Stationary bike workouts are often underestimated in the realm of cardio equipment, yet they offer a fantastic way to achieve your aerobic exercise goals right in your home or at the gym. Indoor cycling on a stationary bike is a convenient and effective method to keep your blood pressure and cholesterol in healthy ranges.
Important Note: It’s crucial to consult with your healthcare provider before beginning any new exercise program. They can provide personalized advice on suitable and safe activities tailored to your fitness needs and recommend appropriate workout durations.
7 Stationary Bike Workouts To Incorporate Into Your Routine
Whether you’re just starting out with biking or you’re a seasoned cyclist, you can experience the numerous benefits of spin workouts with these seven expertly designed cycling routines. Don’t forget to have a timer ready to keep track of your intervals.
These workouts are designed to be:
- Suitable for all fitness levels
- Progressively challenging, incorporating cardio and strength for advanced levels
- Introductory to hill and speed intervals
- Based on the Fartlek training principle for varied intensity
- Structured into 25-minute intermediate interval sessions
- Focused on power interval training
- Designed for advanced conditioning
Essential Cycling Terms To Understand
To make the most of these workouts, familiarize yourself with these common cycling terms:
- Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE): This is your personal scale to measure how intense the physical activity feels to you.
- Resistance: This refers to the adjustable weight against the bike’s wheel, which can make pedaling easier or harder, modifying the workout’s intensity.
- Revolutions Per Minute (RPM): This measures your pedaling speed, indicating how many full leg rotations you complete in a minute.
1. Stationary Bike Workout: All Levels Welcome
This 53-minute, beginner-friendly stationary bike workout is predominantly aerobic. It features short, progressively challenging intervals to enhance your fitness and calorie burn. Kate Ligler, a NASM-certified personal trainer, CES, PES, and wellness specialist at MINDBODY, designed this workout with inclusivity in mind.
How to perform this workout:
- Begin with a gentle 10-minute warm-up to prepare your body.
- Proceed to three to five rounds of six-minute work sets, with each set gradually increasing in intensity.
- Use the RPE scale from 1 (very easy) to 10 (maximum effort) to guide your intensity during work and rest periods, adjusting to your fitness level.
- Conclude with a three-minute cool-down to gradually lower your heart rate.
Since this workout is based on RPE, you won’t find specific RPM targets. Instead, focus on listening to your body and understanding how different exertion levels feel on the bike.
Workout modifications to consider:
- For Beginners: Stick to three rounds of the main work block for a comprehensive 45-minute workout.
- For Advanced Exercisers: Complete all five rounds to extend the session to a full hour for an extra challenge.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Health-7-STATIONARY-BIKE-WORKOUTS2-2000-dc5e8fd168044735bc940d0f2aac12c3.jpg)
2. Stationary Bike Workout: Cardio and Strength for Higher Levels
This 34-minute routine is designed to build three essential components for both indoor and outdoor cyclists: cardiovascular endurance, leg strength, and an efficient pedal stroke. Emily Booth, the national education manager of indoor cycling for Life Time, developed this workout to optimize cycling performance.
How to perform this workout:
- Start with a 10-minute warm-up to get your muscles ready.
- Move into the core workout, concentrating on mastering each skill during three-minute work sets.
- Repeat the main workout sequence for two to four rounds to enhance the benefits.
- Finish with a three- to five-minute cool-down to aid recovery.
The duration of the work sets makes this regimen particularly suitable for intermediate and advanced cyclists looking to push their limits.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Health-7-STATIONARY-BIKE-WORKOUTS-2000-07056d0c9a5b472da110553dc3802a5f.jpg)
3. Stationary Bike Workout: Intro to Hill and Speed Intervals
This 44-minute workout is ideal for riders ranging from beginner to intermediate levels. Lauren Kanski, a NASM-certified personal trainer based in New York City, designed this routine to guide you through different heart rate zones using three intervals with varied work-to-rest ratios.
How to perform this workout:
- Begin with a 5-minute warm-up to elevate your heart rate gently.
