https://velosurance.com/blog/category/health-and-fitness/ Velosurance blog: Articles about health, fitness and how cycling affects your body and mind. Useful content that will help you stay active and fit en-us 2026 Velosurance. All rights reserved. support@velosurance.com (Velosurance) support@velosurance.com (Velosurance) Sun, 25 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:10:52 -0500 Jekyll 4.2.2 https://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 60 daily 1 https://velosurance.com/assets/images/velosurance/logos/velosurance-logo@2x.png https://velosurance.com/blog/category/health-and-fitness/ 144 38 https://velosurance.com/blog/mitochondria-cycling-endurance/ https://velosurance.com/blog/mitochondria-cycling-endurance/ Sun, 25 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Half of your fitness lives in your leg muscles, in the mitochondria that burn fat, sugar and, late in a long ride, your own muscle protein. Here is how training builds them, how fast you lose them when you stop riding, what to eat to keep the building going, and why high-dose antioxidant pills blunt the gains. Mitochondria for Cyclists: How Your Legs Build an Engine, and How They Lose One https://velosurance.com/blog/velocity-based-training-cyclists/ https://velosurance.com/blog/velocity-based-training-cyclists/ Thu, 22 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Pro cycling teams stopped grinding out heavy sets to failure and started watching bar speed instead. Velocity-based training loads the bar at 60 to 70% of max, pushes every rep as fast as possible and ends the set at the first slow rep. In professional riders it matched heavy lifting for strength, power and time trial gains with far less soreness. Here is the research, the gear you do and do not need, and the two-session-a-week program. Velocity-Based Training for Cyclists: How to Lift for Power Without Wrecking Tomorrow’s Ride https://velosurance.com/blog/protein-for-cyclists/ https://velosurance.com/blog/protein-for-cyclists/ Thu, 22 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness The old advice was pasta and a banana. The newest research in cyclists says 1.6 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram a day, double the RDA, with 30 to 45 grams at a meal and one of those meals inside two hours of the ride. Here is where the numbers come from, how to hit them in pounds and on a plate, and what protein will and will not do for your speed. How Much Protein Do Cyclists Need? What the Latest Research Says https://velosurance.com/blog/cycling-race-weight/ https://velosurance.com/blog/cycling-race-weight/ Wed, 21 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness The skin-and-bones climber of the 2000s is gone. Today's pros are as lean as ever but carry more muscle, because durability, the power you still have after three hours, is what wins. Here is why chasing a lower number on the scale costs most amateurs watts, how to lose weight without losing muscle, and the gym method that made lifting stick. Race Weight Is Over: Why Pro Cyclists Got Stronger, Not Thinner, and What It Means for You https://velosurance.com/blog/winter-bike-trainer-workout/ https://velosurance.com/blog/winter-bike-trainer-workout/ Mon, 19 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Winter on the trainer is the one time of year you control every variable, so spend it fixing a specific weakness. Four of them, fading after 90 minutes, a low VO2 max ceiling, getting dropped on climbs, and losing sprints, each with the drills that fix it, the ERG or simulation setting to run them in, and a 16-week sample plan. Don’t Waste Another Winter on the Trainer: Workouts That Fix Real Weaknesses https://velosurance.com/blog/cross-training-cyclists-what-works/ https://velosurance.com/blog/cross-training-cyclists-what-works/ Mon, 19 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Aerobic fitness carries over between sports, but unevenly: running and cross-country skiing transfer to the bike well, swimming barely at all. The real payoff is what cycling cannot give you, bone loading, an upper body, and hips that move. Here is the transfer scorecard for every winter option, how to fit it into a week, and how to get back on the bike in spring. Cross-Training for Cyclists: What Transfers to the Bike and What Doesn’t https://velosurance.com/blog/dirty-30s-intervals-cycling/ https://velosurance.com/blog/dirty-30s-intervals-cycling/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Dirty 30s are eight 30-second efforts at 120% to 150% of FTP with a minute easy between them, 26 minutes door to door. The Norwegian research behind short intervals, the workout written out minute by minute, three progressions, and where it fits in a week next to the 4x4. Dirty 30s: The 30-Second Interval Workout That Teaches Your Legs to Recover at Speed https://velosurance.com/blog/stronger-mountain-biker-over-winter/ https://velosurance.com/blog/stronger-mountain-biker-over-winter/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Winter is the only stretch of the year long enough to build real strength. Here is how mountain bikers should spend it: two heavy gym sessions a week, a minimal aerobic dose, and skills work that pays off the first time the trails dry out. How to Become a Stronger Mountain Biker Over Winter https://velosurance.com/blog/prediabetes-cycling-gels/ https://velosurance.com/blog/prediabetes-cycling-gels/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Pro riders eat 90 to 120 g of sugar an hour and amateurs copy them. Now lean, high-volume cyclists are turning up with prediabetic bloodwork. What the studies show, what sugar does to your teeth, and how to fuel to the ride instead of to the Tour. Gels, Sports Drinks, and the Prediabetic Cyclist: How Much Sugar Is Too Much? https://velosurance.com/blog/overtraining-syndrome-cyclists/ https://velosurance.com/blog/overtraining-syndrome-cyclists/ Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Push hard for long enough without recovering and training stops making you faster. Here is how normal fatigue turns into overreaching and then overtraining syndrome, why cyclists are unusually good at digging this hole, and the handful of habits that keep you out of it. Overtraining Syndrome: When More Riding Makes You Slower https://velosurance.com/blog/peptides-for-cycling-injuries/ https://velosurance.com/blog/peptides-for-cycling-injuries/ Sat, 05 Sep 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Somewhere in your riding group there is someone injecting BPC-157 near a knee that has hurt since March. Here is what is in the vial, what the research says it does, what the FDA and the anti-doping agencies say about it, and what to do about the knee instead. BPC-157 and Healing Peptides: Can They Really Fix a Cyclist’s Tendon? https://velosurance.com/blog/how-become-better-climber/ https://velosurance.com/blog/how-become-better-climber/ Tue, 04 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Good climbers are made, not born. The research points to a handful of trainable levers: power-to-weight ratio, VO2max intervals, threshold work, heavy strength training, cadence, and pacing. Here is what the science actually says about each one, and how to turn it into rides you can do this week. How to Become a Better Climber: What the Science Actually Says https://velosurance.com/blog/weight-training-for-cyclists/ https://velosurance.com/blog/weight-training-for-cyclists/ Sun, 26 Jul 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness The old warning that lifting makes cyclists slow and bulky has not survived the research. Two heavy gym sessions a week improve pedaling economy, sprint power, and fatigue resistance, and protect the bones and muscle that cycling alone leaves behind. Weight Training for Cyclists: Why Lifting Makes You Faster https://velosurance.com/blog/cycling-for-longevity/ https://velosurance.com/blog/cycling-for-longevity/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 21:00:00 -0500 David Williams Health and fitness Bike commuters in a 263,450-person BMJ study had a 41 percent lower risk of dying from any cause. Here is what the longevity research actually says about cycling: the heart, brain, and immune system payoffs, the bone-density catch, the traffic-risk math, and how little riding it takes to collect the benefit. Cycling Might Be the Closest Thing We Have to an Anti-Aging Pill https://velosurance.com/blog/what-endurance-cycling-does-to-your-heart/ https://velosurance.com/blog/what-endurance-cycling-does-to-your-heart/ Sun, 19 Jul 2026 21:00:00 -0500 David Williams Health and fitness Cycling is one of the best things you can do for your heart, deep into your 60s and beyond. But hard-training research adds a wrinkle: the risk is unmanaged intensity without recovery, not the miles. What Endurance Cycling Really Does to Your Heart https://velosurance.com/blog/cycling-replacing-golf/ https://velosurance.com/blog/cycling-replacing-golf/ Sun, 19 Jul 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Golf participation is at an eight-year high, yet in tech, finance, and health-minded leadership the deal has moved off the fairway and onto the bike. A two-hour group ride replaces a six-hour round, doubles as training, costs a fraction of a country