Is Stationary Bike Really A Waste Of Time?
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I didn't miss the point. I made that point.0
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The only thing you have said is the bike is not great for YOU even when working your butt off. That rule doesnt hold for everyone else. If you believe its inferior, then back it up and show us how its inferior to walking on the treadmill.Calories Burned Biking One Mile
Last Updated: Nov 02, 2013 | By Jay Schwartz
Bicycling is one of the best exercises you can do if you want to burn as many calories as possible. Bicycling more than 20 mph is tied for first with running among 150 exercises assessed by the Harvard Heart Letter in its July 2004 publication and tied for third among approximately 175 exercises assessed by the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Health and Family Services. In their book "The Well Adult," Dr. Mike Samuels and Nancy Samuels analyze only 25 exercises, but bicycling ranks second behind running.0 -
i really didn't read any of the responses, but felt compelled to tell you that i don't think any physical activity that you enjoy is a waste of time.
Of course, depending on your desired results (weight loss/sculpting/building), you have to mix it up and work all the muscles.0 -
I spin 5 days a week for 55 to 80 minutes. I burn around 12 calories a minute. I've lost 37 lbs. Of course you can spin with no resistance and barely break a sweat, but me, I love a good uphill sprint and leave a puddle on the floor every time.0
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Based on the amount I burn in 30 mins on a bike compared to what I burn on the elliptical or just walking on the treadmill.
I switch between all those. But, I still mostly bike, because I have joint issues. I always do intervals, and I always use as much resistance as makes sense, and I keep the revolutions per minute between 100 and 160.
And even then, it's still only roughly equivalent at that point. However, my thighs are looking shapelier and I'm sure the bike is what's making the difference there.
I was told that 110 RPMs is as fast as you should go. If you go faster, you are relying on the momentum of the bike more than your legs, therefore getting less of a workout.
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also - it's not weight bearing exercise, which we need to help our bones. so it's good to mix it up with other things.
but it's not a waste of time, at all, you can def get a lot out of it, but you have to work hard.
Its weight bearing when you are out of the saddle. You are better off doing resistance training for bone density, which will be far more effective.
How much you burn is mostly dependent on your weight as well as the intensity and duration. Just because you dont seem to burn much is more of a reflection on how hard you are working relative to the other machine and has no bearing on how hard the ops workout is.
I work my butt off on any machine I get on, thanks. The OP may well get a nice burn, I haven't said anything about that. I'm saying that in comparison to other activities it just doesn't burn as many calories. People can investigate that for themselves to see it's true.
Some people actually can't weight train for one reason or another. Sometimes, those are the same people who have to use bikes. For them/us, walking is an excellent activity for bone density.
also lol @ "weightbearing when you get out of the saddle" - it's likely not enough.
Please explain how I can hit my VO2 max on a stationary bike but other activities burn more calories?
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If you are cycling at 160 rpm you need more resistance. Basically the pedals are spinning for you.0
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lmjohnson110 wrote: »If you are cycling at 160 rpm you need more resistance. Basically the pedals are spinning for you.
I'm doing 160 rpm at level 9 on the bike, for 60 seconds, then back to 100 rpm for another 60. Etc. for 45 mins. That's where I'm up to as of my last workout. I continually increase the resistance. I am getting enough resistance, lol0 -
also - it's not weight bearing exercise, which we need to help our bones. so it's good to mix it up with other things.
but it's not a waste of time, at all, you can def get a lot out of it, but you have to work hard.
Its weight bearing when you are out of the saddle. You are better off doing resistance training for bone density, which will be far more effective.
How much you burn is mostly dependent on your weight as well as the intensity and duration. Just because you dont seem to burn much is more of a reflection on how hard you are working relative to the other machine and has no bearing on how hard the ops workout is.
I work my butt off on any machine I get on, thanks. The OP may well get a nice burn, I haven't said anything about that. I'm saying that in comparison to other activities it just doesn't burn as many calories. People can investigate that for themselves to see it's true.
Some people actually can't weight train for one reason or another. Sometimes, those are the same people who have to use bikes. For them/us, walking is an excellent activity for bone density.
also lol @ "weightbearing when you get out of the saddle" - it's likely not enough.
