Recumbent exercise bicycles are stationary bikes that have a bucket seat and pedals in front of you rather than below you like an upright bike. The ergonomics of these bikes help reduce strain on your lower extremities and allow you to exercise longer. To know how you should use a recumbent bike, you must clearly define your fitness goals in relation to your current physical condition.
Exercise Goals
When riding a recumbent bike, you have a choice of three goals: improving cardiovascular fitness, building leg strength and losing weight. According to 2009 research carried out by D. G. Carey at the University of St. Thomas and published in the "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research," the peak aerobic zone of the average person lies between 58.9 and 76.2 percent of his maximum heart rate, and the fat-burning zone lies between 67.6 and 87.1 percent. How fast you pedal on your recumbent bike is going to be determined by what combination of these goals you want to achieve.
Finding Target Heart Rate
Many recumbent exercise bikes have a heart rate monitor that allows you to quickly determine your beats per minute while riding, which then allows you to bring your exercise into either the aerobic or fat-burning zone. If you do not have a heart rate monitor, the American Heart Association advises that you pedal at a maximum capacity for a short period of time to bring your heart rate to its highest level. Stop riding and count your pulse for 15 seconds. Multiply that number by four to find your maximum beats per minute, then multiply that result by the percentage of your desired target heart rate to know how many beats per minute you should reach while riding.
Benefits
Finding your target heart rate on the recumbent bike can have powerful fat loss and leg-sculpting benefits and will help easily target how fast you need to pedal to reach these goals. According to certified personal trainer Jill Coleman in her 2009 article "Killer Recumbent Bike Workouts," hitting your target heart rate with a high-intensity interval training program on a recumbent bike can quickly raise your metabolic rate and target fat on your thighs and hips. Once you know how many beats per minute your heart should be at to reach your goals, you can pedal accordingly on the bike to keep your heart rate in that zone.
Types of Workouts
Jill Coleman outlines three effective 20-minute workouts on the recumbent bike in her article. The first is a basic interval training program where you warm up by riding at 90 rpm for five minutes at a moderate resistance level. You then alternate between riding at 80 rpm on a high-resistance setting for one minute and at 50 rpm on a low-resistance setting for 30 seconds.
Another of Coleman's workouts is targeted toward building leg strength. Ride the bike for four minutes at a moderate resistance, around 80 rpm. Next, increase the resistance and decrease your pedaling rate by 15 rpm for the next three minutes. The same state change of increased resistance and decreased pedaling rate by 15 rpm is followed for a two-minute and one minute-interval before you reset to the original four-minute interval and resistance level.
Many recumbent bike display consoles are programmed with a racing mode that lets you test your stamina by trying to ride faster than the computer through a predetermined resistance course. This mode allows you more freedom in how fast you pedal, but will always require that you pedal at a fairly high rate of speed to defeat the pace bike.
Warning
The American Heart Association advises that when you first begin an exercise program you aim for the lower range of your target heart rate. Exercising at too high a rate can be dangerous, particularly if you have high blood pressure. Consult with your physician before beginning any new exercise program.
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