By Kevin Kolodziejski
Granted, the title’s designed to be a tease, but it’s hardly a case of yellow journalism. You’ll see that soon enough — if you maintain the proper perspective.
To ensure that happens, here’s what I’ll ask of you. It’s something that could also help your mental health. Take some time and think about that guy who just gets your goat on group rides and what makes the guy such a group-ride goat-getter.
What Makes the Guy Such a Goat-Getter?
Maybe it’s because he can’t hold his line and is totally oblivious to that fact. Maybe it’s because he half-wheels you to death every time you get on the front together and is quite aware of it. Or maybe it’s because he’s a know-it-all who never knows when to shut up. The reason why he bothers you really doesn’t matter.
What matters is that you now think about a time in your life when you were too young to pedal a bicycle and were really hurt by something somebody else did or said. What was done or said really doesn’t matter. What matters is that it stung enough that you still can recall it.
You know what else really matters? That the goat-getter on those group rides has been stung in the same way for sure. And in that way, you and he are alike. Come to terms with that, and any ill feelings you have towards him should go out the door.
Empathy should enter. Compassion and forgiveness might even just follow. How’s that for a kumbaya moment?
Kumbaya, My Rider, Kumbaya? Not Really
No, we’re not about to lock arms and sing uplifting songs. Nor is this some sort of intervention so you confront your own riding faux pas. I’m not even about to go all touchy-feely and metaphorical on you about how we’re all really on a great big group ride together and need to keep a smooth and tight paceline.
Instead, view the mental gymnastics you just performed as a needed prelude so that what comes next gets your uttermost attention — without getting your innermost goat. Because if you don’t take what comes next with a good dose of Zen, it could be a real goat-getter.
It’s a study that suggests vigorous exercise may not really be one of the things it’s cracked up to be: good for weight loss. Which means cycling may not be all it’s cracked up to be either — and hence today’s say-it’s-not-so title.
Worse, vigorous exercise could even lead to weight gain. But before we discuss the study, it makes sense to briefly review some of the good vigorous exercise can do.
Some of the Good Derived From Vigorous Exercise
To do so, we’ll enlist the help of a frequent RBR contributor, Dr. Gabe Mirkin. In one of his offerings, “All Exercise is Good, and Vigorous Exercise is Better,” Mirkin cites an analysis published in 2021 by the JAMA Internal Medicine of more than 400,000 participants that found “the greater the proportion of vigorous exercise to total exercise, the less likely a person was to die from a heart attack, die from cancer, or die from any cause during the 10 study years.”
And to hammer home his article is aptly named, Mirkin mentions another JAMA Internal Medicine publication in 2015 that determined essentially the same, as well as four prior and more specific studies. One showed vigorous exercise to be more effective than casual exercise in preventing heart disease. Another found it has the same effect on diabetes. The third, that it did more to promote fitness and oxygen processing than moderate exercise. The fourth, that vigorous exercise is more effective than moderate exercise at preventing weight gain.
But that fourth finding is exactly what the study published in Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise about a month ago calls into question. In fact, it suggests the opposite.
The Potentially Goat-Stealing Study
The researchers reached this conclusion after they took male mice and broke them into three groups. One group was not allowed to exercise. The other two groups did so for 30 minutes on an exercise wheel, but at different degrees of intensity. One group was forced to keep the effort moderate. The other had no choice but to run vigorously.
The next day, only the mice that had exercised vigorously weighed more than before, “despite no observed changes in food intake.” Now before you say, No way, here’s a possible one. That the vigorous exercise induced a “reduction in subsequent non-exercise physical activity” and body temperature in the mice by altering the production of corticosterone, a hormone that functions in mice pretty close to the way cortisol does in humans.
And cortisol does a great deal in your body, affecting virtually every organ in some way. For example, it can alter blood sugar levels and how your body metabolizes fats, proteins, and carbohydrates —both of which can influence weight loss or weight gain.
Standing After a Ride May Be a Good Thing After All
So am I about to suggest you stop riding vigorously as the result of just one study? No way. I’m the guy, lest you forget, who’s not content unless his two morning weekend rides transform the nicety of an afternoon nap into an absolute necessity.
But I do agree wholeheartedly with a crucial point the study’s lead researcher Takashi Matsui, PhD, makes in an interview with Medical News Today. And since it runs contrary to what none other than the Wall Street Journal calls the cardinal rule of professional cycling — “Don’t stand when you can sit, and don’t sit when you can lie down” — it’s something you should consider.
That not only do exercisers naturally develop ways to reduce energy expenditure during exercise, but they also “tend to compensate for the energy expenditure of exercise by reducing energy use in other activities. Therefore, it’s crucial to recognize the beneficial effects of maintaining an active lifestyle beyond just exercise.”
I’m all for that — as long as I don’t have to give up my weekend naps.
Kevin Kolodziejski began his writing career in earnest in 1989. Since then he’s written a weekly health and fitness column and his articles have appeared in magazines such as “MuscleMag,” “Ironman,” “Vegetarian Times,” and “Bicycle Guide.” He has Bachelor and Masters degrees in English from DeSales and Kutztown Universities.
A competitive cyclist for more than 30 years, Kevin won two Pennsylvania State Time Trial championships in his 30’s, the aptly named Pain Mountain Time Trial 4 out of 5 times in his 40s, two more state TT’s in his 50’s, and the season-long Pennsylvania 40+ BAR championship at 43.