A stationary or exercise bike is brilliant indoor workout equipment that is suitable for people of different ages. Some people get worried about if riding the stationary bike daily is okay or not. They may get their answers here.
The benefits of riding the stationary bike daily are beneficial for both your physical and mental health. The major benefits are as follows:
Improvement of Cardio Fitness
You can make your heart pumping right by riding on a stationary bike. Besides, cycling can strengthen your muscles, lungs and heart also improves oxygen flow and blood circulation throughout the body.
There are numerous other benefits of cycling such as better sleep and blood sugar level, improved memory and brain functioning, boosted energy, lower stress level, stronger immunity, better mental state and stable mood.
Weight Loss
Cycling on an exercise bike can help you to burn up to 600 calories in an hour depending on your intensity of pedalling and weight.
So, for those who are willing to burn calories and lose weight safely and fast the stationary bike is an excellent option.
Low-Impact Workout
Low impact workouts protect the joints and cycling on a stationary bike does the same. Riding on the exercise bike is also a great option for those who are recovering from injuries and require less intense workouts.
You can increase the intensity of your workout by standing up but it will put a bit of extra pressure on your joints. Besides, spinning also helps to improve the strength and stability of the neck, shoulder and lower back
Easy on Joints
The exercise bikes are extremely joint friendly unlike other workouts like jogging or team sports. The stationary bike will let you inflate your heart rate without putting stress on the joints.
The people who have more than 50 pounds overweight, a stationary bike will be much effective as it will reduce the pressure on the back, ankles, knees and hips.
Precautions for Overuse Injuries
Though the stationary bike is a low impact workout option, you should watch out for injuries and be careful about overtraining. Overtraining can cause hazardous injuries if you repeatedly go through the same kind of exercise.
So, you can take a break of 1-2 days per week rather than working out every day and you can use that time for cross-training with other workout activities.
The symptoms of Over Training
A low-impact and gentle workout like cycling on a stationary bike can cause you injuries due to overtraining. So you need to be careful and look for the signs of overtraining which are:
Tiredness
Overtraining doesn’t mean doing too much hard work out only rather it may occur when you overdo exercises without giving them time for recovery to your body.
Rest is equally important as hard work in any training and insufficient rest can lead you to overtrain syndrome. You may suffer from joint and muscle pain, lack of sleep, depression, headaches, performance drop and appetite loss.
Increased Heart Rate
Measure your heart rate while you are resting and after determining the baseline, you can use it to measure the recovery time after each training session.
However, your heart rate can rise due to many other factors other than over-training. Illness and stress can cause increased heart rate. You should take the measurements of the resting period immediately after waking up as this is the best time to get the exact measurement.
According to the experts, you should perform 150 minutes of cardio workout in moderate-intensity per week and a stationary bike can brilliantly fulfil this requirement with many other benefits. If you are a beginner and unable to do it for 150 minutes you can start with less time and increase gradually.
Also, you can go for cross-training with other workout activities once or twice per week. This process will help to make your workout more enjoyable and less monotonous preventing burnout. You can do swimming laps or exercise on an elliptical trainer to work on the other muscles and joints of your body. These low-impact exercises will prevent overdo injuries also help them to recover who have an existing injury.
There are numerous benefits of working out on an exercise bike but you have to watch out if you are overdoing it. Taking a break once or twice a week can give you a better outcome.