A good deal of us wants to know if, within 20 minutes, exercise bike routines can lead to results. Does one need to do moderate-intensity exercises to accomplish this or are low-intensity exercises done on stationary bikes enough to lose weight?

The Australian government suggests that people must perform moderate-intensity exercises 150 minutes a week to maintain health and fitness; indoor cycling is a great, convenient way to do this. However, will you see results after performing 20-minute bike workouts?

While not all of us can do a half-hour of stationary bike routines, you can still burn a decent figure of calories with a 20-minute indoor cycling workout, as long as it’s done at a moderate-intensity pace. Twenty minutes is a good start. However, if you want more noticeable weight loss results, you have to increase the intensity and time in order to accomplish those goals.

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What Difference Will You Notice By Spending 20 Minutes on Exercise Bike?

A calorie deficit is a must whenever losing weight is the goal. This term means in order to lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories than what your body really needs. Let’s say, for example, you take in 2000 calories a day, then a feasible caloric deficit for you should be around 1500 to 1700 calories per day.

Exercise is a trusted way to produce a calorie deficit since it burns calories. You supplement the deficit as well by working a sweat. Using an exercise bike is a good way to burn off those calories.

As mentioned previously, 20 minutes spent on an exercise bike at a moderate intensity can burn a substantial number of calories. However, you still need to consider the fact that there are factors that are relevant to the number of calories that you burn during exercise. Key determinants like your body size and the type of indoor bike you use are significant in this matter.

Let us discuss more of these factors.

1. Current Weight/Body Size

Keep in mind that the more you weigh, the more calories you need to burn per minute on an indoor stationary exercise bike. In addition, having less body fat and more muscle means you’ll also burn more calories since muscle is more metabolically-active compared to fat tissues.

2. Exercise Intensity

Workout intensity is a crucial factor in burning calories the more efficient way with an indoor bike. To burn calories, you have to increase your energy output, and with exercise bikes, you do this by increasing the pedalling speed and resistance. If you want to burn more calories, you can go all out and try high-intensity interval training.

3. Exercise Duration

If done within 20 minutes, exercise bike workouts can burn a decent number of calories as long as you go at it with a moderate intensity rate. Then again, if you want more calories burned, you have to work out a little longer as long as the intensity is the same. Based on the duration and intensity, a high-intensity, short exercise routine on an indoor bike can burn more calories compared to long, easy bike workouts.

4. Exercise Bike Type

Using a spin bike or indoor cycle burns more calories compared to using a stationary bike. This is because a spin bike involves better muscle groups activation.

Recumbent bikes are designed with a chair seat that accommodates the trunk so the lower body muscles are only involved during use but with spin bikes, which feature a build that slopes forward, its design allows users to engage their arms, shoulders, and the core more. If you want a full-body exercise to burn even more calories, you can do so with a spin bike as well.

What About HIIT Workouts Using Exercise Bike?

HIIT workouts have been praised by many fitness buffs because this type of workout burns plenty of calories in a shorter span of time – HIIT exercise routines are intense and can be completed in as little as a 12-minutes on a stationary bike. However, due to the intensity of the exercise, HIIT is geared more towards seasoned fitness enthusiasts than beginners.

Just 20 minutes of HIIT exercise bike workouts can burn loads of calories similar to a 40-minute steady-state aerobic exercise workout. HIIT workouts can also help rid belly fat, reduces plateaus during weight loss, and reduce cardiovascular disease risks.

If you are a beginner and want to perform HIIT workouts, start by doing moderate-intensity exercises first for 20 minutes 5 days a week. Allow your body to adjust to that intensity then gradually increase the time frame of your workouts until your body is prepared to do HIIT as it is a vigorous exercise.

How Does Riding an Exercise Bike Burn Calories?

Exercise bikes are excellent when it comes to weight loss since it helps in producing a caloric deficit via physical activity, which, as explained earlier, is crucial to the abovementioned fitness goal. Performed within 20 minutes, exercise bike workouts help in ridding those calories away.

We have also described earlier that the number of calories you burn will depend on several factors like your current weight, exercise intensity, workout duration, and the kind of exercise bike that you use.

Increasing the intensity of your bike workouts will help you achieve higher instances of burning calories. Even moderate levels of exercise can burn a decent number of calories as long as you pair your workouts with a clean, healthy diet.

If you prefer a longer exercise time at a high-intensity rate, you will burn lots of calories. The same can be said for longer exercise times at low intensity.

If your fitness goal is to lose weight, you’ll benefit more from your exercise bike routine if you add more time to your workout sessions. If you want to improve your health or maintain it, even a 15-minute workout will suffice. 20 minutes of moderate-intensity on a bike is an excellent starting point for beginners. This will also help your body adapt to higher intensity workouts in case you are planning to perform more intense exercises in the future by building cardiovascular endurance.

How Often to Use an Exercise Bike?

If you want to take advantage of the weight-loss benefits that an exercise bike brings, you have to remember a few strategies.

1. Use The Right Duration And Intensity For Better Results

For weight loss goals with noticeable results, you have to perform at least 30 minutes of bike routines, 5 days a week. Better if you perform your workouts at moderate intensities. Using an indoor bike for exercise is safe for everyday use.

Keep in mind, however, that higher intensity workouts on the bike, done on a daily basis, are not exactly recommended. It is much more feasible if you do longer low-intensity workouts instead to stay healthy.

2. Increase Your Workout Intensity

Once your body adapts to the workings of your exercise bike and the routine itself, it is time to increase the intensity to lose weight. Remember that the faster you pedal, the more calories you will burn. The body utilises more energy to bike faster and when lots of calories are burned, the more weight you’ll be able to melt off.

3. Wholesome Diets Are Essential

A weight-loss goal does not only include exercise in the program. You also need to get into a more beneficial diet, a healthier one at that. What you eat matters. If you tend to take in a fatty, rich diet, then all that exercising might not help at all.

While it is great that you were able to burn off 500 calories using your exercise bike, it doesn’t make sense at all that you consume calorie-rich foods at the same time. Load up on whole foods – by that, we mean plenty of fresh vegetables, protein, nuts, and fruits that do not contain loads of natural sugar.

4. Be Consistent With Your Routine

To achieve any fitness goal, you have to be consistent. That is the word. Maintain a regular daily routine of indoor bike usage to shed those pounds. Increase the intensity of your workouts to induce fat burning.

Discover what works for you best, whether it’s performing HIIT workouts 3 days a week or 30-minute moderate-intensity/longer, low-intensity ones. Decide whether a fitness routine after work is the right time for you or if you prefer a morning workout more.

5. Don’t Forget Your Rest Days

Rest days are important regardless of whether you take part in moderate-intensity exercises or HIIT workouts. Rest days allow your body to recover and restore your strength and energy. With the right amount of rest, you also prevent yourself from injury.

Conclusion

A 20-minute indoor bike workout at moderate intensity provides the body with the chance to burn a decent number of calories. But if you want better, more obvious results, you should increase workout intensity and duration.

1. What parts of the body does an exercise bike target?

An exercise bike targets the legs and the lower body. It also works out the core and back and helps strengthen the heart and lungs. A bike with handles works out the upper body muscles.

2. Will an exercise bike help lose belly fat?

A 30-minute to a full hour of moderate-intensity cycling 5 times a week, coupled with a wholesome diet rich in protein can help reduce belly fat and in turn, increase your dose of high-density lipoprotein, also known as the good fat.