Exercising stationary bike is both a lot of fun and a full-fledged and useful fat-burning exercise. You can do stationary bike exercise at home and even travel (hotel and accommodation) and lose weight. What do you think about learning exercise with a stationary bike in a principled and professional way?
We went to one of the professional stationary bike trainers and talked to him about the most fat-burning exercise programs at home. Stay with us until the end of this article. Because we want to introduce you to the best exercises with a stationary bike.
What is a stationary bike good for? (Benefits of stationary bike exercise)
Stationary bike exercise can be the best exercise to build muscle and strengthen legs and thighs while losing weight; But did you know that exercising with a stationary bike has many benefits for your body and health? Exercising on a stationary bike will make you feel good by releasing happy hormones, increase your self-confidence, reduce the risk of various diseases and is very effective against bad cholesterol.
Yes; Exercising on a stationary bike does not only burn fat and has other benefits that we will introduce in this section.
1. Cardiovascular health
The heart is a muscle and like all other muscles in the body, it needs regular exercise to stay fit and healthy! A strong heart is also threatened by fewer cardiovascular diseases.
A reduction in heart rate at rest and during exercise, lower blood pressure, improved cardio-respiratory capacity and, as a result, a lower risk of heart attack are among the benefits of cardio exercises that you can achieve with exercise on a stationary bike. If you exercise at least 2-3 times a week for 30-45 minutes per session, you can enjoy these benefits.
2. Weight management
Riding a bicycle consumes a lot of energy and calories, and as a result, it causes weight loss. What you need to know is that the more intense your workout, the more calories you burn. You can also alternate between a long cardio workout at low or moderate intensity 1-2 times a week and a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session once a week to get both the weight loss benefits of the bike and your workout, high-intensity and Don’t be boring.
- Stationary bike with moderate intensity of 413 kcal
- Stationary bike with high intensity 620 kcal
- Stationary bike with very high intensity 738 kcal
3. Improve mood
When you exercise on a stationary bike, your body releases happy hormones such as endorphins and serotonin, which bring you freshness, good mood and relaxation. These hormones have a very positive effect on your mood, stress, sleep quality and mood. If you experience this euphoric feeling, even 20 minutes of exercise a day is enough!
4. Low intensity and low pressure
Cycling in bodybuilding is a gentle exercise that is often recommended for rehabilitation, especially after knee injuries or ankle sprains. You can moderate the intensity of the exercise to stimulate and strengthen the muscles and tendons without putting pressure on the joints.
At the same time, exercising with a stationary bike helps to increase joint mobility and the range of motion in the lower body muscles. However, if you have a particular injury in the joint area, you should consult your doctor before starting your workout.
5. Strengthening muscles, improving muscle endurance
One of the most important benefits of stationary bike exercise is the involvement and strengthening of several muscle groups, including the buttock muscles, quadriceps and calves, mid-body, etc. Also, with this exercise bike, you can increase your muscle strength and endurance and make your daily activities easier and simpler.
You can get your training program from vitamin trainers right now and get the best results from your sport.
6. Easy to use
Using a stationary bike is easy! Whether you have this device at home or in the gym, it is easy to use and does not require special training.
The correct way to use a stationary bike
The three correct postures on the stationary bike that most trainers use are as follows. Practice each form well so you can perform at your best the next time you get on the bike.
The first mode
Practice tips
- For the first exercise with a stationary bike, first take the part where the brakes are on a regular bike with your hands;
- You can also put your hands on the middle handlebars of a stationary bike;
- Sit on the saddle of a stationary bike and let the midsection lean forward naturally;
- Rest the neck and shoulders and minimize upper body movements;
- In this position, engage your core to keep your back straight.
The second mode
Practice tips
- According to the first form, get up from the saddle while the hands are on the side handlebars;
- Don’t go too far from the saddle, just stay slightly above it;
- You should feel your hips getting closer to the saddle by pedaling;
- Engage your core and hip muscles.
The third mode
Practice tips
- Bring your hands forward from the second position and grab the upper end of the steering wheel;
- keep your back straight;
- while hip and core muscles are involved;
- Continue bending forward until you can bend the arms naturally;
- Your hips should be back and above the saddle;
- You should feel your core, hips, hamstrings and quads all working;
- You should not feel discomfort or pressure in the lower back, neck or shoulders.
