Cycling outdoors vs indoors — what’s the (physiological) difference?

What if I told you that cycling outdoors subconsciously makes you exert more force and put in more ‘effort’ than cycling indoors?

Setting the stage:

A study conducted by Mieras ME et al tested this hypothesis out. Twelve recreationally trained men were instructed to bike 40km (24.85 miles) twice: Once indoors (lab setting) and once outdoors. Both times they were instructed to exert the same perceived effort.

All the Nitty & Gritty:

The research team measured indicators such as Power Output, Heart Rate (HR), Core Temperature, Skin Temperature, Body Weight, Urine Specific Gravity (USG — indicator of liver functionality), Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE), Attentional Focus, and Environmental Conditions.

Here’s what they found out:

Power Output and Heart Rate were higher in the outdoor trial than in the indoor trial and Skin Temperature was lower in the outdoor trial. All other variables showed no statistical difference in the two trials.

This data suggests something pretty awesome — biking outdoors allows you to exercise at a higher intensity than biking indoors, despite similar environmental conditions and perceived exertion (the amount of exertion the bikers thought they put in).

So before you take your car to go to the gym for your stationary (and probably expensive) spinning class — grab your bike, go on google maps and plot yourself a nice, cinematic route. Your body (and mind!) will thank you for it :-)

—AJ @ FYTNS

www.fytns.com