stationary bikes for cardio?

[-TM-]

hey guys, uh recently i've been having pains in my heel from running on my treadmill, and i've been told that its really not good for it. and when the pain goes away it will come back if i run on a tredmill again.

well, my moms birthday is in a couple weeks, and my dads getting her a stationary bike.

and i was wondering, would that(along with burpee's) be good for my cardio?

[kawana]

Mmm i dunno bout stationary bikes, but ive recently started doing Jumpropes and that is great for cardio from what i hear, it gets my heartrate up really fast. Im sure Koltz will be here any second now....

[koltz]

stationary bikes are even worse then threadmills , there the worst cardio machines ever made , my knees can survive anything but a round on a bike like that.

[-TM-]

k.. ty...

would burpee's alone be good cardio?

i wana start rope jumping but my heel is bugging me alot

[koltz]

most people will not last a lot on burpees...

[-TM-]

most people will not last a lot on burpees...

i hear you, when i first started them i could only do 2 sets of 10 and ive worked it up to 6 sets of 10.

going to switch to 5 sets of 15 soon.

kickboxing is amazing cardio, but i was thinking that would burpee's be decent cardio? at least till my foot heals. which oculd be a couple months..

[Moonduck]

stationary bikes are even worse then threadmills , there the worst cardio machines ever made , my knees can survive anything but a round on a bike like that.

Stationary bikes generally suck (except for the stupidly expensive ones used by professional cyclists), but a properly designed and adjusted stationary bike is one of the forms of cardio least likely to harm your joints.

Adjustment really is the key. Getting your stationary properly set-up and fit to you will prevent tons of issues. If you know how to set up a real bicycle properly, you'll do fine on a stationary.

That said, a stationary sucks compared to real cycling. You lose all of the benefits aside from those gained from the basic pedalling motion. In actual cycling, your greatest resistance is wind. No wind on a stationary, so they artifically set resistance. The problem is that the artificial resistance rarely scales like a real bike. Additionally, the stationary bike is utterly stable, so you get far less of a core stabilisation workout than you would doing biking on anything other than a straight path.

Still, it is a way to exercise if you've injured your own wheels. That's why you see them in PT facilities.

[-TM-]

stationary bikes are even worse then threadmills , there the worst cardio machines ever made , my knees can survive anything but a round on a bike like that.

Stationary bikes generally suck (except for the stupidly expensive ones used by professional cyclists), but a properly designed and adjusted stationary bike is one of the forms of cardio least likely to harm your joints.

Adjustment really is the key. Getting your stationary properly set-up and fit to you will prevent tons of issues. If you know how to set up a real bicycle properly, you'll do fine on a stationary.

That said, a stationary sucks compared to real cycling. You lose all of the benefits aside from those gained from the basic pedalling motion. In actual cycling, your greatest resistance is wind. No wind on a stationary, so they artifically set resistance. The problem is that the artificial resistance rarely scales like a real bike. Additionally, the stationary bike is utterly stable, so you get far less of a core stabilisation workout than you would doing biking on anything other than a straight path.

Still, it is a way to exercise if you've injured your own wheels. That's why you see them in PT facilities.


so like for biking/sports they are pretty useless, but they burn fat good right?

because thats my main goal atm.

[koltz]

I think jump rope has the portntial to burn more fat on the same heart rate as well as rowing striders(basicly and eliptical with two levers you move back and forth with your arms) and swimming as much as the overall benefits go it's the best forms of cardio voerall

[-TM-]

I think jump rope has the portntial to burn more fat on the same heart rate as well as rowing striders(basicly and eliptical with two levers you move back and forth with your arms) and swimming as much as the overall benefits go it's the best forms of cardio voerall

i cant jump rope tho because of heel problems, so as ana lternative-100% just for fat burned, would a cardio bike be ok ?

i know its not as good as the tredmill or rope jumping, and i would jump rope if i could but if i do i cant walk for along time =\

the bike is pretty much the only thing that doesn't disturb it, and if its pretty good for weightloss i think i'll get one.

and i will be on it 30mins to an hour 7 days a week.

[Moonduck]

Well, as I said above, really expensive ones are good for sports cyclists, but other than that, I'm unimpressed. A real bike is better. That said, if you can't do anything else, do it. Better blah cardio than no cardio. It's the position I'm in right now.