Wrong forms of stationary bike exercise
So far, you have learned the correct use of a bicycle. Now look, if you make any of the mistakes below, make sure to fix it. Don’t forget to constantly check your form during stationary bike exercise.
When you get tired, it’s common to do things like relax your core, bend your back, or otherwise change postures. It is important to find a balance between normal intensity and high intensity exercise so that your body does not fall into such wrong forms. When in doubt about whether your form is correct or not, reduce your resistance a little and slow down.
The first form
As it turns out, the elbows are out. Your back is not straight. You hang on to the bike as if your life is attached to it. When you’re out of breath and tired, it’s easy to get out of shape.
Correct use of the stationary bike in the first form
Do you walk with your back completely hunched? Obviously not. So don’t repeat this while exercising on a stationary bike. If you feel tension and pressure in parts of your body while pedaling, don’t push yourself. Take a deep breath and readjust your posture.
The second form
If you get out of the saddle and raise your hips, you immediately force your lower back to bend. This means you are putting unnecessary pressure on your lower spine. That’s why many people feel back pain after exercising on a stationary bike.
Correct use of the stationary bike in the second form
Do not raise the hip muscles too much and keep them at a small distance from the saddle.
The third form
Yes, I know, sometimes you want your stationary bike workout to be over as quickly as possible, but pedaling in such a way that you might fall off the bike at any moment is not going to help your workout go any faster. This form, as you saw above, puts unnecessary pressure on the spine. Also, if you climb too high, your knees may hit the handlebars and you may be injured.
Correct use of a stationary bike in the third form
Sit in a relaxed position and put your thighs back on the saddle. Make sure that the knees never go past the pedals.
Fourth form
Back pain warning! If you have a hunchback or bend your back at all, it may be because you are not engaging your core enough. The tips of the toes should not be on the ground with each pedal. Sometimes people run on flat ground with their toes or climb a hill with their heels. As much as you can, you should maintain the natural position of the foot. You can also think about treating your back hump along with these exercises
Correct use of the stationary bike in the fourth form
Raise your head so that your neck and waist are in a straight line. Try to make a complete circle with your feet with each pedal.
Fifth form
You might like to shake your body a little during your workout! But it is better not to do this while exercising with a stationary bike. If you swing your upper body too much while pedaling, you may end up with back pain or even worse, seriously injure your back.
If you continue to move your body naturally, everything will be fine, but if you overdo it, you may lose control and put yourself at greater risk of injury.
Correct use of the stationary bike in the fifth form
Engage your core to keep your weight centered on the bike and minimize excess movement.
What muscles does the stationary bike involve?
Probably all of us at first think that stationary bike exercise involves only the lower body muscles; But it is not! Stationary cycling primarily engages the lower body muscles, especially the legs, but will also activate some upper body muscles to a lesser extent. At the same time, the heart muscle is also significantly involved. In the following, we introduce the main muscle groups that are involved when exercising on a stationary bike.
- Lower body muscles
As it turns out, the lower body muscle groups are directly affected and well engaged during stationary bike exercise. These muscles include quadriceps (muscles in the front of the thigh), hamstrings (muscles in the back of the thigh), glutes (buttocks), calves, and hip flexors.
- mid-body muscles
While the main focus of stationary bike exercise is on the lower body, the mid-body muscles (abdominal and lower back) will also be involved to stabilize the trunk and maintain proper posture while cycling.
- Upper body muscles
The muscles in your upper body, such as your shoulders, arms, and upper back, are gently engaged to help you balance and move more on the bike, but they aren’t the main muscles that are heavily involved during cycling.
Four great exercise programs with a stationary bike
Now it’s time to introduce you to several great exercise programs for weight loss with a stationary bike, for example. Of course, as you know, to do these exercises, you need to consult your coach or sports expert. Before presenting stationary bike programs for weight loss, we must say that exercise has several levels. We suggest you to know these levels and try to advance your practice in these levels.
- Easy level: This is the beginning of the way or warming up the body before training. For this, your body’s resistance should be at its lowest level and you should set the speed of the training to such an extent that if your training continues into the night, you will not reduce it again.
- average level: At this stage, you just feel that your sports training has started; But, you haven’t entered the hard training phase yet. At this stage of stationary bike exercise, the intensity of pedaling and resistance should be to the extent that your breath becomes a little heavier, but not to the extent that you can no longer speak. The resistance of the stationary bike should be such that you feel like you are going up a short hill.
- Difficult level: Well, now you have entered the serious stage! You are completely out of breath and can’t even speak more than two words. In this stage of the training, the resistance should be chosen in a moderate to difficult stage.
- Giant level: In this phase of stationary bike exercise, you must pedal with all your strength and use all your strength. You should also set the pedal resistance to the highest level and start pushing your legs. At this stage, you should not be able to speak and pray every moment that your training will end soon!
1. Interval training with a stationary bike
The trainer’s first recommendation for stationary bike exercise is interval training. If you want your fat burning to show, it’s better to use this style of training, he says.
One of the good things about this style of training is that the level of difficulty or ease of the exercise in this stationary bike program is constantly changing. Below, we bring the interval training table with a stationary bike.
2. Training based on maximum heart rate
We hope you are not one of those people who think that they have to go to the gym in order to lose weight and achieve the perfect body! According to trainers, doing interval training (HIIT) is not just for burning fat.
You can try interval training and moderate intensity aerobics for fat burning. In the following, we will explain this training style to you completely, it is better to do this training at least three times a week to achieve your goal.
Exercise tips
For this stationary bike workout for weight loss, you need to be aware of your heart rate. If you are a beginner, it is better to use this training method only two days a week.
- First, warm up your body with aerobic movements.
- Then sit on a stationary bike and ride with 60-70% of your maximum heart rate for 45-90 minutes.
- Then a minute: Cycling with 76 to 85% of maximum heart rate
- Then two minutes: Recovery with 60% maximum heart rate
tip: It is better to repeat this one-minute + two-minute exercise 6 times if you have the necessary physical ability and fitness.
Don’t forget to cool down at the end. Cool down your body by stretching. Be careful that the maximum heart rate varies from person to person, and you should know the intensity of the exercise yourself. It is better to do high intensity training with moderate speed or vice versa, moderate intensity training with high speed. Either way, you need to reach your maximum heart rate (MHR).
3. Tabata exercise with a stationary bike
Chances are, you’ve done Tabata strength training by now, but have you heard of Tabata training on a stationary bike? It is interesting to know that the first study that was done on Tabata exercises was with this stationary bike!
This exercise is based on RPE or “Borg Perceived Exertion”. In general, perceived exertion or RPE is equal to the amount of exercise intensity that you can change by changing the resistance and speed of the stationary bike.
For example: The intensity of the exercise will be a value between 0 and 10. When we say that the RPE of the exercise is equal to 5, it means that 50% of your exercise must be difficult to perform the exercise. Now, using the same method, you can use the exercise program with a stationary bike that is given below.
Exercise tips
In this table, 20 seconds of exercise on a stationary bike should be accompanied by 80-100% of your effort, that is, the RPE number is equal to 8 and 10. You can increase the speed or resistance of the device for this. At the beginning and end of the exercise, you should reduce the resistance and speed of the machine so that you can easily move the pedals.
4. Aerobic + explosive training with a stationary bike
This training style of exercising with a stationary bike is also known as 10-20-30 method and is a combination of aerobic and explosive training, of course, it goes without saying that you will also have a short recovery at the end of the training.
Exercise tips
The main part of the exercise (explosion), which you must repeat 5 times, is a total of one minute (30+20+10 seconds) with different exercise intensities, and you can do the same exercise with an elliptical machine or a regular bike.
The trainer suggests that while doing this exercise, increase the resistance of the bike to the point where you can pedal smoothly and controlled, then stabilize it and increase or decrease your speed to increase or decrease the intensity of the exercise.
final word
Exercising on a stationary bike is an effortless way to lose weight, get fitter and healthier. With this device, you can easily exercise and enjoy at home and in the gym. In this article, we have explained how to use the stationary bike correctly and with the picture, and we have also introduced several suitable programs for stationary bike exercise.
Source: self
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