Stationary Bike exercise

kiiibbb112253
kiiibbb112253 Posts: 67 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I recently purchased a stationary bike so I can exercise in the mornings. I found that I get bored fairly quickly, however. I can't turn the tv on because I will wake my children up. Do you guys have any ideas for how to make my stationary bike enjoyable?

Replies

  • kingswaychi
    kingswaychi Posts: 36 Member
    Play some music through some headphones?
  • LonniJay
    LonniJay Posts: 3,740 Member
    Headphones with music or headphones while watching something on your phone works too :)
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Headphones or read.
  • kwownow
    kwownow Posts: 43 Member
    Just ordered Schwinn 270 recumbent and can't wait to use it. I am currently using a TRUE in the gym and I prop my Ipod up and read. Never get bored. Anyone have the Schwinn? Like it?
  • yobigman
    yobigman Posts: 16 Member
    I got a Schwinn 240 Recumbent back in 2012 & it still works well after lots of use. I've been using it about 5 days per weeks, for 30 - 40 minutes per day.

    I listen to music while riding, daydream & focus on my breathing. That helps relieve the boredom. I also close my eyes while riding.
  • janjunie
    janjunie Posts: 1,200 Member
    I read while on my exercise bike....it's what I'm doing now. I also keep a pair of headphones hanging off if it so I can watch something if my toddler happens to be having a nap.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    I use Zwift.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,519 Member
    I do "commercial intervals" on my trainer ... ride easy during the show, ride as hard as I can during the commercial.

    You'd have to use headphones, however.
  • _nikkiwolf_
    _nikkiwolf_ Posts: 1,380 Member
    edited April 2017
    You could watch cycling training videos without the sound:

    I tried the sufferfest this winter, and all the instructions when to speed up/slow down/increase cadence/... are written as text on the screen. They offer a 7 day trial, so you can test it, if you have one of those fancy trainers that can connect to an app via ant and transmit your cadence.

    Or if you can do without the connection between your bike and the phone/computer and just want something to watch, the videos of the CTXC youtube channel are also nice, and those are completely free.

    In any case, it would probably be a little more fun when you can also hear some music while you ride (as the others above wrote --> headphones), but watching some scenery while doing intervals with different efforts should already be much less boring than going at constant speed while staring at a wall.
  • jugar
    jugar Posts: 10,271 Member
    there are some great fitness radio sites - I like "Fit Radio" which is free for the first 3 hours, but there are lots of others that are always free. Intervals always make indoor biking more interesting. Reading while biking is not a great idea - I find I get too lazy...

    I'm sure you'll find some great ways to make it more fun. Sometimes I get dancing with my arms and hope the DH or kids aren't around watching!
  • yellingkimber
    yellingkimber Posts: 229 Member
    Turn on the TV, press mute, and turn subtitles/closed captioning on.
  • Sp1tfire
    Sp1tfire Posts: 1,120 Member
    I think bluetooth headphones (if your TV or phone is enabled) are a good investment. I just bought MPOW cheetah bluetooth headphones on amazon and I love them. The company seems to have great customer service when people complain, so I was able to buy them with piece of mind that if I had a problem they'd help, but I've had no problems so far!
  • LKjourney
    LKjourney Posts: 40 Member
    _nikkiwolf_ wrote: »
    You could watch cycling training videos without the sound:

    I tried the sufferfest this winter, and all the instructions when to speed up/slow down/increase cadence/... are written as text on the screen. They offer a 7 day trial, so you can test it, if you have one of those fancy trainers that can connect to an app via ant and transmit your cadence.

    Or if you can do without the connection between your bike and the phone/computer and just want something to watch, the videos of the CTXC youtube channel are also nice, and those are completely free.

    In any case, it would probably be a little more fun when you can also hear some music while you ride (as the others above wrote --> headphones), but watching some scenery while doing intervals with different efforts should already be much less boring than going at constant speed while staring at a wall.

    I second this! I also just looked up spin classes on YouTube and found a lot of fun challenging videos that made me fall even more in one with the bike which is my preferred way to do cardio. Sooooo much sweat!

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