Exercise bike results?

[smilie]

Has anyone had any good results from using stationary bikes?
I'd love to hear any experience!

 

[ohMom]

I like to use a variety of cardio equipment at the gym. I assume that you are limited to just a bike, but I'd say ANY form of cardio is going to improve your health versus no cardio at all! have you considered joining the monthly exercise thread here on WISH to keep motivated?

 

[Tiggeroo]

Like OhMom said it's exercise and that is good. However, I don't think they burn as many calories as other pieces of gym equipment. Would you be able to try a spin class? They burn tons of calories and are fun. What I like about spin is that I can gear up or down the level of workout I do based on my ability and nobody really notices. I have hip and knee problems. I was running and having some fun with it. I also lost weight. (actually I was walking more then running) I bought a very nice road bike and biked many miles with it during the spring, summer and fall last year. I was trying to find an alternate way of training that put less stress on my hips. I was biking up to 14 miles a day at least 5 days a week. I actually put a little bit of the weight I lost back on. This year I will try biking but also put other things in such as spin class.

 

[Asc341]

I bought a stationary bike when running started to take a toll on my knees. For me, at-home biking may not be the most intense workout, but it helps me maintain my weight loss and doesn't hurt my knees as much. Also as a plus, because I don't "feel the burn" as much as I did while running, it motivates me to eat better during the day to compensate. Best of luck!

 

[LuvGoofy6]

I was a 4 mile a day walker and then couldn't walk as much because of health issues. I also found that the bottoms of my feet hurt worse with my health issues. So I bought a recumbent bike and love it! The seat is comfortable and I can scoot it up or leave it back depending on which part of my legs I want to work on the most. I did 30 minutes a day and kept increasing the intensity as I felt I could handle it and by day 45 I could really tell a difference in my legs. I don't think it's as good as the walking I did but it allowed me to exercise without too much stress on my joints/muscles/bottom of my feet.

 

[ALK$Disney]

Try interval training on the bike. 20 second at 100% effort and rest for 1 1/2 minute. Do this for 10 rounds. There are a lot of solid studies out there that have shown that this method is better than steady pace. I have been doing this for a few days and it's kicking my butt. The key is to go 100% for the 20 seconds.