[-TM-]

Well, as I said above, really expensive ones are good for sports cyclists, but other than that, I'm unimpressed. A real bike is better. That said, if you can't do anything else, do it. Better blah cardio than no cardio. It's the position I'm in right now.

i live in calgary alberta, and it snows like 10months of the year so biking outside right now for me really isn't an option.

i know it's not the greatest cardio but if you look at these things :
1- i cant bike outside year round(only for about 2 months in the summer)
2-i have bad heel problems, so i can't use tredmills-or jog outside
3-i am doing NO cardio(unless you count burpee's as cardio) right now

bikes are good at burning fat though right?
if i bike for 10 hours a week i am sure i will lose a deal of fat over a period of time, no?

just saying that i cant do it outside, and this is like the only option- it still brusn fat pretty good though if you do it intensely right?

[eldus]

Well, as I said above, really expensive ones are good for sports cyclists, but other than that, I'm unimpressed. A real bike is better. That said, if you can't do anything else, do it. Better blah cardio than no cardio. It's the position I'm in right now.

i live in calgary alberta, and it snows like 10months of the year so biking outside right now for me really isn't an option.

i know it's not the greatest cardio but if you look at these things :
1- i cant bike outside year round(only for about 2 months in the summer)
2-i have bad heel problems, so i can't use tredmills-or jog outside
3-i am doing NO cardio(unless you count burpee's as cardio) right now

bikes are good at burning fat though right?
if i bike for 10 hours a week i am sure i will lose a deal of fat over a period of time, no?

just saying that i cant do it outside, and this is like the only option- it still brusn fat pretty good though if you do it intensely right?

From experience I'd say it does burn fat.

I used to do strong intervals for about 15 mins on the stationary bike every few days and I really felt a difference.

Now I'm into tabata incline burpees, it's killer!

eldus

[-TM-]

Well, as I said above, really expensive ones are good for sports cyclists, but other than that, I'm unimpressed. A real bike is better. That said, if you can't do anything else, do it. Better blah cardio than no cardio. It's the position I'm in right now.

i live in calgary alberta, and it snows like 10months of the year so biking outside right now for me really isn't an option.

i know it's not the greatest cardio but if you look at these things :
1- i cant bike outside year round(only for about 2 months in the summer)
2-i have bad heel problems, so i can't use tredmills-or jog outside
3-i am doing NO cardio(unless you count burpee's as cardio) right now

bikes are good at burning fat though right?
if i bike for 10 hours a week i am sure i will lose a deal of fat over a period of time, no?

just saying that i cant do it outside, and this is like the only option- it still brusn fat pretty good though if you do it intensely right?

From experience I'd say it does burn fat.

I used to do strong intervals for about 15 mins on the stationary bike every few days and I really felt a difference.

Now I'm into tabata incline burpees, it's killer!

eldus

kk ty, im going to be doing it 1 hour every day, along with 4 sets of 15 burpee's every day :)

[Moonduck]

Yup, it's better than nothing. I just wanted to be clear on the problems. And make sure that you research how to set uo the positioning of the seat and pedals properly.

[Silverthorn]

I've been doing decently strong intervals for 15 mins on a pretty expensive (built in heart rate monitor, etc) recumbant stationary we got some years ago. I should try jump rope, but the bike does seem to be working well for now. From what I've read, seems the best is to get the heart rate up pretty high (though not the first time you do it!) during the intervals. I've worked myself up to around 90% of max heart (max is usually 220 minus your age) for the last three intervals. You'd probably want to get some sort of external heart rate thing if the bike doesn't have one. I'm doing about a minute interval and minute rest which probably isn't ideal, but is convenient since that's the bike's mode..

If you decide to do intervals for weight loss, an hour seems like a pretty long time. Maybe start at a lower max heart and go for a half hour and then build up the intensity and go for shorter. The thing about HIIT style intervals is a lot of the fat burning comes from increased metabolism for some hours after the workout and depends more on the intensity. If you just do moderate constant pace for an hour, you'll likely stop burning almost immediately after you're done. Though more calories are burned during the hour, you'll probably burn more in the long run with the HIIT and it is shorter and way less boring..

But I'm still a noobie, so don't take it as gospel.. :)