club, and reveals more about a person than eighteen holes ever will. Why Cycling Is Replacing Golf https://velosurance.com/blog/blood-panel-every-cyclist-should-check/ https://velosurance.com/blog/blood-panel-every-cyclist-should-check/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Iron gets all the attention, but it is one of a dozen numbers that decide whether your legs show up. Here is the complete blood panel worth asking your doctor for, from ferritin and vitamin D to hormones and RED-S markers, plus the athlete target ranges a standard lab report never uses. The Blood Panel Every Cyclist Should Actually Ask For https://velosurance.com/blog/air-quality-cycling-when-to-ride/ https://velosurance.com/blog/air-quality-cycling-when-to-ride/ Sat, 04 Jul 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Wildfire smoke and summer ozone are now part of every cyclist's training calendar. Here is what the Air Quality Index actually measures, how hard exercise multiplies your dose of pollution, and a clear go or no-go guide for when to ride outside and when to move the workout indoors. Air Quality and Training: When to Ride and When to Stay Inside https://velosurance.com/blog/creatine-for-cyclists/ https://velosurance.com/blog/creatine-for-cyclists/ Tue, 30 Jun 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness Creatine is one of the safest, most studied supplements on the shelf, and you do not need to race to benefit. Here is what it does for cyclists, what it will not do, the small water-weight trade-off, and how to take it. Creatine for Cyclists: What Everyday Riders Actually Need to Know https://velosurance.com/blog/norwegian-4x4-cycling-workout/ https://velosurance.com/blog/norwegian-4x4-cycling-workout/ Tue, 19 May 2026 21:00:00 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness The Norwegian 4x4 is the most studied interval workout for raising VO2 max: four 4-minute efforts at 90-95% of max heart rate, three minutes easy between. Here is how cyclists can use it to build a bigger engine in 16 hard minutes a session. Norwegian 4x4: The 16-Minute VO2 Max Workout for Cyclists https://velosurance.com/blog/ebike-after-50/ https://velosurance.com/blog/ebike-after-50/ Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:15:15 -0500 Denis Voitenko Health and fitness The e-bike regulatory landscape is shifting rapidly in 2026. From New Jersey's S4834 reclassifying all e-bikes as motorized vehicles to California’s proposed AB 1942 registration mandates, riders face a new era of licensing and insurance. Learn why classification chaos is driving these blunt laws and what you must do to stay legal, insured, and protected on the road this year. Should You Switch to an E-Bike After 50? An Honest Look at What Really Changes https://velosurance.com/blog/bike-racing-comeback-plan/ https://velosurance.com/blog/bike-racing-comeback-plan/ Sat, 24 May 2025 21:25:15 -0500 Travis Reill Health and fitness Whether you took the winter off to heal an injury, dodge burnout, or simply enjoy a well-earned break, there’s something about the promise of summer racing that stirs the legs back to life. The air’s warming, the days are stretching longer, and event calendars are filling up fast. Spring into gear: Your step-by-step comeback plan for summer racing season https://velosurance.com/blog/crashing-your-bike/ https://velosurance.com/blog/crashing-your-bike/ Mon, 24 Mar 2025 21:25:15 -0500 Travis Reill Health and fitness If you ride a bicycle long enough, the inevitable will happen: you’re going to crash. One moment, you’re happily pedaling along, and the next thing you know, you’re looking up from the ground, trying to figure out what happened. The subtle art of crashing your bike https://velosurance.com/blog/winter-cycling-race-goals/ https://velosurance.com/blog/winter-cycling-race-goals/ Sun, 12 Jan 2025 20:25:15 -0600 Travis Reill Health and fitness Building fitness as a cyclist over the winter months requires a structured plan incorporating indoor and outdoor training, strength work, and recovery. A well-designed plan will optimize for gradually increasing the training volume while scheduling enough recovery to avoid injury or overtraining. Winter training tips to crush your race goals https://velosurance.com/blog/build-explosive-cycling-power/ https://velosurance.com/blog/build-explosive-cycling-power/ Tue, 17 Dec 2024 20:25:15 -0600 Travis Reill Health and fitness The difference between a good cyclist and a great cyclist is explosive power. No matter what cycling discipline you participate in, explosive power is a secret weapon for advancing in the sport. How to build explosive cycling power