Please explain how I can hit my VO2 max on a stationary bike but other activities burn more calories?
look, i can't, i'm not a scientist. i'm saying most people will burn fewer calories on the bike, as it's typically used, as per ordinary calculations. plug in your stats on any calculator and they'll say that.0 -
The only thing you have said is the bike is not great for YOU even when working your butt off. That rule doesnt hold for everyone else. If you believe its inferior, then back it up and show us how its inferior to walking on the treadmill.Calories Burned Biking One Mile
Last Updated: Nov 02, 2013 | By Jay Schwartz
Bicycling is one of the best exercises you can do if you want to burn as many calories as possible. Bicycling more than 20 mph is tied for first with running among 150 exercises assessed by the Harvard Heart Letter in its July 2004 publication and tied for third among approximately 175 exercises assessed by the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Health and Family Services. In their book "The Well Adult," Dr. Mike Samuels and Nancy Samuels analyze only 25 exercises, but bicycling ranks second behind running.
i said people can get good burns, if they work at it, with speed and resistance.
i said i personally am seeing results from the bike that i like.
i am not saying that the bike is useless, i get on the stationary bike several times a week, but really it's not controversial that the elliptical or running or whatever typically burn more than the bike, this is a ridiculous conversation.
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also - it's not weight bearing exercise, which we need to help our bones. so it's good to mix it up with other things.
but it's not a waste of time, at all, you can def get a lot out of it, but you have to work hard.
Its weight bearing when you are out of the saddle. You are better off doing resistance training for bone density, which will be far more effective.
How much you burn is mostly dependent on your weight as well as the intensity and duration. Just because you dont seem to burn much is more of a reflection on how hard you are working relative to the other machine and has no bearing on how hard the ops workout is.
I work my butt off on any machine I get on, thanks. The OP may well get a nice burn, I haven't said anything about that. I'm saying that in comparison to other activities it just doesn't burn as many calories. People can investigate that for themselves to see it's true.
Some people actually can't weight train for one reason or another. Sometimes, those are the same people who have to use bikes. For them/us, walking is an excellent activity for bone density.
also lol @ "weightbearing when you get out of the saddle" - it's likely not enough.
Please explain how I can hit my VO2 max on a stationary bike but other activities burn more calories?
look, i can't, i'm not a scientist. i'm saying most people will burn fewer calories on the bike, as it's typically used, as per ordinary calculations. plug in your stats on any calculator and they'll say that.
Sorry but really you are guessing. The limiting factor for cardio burns is the person and not the machine. I see just as many people rowing badly with no real leg drive as I see people putting in no effort on a cycle. That's down to the person and not the equipment.
By the way you really aren't using your bike at all well by hitting that high rpm, crank up the resistance and reduce the revs and you will get a much more effective workout.
My advice for the OP would be choose which you enjoy, which you are sure you will use consistently but also factor in the likely duration.
For a short, sharp high intensity workout a rowing machine is hard to beat. For long duration a cycle is hard to beat. It's very hard to do long duration rowing (I have personal experience of a charity 2 hour row which was one of the most painful things I've ever done...).0 -
lmjohnson110 wrote: »If you are cycling at 160 rpm you need more resistance. Basically the pedals are spinning for you.
I'm doing 160 rpm at level 9 on the bike, for 60 seconds, then back to 100 rpm for another 60. Etc. for 45 mins. That's where I'm up to as of my last workout. I continually increase the resistance. I am getting enough resistance, lol
I don't know what a level 9 is. Out of what? At LA Fitness the max resistance was 25, so 9 would be free wheeling. Find out what the max resistance is and aim for at least 65% for a sprint, 75 to 85% for a good climb.
The bike I ride has no levels, I go for push point. The push point is the point you need to engage your quads to push the pedal. If the pedal all the way up is 12 o'clock, a good sprinting push point is 2 o'clock. 12 o'clock is a good climb.0 -
Is stationary biking a waste of time ? Not according to my polar watch which adds up calories burned weather I'm on a real bike or the indoor one. Just adjust the tension on the indoor bike so that you burn the same amount per hour as your real bike. With a twist you can create hills. I think the stationary bike actually helps my cadence.
All that being said , I heard people have actually died of boredom on the indoor bike. (-0 -
Oh, on my recumbent gym bike (which is the worst of the two), I have three modes of use:
1) grab my tablet and play for two hours while pedaling away - where did that two hours go?? Burn a few hundred kcals without noticing.
2) crank it to level 8 and pedal as fast as I can for 20 seconds, rest for 10, repeat for 10 minutes, watch my heart explode out of my throat.
