Exercise bikes can provide an excellent workout. Although cycling indoors might seem boring, exercise bikes allow you to concentrate on your workout while freeing you from concerns about weather, potholes or being cut off by cars. Exercise bike workouts also allow you to focus on improving such cycling skills as proper cadence, body position and "pedaling circles"--the technique of applying pressure to the pedal through the entire revolution and not just on the downward portion.
Get in the Proper Position
Whether you are riding an exercise bike at a health club or your own bike mounted on an indoor trainer at home, it's important to make sure the biked is fitted to your frame. Set the seat height so your leg is nearly fully extended at the bottom on the pedal stroke. Set the handlebars so your weight feels equally distributed between your arms and your buttocks.
Warming Up Properly
The American Council on Exercise recommends you begin an exercise bike workout by pedaling slowly at 40 revolutions per minute--or about 8 to 10 miles per hour--for at least five to 10 minutes, as a warm-up. Keep the resistance setting on your exercise bike fairly low and slowly increase it as you warm up. By the end of 10 minutes, you should be close to the resistance setting you'll use for your workout and you should have started sweating.
Pedaling in Circles
Pedaling in circles, a technique of exerting pressure throughout the pedal stroke, employs more muscle groups and improves the quality of your workout. That's because it's harder to do and will elevate your heart rate. It also requires more concentration because it's easy to slip into the bad habit of applying force only on the downward portion of the pedal revolution.
Keep Your Cadence High
Bike racer Matthew O. Jackson, an economics professor at Stanford University, tells his students that most people will naturally pedal at about 60 to 80 rpms. But that's not fast enough for maximum efficiency on a bike, so he recommends they ride at 90 to 110 rpms. This, like pedaling in circles, takes practice and "some active reminders," Jackson says.
Fighting the Boredom
Many people working out on exercise bikes listen to music to help pass the time. But according to Dr. Richard Raforth, the author of the website Cycling Performance Tips, one study showed that men and women rode 27 percent longer when they cycled in silence rather than listening to music. The best way to pass the time, ironically, is to break down your workout into smaller segments in which you alternate hard bursts with fast-spinning recoveries at low resistance.
Monitor Your Effort Level
Using a heart rate monitor will help you see when you are exercising at the right intensity. You want your heart rate to be 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. Your MHR can be roughly calculated by subtracting your age from 220. When you're doing "intervals"--periods of high-intensity cycling followed by recovery periods--Jackson of Stanford says you want your heart rate to exceed 70 percent during the intense bursts and to drop below 100 beats per minute during the recovery.
Mopping up and Other Matters
Because you are riding indoors without the wind in your face, you are going to sweat. And because you're exercising, you'll like sweat heavily. Keep a towel handy to mop your brow and keep the corrosive sweat off your bike. Drink plenty of water; many riders recommend one 12-oz. bottle of water or diluted juice for every 30 to 45 minutes of exercise bike training.
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