I struggle with maintaining my blood pressure at a reasonable level that won’t cause my heart to explode. When the question is asked, can the Peloton Bike HELP to reduce blood pressure, it’s a very personal question and the answer is a resounding yes, for me at least.
If your blood pressure goes unchecked, it can kill you without you even knowing it, that’s why it is known as the silent killer. For that reason, it’s important to know what your blood pressure is, where you want it to be and what course of action you need to take to get it down to reasonable levels.
THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE VISIT
When I sat in the doctor’s office and he reiterated to me that I needed to take blood pressure pills to live a long healthy life, I was afraid of what high blood pressure could do to me, but I was more afraid of what the unknown side effects of those blood pressure pills would do to me long term.
I’m NOT recommending that anyone reading this take the same course of action that I did after I heard that news and please do NOT take this as medical advice, but here goes.
I Was more afraid of the unknown side effects of the blood pressure pills!
I MADE LIFESTYLE CHANGES AFTER MY DOCTOR’S VISIT
I decided against taking the blood pressure pills, even though my blood pressure was 180/90, and 140/90 is still considered stage 1 hypertension. My reasoning for this is that I am very skeptical of any short term life hack that fixes the symptom of an issue instead of the root of the problem. Taking blood pressure pills is simply an artificial way to reduce blood pressure that was elevated due to poor daily habits. Instead of taking the pills, I stopped all the things I did that I knew for a fact was causing my issue. I went from 3 days of weight training and 2 days of Peloton Bike Riding to 3 days of Peloton Bike riding and 2 days of weight training. Two of those bike riding days were 30 minute bike rides, one was a H.I.I.T. workout and the other a recovery ride. On the third day, I did a 60 minute ride at medium intensity.
You may be thinking about adding bike riding to your overall fitness routine to drop your blood pressure and you should, but before you make a definitive decision, learn as much as possible about the options out there. Here is a pretty good resource to get you started, Peloton Bike: Full Length Review & Hidden Usability Advantages.
For me, the increased focus on riding my Peloton definitely helped to reduce my blood pressure, but what can not be underestimated was the lifestyle changes that I had to make. Whether good or bad, my lifestyle choices are pretty repetitive, which made it easy to pinpoint what I needed to modify, here is the list of things that I change immediately:
- No more 32 ounce Gatorades after every workout
- No more homemade sausage egg and cheese sandwiches smothered in mayonnaise for breakfast
- No more sugary cereals in the morning for breakfast
- No more sodium and saturated fat packed frozen pasta dinners
- No more homemade banana pancakes smothered in strawberry jam and syrup
I made some pretty BORING replacements, but by combining these with riding my Peloton probably saved my life.
- Morning Pre Work Out – 1 Cup Of Oatmeal Soaked In Water Overnight
- Morning Post Work Out – ⅔ Cup Non Fat Greek Yogurt
- Morning Post Work Out – Orgain Organic Protein Shake
- Morning Post Work Out – 1 Cup Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes
- Morning Post Work Out – ½ Cup Nature’s Path Pumpkin Seeds
- Morning Post Work Out – 1 Cup Organic A2 Milk
- Morning Post Work Out – ½ Cup Of Blueberries
- Drink water after every workout
- Lunch – Quinoa With Every Meal, Instead Of Rice With Every Meal
- Dinner – Sweet Potatoes Or Yuca Instead Of Rice
I won’t sit here and tell you I did this everyday 100% of the time, but I hit this schedule way more often than I missed it and the results showed
DID PELOTON BIKE RIDING & DIET MODIFICATIONS IMPROVE MY HEART HEALTH
Riding the Peloton Bike while modifying my diet appropriately was an absolute game changer for my heart health. My resting heart went from mid to high 60s to high 40’s to low 50’s. My Cholesterol improved as well.
HOW DID RIDING MY STATIONARY BIKE IMPROVE MY CHOLESTEROL?
My total cholesterol improved drastically as well. I had a drop of over 29 points from 186 to 157
WHAT WERE MY BLOOD PRESSURE AVERAGES?
With improvements in my heart rate and cholesterol, thankfully my blood pressure saw improvements as well. Instead of having an average of 180/90, I started seeing averages of 135/75.
WAS THE PELOTON BIKE THE REASON MY BLOOD PRESSURE IMPROVED?
I definitely think riding my Peloton was responsible for my improved heart rate, cholesterol, and blood pressure, but with out the right dietary changes, I probably would be facing the same health issues as when I first sat down in that doctor’s office, if not worse.
