If you are using an exercise bike for the first time, there are high possibilities that you are exercising in the wrong way. Riding an exercise bike is not as simple as many thinks, from bike position to seat height, everything matters.

Home or gym you will see exercise bikes everywhere. The exercise bikes have become a very popular exercising gear recently, as they are a great option for getting effective high-intensity cardiovascular workouts.

Here are some guidelines if you are using an exercise bike for the first time:

Quick Navigation
  1. Are You Sure You Are Doing It In The Perfect Way?
  2. What Are The Different Types Of Exercise Bikes?
  3. How To Use An Exercise Bike For Effective Workout?
  4. Are You Making The Same Mistakes Too?
  5. Additional Tips For Comfortable Workout Sessions:-
  6. Troubleshooting Few-Body Pains Associated With Exercise Bikes:-
  7. Bottom Line:

Are You Sure You Are Doing It In The Perfect Way?

Because silly mistakes will not only make your long exercise sessions less effective but also can throw impact on your body and in some cases, it can lead to injuries.

So why don’t you spend some time and turn all your wrongs into right? We have designed this very article with all the beginner tips that you might need.

Just spend a few minutes and have a look,

What Are The Different Types Of Exercise Bikes?

Before we dive into the workout, let’s take a look at the types of exercise bikes. There are basically 3 types of bikes, given below.

  • Traditional upright bike
  • Spin bike
  • ​Recumbent bike

How To Use An Exercise Bike For Effective Workout?

The following guide is only for those who are new to exercise bikes, it will ensure you do use the exercise bike in the right way. Follow each step strictly for effective workout sessions.

Let’s get started,

Step 1

The very first thing you will want to do is, sit on the bike and put your heels over the pedals. If your knee is completely extended and leg is fully straight when the pedal is on the furthest from you, you have a perfect seat position if not, you would want to adjust the seat by picking it up or down.

If you are using a recumbent bike, adjust your seat by taking is forward or backward until your leg and knee are fully extended.

Step 2

Now put your feet balls on the pedals and pedal shortly to check if you can ride it comfortably or not. If you set the seat as shown in step 1, you will have a modest bend in your knees when the pedal is furthest from you while pedaling.

Step 3

Too high or too low handle or too close bar can cause hand, neck, back and shoulder pain. Keep the handlebar in a standard position so that you don’t have to bend too much when cycling.

Step 4

Tuck your chin back in, keep your shoulder blade downwards and sit straight.

Hold the handlebar gently and start pedaling slow and put even pressure on both pedals. Pedal slowly for 10 minutes in the beginning as a warm up.

Don’t start pedaling fast at the beginning, you have to give your body a little time so that it can adapt the cycling motion, this will reduce the chance of injury.

Step 5

If your bike has a heart rate monitor, grasp that, it will enable the machine to monitor your heart rate. Moreover, it will keep directing you to raise or slow down your pedaling speed in order to keep your heart rate in an ideal scale.

Step 6

According to the centers for disease control and prevention, every adult should get 150 minutes of aerobic activity every 7 days (1 week), which means at least 20 minutes in a day. If you can’t make it together because of health or time issue, just break those 20 minutes down to two sessions, 10 minutes each.

The last 5 minutes of your workout session pedal as slow as the beginning.

Are You Making The Same Mistakes Too?

If you are using an exercise bike for the first time, you will make mistakes and that’s completely natural.

There are a lot of mistakes that beginners make when they are new to exercise machines, below we have listed some common mistakes so that you don’t do the same.

Roll your eyes over the list below and avoid the mistakes.

Holding the handlebar tightly

This is the very first mistake newbies make when they sit on exercise bikes. Handlebars are meant to help you to keep the balance not to take our whole upper body weight.

When you hold the handlebar tightly, you end up putting extra pressure on the hand, which is wrong, instead put your whole body pressure on the lower body and keep a gentle touch with the handlebar only for a proper balance.

Too high or low seat

If your seat is very high, you will end up rocking your butt side by side while cycling and if it is too low, you won’t be able to extend your knee fully.So for the perfect seat adjustment, stand beside the bike and set the seat height above your hip bone. That would be a comfortable seat height for you.

Rocking side to side while cycling

Most people feel like dancing when they are cycling with headphones on. So before you start making the party on the bike, remember swaying side to side can cause an imbalance which can lead you to some serious injuries.On the other hand, if you are aware of the chance of imbalance, you might hold the handlebar extra tightly and that means you are putting extra tension on the shoulder which is also inappropriate.

Too high or low handlebar

Both too high and low handlebars are inappropriate. For a perfect adjustment, you should keep the seat and handlebar height equal.

Not breathing properly

Most people breathe very irregularly during exercise, sometimes very shallow and sometimes deep which is quite ineffective. Breathing properly during exercise is very important as it gets additional oxygen to the lungs and muscle.

Pedaling too fast

Try to pedal in a limited speed, extra fast pedaling can cause freewheeling which can lead to major accidents. Keep your RPM (Rounds per minute) between 80 to 120.

Additional Tips For Comfortable Workout Sessions:-

Narrow saddle

Most exercise bikes come with wide saddle, though in the first look it seems like wide saddle will be very comfortable, actually the truth is, it becomes very uncomfortable over time, as wide saddle puts pressure on the tendons of upper inside thigh.

Though it will take some time to get used to narrow saddle in the long run, they are better. So if your intention is to use the exercise bike very often, choose a narrow saddle.

Full-body workout

Exercise bikes mainly work in the lower body, for overall body fitness, right after completing the cycling session you should do some upper body workout, like push-ups and pull-ups.

Set-up a Fan

If you are exercising in a warm condition, it is better to set a fan towards the bike in order to stay cool.

Or you can just place your bike beside an open window and many exercise bike comes with water bottle holders, keep a bottle of water with you and drink between exercises, it will keep you hydrated.

Troubleshooting Few-Body Pains Associated With Exercise Bikes:-

There are a bunch of pains that can cause if you are using an exercise bike in the wrong way. Here, we have covered some most common pains and how to solve them.

Sore Butt

This can cause from the high seat and wide saddle. When you are cycling sitting in a high seat, you are rocking your butt from side to side with every pedal stroke.So adjust your seat in a comfortable height and if your machine got a wide saddle, replace it with a narrow saddle.You will find some saddle cover with extra padding, you can also try them in your narrow saddle for added comfort.

Knee Pain

Knee pain causes mostly when your toe is not perfectly aligned with your knee and this also happens from too high or low seat height.

Neck Pain

This causes from awkward handlebar position. When your handlebar is in a low position, it forces you to keep your head higher than normal and that leads to neck pain.

Numb Feet

There are a number of reasons which can lead to numb feet, some common reasons are, wearing very tight exercising shoes or tight pedals straps or a high saddle.

Hand Pain

If you put excessive pressure on your hand, it can lead to hand pain. So when you are exercising holding too low handlebar, you are putting pressure on your hand and that could be the reason for hand pain.

Take your handlebar to a decent height, and wear gloves when you are exercising. 

Bottom Line:

Ops! Time to wrap up. An exercise bike is undoubtedly an effective machine to get your body in a perfect shape only when it is used in the right way. People who are using an exercise bike for the first time, it is very natural to make mistakes but it gets worse when they don’t try to turn those wrongs into rights.

Nevertheless, we have tried hard to cover all the piece of information’s that will help beginners to use the exercise bike in the right way. We hope it helped and if you have any disagreement or questions, don’t hesitate to hit us through the comment section.

Goodbye! Stay healthy and fit.

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