May Bike Month - A Great Time For Beginners to Peddle Their Way to Better Health

May is a great time to start up an exercise plan that includes getting outdoors. It’s the first full month of spring. The weather is warming up, but not quite hot yet, and it’s American Bike Month.

For those who have never been on a bike, consider this - it’s a low cost financial investment compared to a gym membership, and the health benefits are huge. Besides the obvious benefit of losing weight, cycling also helps improve:

• back pain
• knee joints
• the heart and cardiovascular system
• muscle tone in the lower body (legs, thighs, hips, and buttocks)

Improving back pain might sound surprising to some, but according to Cycling and Health - a website of the Center for Health of the German Sports Academy of Cologne - increasing circulation can have three main benefits:

• The large muscles in the back strengthen and develop.
• Increased blood flow strengthens the disks in the spinal column.
• Cycling also helps stabilize the position of the disks in the spine in relation to each other.

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