A stationary bike is a compact exercise equipment designed for indoor cycling. Its popularity has increased over the last few years as an easy, effective, and low-impact cardio workout.
In addition to being convenient, stationary bikes provide users with a wide range of benefits. Read on to learn about stationary bike benefits and how it can contribute to your cardio routine.
List of Stationary Bike Benefits
1. Takes Up Little Space
Compared to other exercise equipment like elliptical trainers and treadmills, stationary bikes are compact and don’t take up much space. They can easily fit inside a small apartment.
Despite being small, a stationary bike can give you the same cardio benefits as when exercising with elliptical trainers or treadmills.
2. Helps You Lose Weight
Studies show an individual weighing 125 pounds can burn about 120 calories in just 30 minutes when cycling on a stationary bike. The number of calories burned can vary based on the length and intensity of the exercise, along with your body weight and heart rate.
Stationary bikes are perfect for losing weight, especially if you’re new to cardio workouts. For a newbie, it’s an easy exercise routine to get into. You just have to ensure you’re cycling long enough to burn those excess calories.
3. Improves Heart Health
Cycling is one of the healthiest forms of cardio exercise. You can lead a healthier, more active lifestyle by simply riding your stationary bike for only 30 minutes a day.
As an excellent form of cardio, indoor cycling also improves the heart’s capacity to pump blood and provide oxygen to the body’s muscles.
Aside from that, it helps in lowering blood pressure and improves your lipid profile. Most of all, it can prevent the risk of heart attacks.
4. Increases Your Endurance
As you gradually lengthen the duration of your cycling, your endurance also increases. Not only that, but regular training sessions also improve your VO₂ max or the amount of oxygen inhaled during exercise.
A higher intake of oxygen means more energy your body can use. This results in an improved capacity to sustain longer exercise sessions.
One of the most effective ways to increase VO₂ max is by incorporating HIIT or high-intensity interval training. HIIT is an interval training exercise that alternates between long periods of high-intensity cycling followed by shorter periods of low-intensity movements.
5. Builds and Strengthens Lower-Body Muscles
Two types of stationary bikes are especially effective for strengthening your legs: the upright bike and the spin bike.
The upright bike is designed to support the user in an upright position, whereas the spin bike resembles a road bike and can give you more intense cardio workouts.
The pedaling motion enhances the four main leg muscle groups: quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and glutes. You can also enhance your lower back muscles by holding the bike’s handlebars and tilting your upper body towards the front.
Additionally, the recumbent bike, designed to support cyclists in a reclining position, also helps train your abdominal muscles.
6. Helps in Strength Training
A stationary bike is perfect for warming up before a strength training session, as cycling allows you to activate and raise the temperature of your leg muscles.
As a low-stress, low-impact form of cardio, indoor cycling does an excellent job of preparing the body for more strenuous workout sessions.
7. Easy on Your Joints
A stationary bike is an excellent exercise for those who wouldn’t want to compromise their joints, such as seniors, the injured, and people with weight problems.
It’s often recommended for knee and ankle rehabilitation when nursing a sprain or an injury. Also, cycling helps strengthen the joints of osteoarthritis patients, keeping them flexible and reducing their stiffness.
8. Fights Bad Cholesterol
Too much cholesterol in your body puts you at risk of heart disease, strokes, and other medical problems.
Studies show that indoor cycling helps lower bad cholesterol while simultaneously increasing good cholesterol.
For this to take effect, It’s recommended that you get 150 minutes of cycling per week.
9. Helps Avoid Diabetes
Indoor cycling can help prevent type-2 diabetes, a condition wherein the body doesn’t respond to insulin properly.
This is supported by a 2016 study of a group of adults in Denmark who consequently showed lower risks of getting diabetes through commuter and recreational cycling.
This is due to the body using glucose more efficiently during cycling. As a result, blood sugar levels tend to go down.
10. Boosts Your Mood
If you want an energy boost when waking up, indoor cycling should be included in your morning workout routine. And for those who have to travel to work early in the morning, a study indicates that bicycle commuting is one of the best ways to minimize stress levels.
A consistent cycling session also decreases the cortisol in your body. And lower cortisol, a hormone that’s released when we’re stressed, results in an increase in your overall happiness.
11. It’s a Lot of Fun
Stationary bikes nowadays are equipped with high-tech equipment that allows you to pair them with apps such as Kinomap.
This lets you enjoy a virtual biking experience by providing geolocated tracks of famous places worldwide. You can even go in multiplayer mode and do workout sessions with your friends!
Wrapping Up
From helping with weight loss and diabetes to improving endurance and heart health, stationary bikes are some of the most convenient pieces of exercise equipment out there.
Now that you know all about stationary bike benefits, what are you waiting for? Start cycling and reap the benefits!