What it is
What is Exercise Bike
Exercise Bike is like a fitness device with design to reproduce the cycling movement indoors. Some people call it a chamber bicycle, stationary, etc. Unlike other activities such as spinning, fit boxes, etc., which require the guidance of a coach, exercise with an exercise bike, mainly as home fitness without the presence of a trainer.
The exercise bike is not spinning.
Those in the home who have no room can always opt for mini bikes or mini cyclins. Use an exercise Bike as a preparation for running. You can read the program and the complete weekly schedule for running at home.
In contrast to traditional bicycles, which were born as alternative locomotion, which is more effective and efficient than walking and running, cycling has another name, a stationary bicycle. This includes all travel-free travel simulation markers, as well as “spinning bike” and “cycle ergometer.”
Did You Know... The first fixed bicycles date back to the end of the 18TH century. Gymnastic was the first design.
There are many types of Exercise Bikes, different in design, technology, operation, materials, range, and price. However, the structure is generally simple. It is very similar to a traditional bicycle, with two substantial differences:
- The chassis, instead of supporting two wheels, remains stable on a fixed base
- The transmission puts the Pignone – the pedals – into a resistance system and not a driving wheel.
Curiosity Other commonly used names to indicate exercise are bicycle, exercise bike, and exercycle exercise.
Therefore, an exercise bike is a tool born to “make an effort” without achieving “physically” any goal. It has as its only objective the physical movement that. As we know, if performed regularly, it leads to an improvement of the general cardiovascular and respiratory fitness, specific muscle-articular, and an increase in energy expenditure.
The Exercise Bike uses no contraindications for healthy subjects;
- in case of increased cardiovascular risk
- respiratory failure, other diseases
- anatomy-functional alterations
It is advisable to consult a medical specialist. The same is true for the risks; moreover, Exercise Bike use seems to significantly reduce the incidence of road accidents. Which is essential for cyclists and weather-related diseases – colds, cough, pharyngitis, bronchitis, seasonal flu, etc.
Deepening In recent decades, indoor training has gained importance. However, contrary to popular belief, cycling does not use Exercise Bike, cycle ergometer, and spin bikes. The use of "rollers" on which the rear of the ordinary bicycle is laid - vertical locking the front - is common - allowing the tension wheel to be turned empty. This makes it possible to reproduce the athletic gesture in a very realistic way, thanks to the modulation of the "resistance."
Benefits
Benefits of Exercise Bike
The use of Exercise Bike can have several significant benefits. The level of health and fitness is as high as the overall fitness level of users. It also increases, of course, the increase in the training load.
Among them:
- Improved cardiovascular and respiratory fitness
- Improved specific muscle fitness
- Optimization of weight loss
- Preventive and therapeutic action on leg joints
- Improved mood.
Note: the benefits of using the exercise bike are evident, especially when the protocol talks about sedentary subjects.
Exercise Bike and improvement of cardiovascular and respiratory fitness
The regular use of exercise bikes improves cardiovascular and respiratory fitness. It’s not just this business that’s focus on. Any kind of sufficiently long and repeated aerobic effort should achieve more or less the same benefits in the short term.
Activation of aerobic metabolism stimulates the body to adapt by improving both cardiovascular and pulmonary efficiency. However, these improvements are achieve at low or medium-intensity levels, especially useful for newborns and, above all, bypassing the anaerobic threshold to maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max). The duration of the training must still be sufficient, which requires specific attention in the choice of intensity with the volume.
Improved specific muscle fitness
Especially in sedentary people, starting to use the exercise bike improves the fundamental tone of the muscles involved:
- Femoral quadriceps
- Femoral biceps
- Large Gluten
- Adducers
- Abdul
- Calfs
- Foot extenders.
What’s more, one of the many peripheral adaptations is:
- Rise in strength
- Specific resistance increase
- Increase in capillarization
- Increased mitochondria
- Increase of the glycolytic and oxidative enzymes, with the variable ratio depending on the protocol
- Specialization of muscle fibers.
Does Exercise Bike make you lose weight?
Losing weight occurs when the energy balance, the resulting “Energy IN – Energy OUT” formula, is negative; simultaneously, people eat too little than they do during the day.
Using an exercise bike can increase, more or less significantly, calorie expenditure. However, this can only contribute to weight loss if the other variable [Energy IN] remains constant or does not increase to the point of creating a neutral balance.
Physical exercise also increases appetite; this is mainly due to the intolerance of blood glucose and glycogen stores. So while sports, on the one hand, help us consume more, on the other, it enhances the stimulation to eat. Therefore, it is essential to maintain a certain degree of self-control without overestimating what may have been “burned” during the session.
Preventive and therapeutic action on leg joints
Certain diseases of the joints are more likely to occur or worsen with a sedentary lifestyle; classic examples are those of osteoarthritis and the formation of uric acid crystals (gout). On the other hand, the intense sports practice also seems to be hurting the districts themselves in the long term but differently. That is why, as always, it is good not to overdo it.
In principle, consider the use of Exercise Bike, safe and positive overall for:
- Prevention of certain joint diseases
- Improving specific pre-existing health problems
- Conservation of involved muscular tropism.
However, in cases of acute inflammation – for example, to the acetabular or knee – we very often recommend complete rest. To reduce risks, it is always good to seek advice from a specialist.
Improved mood
Exercise improves mood. This is due to an organic factor, as well as a psychological component.
The motor activity and exercise cycles lead to the release of endorphins; these hormones are responsible for a psychophysical relaxation that many define as “general well-being.” One might say that I am a perfect ally in the struggle against daily stress.
Strictly psychological, instead, practicing physical exercise – which is often neglected by laziness – increases self-esteem and gives the satisfaction of “engaging for their own good.” However, one should not make the mistake of letting oneself go into bad behavior, such as the attitude to compensate for the binges by compulsively training. If extreme, this attitude is typical of certain eating disorders (DCA), such as bulimia nervosa (bn).
Exercise Bike for Old Age
the exercise bike is the most used indoor fitness tool in the therapy and prevention of geriatric diseases. We deliberately talk about “discomforts” because, in addition to actual diseases, seniority is linked to several part physiological conditions, usually degressive or degenerative. Which can speed up or slow down one’s course according to variables such as lifestyle (diet, motor activity, mental gymnastics, etc.) and subjectivity.
Did You Know That…
In the elderly, it is sometimes challenging to achieve a stable, functional loss, such as:
- hearing
- vision
- specific cognitive abilities (senile dementia), etc.
- a primary condition, as type 2 diabetes mellitus
- Alzheimer’s disease, etc., can be.
However, it is scientifically proven that most of the elderly’s problems could have been prevented, improved, or worsened less rapidly, thanks to motor therapy. In this sense, the exercise bike is considered the “perfect” machinery for various reasons:
- Avoid having to move around for exercise; this not only provides a practical advantage but also has a preventive impact on road accidents
- Reduces the load on the lower limbs; sometimes even just the natural solicitation of ankles, knees and also can be excessive
- It eliminates the problems related to balance, often causing accidents that can be extremely serious and even fatal in old age.
In the context of senior physical activity, horizontal exercise seems to be particularly successful, for the greater ease in walking and descending independently and with less risk. It is a beneficial exercise bike with an articulated handlebar and attached to the strength to train the upper body from a functional perspective.
Those who are sedentary and want to start moving gradually, without exaggerating, can simply carry out 30 minutes of exercise cycles a day (about 10 km) without rising too high intensity. This will allow you to start enjoying this tool’s first benefits and prepare for more effective workouts.
Types
Types of exercise bike
There are two macro groups of bikes: The vertical – the more traditional – and horizontal – that inspire the posture of the reclined bicycle. However, several different models have been marketed for: design, technology, operation, materials, range, and price.
Many cycles are designed in such a way that they can also be driven in the opposite direction. This also enables the development of the muscles that generally form the chain of antagonists.
Similar to the so-called “elliptical,” certain types of exercise exercise exercise exercise have a mobile handlebar, which allows the upper part of the body to be used in the movement – with the participation of: arms, shoulders, back, chest, and abdominal.
How is it done, and how does an exercise bike work?
The exercise bike consists essentially of:
- Fixed frame
- Roof and saddle – adjustable in height and length
- Handbook – height adjustable
- Pedals and transmission
- Tree and Center Movement
- Chain or connecting strap
- Resistance organ – flywheel, fan, or friction mechanism.
Many exercise bikes are equipped with electronic sensors and displays.
What’s It For?
What’s the exercise bike for?
The exercise bike is used for motor exercise; the most common objectives include:
- Increased overall fitness
- Weight loss
- Rehabilitation
- Specific training – is infrequent because cyclists tend to prefer the use of rollers.
Because of its intractable cardiovascular and respiratory impact, exercise bike has long been used in rehabilitative therapy, such as myocardial infarction, cardiovascular surgery, respiratory and other compromised patients. This allows for more excellent safety, which translates into greater applicability and greater effectiveness in the treatment.
What’s more, the ability to adjust the motion and intensity makes the use of exercise bikes very suitable for the functional recovery of muscles, tendons, and joints.
Did You Know That... One study found a positive correlation between cycling and prolonged use of exercise bikes. It decreased sexual function - Simon, Harvey B. (14 September 2012). "Biking and sex-avoid the vicious cycle." Harvard Health Blog. Harvard University. Retrieved 14 November 2016
Cyclins are also used for physical tests, although cycle ergometers – technologically more advanced – are preferred in the medical field. Among the most common of these is the “incremental stress test” associated with an electrocardiogram.
Curiosity Some particular types of cycling, such as the CEVIS (Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization System), are used in space to combat cardiovascular deconditioning in the environment of microgravity.
How to Use
How do you use exercise bikes?
It is not enough to get on the exercise bike and start riding. Instead, it requires a workout protocol, however trivial, to organize and plan the process according to the objectives.
Let’s start by specifying that each exercise cycle is adjusted on the anthropometric characteristics of the subject before the session begins. That said, exercise bikes can be used in different ways, thus activating energy metabolism differently. Essentially, however, cycling exercise requires more aerobic rather than anaerobic exercise. Therefore, the use of oxygen in energy production is the “metabolic basis” for this type of effort.
On the other hand, raising the intensity – beyond the anaerobic threshold – lactic acid production could become a determining factor. This means that the exercise bike could be used differently depending on the objective.
From a strictly organizational point of view, exercise with an exercise bike could have several characteristics:
- Constant and uninterrupted from beginning to end
- Shared in: heating, central body, and fatigue
- The main body can be stable and uninterrupted
- The central body can be uninterrupted but with variable intensity, with predetermined increase and decrease, with the characteristics of the change in rhythm
- The main body can be organized in repeated, with passive recovery breaks.
Note: The intensity in the exercise bike is given by the repetition / to cycle per minute, associated with the resistance/ratio of the pedal itself, which is always inversely proportional to the duration. Duration and intensity, however, determine the total workout load.
Contraindications
Contraindications of exercise bike
The contraindications of an exercise bike are very few. It is perhaps the most easily manageable fitness tool, even in motor deficits and serious diseases.
The exercise bike can be inadvisable in case of:
- Diseases of the spine, especially acute and painful (herniated disk, muscle contractures, etc.)
- Pains in the pelvic floor and surrounding areas such as groin anus (hemorrhoids), sacred bone, etc
- Bone fractures of the lower limbs are still being healed.
- Acute joint diseases of the hip, knee, and ankle
- Chronic or acute tendon diseases
- High risk of cardiovascular disease; the risk of ischemia is potentially life-threatening or disabling, which is why it should not be taken lightly.
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that is uncompensated or difficult to control
- Underweight, especially with DCA – typical anorexia nervous (AN) – or overweight, especially with severe obesity and linked to metabolic disorders or other conditions that dramatically increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Risks
Risks of exercise bike
There are no risks strictly related to exercise bikes, except those due to pre-existing disease states. In itself, the activity is not risky. Still, it must be addressed for what it is: It’s a motor activity that can be very intense. To not suffer unpleasant inconveniences or preventable injuries, it is therefore first necessary to undergo medical examination sports with electrocardiogram, better if agonistic.
On the contrary, as mentioned in the premise, exercise bike reduces other risks related to actual cycling. We talk mainly about road accidents without necessarily reflecting on the danger of collision with cars and other vehicles or pedestrians. It is not uncommon for cyclists – even in the presence of:
- darkness
- fog
- rain
- snow
- ice, etc
To end up slipping or falling, or clashing against shackles, trees, or other structures, even causing severe contusive damage. Even for this, an exercise bike does not require wearing the fundamental protections during cycling sessions.
What’s more, by doing indoor activities, the chances of cooling or facing the most common seasonal illnesses are reduced.