stationary bike

The Stationary Bike Workout, Should It Be Banned?!

In my opinion there are few things more useless and redundant in a gym than a typical stationary bike “workout”.  I realise that more than a few of you may warm up, cool down, or even attend spinning classes, but I am sorry as I just think the whole lot is a bit of a waste of time.  (More on spinning later as that falls slightly outside of the remit of my point today, but I’ll address it anyway)

I think steady state cardio has its place, and I also think that if you enjoy something, then by all means go for it.  My issue with the use of stationary bikes as exercise tools is a very simple and basic one.  The way that most people use them is just too easy.  If you can read a magazine / book whilst “exercising” then you are not really exercising at all, you are just wiggling your limbs around a little bit.  I’ll elaborate a little bit more of this for those of who want a less simplistic explanation.

You should all appreciate that in order to stimulate a decent physiological response you should do something a little bit of out of the ordinary for the body, correct?  Assuming you regularly walk to the bus stop, walk to the pub, or walk around a supermarket, then you will instinctively appreciate that a 5-10 minute stroll on a treadmill will not really do all that much to improve your fitness / fatness levels.  Given that walking (even when on a treadmill) involves more muscular and nervous system recruitment than perching your pretty bottom on a stationary bike, why on earth do some people think they are going to stimulate a change by aimlessly spinning their wheels against the lightest of possible resistance, and going nowhere on a bike that does barely anything for their leg muscles, and only exercises their upper bodies when they turn the page of the latest edition of “Hello”?!

If you appreciate the whole idea behind the importance of weight training for both health and body composition benefits, then it should only take a second for you to understand what I am driving at here.  We need a decent level of resistance (relative to your own strength levels, not absolute resistance) in order to generate the correct hormonal responses that are needed to create positive body composition changes.  So making something too damn easy means the body will not produce any sort of noticeable adaptive response.  And it this guiding principle that makes me look at 99.9% of people on stationary bikes and just shake my head with a mixture of pity and wonderment.

What About Spinning?

I am now going to perform a nice little volte face and also tell you that I have nothing against spinning if done in what I view to be the right way.  My belief is that currently spinning classes can last 40-60 minutes, which is way too long because at this duration you just can’t hit the intensity peaks required for the right body composition changes.  If I were running spinning classes at SMC, I would make them about 20 minutes in duration and they would truly represent the HIIT (high intensity interval training) paradigm.  Pedal resistance would be cranked up to reflect each individual’s strength levels, and they would go for it in bursts of anything from 10 to 60 seconds. 

Even When Used Properly I Think The Stationary Bike Workout Is…Rubbish!

My issue with stationary bikes for body composition purposes is that even if the resistance on the pedals is high, we are only really working the lower body and there are a million better bang for your buck “cardio-type” options available in the gym.  Cranking it up to a standing position works much better (as with high intensity spinning)– but are you not then just mimicking a stair climber?  So why not use one in the first place and save on the risk of people using the exercise bike “incorrectly”?

One quick caveat I will make here is that my opposition to stationary bikes doesn’t extend to “real” bicycles.  Your entire body can get one hell of workout on a productive bike ride.

Some people will tell us that stationary bikes are useful for working around certain lower body injuries, and on this score I’d have to gree.  Furthermore, the educated amongst you will know that the vast majority of gym goers will have chronically tight hip flexors, so the very last thing they need to be doing is spending too long sat on a stationary bike as the positioning of the body will only exacerbate any restrictions in range of movement.

Conclusion; When doing cardio, try to challenge yourself, like you would do with resistance and strength training. If you are using a stationary bike, try something new. However, even though there are better cardio equipment than a stationary bike in my opinion, doing anything form of cardio vascular training is better than doing nothing at all!