusting the cleat is working.

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prmoustache 3 days ago | parent [-]

Most people don't need clipless pedals and only do that to mimick pros or because they were told to by other cyclists.

This is stupid (saying that as an ex elite road, track and cyclocross racer).

	▲	lostlogin 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Maybe not, do what suits but I find it helps, particularly over longer distances or up hills. I’ve never tried real cleats, I just use mounting biking ones, spd. Doubled sided pedals seem easier in traffic and I use them for a decidedly non-pro 2-300km a week.
	▲	FpUser 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I used both and do not see much difference in efficiency. clipless do feel somewhat nicer but that was just a habit. Do not use those any more

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prmoustache 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

it is mostly poor fit that fucks one up but sadly very few bike shops offer decent fit/positionning before and after sale service.

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FpUser 2 days ago | parent [-]

>"it is mostly poor fit that fucks one up"

This what they all say to sell "custom fit" services. I now how to fit and have access to pro level fit rig.

	▲	prmoustache 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Maybe not that well.

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steve_adams_86 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't like the risk factor. I was a serious cyclist for a decade or so, and went tens of thousands of kilometers over all kinds of terrain at all hours of the day. My take away eventually was that I'd get hit by a car eventually (again), and I don't know how severe it would be. I only cycle with friends leisurely now rather than as a frequent form of exercise.

I live in a city where it's challenging to reach safe riding territory in a reasonable time frame. If I was rural and had access to trail riding (gravel, mountain), I think I'd be all over that.

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riku_iki 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

cycling looks like less whole body and more targeted exercise.