HIIT is one of the most popular acronyms in the fitness industry. It stands for high-intensity interval training, and high-intensity interval training has been proven time and time again to be the best choice for aerobic exercise and training.
There are many vigorous exercise programs you can try, but you can hardly find an effective method like HIIT. If that’s not enough to convince you, here is some compelling information about our HIIT exercise bike workouts, and why it’s a good idea for people of all fitness levels to try them.
Exercise bike HIIT workout
Why is HIIT?
Save time
HIIT exercise can be completed in as little as 12 minutes. Although some people may be satisfied with this, we recommend that people walk a little more and ride a few more rounds. Research by the Global Bike Network shows that only 20 minutes of HIIT aerobic exercise can make you burn the same calories as 40 minutes of steady-state aerobic exercise. Therefore, instead of running 3 miles, it is better to get on a bike and complete the HIIT exercise in half the time! (This also gives you time for a little strength training.) This is one of the shortest but most intense training.
More fat loss
The Global Bicycle Network stated that in a 2008 study, study showed that high-intensity intermittent exercise significantly reduced central abdominal fat, while steady-state intensity exercise did not significantly reduce central abdominal fat.
Decrease the plateau of weight loss
A study from the University of Tampa showed that when people add LISS (low-intensity steady-state), they temporarily lose weight. "The subjects lost a few pounds in the first week, and then they got nothing. This happened because their metabolism was fully adapted to this, and it became a new set point that they had to do to maintain."
Your body is very smart, guys! If you do aerobic training in a steady-state, your body will quickly keep up. However, if you spend 100% of your energy, you are unlikely to reach the platform. Effort-based HIIT aerobic exercise is great because no matter how healthy or fast you are, your exercise will be difficult... If you do some strength training, your difficulty will be twice as high!
In addition, the more you do HIIT, the more your VO2 max will increase. According to information from the Global Bicycle Network, this is the amount of oxygen your body can use during its best effort. Therefore, the better your VO2max, the better your performance and the better the health benefits, such as improved strength, endurance, and even insulin sensitivity.
Which bike is the best?
There is more than one way to do HIIT bike exercise. After all, there is more than one type of exercise bike, because there is more than one type of body and the best bike for it. We checked the global bicycle network and combed through some of GCN’s video descriptions to understand their opinions on the differences between these bicycles.
Stationary bike
Stationary bike are probably the ones that people know best because they have been around for the longest time. Stationary bike are very suitable for traditional indoor riding. They are easy to use and burn a lot of calories. Stationary bike exercises have a lower incidence of injuries and can strengthen your quadriceps, hips, hamstrings, and calves.
Recumbent bike
Recumbent bikes have many of the same indoor bike attributes as stationary exercise bikes, but if you have balance problems or need more stability, there is a good reason to choose a recumbent bike. And, even though you are already sitting down, you can still do excellent HIIT workouts that don’t take much time.
Spinning bike
One of the greatest benefits of spinning is that you can move more and consume more calories. The flywheel on the spinning bike also makes the riding the most stable, so doing HIIT spinning training on this bike may be the most enjoyable. (This is not to say that spinning training is the easiest, but if you have participated in a 10-minute spinning course, you will know this.)
Most spinning bikes do not have a console for you to enter your personal information. (Personal information is helpful when you need feedback on progress, but please trust us, you will feel your progress.)
No matter which bike you choose, you will be at the center of the action and the overall health benefits will abound.
So, choose a bike and let's come to HIIT!
A beginner's HIIT exercise on a stationary bike
Warm-up. Set the resistance of the bike to medium difficulty and warm-up for about five minutes. You shouldn't feel too tired at the end of the warm-up but work hard enough to prepare your muscles for HIIT workouts.
20 minutes of HIIT exercise. Set the resistance to an appropriate level of difficulty. Exercise at high intensity for 30 seconds, then exercise at low intensity for 60 seconds. Repeat this four times. Then repeat the whole cycle two more times but with an interval of 2 minutes each time.
Cool down. Set resistance back to low/medium difficulty and cool down for 2-3 minutes.
HIIT exercise, if performed properly, is very difficult for your muscles. For this reason, please make sure you have a day's rest between exercises