{"id":25141,"date":"2026-05-04T09:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/?p=25141"},"modified":"2026-05-04T09:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:54:09","slug":"cycling-8-hours-a-week-how-fit-are-you-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2026\/05\/04\/cycling-8-hours-a-week-how-fit-are-you-really\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling 8+ Hours A Week? How Fit Are You Really?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a real Monday Morning Cheer Up…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever wonder where your 8+ hours a week of riding actually puts you on the fitness spectrum?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick answer – way higher than you probably think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your VO\u2082 max \u2014 basically your engine size \u2014 is probably sitting somewhere between 50\u201365+ ml\/kg\/min. The average person? 30\u201340. That’s not a small gap, that’s a different physiological category altogether. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a second to consider how important this is for our health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For every 1 ml\/kg\/min increase in VO\u2082 max from your personal baseline, you reduce your risk of all-cause mortality \u2014 dying from anything, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, dementia, infections \u2014 by around 10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Cooper Institute’s large study, cited in National Geographic<\/a>, found that cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the strongest predictors of all-cause mortality \u2014 stronger than smoking, diabetes, and hypertension. That’s a remarkable finding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your heart runs more efficiently, your metabolism hums along nicely, your cholesterol and insulin sensitivity are almost certainly better than your non-cycling friends, and your ability to sustain effort for hours would seem like magic to most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’re also mentally tougher than you realise. Grinding out long rides builds pain tolerance and pacing instincts that don’t show up on any health chart \u2014 but they’re absolutely real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But aerobic fitness? You’re probably sitting in the top 7\u201310% of the entire population. If you are doing this at 50, 60, 70, that percentage gets way higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it all perfect? Nope. If we don\u2019t do all-round strength training, we lack upper body strength, bone density, and explosive power. So, get some pushups done and Bob’s yer Dad’s brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever wonder how fit you are? How much good that 8 or 10 hours a week is really doing you? Let’s see…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":40955418,"featured_media":25146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159546164],"tags":[767233535,22923,767233531,228895,767234168,767233532,767234166],"class_list":["post-25141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-punkopinion","tag-cycling","tag-cyclist","tag-health","tag-health-benefits","tag-heart-disease","tag-training","tag-vo2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t