If you have an exercise bike, then you are on the right track. However, depending on what your goals are, you will want to stick to some specific routines. There are many different exercise bike routines out there, and different ones are designed to provide you with various results.
Moreover, these different exercise bike routines are also designed for various fitness levels. Right now, we are going to go over some of the very best exercise bike routines out there for all fitness levels.
Our goal here today is to help you burn calories, burn fat, and get into the best shape of your life. We’ve got three excellent exercise bike routines for you to look at period the first one is for newbies, the second one for novices, and the third one for experts.
1. An Exercise Bike Routine for All
Here we have an exercise bike routine that is designed mostly for beginners. This is mostly an aerobic activity, which means that it features very moderate and steady intensity. However, it does also include very short and challenging intervals that are designed to burn calories and build stamina.
It all starts out with an easy warm-up and then moves on to anywhere from three to five rounds of workout sets that each last for about six minutes, each of which gets more intense from one to the next.
Exactly how intense you choose to be with this routine depends on what your perceived exertion is. This perceived exertion scale goes from one, which is very easy, through to ten, which is the most amount of effort that you can put out.
For this reason, you don’t see any of our instructions below listed in terms of RPM’s or revolutions per minute. Instead, it’s all about how much perceived exertion you are putting out. Let’s take a look at exactly what this beginner-friendly exercise bike routine entails.
Warmup
The warmup round should last for ten minutes and consists of easy cycling, with a perceived exertion level of one or two. After a couple of minutes, ease into a more moderate pace with an exertion level between three and five.
The Main Workout
- The first three minutes of the main exercise block should involve moderate effort, with an exertion level anywhere from three to five.
- The next two minutes of the main workout block consist of higher resistance with slower revolutions. In other words, you aren’t moving too fast, but you are using heavy resistance. Aim for a perceived exertion level between six and eight.
- The final minute of this main workout block involves going at an easier pace with light Resistance. Here you should be cycling with an exertion level between one and two.
* beginners will repeat this main workout block around three times, whereas more advanced cyclists and repeat this up to five times.*
The Cooldown
The cooldown consists of three minutes of cycling at a moderate pace with an exertion level between three and five. You can then finish things off with around ten minutes of extremely easy cycling with an exertion level of just one or two.
2. Hill and Speed Intervals for Novices
Here we have a 40-minute workout that is ideal for people who are novice cyclists. In other words, it will definitely provide beginners with quite a challenge. This exercise bike routine is all about introducing you to speed and hill intervals.
This particular routine is designed to burn a lot of calories and provide you with a great stamina fitness boost. This workout is not about speed as much as it is about putting out as much effort as you can. Let’s take a look at exactly what this particular exercise bike routine involves.
The Warmup
The warmup round should last for five minutes and consists of cycling with very low resistance at a high speed.
The Main Workout
This main workout is going to consist of three separate intervals, so let’s take a look.
- The first interval is going to last for 10 minutes (with another five minutes for recovery). This consists of alternating between 30 seconds of extreme intensity and 30 seconds of low intensity. Here you should aim for an exertion level of at least eight or nine. Once the 10 minutes are up, take 5 minutes for recovery, with an exertion level of four at the most.
- The second interval is going to last for a total of 15 minutes. This will see you alternating between three minutes of hill climbing with an intensity level of at least seven, and two minutes of recovery with an intensity level of two. Keep alternating between these two until the 15 minutes are up.
- The third interval will see alternating between 30 seconds on and off, with the on time featuring an exertion level of at least eight or nine.
The Cooldown
The cooldown is going to consist of just five minutes of very easily pedaling with a maximum exertion rate of one or two at the most.
3. The Maximum Heart Rate Routine
The two other exercise routines that we have looked at so far involved short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by a lot of rest. However, what we have here is a much more intense exercise routine that sees you alternating between extreme intensity and moderate intensity. The aim of this particular routine is to maximize your heart rate and to maximize calorie burn.
The Warmup
Yes, you do always want to perform a warmup, so take five minutes to cycle at a low to moderate intensity.
The Main Workout
The main part of this workout routine is going to involve eight sets of five minute blocks. Here, you are going to cycle for two minutes at a very high intensity, and here you should put out as much exertion as you can possibly muster. Those two minutes of extremely high intensity are then followed by three minutes of moderate-intensity.
If your fitness level is not quite up there, then those three minutes could be low intensity, although for the best results, you do want to stick with at least moderate intensity. In other words, you are going to cycle for two minutes as hard as you can, and then for three minutes at a moderate to low intensity. You will repeat this eight times over.
The Cooldown
Take anywhere from five to ten minutes to cycle at a very low intensity in order to cool down.
The 3 Best Exercise Bike Routines
There you have it, three different exercise bike routines that will get your heart pumping. If you are a total newbie, start out with the first routine that we talked about, as this is the easiest one. People with moderate fitness levels should try to second routine. If you have a great fitness level and you really want to challenge yourself to the max, then the third routine that we discussed is definitely the one for you.