3) set to level 2, pedal as fast as I can for 30 minutes, watch my heart rate rise to around 120bpm and feel short of breath for a nice moderate fitness improvement.
Gym bikes have their uses.0 -
The settings on all cardio equipment are just random reference points and do not correlate with any set values. Stating you workout at a certain setting does not add to anybodys useable knowledge other then you know what setting you used.
If you want to measure or compare your workout energy expenditure get a HRM and then compare your effort as a % of Max heart rate, duration and calorie burn.0 -
The settings on all cardio equipment are just random reference points and do not correlate with any set values. Stating you workout at a certain setting does not add to anybodys useable knowledge other then you know what setting you used.
If you want to measure or compare your workout energy expenditure get a HRM and then compare your effort as a % of Max heart rate, duration and calorie burn.
Obviously. I was kinda implying max and easy. I think from the descriptions you can guess what the settings were like.0 -
also - it's not weight bearing exercise, which we need to help our bones. so it's good to mix it up with other things.
but it's not a waste of time, at all, you can def get a lot out of it, but you have to work hard.
Its weight bearing when you are out of the saddle. You are better off doing resistance training for bone density, which will be far more effective.
How much you burn is mostly dependent on your weight as well as the intensity and duration. Just because you dont seem to burn much is more of a reflection on how hard you are working relative to the other machine and has no bearing on how hard the ops workout is.
I work my butt off on any machine I get on, thanks. The OP may well get a nice burn, I haven't said anything about that. I'm saying that in comparison to other activities it just doesn't burn as many calories. People can investigate that for themselves to see it's true.
Some people actually can't weight train for one reason or another. Sometimes, those are the same people who have to use bikes. For them/us, walking is an excellent activity for bone density.
also lol @ "weightbearing when you get out of the saddle" - it's likely not enough.
Please explain how I can hit my VO2 max on a stationary bike but other activities burn more calories?
look, i can't, i'm not a scientist. i'm saying most people will burn fewer calories on the bike, as it's typically used, as per ordinary calculations. plug in your stats on any calculator and they'll say that.
Sorry but really you are guessing. The limiting factor for cardio burns is the person and not the machine. I see just as many people rowing badly with no real leg drive as I see people putting in no effort on a cycle. That's down to the person and not the equipment.
By the way you really aren't using your bike at all well by hitting that high rpm, crank up the resistance and reduce the revs and you will get a much more effective workout.
My advice for the OP would be choose which you enjoy, which you are sure you will use consistently but also factor in the likely duration.
For a short, sharp high intensity workout a rowing machine is hard to beat. For long duration a cycle is hard to beat. It's very hard to do long duration rowing (I have personal experience of a charity 2 hour row which was one of the most painful things I've ever done...).
some researchers have theorized that sprints (speed of revolutions) are the factor increasing catecholamines & therefore fat loss in studies of interval workouts on the bike - see the studies reviewed in this paper
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991639/
are people seriously getting worked up about this? obviously the bike is a great tool (see ^^), and yes people can get good burns under certain conditions (like i've said about five times now). comparing activities, though, other choices might be more likely to burn more calories for the same effort. someone else above talked about rowing, that's a great one for that.
bikes r great, ok? lol0 -
darrensurrey wrote: »The settings on all cardio equipment are just random reference points and do not correlate with any set values. Stating you workout at a certain setting does not add to anybodys useable knowledge other then you know what setting you used.
If you want to measure or compare your workout energy expenditure get a HRM and then compare your effort as a % of Max heart rate, duration and calorie burn.
Obviously. I was kinda implying max and easy. I think from the descriptions you can guess what the settings were like.
Your easy might be another persons max so how do we compare ?
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I lost weight using the bike mostly and it keeps my legs toned and strong. It does work.0
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darrensurrey wrote: »The settings on all cardio equipment are just random reference points and do not correlate with any set values. Stating you workout at a certain setting does not add to anybodys useable knowledge other then you know what setting you used.
If you want to measure or compare your workout energy expenditure get a HRM and then compare your effort as a % of Max heart rate, duration and calorie burn.
Obviously. I was kinda implying max and easy. I think from the descriptions you can guess what the settings were like.
Your easy might be another persons max so how do we compare ?
2nd but 1 easiest setting on the machine. Not going to require you to be able to squat 100kg, really.
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