- Cycle through a 15-minute interval incorporating a 10-minute segment of 30-second on-and-off bursts followed by a five-minute recovery period.
- In the subsequent 15-minute interval, alternate between three-minute hill climbs and two-minute recovery periods to build strength and endurance.
- Complete a final eight-minute segment of 30-second on-and-off bursts with high resistance and speed to maximize calorie burn.
- Conclude with a five-minute cool-down to bring your heart rate back to normal.
This workout effectively boosts fitness and burns a significant number of calories while being gentle on your joints. Instead of fixating on exact speed or RPM, focus on reaching your maximum effort during the work intervals to get the most out of each session.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Health-7-STATIONARY-BIKE-WORKOUTS7-2000-b1791fc2c96346d2a86e7f4e89eec729.jpg)
4. Stationary Bike Workout: Cycle Fartlek
Fartlek training offers a playful blend of HIIT and steady-state cardio. Kristian Flores, a certified strength and conditioning specialist in New York City, highlights the versatility of Fartlek, noting it can be applied to various activities, including this engaging 30-minute stationary bike workout.
How to perform this workout:
- Kick off with a five-minute warm-up to prepare your body for exertion.
- Cycle for 15 to 20 minutes, varying your effort level as you feel inclined, embracing the “speed play” nature of Fartlek.
- Wind down with a five-minute cool-down to recover.
The beauty of Fartlek workouts lies in their unstructured nature. You push yourself as hard as you can for spontaneous durations, recovering until you’re ready for another burst. The main workout segment is entirely adaptable to your preferences.
This adaptability makes Fartlek workouts excellent for all fitness levels, as both your effort and work-rest intervals are dictated by your current fitness. Regardless of your experience, Fartlek training is effective for building both endurance and power.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Health-7-STATIONARY-BIKE-WORKOUTS6-2000-de741ac63a93431086bdf82f77bdda57.jpg)
5. Stationary Bike Workout: 25-Minute Intermediate Intervals
This 25-minute routine is structured around your perceived effort level. While advanced cycling expertise isn’t necessary, some familiarity with bike workouts, particularly interval training, is beneficial. Jess Cifelli, a master instructor at CYCLEBAR, emphasizes the importance of understanding different effort levels to effectively execute this workout.
How to perform this workout:
- Begin with a five-minute warm-up to get your blood flowing.
- Complete the first interval, approximately 10 minutes, alternating between seated and standing cycling positions throughout.
- Perform five sets of two 15-second bursts of seated cycling, each followed by two minutes of low-effort and high-effort riding.
- Transition to the next interval, alternating between maximum-effort and low-effort riding while standing. Repeat for five sets, followed by a one-minute period of medium-effort riding.
- Engage in 30-second intervals of alternating maximum-effort and low-effort riding while seated. Repeat for three sets.
- Conclude with a five-minute cool-down to lower your heart rate gradually.
Use this guide to gauge your effort levels during this workout:
- Low Effort: Requires minimal resistance; you should be able to easily hold a conversation.
- Medium Effort: Increase resistance slightly; conversation is still possible but requires more effort.
- High Effort: Conversation becomes difficult; standing in the saddle is generally preferable to maintain intensity.
- Maximum Effort: Speaking is impossible, and you can only sustain this intensity for brief periods, ideally no more than 30 seconds.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Health-7-STATIONARY-BIKE-WORKOUTS4-2000-69964def41ea401a83c5ac56084c34b2.jpg)
6. Stationary Bike Workout: Power Intervals
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts, like this one, offer significant benefits in a relatively short duration. Lauren ‘Lolo’ Wilson, a senior master instructor at CYCLEBAR, designed this 48-minute routine to enhance aerobic capacity, build muscle tissue, and effectively burn fat.
How to perform this workout:
- Warm-up for 10 minutes, maintaining a pace between 80 to 100 RPM.
- Complete four sets of 30-second high-speed intervals. For each 30-second interval, aim for 105 to 120 RPM, followed by 30 seconds of recovery.
