Indoor Exercise Bikes
What is an Exercise Bike?
Indoor exercise bikes are like regular bicycles,
but without wheels*. Exercise bicycles provide an effective cardio-workout
(to raise heart-rate) and burn a reasonable number of calories to help
weight loss. There is no impact from your upper body weight, so you can
strengthen your butt and thigh muscles without putting stress on your
knee or ankle joints.They are safe, effective and easy to use by all gym-visitors
including seniors and pregnant women. A gym or health studio may have
4 different types of exercise cycle: (1) Traditional upright Stationary
bike; (2) Recumbent
bike (horizontal seat); (3) Dual
Action bike (with moveable handlebars for upper and lower body workout);
(4) Studio bike for high-speed spinning
workout.
* Spinning or studio-bikes, are the main
exception. These cycles do have a front wheel or sometimes two wheels,
but the bike is grounded or bolted to the floor.
Types of Indoor Exercise Bike
Stationary Bikes are by far the most
popular form of exercise bike. Stationary bikes provide good lower body
fitness workouts. Recumbent or semi-recumbent cycles have chair-like
seats and are more comfortable than stationary bikes as they provide better
back support. They promote efficient blood flow throughout the body. Dual
action bikes are upright bikes with movable arm handles so you can
exercise your upper body as well as your thighs and butt. The aerobic
intensity is better because of the arm handles and upper body toning is
enhanced. Spinning, using studio bikes, is basically road-cycling
brought indoors. A studio bike feels more like a regular bike and is used
for more high-speed cycling.
Lower-Body, Fat-Burning Workout
An exercise bike typically provides a low-impact,
medium intensity aerobic workout, which means you make your heart work
harder and pump increased amounts of oxygen-rich blood to the muscles.
This helps you to burn fat. Also, by varying the resistance levels, or
using a dual-action bike, you can turn your bicycling routine into a relatively
high-intensity cardiovascular workout and burn more calories for even
greater weight loss.
How Often Should I Use an Indoor Exercise
Bike?
Beginner Cyclist
Use different intensities. 5 minutes low-intensity cycling, 30 seconds
higher-intensity. Do this 4 times.
Medium Cyclist
Ride 10 minutes at high intensity, then 2 minutes at low-intensity. Then
do 8 minutes at a higher level of intensity than the first 10 minutes,
then 2 minutes at low-intensity. Each increasingly harder interval should
be 2 minutes shorter than the one before, but keep on increasing the intensity.
This should take 40 minutes. Finish with some slow pedaling to cool down.
Advanced Cyclist
To test maximum capacity, plan on riding for a certain period of time
– say 40 minutes - and use progressively higher resistance throughout
the ride. Increase the resistance every 3 or 4 minutes. When you are halfway
through the session, decrease the resistance at regular intervals over
the same amount of time.
Back to Advice
About Exercise and Fitness Programs
Calorie Intake
For information about the calorie content
of popular food and drinks, please visit: Calories
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