7 Recumbent Bike Workout Tips

7 Recumbent Bike Workout Tips to Keep you Healthy

A recumbent stationary bike has a bucket seat and there are pedals located at the bike’s front. This setup allows for a reclined position during your ride. This posture takes the stress out of your lower back, hands, wrists and spine and provides extensive workout for the muscles of your legs. Best recumbent bikes like Marcy Recumbent Mag Cycle help burn calories and tone your quads, hamstrings, gluteus and calf muscles.

Recumbent Bike Workout Tips

 
If you have still not taken advantage of a recumbent bike, begin by learning some helpful workout tips. They will make your recumbent bike workouts successful and keep you healthy.
  

1. Dynamic Stretches

Recumbent bike riding is an intense exercise that works up multiple muscles and joints in your lower body. It is important to work yourself up before you begin riding to avoid causing any injuries to your connective tissues. It is recommended to spend five minutes performing some dynamic stretches. Leg swings, knee highs, side bends, walking lunges and trunk rotations are great examples of dynamic stretches.

2. Seat and Equipment Adjustment

In order to have a successful recumbent bike workout, make sure that your seat is properly set up. Sit down, put your feet on the bike pedals and spin a few times. While doing this, focus on how your knees extend. Your knee should be slightly bent when your leg is at the back of the crank. If it is not where it should be, slide your seat forward or backward until it is.

3. Exercise Duration

The basic exercise tip: do it often enough and long enough. Unless you do this, your exercise efforts will not bear much fruit. The recommendation of American College of Sports Medicine is that of around thirty minutes of exercise, five days a week for acquiring healthy benefits.

4. Proper Form

Having the proper riding form is important when exercising on a recumbent bike. You can place your hands on the handle but try not to lean forward. It is best to maintain a straight position. Keep your back tight and use the backrest during your entire workout. Push as hard as you can with your legs while you are pedaling. Leaning forward too much may develop muscle imbalances.

 5. Workout Techniques

You can vary your exercise on the bike as you want by shifting your speed, duration and resistance. Adjust your resistance by increasing it gradually and challenging yourself. Change your exercise duration each week to keep your workouts interesting and motivate yourself to go farther. Vary your speed with slower pace at times and build up speed during intervals. This will help burn out more calories.

6. Track your progress

Many good recumbent bikes like Exerpeutic 400XL Folding Recumbent Bike (image below – Read Our Review Here) have an LCD display for tracking your time, calories, distance, speed and heart rate. This can help you intensify your workout while keeping in view the information displayed. This will allow you to get the most of your workout sessions.

7. Safety Considerations

Remember to warm up before your work out to prevent any connective tissue injuries. Just like warming up before your intense recumbent bike workout is essential, it is necessary to slowly decrease your resistance and speed as you are finishing your workout. This practice gives your muscles a chance to cool down. Keep a water bottle with you while you are riding the bike to keep your body hydrated. Before you decide to begin a fresh workout routine, it is better to consult your physician.


Following all of these expert workout tips will ensure that you get the most out of your recumbent bike workouts.