Recumbent bicycles differ from upright bicycles in that they have a reclined, more comfortable seat and a back that provides support like a chair. The handlebars are placed at shoulder level or below the seat to take advantage of the natural placement of your arms, helping alleviate wrist pressure. In the gym, trainers often recommend recumbent bikes for rehabilitation or for people with balance, wrist or back care problems--but this doesn't mean that you can't burn serious calories on them. The total amount of calories you burn depends on your body weight and your effiiciency at the exercise. An average 150 pound person who works moderately on a stationary bike burns about 450 calories in an hour. By upping the intensity of your pedal stroke, you can increase this number.
Step 1
Add more resistance. If you are riding a bike outside, up the gear and pedal with gusto. If you are riding a stationary bike, increase the "level" until it is challenging for you to pedal. Some of the rules of general indoor cycling apply to your recumbent stationary bike. Most indoor cycling program guidelines, such as those for Schwinn, Spinning®, and V-Spin, recommend that you keep your RPM reading between 70 to 80 RPMs for strength work. When you reach about 100 RPMs, your stroke is more efficient and you probably are not challenging yourself enough to burn serious calories. Increase the gear or level (resistance) and slow back down so you really have to push your effort.
Step 2
Climb hills. Because of your body position on a recumbent bike, it is not possible to stand and use your body weight to muscle up hills. As a result, you can create a serious calorie burn by activating your gluteal and hamstring muscles to climb. Outside, you may have to increase your pedal rate and decrease your gear to really get up hills, but this will tax your aerobic capacity, raise your heart rate and ultimately result in burning lots of calories.
Step 3
Perform intervals. A study performed by the American College of Sports Medicine in 2001 showed that interval training resulted in a 13-percent increase in fitness and an almost 5-percent decrease in body fat compared to steady-state aerobic training. Intervals consist of short spurts (20 seconds to 10 minutes) of very high intensity exercise followed by periods of rest. Multiple intervals should be performed in a session. To perform intervals on a road recumbent bike, ride up a hill with all your might and then coast down. Repeat this 5 to 10 times. If you are indoors, after a warmup, pedal as hard as you can at the highest level you can manage for one to two minutes, then come down to a comfortable level and pace for one to two minutes. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Step 4
Make your ride challenging. The more comfortable seat and reclined position of a recumbent bike tempts riders to read or watch television during their workouts. These activities, however, zap your attention and cause you to work with less vigor. If you can easily focus on small print or follow a complex plot, chances are that you are not working hard enough to burn significant calories. Instead, focus on what your legs are doing and challenge yourself.
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