# Does biking help running speed?



## minneola24 (Jul 6, 2009)

Hello,

Is riding your bike beneficial for firefighters in terms of cardio? I need to improve my mile time and was wondering if biking would help.

Thanks.


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## marineman (Jul 6, 2009)

Any cardio will help and yes biking does help significantly. Using lower gears and peddling faster will improve your foot speed which will help you make quicker strides when running. I however will always stand by the thought that swimming is the greatest cardio in the world as well as all around the greatest exercise in the world.


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## minneola24 (Jul 6, 2009)

marineman said:


> Any cardio will help and yes biking does help significantly. Using lower gears and peddling faster will improve your foot speed which will help you make quicker strides when running. I however will always stand by the thought that swimming is the greatest cardio in the world as well as all around the greatest exercise in the world.



Thanks for the reply,

Swimming is alot of fun and is good exercise however I don't own a swimming pool and the community one is full of pee.


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## HotelCo (Jul 6, 2009)

minneola24 said:


> the community one is full of pee.



That's what the chlorine is for.


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## minneola24 (Jul 6, 2009)

HotelCo said:


> That's what the chlorine is for.



Well anyways the pool is way to crowded to do any decent exercise since its summer time. And for me biking is much easier to get started, you just get on a bike and go, no need to get to the pool, get dressed, dry off etc.


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## bmennig (Jul 7, 2009)

I was thinking the same thing as far as biking goes, I'm sure it does as marineman said, swimming is excellent cardio however I lack in the swimming aspect of things (I usually sink like a rock) and I'll second your community pool statement.


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## 46Young (Jul 7, 2009)

High rep kettlebell swings will give the same cardio benefits as running, and will address your posterior chain as well. Great for larger individuals who don't want to wear out their joints with high rep plyometrics(distance running). Kettlebell circuits are great conditioning for fireground conditions. I know firsthand. If you want firefighter specific conditioning, check out www.firegroundfitness.com Check out the "sissy test". A real puker. I recently ran a 9:52 1.5 mile at 225 lbs. I hardly ever run distance, or any steady state cardio for that matter. Just sayin'. If you choose to do a lot of cycling, be sure to balance that work with glute/ham exercises to compensate.


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## Maya (Jul 8, 2009)

I have to agree with 46Young on kettlebells, they're *awesome.*  Check out Crossfit too, they're using it more and more to train FFs, police, and military.

http://www.crossfit.com/

The benefit of kettlebells is that they combine the benefits of cardio and weightlifting to get a higher impact workout in less time.  Also, it's a dynamic workout, so you train muscles that you wouldn't be working if you were on a machine.

However, if it's running speed you're working on, I, personally, believe that you should be working on your running technique.  You can only do that by running.  If you don't want to stress your joints, then do it on a treadmill, but you'll get the best running time by working on your breathing and form.  You won't get that from a bike, but any cardio is better than no cardio.


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