How long should you ride a stationary bike to lose belly fat

Table of Contents Show

Steady-State Riding
Exercise Bike for Weight Loss
Perform Interval Training
Step 1: Warm Up
Step 2: Hit the Interval
Step 3: Recover
Step 4: Alternate Intensities
Step 5: Cool Down
Abdominal Fat Explained
Diet And Exercise
Relieve Stress
Exercise Bike Training Types
Bike Workout
Bike Workouts On iFIT
Can you lose stomach fat by stationary bike?
How much should I bike a day to lose belly fat?
How long does it take to lose belly fat by riding a bike?
How long should you ride a stationary bike to lose weight?

If you want a low-impact way to burn belly fat, ride a stationary bike.

Image Credit: jacoblund/iStock/Getty Images

Churning your legs on a stationary bike is more likely to help you lose an extra belly bulge than crunching your abs. Exercise, especially cardio, helps you lose visceral fat that resides in the deep belly and gain lean muscle. A consistent program that weaves both steady-state riding and intervals into your week burns calories and stimulates fat-burning so you get slimmer

Steady-State Riding

If you're new to exercise, the Arthritis Foundation suggests riding for five minutes three times a day. Build up to a regular routine of stationary cycling to lose weight that includes a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio, five to six times per week. Do this moderate-intensity work by pedaling a stationary bike at an effort that raises your heart rate to between 50 percent and 70 percent of your maximum.

Another way of determining workout intensity is by using the "talk test" suggested by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans . If you can talk but not sing, your workout can be considered moderate. If you need to take a breath every few words, then it's intense.

If you can't commit 30 straight minutes to stationary biking, you can break it up into 10-minute intervals and still gain benefit to your health and burn calories to help reduce belly fat.

Exercise Bike for Weight Loss

Using a stationary bike for weight loss means you have choices. Once you can manage regular moderate-paced riding, work a little harder at a few of your weekly pedaling sessions.

When you pedal your bike, increase the level or resistance you use at two of your workouts. Go for 20 to 30 minutes at this higher intensity that raises your heart rate to about 75 to 85 percent of your maximum. You'll be left huffing and puffing and build up quite a sweat, but the effort will be worth it when you see your girth go down.

Tip

An easy way to estimate your maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. For example, if you're 45 years old, your maximum heart rate would be 175 (220 - 45 = 175). If you want a more precise evaluation, seek out a gym that performs metabolic testing.

Perform Interval Training

Steady-state exercise gets you started with fat loss, while high-intensity intervals turn up your fat-burning engine. The American Council on Exercise suggests that interval training burns more calories in less time and increases the production of fat-burning hormones.

Every workout you do shouldn't involve HIIT, or high-intensity interval training. Consider doing two to three HIIT workouts on the bike per week, using these in the place of steady high-intensity workouts. Other days should still consist of moderate-intensity pedaling, or you'll risk burn out.

To perform intervals on a stationary bike:

Step 1: Warm Up

Warm up for five to 10 minutes at a low resistance. Just feel your joints awaken and blood flow increase. Your heart rate will also start to rise, but will not be anywhere near your maximum.

Step 2: Hit the Interval

Pedal one to two minutes with a higher resistance and intense pedal-stroke effort as you can. Feel your heart beat rise, eventually reaching a point where you feel nearly breathless.

Step 3: Recover

Return to an easy effort of pedaling for one to two minutes. Feel your heart rate recover and your breath rate return to a more controlled level.

Step 4: Alternate Intensities

Alternate the high-intensity and low-intensity intervals 10 to 15 times total. One of the benefits of high-intensity intervals is that they sizzle fat in a relatively short workout.

Step 5: Cool Down

Conclude your workout with three to five minutes of pedaling easily as a cool down.

Tip

Intervals can take on many different configurations. If one to two minutes is too long, perform 30-second intervals. Or to add a new challenge, make your intervals of intense work last five to 10 minutes with two minutes of easier effort between them.

UPDATED, May 6, 2022

Riding an exercise bike is an excellent way to stay in shape. Exercise bikes are known to strengthen your heart, hips, as well as your abs (1). And just like every exercise that is performed, having proper form is essential. That being said, a number of factors, including having proper form on your exercise bike, can help you reap the full benefit of the stationary bike workout, especially when it comes to your abs. Tightening your abdominal muscles as you perform the exercise will help strengthen your abs to stabilize your spine.(4, 5).Let’s take a closer look into how to use, and take advantage, of a home exercise bike. When assessing your exercise results, it’s important to consider your body’s regional compositional changes rather than whole-body changes alone (7).

