Adding An Exercise Bike To Your Home Gym

UPDATED, February 1, 2022

Building a home gym is one way people get started down the path of living a healthier lifestyle. After all, it provides quick and easy access to all the equipment you need to get a good workout right at home.

If you are in the process of building a home gym or you are thinking of renovating or adding to an existing home gym, you will be faced with the task of making a tough decision regarding which pieces of equipment you will need. While there are many types of home gym equipment, such as a treadmill or rowing machine, there is one piece of equipment that we believe is essential for your home gym––an exercise bike.

Potential Benefits Of Adding An Exercise Bike To Your Home Gym

What makes an exercise bike an important item for a home gym? There are numerous potential benefits for this type of exercise equipment.

Discover the following reasons why exercise bikes are so popular in home gyms all across the country:

Relatively A Low-Impact Workout

Working out on an exercise bike is considered a relatively low-impact workout (3). An exercise bike allows you to burn calories and get moving without requiring you to put too much pressure on your joints (3).

For those interested in a low-impact workout, a recumbent exercise bike is a great option. Instead of being forced to exercise in an upright position, a recumbent exercise bike can be adjusted to allow you to recline back. This new, adjusted position allows you to work out in comfort without worrying about putting too much stress on your back.

Ability To Customize Workouts To Include An Interval Training Option

While an exercise bike is mostly considered a low-impact workout, it doesn’t always have to be. You have the unique ability to customize your workout to make it an interval training workout that can help with trying to burn more calories without spending more time in the gym (4).

A workout on an exercise bike can be turned into an interval training workout by utilizing the following training styles:

High-Intensity Training: Do a workout that includes a combination of sitting and pedaling quickly, as well as standing up and power riding, to the best of your ability.
Upper-Body Training: Add arm movements and/or dumbbells to your exercise bike workout routine.
Strength Training: Add ankle weights to your legs.
Racing: Pedaling as fast as you can for short bursts of time.

To make workouts easier and more entertaining, sign up for iFIT and access workouts that have been carefully curated for specific training and certain time lengths within different locations all over the world. So, if you want to do a high-intensity workout on Monday for only 30 minutes and a strength-training workout in Hawaii on Wednesday, then iFIT has you covered with the right workouts.

Potential Tool To Help With Body Composition

Trying to lose weight, not to mention potential calorie-burn, requires you to eat healthy, work out with proper technique, and on a consistent basis. Not to mention having a game plan and other numerous factors, such as staying hydrated, and taking into account your basal metabolism, ambient temperature, your sex, weight and height, etc. If you make appropriate changes to your diet and start leading a healthy lifestyle while working out on a daily basis on an exercise bike, your fitness goals will become more within your reach (3).

In fact, one study found that 12 female participants saw a decrease in their fat percentage, body mass, and body mass index after 12 weeks of doing in-door cycling and having a low-calorie diet (5).

It’s important to note that the amount of calories burned will vary depending upon your weight, the intensity of your workout, and other factors.

Provides Easy Access To A Year-Round Workout In the Comfort Of Your Home

Many people enjoy bike riding, but there are a lot of hidden dangers involved with riding a bike outdoors. Hazardous road conditions, bad weather, and dangerous drivers make it difficult for people to receive the full benefits that come along with bike riding. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about those things when you have a home gym with an exercise bike.

A Quiet Workout

Noise may be a concern for you when you think about working out at home. However, exercise bikes are relatively quiet pieces of equipment. When in use, exercise bikes rarely make any noise.

Some exercise bikes, particularly NordicTrack bikes, also allow you to connect Bluetooth® headphones to your bike. That way, you can ramp up your iFIT workout at any point of the day or night without disturbing others in your home.

Exercise Bikes Allow You To Get A Full-Body Workout

Even though a stationary bike focuses primarily on giving you an intense lower-body workout, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t getting a full-body workout. When using an exercise bike in your home gym, you may be working out everything from your calves to your arms.

Some of the muscles you may strengthen while working out on a stationary bike include (6):

Quadriceps
Hamstrings
Gluteus Maximus
Calves
Abdominals
Arms
Heart

In addition to helping you strengthen and tone these muscles, you may also experience other health benefits. Other health benefits associated with working out on an exercise bike regularly and leading to a happer, healthier you include (7):

Increased blood flow
Better circulation
Improved lung function
Improved flexibility
Improved balance
Increased energy
Lower blood pressure
Lower cholesterol
Improved mood

Conclusion

Considering all the benefits associated with an exercise bike, it has come as no surprise that it is one of the most popular pieces of home gym equipment. If your home gym doesn’t have an exercise bike, you are missing out on experiencing some amazing potential benefits. Add an exercise bike to your home gym today, and you will be able to follow the path to living a healthier lifestyle.

And, remember, that trying to achieve the potential benefits associated with an exercise bike depends on numerous factors, including exercising with proper form, exercising on a regular basis, eating healthily, the intensity of your activity, having an exercise game plan, staying hydrated, and take into account the levels of your basal metabolism, ambient temperature, your sex, weight and height, etc.