Exercise Bike For Arms And Legs

By healthiergang writer Valentina Ottaviani, fitness instructor and sports, wellness and fashion journalist.

You want to get back in shape but you have little time to go to the gym or simply do you want to improve your athletic training? No problem, the magic word is organization and an exercise bike at your fingertips.

Yes, you read that right, a very simple exercise bike can become a very useful tool for weight loss e tone thighs, buttocks and abdomen. It is suitable for all sportsmen and women alike and is the ideal solution for training at home or in the gym to regain total psychophysical well-being.

So what's better after a day of work, or even more so in the morning as soon as you wake up to boost your metabolism, than a nice ride? I tell you, nothing is more priceless than the satisfaction that the time dedicated to your bodily well-being can bring, so no more excuses, and I turn to you lazy on duty from the typical phrase "I don't have time" and start pedaling.

Exercise Bike For Arms And Legs | All you need to know

Yes, because if you don't know it, the bicycle is one of the most popular tools at home and in gyms, because allows you to perform an excellent aerobic workout that is very effective for burning calories and lose weight whether you are at home with the advantage of not wasting additional time to go to the gym, and therefore train in an intimate, comfortable and at ease with the ability to manage your training times yourself, whether you go to places used for fitness.

Lose weight with the exercise bike it is possible, just start using it and for it to be effective and promote calorie consumption it must be carried out at a sufficiently sustained pace and above all the secret is consistency in its use if you really want to achieve goals.

Ideal tool for losing weight and toning, for tangible results it is important to associate it with a correct and healthy diet, low in saturated fat and rich in fruit, vegetables, minerals and vitamins.

To train properly with the exercise bike and really achieve goals you need establish an adequate training program which must be followed constantly every day for an hour 3-4 times a week.

At the beginning, for those who are out of practice it will all be very gradual, that is for the first week, 20/30 minutes on an exercise bike with some breaks in the middle will be enough to avoid getting too tired, inserting both the initial warm-up and the stretching at the end, to activate the body for movement and prepare it for subsequent sessions that will take up to an hour.

During training keep a bottle of water handy which you will need to replenish the fluids lost with exercise.

Warm Up

First and foremost to burn fat you need to follow a plan that includes a warm-up phase of about 5-6 minuteswhere some free body stretching exercises to prepare the muscles for the next work will be followed by pedaling that allows you to warm up all the muscles.

This initial warm-up phase will be followed by a phase in which the pedaling pace increases for a duration of 20 minutes.

Aerobic zone

It is at this stage that you enter the aerobic zone where the effort is more intense and fat burning begins.

In fact aerobic work for those who have to shed a few extra pounds is very effective as it acts on the increase of fat metabolism, on increasing the individual's ability to maintain constant effort, improves resilience to fatigue, and provides the cost of energy throughout the exercise.

Exercise Bike For Arms And Legs | All you need to know

Later I continue to pedal until you reach 40/50 minutes then I begin to slow down the pace with slower pedaling for about 5/10 minutes before stopping the workout.

The cool-down phase is very important in order not to abruptly suspend the exercise, followed by the stretching phase which is essential to lengthen all the muscles involved.

Location

As for posture, saddle and pedaling, it should be noted that the seat must be adjusted to such a height that the lower limb is able to make a wide movement, with the leg extended almost completely, without having to push the pedal only with the tip of the foot.

The torso leans slightly forward at the pelvis, the abdominals are contracted and the spine is in alignment.

The hands rest on the handlebars and the upper limbs are kept in a natural flexion position.

As for the pedaling technique the amplitude and rhythm of the movement of the lower limbs vary according to the demands of the exercisesor, higher or lower intensity and speed.

The feet rest firmly on the pedals without locking the feet in the flexion or extension position. The rhythm of the pedaling, on the other hand, is established according to the level of the practitioner and according to the training goal.

Therefore, to accurately determine the level of work, it is advisable to measure the heart rate in order to adapt the work to the specific needs of the training.

Heart rate

As for the frequency, in order to guarantee effective results with the training, it is necessary to repeat the program every other day, in order not to tire the legs too much, or 3-4 times a week.

Although it seems an easy activity, the effort it entails should not be underestimated and to benefit from it the commitment must be constant.

In fact, the results will not be visible immediately but in the long term. Working out before breakfast is ideal if possible, as metabolism is faster in the morning and more fat is burned.

Thanks to the exercise bike it is possible to burn up to 300 kcal per hour and in addition to losing weight with the right exercises, it is also possible to tone thighs, buttocks and abdominals, as these muscles are constantly stressed with the pedaling movement, in addition to reducing cellulite, in fact this tool is perfect for stimulating circulation sanguine.

It is essential to always maintain a correct and upright posture while pedaling precisely in order not to strain your back, by correctly adjusting the pedals and the seat height.

An important note to take into consideration for your exercise cycle is your heart rate. For best results it is essential to work within your aerobic band. Are you wondering what does it mean?

First you need to calculate your maximum heart rate (Fcmax), which is obtained by subtracting your age from 220, which are beats per minute. The result will be the maximum value of beats per minute that you must not reach or exceed.

So to really burn fat your heart rate will need to stay between 65% and 75% during training.

Interval Training

By following these tips and with the constant use of the machine you can really have gods good results in terms of weight loss, but up to a certain point.

Yes, because continuing a training that is always the same for a long time if at the beginning there are long-distance results these can be stopped as often happens even in diets.

This happens because the body gets used to it and always needs stimulation even different to react. Against this it is necessary to gradually increase our athletic condition by often varying the type of training and intensity.

Increasing the intensity does not mean increasing the duration of the training with the bicycle but increase the intensity of the exercise and this is often also linked to the reduction of exercise time.

Exercise Bike For Arms And Legs | All you need to know

Interval training helps you to increase intensity efficiently.

High intensity interval training, called HIIT, is a great protocol for losing weight and burning fat much more than the simple aerobic exercise we all know.

In classic aerobic training, the heart rate range is kept constant between 60 and 75% and in this way, among all the energy sources the body consumes the most are fats, but this does not mean that it is the best way to lose weight.

In fact, logically speaking, the best method to optimize weight loss is to increase metabolism through the practice of interval training and hiit models.

This is a much shorter type of exercise, about 20-30 minutes and much less boring than the usual classic aerobic extended for hours. HIIT, acronym for High Intensive Internal Training, allows us to quickly reach an excellent physical condition by increasing the metabolism and consequently lose weight in the best way thanks to the high pace in the shortest time.

To increase your results with the exercise bike, you can insert the hiit into your workout without any problem. To find the right exercise intensity, as I said before, you need to determine your maximum heart rate.

An example of a HIIT program to follow with the exercise bike could be:

1 minute at low intensity (50-60% of maximum heart rate)
1 minute at medium intensity (60-70% of maximum heart rate)
1 minute at medium-high intensity (70-80% of maximum heart rate)
1 minute at high intensity (80-90% of maximum heart rate)

To be repeated 4-5 times.

In favor of this type of exercise, it should be emphasized that the conditioning of the body caused by a similar workout allows you to burn fat even in the hours following the session.

To obtain long-term benefits, therefore, you must never fossilize yourself on a single type of training, aerobic or HIIT as prolonging it for too long without varying causes the classic "stall" of weight loss while varying the type allows you to keep the metabolism high and the body does not get used to a certain type of work.

Pros of hiit compared to purely aerobic work are in fact the brevity of the training, the changes in pace make everything less boring, it brings benefits to those who want to alternate aerobic and anaerobic work, increases cardiovascular capacity, is much more stimulating and increases metabolism.

Obviously, to face this type of work, you need an excellent physical condition due to the high heart rate you can reach, and especially if you are at the beginning of a fitness path it is better to start gradually with a normal aerobic activity for the first 2 -3 weeks and then add an extra step when you are physically ready.

An example of medium intensity interval training with the stationary bike can be characterized by:

5 minutes of warm-up, including stretching exercises and gentle pedaling
2 minutes of low intensity pedaling (50-65% maximum frequency)
2 minutes at medium intensity (65-75% maximum frequency)
repeat steps 2 and 3 five times.

Another example of an interval training program with the bicycle to be performed could be:

alternate 5 minutes of intensity with a heart rate of 60-70% at 1-2 minutes at an intensity greater than 70-80% of the maximum.
from week to week try to reduce the time interval for example, alternating 3 minutes of gentle pedaling with 2 minutes at high intensity
keep increasing until you reach HIIT at 90% heart rate
Finally, do exercises on the stationary bike that tone the upper body.

well yes with the exercise bike it is also possible to perform exercises with the arms and for the trunk while pedaling. This is good to do when you have been training for some time. By maintaining a correct posture by contracting the abdomen you can perform exercises such as: