biking mph calculator

By admin, December 8, 2009 6:45 am

Does cycling at 12-14 mph burn as many calories as jogging at 5 mph?

According to the calories burned calculator at http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc, a person weighing 160 lbs can burn in 60 minutes:

* 633 calories cycling at 12-14 mph
* 614 calories jogging 5 mph

I can cycle at this speed for 60 minutes and not feel tired or out of breath, but when I jog at this speed for the same amount of time, I feel like I’m going to die.

Is this ‘calories burned’ accurate for these two activities? If so, I’m going to put up my running shoes and ride bikes more often.

581 would be more accurate, if you want my opinion…
(still pretty good, go on an put on your running shoes!)

Those numbers 633 and 614 are a little high.
I went there (I’m 125lbs) and was told that I would burn 495 calories bicycling at 12/13.9 speed and I KNOW that number is too high. I burn 32 calories per miles (whatever my speed). So the most I would burn (at a constant 13.9mph) would be 445 calories. (50 calories seems like nothing but after a month, it’s 1,500 calories).

You should use another Activity Calculator like the one at caloriesperhour.com which is more accurate.

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php

I think there, your numbers would be both 581 (interesting…).
So, to answer your question “does cycling at 12-14 mph burn as many calories as jogging at 5 mph?” I would say yes.

You might try all the Activity Calculators you can find and calculate your own personal average, in the middle of the ones that are too high and the ones that are too low.

Whatever my speed, while walking/jogging, I calculate 80 calories per mile.
Add 5 calories per miles for every 10lbs you weigh over 120lbs and you’ll get a pretty accurate number (you could calculate 100 or 105 calories per miles that you’re walking/jogging.

Like you, I could not jog for one hour. I usually walk and then jog downhill and either walk or jog on flat terrain, depending how I feel. The thing is, you have to listen to your body and always stay at a comfortable level, huffing and puffing but not feeling like you’re exhausted and you’re going to die!
The only reason I jog is because I feel the urge to do so when walking becomes too easy (like downhill) and I switch to walking again to rest a little so as not to push myself too much. Also it is scientifically proven that when your heart rate is high (like when you jog), if will stay high for a few minutes, after you switched to walking and you will get the same benefits as if you were still jogging. Your body does not care if you’re walking or jogging. It only care about your heart rate. So, at the end, walking/jogging is safer and easier than just jogging and as good.

You might think of wearing a heart monitor to make sure you stay in your target zone. If you feel like you’re going to die, you surely got away from it. A heart rate monitor is good to make sure you know when to slow down but also it’s great to make sure you reach your target zone for maximum benefits. After a while wearing a heart monitor and relying on it, you get to understand your body better and read the signs so you don’t need the heart monitor anymore.

It is true that it’s much easier to burn calories biking than jogging.
While biking, you’re sitting but jogging is a bearing exercise and the more you weigh, the more weight you have to move around. You would spend more calories than me when jogging, because you’re heavier but spending more calories is not really a consolation if it’s harder. I could also wear a 35lbs backpack (like they do in the military!), but I’ll just do it the easy way!

Also do not forget that both biking and walking/jogging are lower body exercises. You also need to take care of your upper body (weight training, swimming…).
I am lucky that I have an Air Gometer stationary bicycle at home, which works both the lower and upper body (the handles are like alternate rowing handles which can operate the whole bicycle by themselves).
I also have a real bicycle which works only the lower body but then you get that whole concept of balance, which you don’t have on a stationary bike (equilibrioception).

I can use my stationary bike while watching TV and burn about 415 calories in one hour, very easily (13mph).
I can go for a walk/jog at 4mph and I would need 1h18mn to use 415 calories, not as easily.

In the end, it’s not just about the calories burnt, but the diversity of the exercises, so you don’t always do the same thing and get bored. I like to swim too (the perfect whole body exercise), and calculate 8 calories a minute. Half an hour doing laps and boom!….240 calories burnt! And the icing on the cake is the sauna or the hot tub!

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