{"id":168811,"date":"2025-09-25T17:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T17:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/168811\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T17:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T17:35:07","slug":"the-most-loved-fitness-stories-cyclists-read-in-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/168811\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Loved Fitness Stories Cyclists Read in September"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of our biggest goals here at Bicycling is for every story we write or piece of content we create to be in conversation with you. What we do is guided by what you, our readers, have on the brain when it comes to riding, fitness, training, and gear. <\/p>\n

Looking back at some of the health and fitness stories you read most this month, it would seem that what was on your collective mind in September was averages, specifically averages within our respective age groups\u2014the average distances we\u2019re riding, the average speeds we\u2019re doing it at, and our average body compositions. <\/p>\n

It makes sense to be curious where you fall and to want to benchmark your performance, and this seems to be especially true when it comes to riding speeds. In my experience talking with all kinds of cyclists over the years, a common fear\/question many of us seem to harbor deep down is, \u201cAm I too slow?\u201d (No, you\u2019re not.)<\/p>\n

It was all about averages in September… <\/p>\n

Something else you were intensely interested in this month was, well, intensity\u2014riding and working out hard enough to gain fitness and become a stronger rider. You also wanted to know how to find ways to fit in cycling workouts that push you into those higher heart rate zones in ways that fit into busy schedules when you only have 30 minutes to get it done. <\/p>\n

It got intense this month… <\/p>\n

Speaking of intensity, one of our most popular stories of this past month was about high intensity interval training<\/a>\u2014aka HIIT\u2014 for older adults. In this story, we examine the benefits of structured HIIT training for senior cyclists and dive into how to execute it safely and effectively. (Another great resources for everything related to riding strong for life is our Riding Strong at 50+ program<\/a>). <\/p>\n

HIIT is for everyone! <\/p>\n

You all also wondered how cycling compares as a cardio activity to other common cairo pursuits, like swimming and running. How cycling and running compare is a common topic of conversation here at Bicycling HQ as well, since we work closely with staffers of our sister publication, Runner\u2019s World. <\/p>\n

As cyclists, we all secretly know the answer to this… <\/p>\n

Working on core strength<\/a> is something we all know we need to prioritize as cyclists and humans who want to move well and pain-free, and many of us know that planks are a go-to core exercise that will build that strength. But what if you\u2019re like almost every training client I\u2019ve ever worked with and just\u2026don\u2019t like doing planks? (One of my clients has a t-shirt that says, \u201cPlanks don\u2019t like you, either.\u201d) Don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ve got you covered with a bevy of core exercises without a plank in the lot.<\/p>\n

All the core strength, no planks required. <\/p>\n

If your favorite fitness story from September didn\u2019t make it on the list, please drop it in the comments below, along with any other training-related topic you\u2019d like us to cover in the future. We want to know what you want to know about! And of course, thank you for being a Bicycling reader.
<\/p>\n

\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

Natascha has been a NASM-certified personal trainer for over ten years, focusing on functional strength training and corrective exercise\u2014which is a fancy way of saying her passion is teaching people how to move better, with more strength and less pain. She holds multiple certifications, including specializations in corrective exercise, stretching and flexibility, behavior change, nutrition and more. She\u2019s also been into bikes for almost three decades, and has at various times been a bike mechanic, a frame builder\u2019s apprentice, a grunt at a bike messenger company, a fitness studio owner, a Spin instructor and a few different things at a few different bike companies. These days, she\u2019s one of Bicycling\u2019s Health and Fitness editors.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of our biggest goals here at Bicycling is for every story we write or piece of content…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[86962,73092,49,48,635,86966,86965,86961,41977,84,86967,86963,4557,82,81607,86968,86964,406],"class_list":["post-168811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-bicycling-com","tag-bike-training","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-news","tag-cyclist-inspiration","tag-fitness-stories","tag-fitness-trends","tag-health","tag-monthly-roundup","tag-popular-fitness","tag-september","tag-sports","tag-training-tips","tag-trending-fitness","tag-viral-cycling-stories","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}