Losing weight can be a complex process, influenced by factors like hormones, genetics, medications, and health conditions. Finding the right exercise program can make a big difference, and stationary bike workouts can support your efforts. This article explores the benefits of recumbent bike workouts for weight loss, provides sample workout routines, and offers tips for maximizing your results.
The Benefits of Stationary Bike Workouts for Weight Loss
Research suggests that indoor cycling can aid weight loss. A meta-analysis of 13 studies in Medicina (2019) found that indoor cycling can improve body composition, aerobic capacity, blood pressure, and cholesterol. The researchers recommended combining indoor riding with diet modifications for weight loss.
Low-Impact Cardio
Indoor cycling workouts are low-impact, making them gentle on the joints. This makes them suitable for a wide range of people, including those who may experience pain with higher-impact exercises like running.
Full Body Workout
Stationary bikes provide excellent cardio by working multiple large muscle groups simultaneously, including the quads, calves, and core. Regular cardio contributes to weight loss. Any type of movement that gets your heart rate up burns calories.
Resistance Training
Spin workouts can provide some resistance training, which research shows is beneficial for weight loss. Strength training is important for weight loss as it helps boost metabolism by building muscle mass. However, cycling alone may not be enough to maximize muscle growth, so incorporating off-the-bike resistance training is recommended.
Read also: Weight Loss: Recumbent or Upright Bike?
Consistency
The best workout for weight loss is one you'll do often, and consistency is key. Indoor cycling, as long as you enjoy it and have regular access to a bike, can be very effective. Compared to outdoor cycling, stationary riding is easier to do consistently, regardless of weather or road conditions.
Recumbent Bikes: A Cardio Option for Everyone
The recumbent bike exercise is often thought of as a cardio workout cop-out. The recumbent bike is a great piece of exercise equipment for just about anyone’s home gym, particularly seniors, those recovering from an injury, and anyone looking for low-impact work.
Maximizing Your Workout
Here are some tips to get the most out of your recumbent bike workouts:
- Adjust the seat: Adjusting the seat only takes a second and it will increase the comfort and the effectiveness of your workout. On the downward pedal stroke, your knee should be slightly bent and not fully extended.
- Warm-up: You don’t need an elaborate warmup for the recumbent bike, but you do need it.
- Posture: The key for any recumbent bike and the stationary bike is not to lean too far forward. Keeping your entire back in neutral against the back seat allows for a smoother pedal stroke.
- Resistance: A lot of beginners don’t know where to start when it comes to setting the magnetic resistance levels on the recumbent bike.
- Distraction: Listening to your favorite tunes or book through the Bluetooth function on the recumbent bike could be a pleasant distraction from the uncomfortableness of your workout.
Benefits of Recumbent Bikes
You’ll get the same cardiovascular benefits from a recumbent bike as you would from an upright bike or elliptical. Recumbent cycling has leg-strengthening benefits comparable to the leg press machine. So, the recumbent bike is excellent for cardio and toning your thighs and your glutes too.
With the pedals positioned in front of you, the reclined seating position, and the backrest seat, the recumbent bike is comfortable to use. The upright seat gives you full back support during your bike workout and helps reduce saddle soreness that comes with a smaller seat.
Read also: Optimize your stationary bike routine
You can vary the resistance and speed on the recumbent bike, allowing you to customize your workout.
Low Impact
Weight-bearing exercise is excellent for the health of our joints, but sometimes when your joints are angry at you, you need a break. If your balance is wonky, you suffer from joint or low back pain, the total support for your upper and lower body allows you to get a good workout without the fear of falling flat on your face.
If you’re a cardio beginner or have taken a break, it is important to build your aerobic base. This depends entirely on your fitness level and the intensity you train at.
3 Stationary Bike Workouts for Weight Loss
Here are three stationary bike workouts that can support your weight loss goals. Feel free to repeat your favorite or do each of them once a week. Varying your routine is important to avoid plateauing. Change the training stimulus by tweaking variables like resistance level, speed, duration, and intensity.
1. The 30-20-10 Workout
This is a challenging interval workout. Pedal for 30 seconds at a moderate intensity, 20 seconds at a high intensity, and 10 seconds at a very high intensity. Repeat this sequence for four to five rounds without breaks, then take a brief recovery and repeat the five-minute block again. This ride takes less than 30 minutes to complete.
Read also: The Benefits of Bike Riding
Research supports its effectiveness: The 30-20-10 protocol, which can be used in cycling or running, has been shown to boost fitness and performance while also lowering blood pressure and body fat in both untrained and trained people.
Note: RPE stands for rate of perceived exertion, a measure of how intensely you’re working. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is extremely easy, and 10 is the hardest you could possibly exercise.
Beginner Modification: If you’re new to cycling, substitute the second interval block with a five-minute endurance effort where you pedal at a cadence of 80 to 100 rpm and RPE of 7.
Gear Adjustment: If you’re on a bike with gears, pedal at your base gear (moderate resistance where you feel the ground beneath you on every pedal stroke) for the 30-second interval, add two gears to your base for the 20-second interval, and add six gears to your base for the 10-second interval.
2. Tabata Workout
This 30-minute ride involves short bursts of high-intensity riding with brief periods of rest. Ride all out for 20 seconds, then recover for 10 seconds, and repeat for eight total rounds. After resting one minute, do the interval block again and again (4 rounds in total), with a one-minute recovery between each block.
Research supports the Tabata protocol as an effective workout, showing its benefit for boosting both aerobic and anaerobic fitness while also improving body composition.
Pro Tip: During the recovery portions, lower your cadence but keep pedaling (don’t stop entirely) to prevent dizziness.
Beginner Modification: Strive for an RPE of 7 to 9 during the 20-second work portions instead of going all-out.
