Running and cycling are ranked in the top three most popular cardio activities globally, according to a comprehensive Ipsos study on sports habits across 29 countries. But when it comes to weight loss, including burning belly fat, the question arises: Which is more effective — cycling or running for belly fat?
Both activities contribute significantly to enhancing cardiovascular health, building endurance, and triggering the release of endorphins for mood improvement. Let’s break down the benefits of both workouts and how each can help you lose weight.
Cycling vs running for calorie burn
One of the most common questions when it comes to cycling vs running for calorie burn is which activity burns more. Running may burn slightly more calories compared to cycling under similar conditions. On average, running burns approximately 566 to 839 calories per hour, while vigorous cycling can burn around 498 to 738 calories per hour, as estimated by the American College of Sports Medicine. It’s important to note that the calorie expenditure may vary based on individual factors such as body weight, with higher weight potentially resulting in increased calorie burn.
However, how many calories you burn during cardio training depends on intensity and duration. According to Harvard Health, a 125-pound person will burn the same amount of calories running 5 miles per hour or cycling 12 miles per hour for 30 minutes— about 240 calories. But for the same duration, conducting vigorous cycling on a stationary bike will burn more calories—up to 278. In fact, according to research, you’ll burn more calories on a 15-minute maximum-intensity CAROL REHIT ride compared to a 30-minute steady state run.
Does cycling burn belly fat?
You don’t have to run marathons or do cross-country cycling in order to get leaner and fitter. If your main goal is belly fat loss, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is incredibly effective in burning fat, including stubborn belly fat, according to studies.
Alternation of high-intensity bouts of exercise with rest periods launches metabolic adaptations and leads to more efficient weight loss compared to regular training with the same energy expenditure. Athletes experience improved insulin sensitivity, increased excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, and enhanced lipolysis several hours following training. During a 15-week research program, young women who performed high-intensity interval exercise 3x per week demonstrated significant reductions in total body fat, particularly visceral fat, and insulin resistance.
Not only does HIIT show significant results in losing weight, but it also burns more fat in the abdominal area, problematic for many people. In a study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, participants were divided into 2 groups. The first group was doing regular gym training 4 days a week, while the second one alternated 2x HIIT sessions and 2x gym training a week. After 8 weeks, researchers found a significantly greater reduction in both abdominal girth and visceral adiposity among HIIT participants compared with conventional training.
Example of a running HIIT workout for beginners:
- Warm-up with light jogging for 3 minutes.
- Run at high intensity (80-90% max) for 1 minute.
- Jog lightly for 3 minutes to rest.
- Repeat the circuit 4 times.
Example of a cycling HIIT workout for beginners:
- Warm up by pedaling easy for 3 minutes.
- Pedal at maximum capacity at light resistance for 30 seconds.
- Pedal easy for 30 seconds.
- Repeat 3 times.
- Pedal at medium capacity at light resistance for 30 seconds.
- Pedal easy for 30 seconds.
- Repeat the cycle 3 times.
- Pedal at maximum capacity at light resistance for 30 seconds.
- Pedal easy for 30 seconds.
- Repeat 3 times.
- Cool down by pedaling easy for 4 minutes.
Is cycling good for weight loss?
An average HIIT workout will take you about 20 minutes. However, there’s a more time-efficient solution for weight loss: Reduced Exertion HIIT (REHIT). REHIT makes cycling much more efficient than running for weight loss. CAROL Bike is the only bike fully optimized for REHIT— making it easy, effective, and safe. Read more below.
Time-efficiency: cycling or running for weight loss?
If you are pressed for time and are looking for the most efficient way to lose weight, there’s nothing better than REHIT. Research by Western University Colorado shows you’ll burn more calories on a 15-minute CAROL Bike ride compared to a 30 minute run.
REHIT workout example:
- Warm-up – 2 minutes
- Maximum intensity sprint– 20 seconds
- Recovery – 3 minutes
- Maximum intensity sprint – 20 seconds
- Cooldown – 3 minutes
Here’s how it works: CAROL’s AI-personalization helps you push to your limits during the 2×20-seocond sprints. Like in a ‘fight or flight’ situation, your muscles are forced to mobilize about 25-30% of muscular glycogen—your emergency energy reserve—releasing key signalling molecules (AMPK and PGC-1a), telling your body it must get fitter and stronger. You develop more mitochondria, your blood plasma volume increases, and your heart gets stronger. This results in increased aerobic and anaerobic capacity. REHIT also significantly increases the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) which means that you actually burn twice as many calories after the workout than during it.
Research by Western University Colorado shows you’ll burn more calories on a 15-minute CAROL Bike ride, than a 30-minute run.
CAROL is the smartest, most effective exercise bike. With AI-personalized workouts suitable for any age and fitness level.
Building muscle
Building lean muscle mass is important when losing weight. Muscles help you burn more calories and make it easier to maintain a healthy weight in the long term.
A 10-week program of 25 HIIT running workouts resulted in a 10.6% increase in the muscle fiber area of participants’ quadriceps, compared with the control group.
While both cycling and running help build muscle, cycling tends to be slightly more efficient for developing muscle in the lower body. A study involving 11 men completing 24 sessions of eccentric cycling training showed a 2.8–5.3% increase in lower-limb, thigh, and trunk lean mass.
If building muscle is your goal, you’ll want to focus on more intense running or cycling workouts, such as uphill sprints or hill climbs on a bike. This study suggests that cycling training will grow muscles only when the intensity of the exercise is performed at 75%-85% of the maximum heart rate.
Muscle toning
Toning muscles involves reducing body fat percentage and sculpting muscles without necessarily increasing muscle mass. Both running and cycling contribute to achieving a lean and toned physique, but they have distinct impacts on muscle groups.
Cycling primarily engages the quadriceps, hip flexors, and glutes, with less involvement from the hamstrings, calves, arms, shoulders, and core. On the other hand, running activates a broader range of muscle groups, including the quads, hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, groin, calves, shins, core muscles, back, and arms, incorporating diverse muscle movements.
While cycling mainly entails concentric muscle activation, running incorporates concentric, eccentric, and isometric contractions.
Endurance running primarily utilizes slow-twitch muscle fibers, suited for long distances, while cycling relies more on fast-twitch fibers for explosive pedaling against resistance. Consequently, cyclists often exhibit more muscular and vascular legs, but the muscle development may be less balanced, whereas runners tend to have leaner legs with a more balanced muscle composition.
Impact on your body
If you’re concerned about impact on your body, cycling is gentler on the joints than running, making it a better option for those with chronic conditions like arthritis. Other common running injuries include IT band syndrome which causes sharp pain on the outer side of your leg and tiny bone fractures as a result of overuse.
According to research, cycling is a safer choice causing 5.83 injuries per 1,000 hours, while running is more dangerous with 12.1 injuries per 1,000 hours.
How to decide between running or cycling
Both running and cycling are very beneficial for your cardiovascular health, weight loss, and having a healthier lifestyle. Choosing between them is often a matter of personal preferences. Running engages more muscles while cycling is a low-impact exercise that can ultimately deliver a faster calorie loss. By introducing interval training into your running or cycling session you will achieve your fitness goals faster.
Experience effective weight loss results in just 5-minute training sessions with CAROL Bike’s REHIT workouts.
Got a question? Let's book a call.
All our experts have MSCs in Exercise Science, and they’re here to answer your questions. Whether it’s about the science behind CAROL Bike, or general fitness advice, whatever’s on your mind—we’re here for you.