Abdominal Fat Explained

There are two types of abdominal fat: subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat is the layer of fat that sits just beneath your skin; you can pinch the subcutaneous fat on your belly with your fingertips (8). You cannot pinch visceral fat, in contrast, because this type of fat sits deep within your abdominal cavity. Visceral fat surrounds your liver, pancreas, kidneys, and the intestines.

Unlike subcutaneous fat, which is soft and squishy, visceral fat is rather firm. Visceral fat, also known as active fat, can be dangerous (8). The higher the amount of visceral fat a person has, the higher his or her risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other health complications (9).

About 10 percent of a person’s body fat is visceral fat (10). This means that the more fat you carry around, the greater amounts of visceral fat you probably have. It also means that losing any amount of fat helps decrease visceral fat. Performing a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise each day can help you burn visceral fat when incorporated with a low-calorie diet (11).Exercise is an important factor in trying to lose visceral fat. According to Rush University Medical Center, moderate-intensity exercise can aid in fat reduction fat (12).

Diet And Exercise

While losing stubborn abdominal fat is difficult, it isn’t not impossible. This is especially true when you incorporate regular activity with a healthy, low-calorie diet, among the other factors mentioned in this article. Avoid fad diets that involve long periods of starvation or unusual foods as these can be difficult to sustain long enough safely and effectively (13). Opt instead for a low-calorie, low in sugar diet that includes fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats (14).

In general, 3,500 calories equals one pound of fat. This means you have to burn 3,500 calories more than you consume to lose one pound of fat (14). You can cause that 3,500-calorie deficit over the course of several days, so that you could cut 500 to 1,000 calories a day to lose 1 to 2 pounds over a week.

Riding your exercise bike should be able to help you achieve this calorie deficit without drastically cutting the number of calories you eat. The number of calories burned per exercise varies and is again dependent on a variety of factors, such as your body size, the speed at which you ride, and whether you use special techniques, such as your exercise bike’s incline feature and how long you ride each week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, along with muscle strengthening on two or more days each week (15). Consistency is also important when it comes to burning calories on your exercise bike (16). Create a workout schedule that fits into your routine, so that you are more likely to stick to it.Be sure to take advantage of the incline feature on exercise bikes. Not many bikes out on the market have an incline feature, but thanks to ProForm, your bike options have extended. Avoid adding too much resistance, though, as the added workload can actually prevent you from working at maximum capacity. Increase the incline to where you can still perform the exercise without disrupting your form.

Relieve Stress

Another way to break down fat is to reduce stress (18). Easier said than done, but you’ll thank yourself later for trying. There is a strong link between fat cells and stress. Fat causes the body to release cortisol, which is a stress hormone (19). The role of cortisol is to help give you the energy you need to overcome a stressful situation, which can stimulate your appetite and lead you to eat more. Fortunately, working out releases the endorphin hormone that relieves stress while helping you reduce fat storage (19). That way, you’re attacking abdominal fat from multiple angles.

Exercise Bike Training Types

Once you establish a convenient workout schedule, switch up the exercises that you do during each workout session. Mixing up your routine about every two weeks can help you avoid falling into a rut or hitting a fitness plateau. Your body can actually get used to performing the same movements, which means you may not be getting all of the benefits of your exercise bike. Switching things up is particularly important for meeting long-term goals.

Here are a few different types of training that you can do on your exercise bike:

Steady-State Cycling

Steady-state cycling, where you ride at the same pace throughout the workout session, is perfect for the novice exerciser. Build up to a regular routine of moderately intense work by pedaling at a pace that increases your heart rate to between 50 percent and 70 percent of your maximum heart rate (21).

High-Intensity Cycling

Once you establish your routine, turn up the heat. One study showed that overweight participants who exercised at a high-intensity rate at two workout sessions per week, then at a low-to-moderate intensity at three workout sessions appeared to lose abdominal fat more effectively than did those who did low- to moderate-intensity exercise during all of their sessions (11).

High-Intensity Intermittent Training

Research shows that high-intensity intermittent training may have a better impact on body composition than moderate-paced workouts (22).