Advanced Modification: Increase the intensity by doing five total interval blocks.
3. Endurance Pyramid Workout
This longer workout, about an hour, focuses on both strength and speed.
Newer riders can start with the first half of the pyramid (plus the cooldown) and add on the other half as they become more confident.
Comprehensive Fat-Burning Exercise Program
A fat-burning exercise program should include:
- Strength Training: Boosts metabolism and enhances muscle endurance.
- Interval Training: HIIT methods, like REHIT, provide rapid calorie burns.
- Conditioning: Focuses on cardiovascular power and uses various muscles.
- Low-Intensity Cardio: Ideal for recovery days, it ensures consistent calorie burn.
A balanced cross-training schedule helps you develop different physical abilities such as strength, endurance, and aerobic capacity. It prevents the common problem of reaching a weight-loss plateau. When you repeat the same type of training for a prolonged period of time, your body becomes more efficient at performing this exercise and expends less energy. After a while, you may notice that you don’t burn fat as efficiently as in the beginning.
Importance of Strength Exercises
Strength exercises are an important part of the fat-burning plan because they ensure that you burn calories without losing muscles and improve your overall body composition. Lean muscle mass increases your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn at rest) and the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC - the number of calories burnt when your body restores its metabolism after training).
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) provides a massive metabolic boost during and immediately after your workout. During the short bouts of exercise performed at maximum intensity, your body stacks an “oxygen debt” that leads to an increased EPOC effect, helping you burn more fat after the training. HIIT is known to be one of the most efficient types of training to drive significant fat-burning results.
Body Conditioning
Body conditioning is a heart-pumping full-body workout that activates the entire body and uses multiple major muscle groups. It often involves resistance and bodyweight exercises that make it look similar to a strength workout.
Low-Intensity Cardio
Low-intensity cardio is a great exercise for active recovery that can be performed right after more intense strength and interval training sessions. It allows you to slightly increase overall calorie burn and make the most of your resting days without overtraining.
Weekly Workout Plan
To achieve optimal weight loss results, you will need to perform at least 4 workouts a week leaving 2 days for active rest and 1 day for complete rest. Allow 1 day of rest between high-intensity interval training to give your body enough time to recover.
Day 1: Full-body workout.
- Lower body exercises:
- 10x Squat jumps
- 10x Deadlifts
- 10x Alternating lunges
- 10x Mountain climbers
- 10x Step ups
- Rest 1 min
- Core exercises:
- Plank 1 min
- 10x Walkouts
- 10x Jumping jacks
- 5x Burpees
- 5x Bear crawls
- Rest 1 min
- Upper body exercises:
- 10x Push ups
- 10x Dumbbell bench press
- 10x Russian twists
- 10x Diagonal arm kicks
- 10x Crab walks
- Rest 1 min
Every workout should include a 5-minute warmup and a 10-minute cooldown.
Day 2: Reduced Exertion HIIT (REHIT). REHIT gives you superior health and fitness benefits compared to regular exercise-in 90% less time. It is based on research that has shown that 2×20-second all-out sprints are enough to deplete up to 30% of the body’s glycogen stores and trigger metabolic changes that increase calorie afterburn.
The training consists of a short warmup, 2×20-second all-out sprints, 1-3-min recovery time, and a 3-min cooldown. In just 5 minutes, REHIT burns 2x more calories per minute than a regular treadmill run. 66% of calories are burned after the training. It is recommended to do at least 2-3 REHIT sessions per week to achieve visible weight-loss results.
Day 3: Active recovery. On active recovery days, you should opt for low-intensity workouts that increase blood flow, enrich the blood with oxygen, and help wash out the lactic acid from the muscles. A good workout is typically done at around 40-50% of your maximum heart rate and can be sustained for longer periods of time. You can pick any non-strenuous exercise of your choice such as 30-minute jogging, walking, cycling, or swimming for active rest.
Days 4-7: Can be used for various training or rest.
CAROL Bike and REHIT
CAROL Bike is the only bike fully optimized for REHIT- making it easy, effective, and safe. Its AI automatically tailors resistance levels so that you hit your personal maximal capacity during each ride.
Alternatively, CAROL Bike’s Fat burn ride is a high-intensity protocol designed to trigger a massive calorie burn during your workout and after. Fat burn ride consists of 60×8-second sprints and lasts between 17-25 minutes.
According to studies, this type of training has the longest and greatest EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) compared to moderate-intensity treadmill exercise, vigorous-intensity treadmill exercise. EPOC duration was more than 2.5 times greater than following vigorous-intensity treadmill exercise (72.1 min) and more than 3.5 times greater than following moderate-intensity treadmill exercise (45.2 min). EPOC leads to 72% of calories being burned after the Fat burn ride.
CAROL Bike offers you several types of Zone 2 training.
Sample 4-Week Home Workout Plan
This 4-week home workout plan is a great place to start if you want to lose weight at home. Remember that CDC recommends losing no more than 2 pounds or 1 kilogram per week. It is safe to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day.
Week 1:
- Day 1: Full body workout
- Day 2: REHIT on CAROL Bike
- Day 3: Active recovery
- Day 4: Repeat conditioning training from Week 1.
- Day 5:
- Day 6:
- Day 7:
Week 2:
- Day 1: Split strength session into 2 parts, focusing specifically on your upper and lower body.
- Day 2:
- Day 3:
- Day 4:
- Day 5:
- Day 6:
- Day 7:
Week 3:
- Day 1:
- Day 2:
- Day 3:
- Day 4: Repeat conditioning training from Week 1.
- Day 5:
- Day 6:
- Day 7:
Week 4:
- Day 1:
- Day 2:
- Day 3:
- Day 4:
- Day 5:
- Day 6:
- Day 7: