Getting in shape is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, but it’s also one of the most difficult. This is why it’s important to make sure that you have a clear plan and some way to measure your progress.

One great way to get started on your fitness journey is cycling. Cycling is a great form of exercise because it builds muscle and endurance while also being low impact. It’s also a great low-cost option to help you lose weight or gain muscle. However, if you’re new to cycling, you might be wondering how much time you should spend doing it in order to see results.

In this article, we’ll address this question by discussing some of the best ways to use your bike as an effective workout tool while also giving you tips on how long each workout should last so that you can see results quickly!

Right here on BuyandSlay, you are privy to a litany of relevant information on is cycling good for weight loss on thighs, is cycling good for weight loss on stomach, bicycle exercise to lose belly fat, and so much more. Take out time to visit our catalog for more information on similar topics.

Cycling Workout For Weight Loss

Pedaling along at a leisurely pace probably won’t do much to help you lose weight. However, if you push yourself to work harder and up the intensity of your ride, you’ll make more progress toward your weight loss goal.

As a general rule, the faster you cycle, the more calories you’ll burn. That’s because your body uses more energy to cycle faster. And the more calories you burn, the more weight you’ll likely shed.

Steady, moderate cycling burns about 300 calories in 60 minutes, but you can burn more than that if you increase the intensity.

In fact, according to the Harvard Health Letter, a 155-pound person can burn as many as 298 calories in a 30-minute bike ride, if they pedal at a 12-to-13.9 mile-per-hour pace. A person who weighs 185 pounds can burn 355 calories by cycling at this pace.

And, at a faster pace of around 14 to 15.9 miles per hour, a 155-pound can burn up to 372 calories in just 30 minutes, while someone who weighs 185 pounds can burn 444 calories in that time frame.

Opt for high-intensity interval training (HIIT)

HIIT can be a great way to challenge your body and, yes, even reduce fat and lose weight, if that’s your goal.

HIIT involves short bursts of intense exercise alternated with intervals of low-intensity exercise. With biking, a HIIT workout may look something like this:

  1. Cycle as fast as you possibly can against high resistance for 30 to 60 seconds.
  2. Then, do 2 to 3 minutes of easy cycling with low resistance.
  3. Repeat this pattern for the next 20 to 30 minutes.

This type of exercise can help you burn more calories in less timeTrusted Source, as well as improve your cardio fitness and help you lose fat too.

According to a studyTrusted Source published in 2017, both HIIT and moderate intensity continuous training both reduced fat mass by 10% after a 12 week program. However, HIIT programs take much less time and are therefore a more practical option for fat reduction.

The benefits don’t stop there. When you stop pedaling and your workout is over, your metabolism remains engaged. This means your body continues to burn calories at a higher rate, even after your workout is done and your body has returned to its normal, resting state.

Go further

Just when you think you’ve had enough, try to go a little further. That’s the idea behind endurance training.

Research suggests that endurance training might help burn fat, which may help with weight loss.

Ideally, you want to start slowly when you’re trying to build endurance. So, if you start with 10 to 15 minutes of cycling in one session, you could then slowly add on a few minutes to each session until you’ve reached at least 150 minutes of cycling in a week.

Try cross-training

If you don’t like getting locked into one activity, cross-training may be for you. It’s a great way to add variety to your workouts by alternating activities.

For instance, you might hop on your bike for a long outdoor ride one day, then head over to the gym to lift weights the following day.

In order to lose weight, the American Council on Exercise (ACE) says you’ll need to cycle at a moderately intense level for at least 30 minutes at a time. To burn even more calories, you’ll want to cycle for longer.

ACE also suggests incorporating two activities into one cross-training session to boost weight loss. For example, you could ride a bike for 20 to 30 minutes, then try another activity for an additional 20 minutes.

Biking options

There are plenty of choices when it comes to biking, which makes it easy to choose the option that bests suits your needs and preferences. Let’s take a look at some of the more popular indoor and outdoor biking options.

Indoors

Do you prefer to exercise indoors? Here are a couple of ways to bike inside:

  • Ride a stationary bike on your own. Whether you own a stationary bike or you use one at a gym, you can get a great workout that’s tailored specifically to your needs. Lots of programmable options let you customize your workout to the speed, intensity, and duration you want.
  • Spin classes. If you need someone to encourage you to keep on riding through your workout, this might be a good choice. ResearchTrusted Source also suggests that spinning is just as effective for improving your physical fitness and changing your body, compared with regular bicycle riding.
  • Handcycle. If you’re not able to use a regular stationary bike, a handcycle might be just the ticket for some calorie-burning aerobic exercise. This machine is powered by your arms instead of your legs.

You’ll have to make sure you have access to a stationary bike or handcycle if you go this route. If you don’t own your own equipment, you may want to look into joining a gym or community center.

Outdoors

If you prefer to take your bike out into the great outdoors, you have several options, such as road biking, trail biking, or mountain biking. You could even ditch your car and try biking to work or using your bike to run errands.

But it can’t be a one-time thing. You need to make biking a regular part of your exercise routine if you want to use this type of exercise to lose weight.

You can track your mileage or intensity with various apps too. Using a fitness tracking app may also help you stay motivated to reach specific goals.

The one downside to outdoor biking is that you need to follow more safety precautions in order to stay safe. Wet, icy, or uneven road conditions, hot or humid weather, and unpredictable traffic conditions can make outdoor biking less safe than cycling indoors.

How to bike safely

Biking, especially in the great outdoors, can come with certain risks. To stay safe while you’re biking, be sure to follow these safety tips:

  • Wear a helmet. This might go without saying, but a helmet protects your head (and your brain) in the event of a collision or a fall. Make sure it fits your head snugly. Ideally, go for a brightly colored helmet that’s easy for others to see.
  • Ride single file. If you enjoy biking with a friend, let one person lead. The follower should leave some space in between.
  • Ride on the right side of the road. You want to pedal in the same direction that car traffic is flowing. In the United States, Canada, and other countries where cars drive on the right, be sure to cycle on the right-hand side of the road.
  • Use hand signals. Let drivers and other riders on the road know that you’re planning to turn or take other actions.
  • Forego the electronics. Don’t wear headphones or anything that might impair your ability to hear other vehicles around you.
  • Keep an eye out for road hazards. Uneven terrain, potholes, standing water, and other potential hazards could be dangerous, so be on the lookout for them.
  • Take care of your bike. Make sure to keep your bike in tip-top condition by performing regular maintenance and spot checks to make sure the chains, wheels, brakes, and other parts are in good working order.

The bottom line

If you’re trying to lose weight, or want to maintain weight loss that you’ve worked hard to achieve, biking can be a great way to achieve this goal.

To maximize your weight loss and fat burn, try to increase the intensity or duration of your biking workout. Doing interval training and cross-training can also help with weight loss and fat-burning efforts.

If you have a health condition or haven’t exercised in a while, be sure to check with your doctor to make sure a biking workout is safe for you.

Is Cycling Good For Weight Loss On Thighs

Riding an exercise bike is an excellent way to stay in shape. Exercise bikes are known to strengthen your heart, hips, as well as your abs (1). And just like every exercise that is performed, having proper form is essential. That being said, a number of factors, including having proper form on your exercise bike, can help you reap the full benefit of the stationary bike workout, especially when it comes to your abs. Tightening your abdominal muscles as you perform the exercise will help strengthen your abs to stabilize your spine.(4, 5).Let’s take a closer look into how to use, and take advantage, of a home exercise bike. When assessing your exercise results, it’s important to consider your body’s regional compositional changes rather than whole-body changes alone (7).

Abdominal Fat Explained

There are two types of abdominal fat: subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat is the layer of fat that sits just beneath your skin; you can pinch the subcutaneous fat on your belly with your fingertips (8). You cannot pinch visceral fat, in contrast, because this type of fat sits deep within your abdominal cavity. Visceral fat surrounds your liver, pancreas, kidneys, and the intestines.

Unlike subcutaneous fat, which is soft and squishy, visceral fat is rather firm. Visceral fat, also known as active fat, can be dangerous (8). The higher the amount of visceral fat a person has, the higher his or her risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other health complications (9).

About 10 percent of a person’s body fat is visceral fat (10). This means that the more fat you carry around, the greater amounts of visceral fat you probably have. It also means that losing any amount of fat helps decrease visceral fat. Performing a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise each day can help you burn visceral fat when incorporated with a low-calorie diet (11).Exercise is an important factor in trying to lose visceral fat. According to Rush University Medical Center, moderate-intensity exercise can aid in fat reduction fat (12).

Diet And Exercise

Live-Streaming Bike Workout – ProForm Blog

While losing stubborn abdominal fat is difficult, it isn’t not impossible. This is especially true when you incorporate regular activity with a healthy, low-calorie diet, among the other factors mentioned in this article. Avoid fad diets that involve long periods of starvation or unusual foods as these can be difficult to sustain long enough safely and effectively (13). Opt instead for a low-calorie, low in sugar diet that includes fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats (14).

In general, 3,500 calories equals one pound of fat. This means you have to burn 3,500 calories more than you consume to lose one pound of fat (14). You can cause that 3,500-calorie deficit over the course of several days, so that you could cut 500 to 1,000 calories a day to lose 1 to 2 pounds over a week.

Riding your exercise bike should be able to help you achieve this calorie deficit without drastically cutting the number of calories you eat. The number of calories burned per exercise varies and is again dependent on a variety of factors, such as your body size, the speed at which you ride, and whether you use special techniques, such as your exercise bike’s incline feature and how long you ride each week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, along with muscle strengthening on two or more days each week (15). Consistency is also important when it comes to burning calories on your exercise bike (16). Create a workout schedule that fits into your routine, so that you are more likely to stick to it.Be sure to take advantage of the incline feature on exercise bikes. Not many bikes out on the market have an incline feature, but thanks to ProForm, your bike options have extended. Avoid adding too much resistance, though, as the added workload can actually prevent you from working at maximum capacity. Increase the incline to where you can still perform the exercise without disrupting your form. 

Relieve Stress

Another way to break down fat is to reduce stress (18). Easier said than done, but you’ll thank yourself later for trying. There is a strong link between fat cells and stress. Fat causes the body to release cortisol, which is a stress hormone (19). The role of cortisol is to help give you the energy you need to overcome a stressful situation, which can stimulate your appetite and lead you to eat more. Fortunately, working out releases the endorphin hormone that relieves stress while helping you reduce fat storage (19). That way, you’re attacking abdominal fat from multiple angles. 

Exercise Bike Training Types

Bicycle Exercise – ProForm Blog

Once you establish a convenient workout schedule, switch up the exercises that you do during each workout session. Mixing up your routine about every two weeks can help you avoid falling into a rut or hitting a fitness plateau. Your body can actually get used to performing the same movements, which means you may not be getting all of the benefits of your exercise bike. Switching things up is particularly important for meeting long-term goals.

Here are a few different types of training that you can do on your exercise bike:

Steady-State Cycling

Steady-state cycling, where you ride at the same pace throughout the workout session, is perfect for the novice exerciser. Build up to a regular routine of moderately intense work by pedaling at a pace that increases your heart rate to between 50 percent and 70 percent of your maximum heart rate (21).

High-Intensity Cycling

Once you establish your routine, turn up the heat. One study showed that overweight participants who exercised at a high-intensity rate at two workout sessions per week, then at a low-to-moderate intensity at three workout sessions appeared to lose abdominal fat more effectively than did those who did low- to moderate-intensity exercise during all of their sessions (11).

High-Intensity Intermittent Training

Research shows that high-intensity intermittent training may have a better impact on body composition than moderate-paced workouts (22). 

Bike Workout

Challenge yourself with this high-intensity intermittent bike workout:

Warm-up for 5 minutes at a moderate speed.

SPRINT – 30-second intensity interval at 70% of maximum effort.

REST – 2-minute rest interval at a decreased pace.

SPRINT – 30-second intensity interval at 80% of maximum effort.

REST – 2-minute rest interval at a decreased pace.

SPRINT – 30-second intensity interval at 85% of maximum effort.

REST – 2-minute rest interval at a decreased pace.

SPRINT – 30-second intensity interval at 90% of maximum effort.

REST – 2-minute rest interval at a decreased pace.

SPRINT – 30-second intensity interval at 100% of maximum effort.

REST – 2-minute rest interval at a decreased pace.

Cooldown for 5 minutes, then stretch.

Bike Workouts On iFIT

In a way to keep your workouts interesting and challenging enough to keep you coming back day in and day out, try iFIT bike workouts. Choose a different bike workout every single day of the week if you want to. From steady and active recovery bike workouts to heart-pumping sweat sessions, iFIT sets you up for success with the right fitness tools and professional trainers.

Take advantage of the free 30-Day iFIT Trial* and check out one of our favorite iFIT bike workouts, Patagonia Cycling Workout Series with iFIT trainer, Nicole Meline.

Conclusion

As you now know, breaking down abdominal fat depends on numerous factors, including proper nutrition, exercising with proper form and consistently, having an exercise game plan, staying hydrated, basal metabolism, ambient temperature, your sex, weight and height, etc. And a quality home exercise bike with challenging bike workouts at your fingertips is a critical component on the road to trying to achieve your health and fitness goals.

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