Indoor Cycling at Home: Benefits and Tips for Beginners
If you are looking for a fun and all-around home workout that will get you sweating and your adrenaline pumping, you might want to try indoor cycling.
Indoor cycling offers many benefits for any individual, including improving overall physical fitness and mental health.
Many gyms have cycling classes available, but one way to cut the cost and still reap all the benefits of indoor cycling is to get your own exercise bike. Here is a rundown of some of the benefits that indoor cycling will offer.
10 Benefits of Indoor Cycling
1. Builds Strength
Indoor cycling is great for building strength, and people have seen improvement in their strength in as little as 150 minutes of indoor cycling a week. If you remain consistent with your practice, you will see changes to your physique like leaner legs and toned muscles in a few weeks.
Consistent cycling will also improve your muscular endurance, especially for the lower body. This will help you go on longer rides as your practice intensifies and progresses.
2. Calorie Burning
It’s not a secret that cycling burns many calories, and burning calories or stored energy is one of the most practical ways to help anyone lose weight.
The average cycling session in the gym runs for 60 minutes, and if you adapt that time to your home practice, this could result in burning up to 350 to 600 calories in one cycling session. This is more than enough calories burned for an average person who sits at an office desk during the day.
3. Improves Cardiovascular Health
One great advantage of indoor cycling is the cardiovascular benefits it offers. It improves blood circulation, lowers pulse rate and lowers bad cholesterol.
Like elliptical training, running and swimming, indoor cycling is a great cardio exercise. It is the ideal cardio workout for people who do not want to strain their joints and want to go easy on their knees.
4. Full Body Workout
Indoor cycling can benefit all major muscle groups. They work on your lower body — your glutes, hamstrings, and lower legs — to give you more muscular and stronger legs and calves to support your everyday activities.
Your core, upper body and back muscles also work to balance and support you on the exercise bike. You can add resistance bands and light dumbbells to your cycling routine to engage the upper body thoroughly.
5. Helps Improve Posture
Indoor cycling will help improve your posture because it will engage the back muscles. This is especially important for people who lead an otherwise sedentary lifestyle or work a 9 to 5 desk job.
Proper posture when using the exercise bike will look like this:
- sitting with a neutral spine with no arch or rounding and
- shoulders relaxed and not hunching up to the ears.
Practising proper form in cycling will help counter poor posture.
6. Reduced Risk Of Disease
Because of the total body cardio exercise that cycling provides, indoor cycling may reduce the risk of developing diseases and conditions like heart diseases, Type 2 diabetes, cancer and even premature death.
It is an easy and foolproof exercise that people can practice five times a week for their overall health.
7. Mood Booster
Aside from the physical benefits that indoor cycling will offer a practitioner, cycling also gives the mental boost that any person will need to stay mentally fit. Exercising releases endorphins (the happy hormones) from your brain that could instantly boost your mood after a good workout.
Although cycling is not an actual treatment for feeling blue, research suggests that people can gain psychological benefits from it. So, to destress after work, give your exercise bike a spin, and you are certain to feel better after.
8. Mental Strength
Indoor cycling can improve your mental toughness, as you take on new challenges and set new goals. It also promotes well-being, relaxation and mental stability.
People are likely to build self-esteem and confidence when they get through a challenging part of the cycling session. They may feel a sense of victory and accomplishment when they have managed to battle the physical discomfort and breathlessness of a particularly intense cycling session.
9. Sweet Escape
Another mental health benefit of indoor cycling is its meditative quality. Cycling pushes your body to its limit, and during that time, all you will be able to focus on is doing your best to pedal hard. This makes it impossible for your mind to wander, making you focus on the task at hand and the moment, which is a tenet of meditation.
10. Convenience
Indoor cycling is one of the most convenient and effective at-home exercises.
It is also safer than road cycling, which poses many hazards like slippery roads, inattentive drivers and poor visibility in colder weather.
Indoor cycling allows you to work out at your desired temperature anywhere, like your gym or the bedroom.
How to Get Started
To get started, you will first need to shop for the ideal home gym bike and indoor biking accessories. Set the bike in a comfortable space at home. Decide on the days you would like to work out, ideally three to four days a week.
Begin with a short and simple routine that lasts about 20 to 30 minutes. Gradually, the routine will seem easier. This is the right time to increase the duration of your session. As you progress, you can add weight training and other elements of strength training to make your routine more interesting and challenging.
The key is to stay consistent and show up for all your sessions.
Wrapping Up
To get yourself the perfect exercise bike, you'll need to locate a good store. Powertrain offers a wide range of quality exercise bikes that will help you meet all your fitness and health goals.
Each exercise bike is unique, with features like anti-slip pedals and shock absorption systems to ensure that you benefit from your practice without succumbing to injury.
So what are you waiting for? Get your own home gym equipment today and achieve your fitness goals at home!
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