Exercise Bike - A Route To Weight Loss

Exercise at home is a very good motivational element, being able to wheel out an exercise bike whilst sitting and watching your favourite TV, seems a lot less daunting than driving to the gym and waiting on machines. There is also a big time saving factor, in that you can get a full workout in the time it takes to drive to the gym and back.

An exercise bike can give you a good workout raising your heart beat nicely into your fat burning zone. Weight loss is a simple energy balance, take in more energy than you use up and you gain weight, eat less energy than you burn off and you lose weight. This is purely a simplistic view but in essence is correct.

A good way to increase the energy you use up in a 24 hour period is to, over time, increase you muscle mass. Add to this aerobic exercise and you have a winning combination. An exercise bike can provide you both these elements in one workout.

The way to increase muscle mass is resistance training. A simple way to do this on a bike is this.

Start off by warming up thoroughly, then for 20 mins follow this simple pattern.

1 min 30sec cycle steadily at a light to medium resistance.

30 secs with the resistance turn to the max.

Repeat this 10 times.

When you turn up the resistance, the rate at which you pedal will probably drop, but you will feel it really working your thighs. Repeat this workout a couple of times a week and you will steadily build muscle on you legs. Don't worry you won't look like a body builder.

The combination of increased muscle mass and the aerobic benefit you will gain from this exercise plan will not only burn energy whilst exercising, but will increase the energy you burn just sitting around. That sounds to me like the best weight loss plan. Regular exercise on your exercise bike coupled with a good diet will tip the balance toward weight loss, do this consistently and you will achieve your weight loss goal.

By Dave R Jones

Check Out the Related Article : An Exercise Bike Workout