- Perform 20 sets of 30-second intervals. Each 30-second work interval should be at 90 to 100 RPM, alternating with 30 seconds of recovery.
- Cool-down for 10 minutes at an easy pace to recover fully.
HIIT sessions are most effective for individuals who have been exercising consistently three to five days per week for at least six weeks.
Workout modifications to consider:
- New to HIIT: If you’re new to HIIT or unsure about completing the entire workout, start with 10 power intervals and gradually add two intervals per workout until you reach 20 total intervals.
- Pacing: Wilson recommends reducing your intensity during the initial intervals to conserve energy for the later, more challenging rounds.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Health-7-STATIONARY-BIKE-WORKOUTS3-2000-38b13cef45ca454c8161f79133010de8.jpg)
7. Stationary Bike Workout: Advanced Conditioning
This 60-minute routine is tailored for experienced cyclists who are comfortable working at near-maximum intensity. Meghan Hayden, a founding trainer at Performix House in New York City, designed this advanced workout, which begins with a gentle warm-up incorporating mobility drills before transitioning into intense bursts of activity.
How to perform this workout:
- Begin with a five-minute warm-up to prepare your body and muscles.
- Dismount the bike and perform a circuit training session that includes exercises ranging from downward dog poses to quadruped circles to enhance overall conditioning.
- Return to the bike and repeat seven sets of 20-second work periods followed by 40-second rest intervals before a three-minute recovery. These short rest periods are designed to aid recovery between sprints and improve anaerobic fitness.
- After the recovery period, transition into a 20-minute moderate-intensity ride to build endurance.
- Finish with a five-minute cool-down to bring your heart rate down and aid muscle recovery.
Utilize the recovery time as a mindful moment to focus on your breathing—this workout is designed to provide significant conditioning benefits.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Health-7-STATIONARY-BIKE-WORKOUTS5-2000-ccce44e5c9f44ebcacf8c1a32c527f30.jpg)
Benefits of Stationary Bike Exercises
Indoor cycling is an excellent low-impact cardio option. Research indicates that stationary bike workouts are effective in improving aerobic capacity, which is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilize during intense exercise. Furthermore, indoor cycling has been shown to:
- Reduce triglycerides, total cholesterol, and harmful LDL cholesterol levels.
- Aid in weight management without compromising muscle mass.
- Increase beneficial HDL cholesterol levels.
- Lower blood pressure, contributing to better cardiovascular health.
Who Should Incorporate Bike Exercises?
Many individuals can reap the rewards of stationary Bike Exercises. A comprehensive meta-analysis has found that stationary cycling can alleviate pain and enhance functionality for individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Another study has shown that using a stationary bike can decrease fatigue levels in healthy adults, making it a versatile exercise option.
It is particularly important for individuals with pre-existing health conditions, pregnant women, and older adults to seek advice from a healthcare provider before starting. They might need to adjust their stationary bike workout duration or modify their approach to ensure safety and effectiveness.
Who Should Limit or Avoid These Exercises?
However, strenuous exercises like indoor cycling are not advisable for everyone. Individuals with the following conditions should avoid or significantly limit indoor cycling:
- Low back pain caused by conditions such as cancer, fractures, or infections.
- Severe arthritis that could be exacerbated by cycling movements.
- Severe neurological or cognitive disorders that might impair balance or coordination.
- Uncontrolled arrhythmias, diabetes, heart failure, or hypertension, which could pose risks during intense exercise.
- Unstable heart disease, where strenuous activity could be dangerous.
In Summary
Incorporating stationary bike workouts into your fitness regimen is a highly effective way to get your heart rate up and enjoy numerous health advantages. These exercises offer benefits such as reduced blood pressure and increased HDL cholesterol. While indoor cycling may not be suitable for everyone, for those who can participate, there is a wide array of challenging and adaptable workout options available for all fitness levels, ensuring an engaging and beneficial exercise experience.
