Indoor Cycling: How To Use A Spin Bike

Tired and bored at home? You must have thought of starting a healthy and active lifestyle, but you still feel like going outdoors might get you the virus. Don’t worry; we have a solution for that! Just because you cannot go outside doesn’t mean that you cannot work out and maintain your energetic life. All you have to do is buy a high-quality stationary bike! But before reaping the benefits of riding indoors, it is imperative that you know the correct way on how to use a spin bike.

 

 

How to Set Up a Spin Bike

Before getting fit and active, keeping safe is our utmost goal. You should know how to install your spin bike properly to ensure this.

Seat Adjustment (Height and Position)

Not only are we targeting your fitness, but we also need to keep you comfortable while exercising. This makes you want to work out longer and more frequently. Saddle height may take an important role in your workout more than what you might think. Having a correctly positioned seat gives you comfort, and that is already a given. But not only that; adjusting your saddle height and distance also affects how efficiently you can spin with your heels.

Seat Height. You see, when your saddle elevation gets too high, you could lose control or leverage when you ride. This stretches your muscles unnecessarily and disrupts the normal bending of your knee joints. These scenarios open you up to the possibility of experiencing knee pain, sprains, and muscle strains. Not only is it key to your comfort throughout the session, it directly affects how effectively you can drive your heel. If your saddle is too high, you could lose a significant amount of leverage. And if it’s too low, you could experience knee pain.

Make sure that you take the saddle up until its height and position are similar to your hip bone. For most people, this will be the ideal saddle spot. This also allows you to have the correct riding position, which is having your knee on the same level as the ball of your foot when starting to ride, with your knee still slightly bent when you bring the pedal to the 6 o’clock position.

Seat Position.  Just like how your saddle should fit your height and leg length, the distance of your seat to your handlebars makes you control and adapt to your correct body position when riding. Make sure that your knees are relatively aligned to the balls of your foot. Your seat should let you straighten your back when holding the handlebars in any way you want to.

A tip that we can give you to make sure that you set up your seat correctly is to check if the kneecap aligns directly above the centre of the pedal. If it does, then you did a good job in adjusting your seat position.

Handlebars

Several ways to hold the handlebars of your spin bike make your workout enjoyable and challenging all at the same time. Altering the height and position of your handlebars also pose as an important way to make your workout efficient and safe.

Make sure that you maintain the straightness of your back no matter how you hold your handlebars. Whether you want to go for a power spin by bending your arms lower and nearer to the handlebars, or you just want a smooth ride, always see to it that your back and neck muscles are not stretched and bent.

Double Check your spin bike

All adjustments need to have locks and security knobs to make sure that they won’t move or budge during your workout. If your other family members use your spin bike, this step is the most important of all because your settings differ from theirs. Always make sure that before you use and exert energy in working out that you have secured the pedals, straps, locks, and knobs.

 

Are you one with setting up? Then it’s time to beat the road (in your imagination!)  and start burning those calories up!

 

How to Use a Spin Bike

It may sound funny if we would still tell you how to use a spin bike when every adult in the world knows at least how a bike works. So what we can give you are simple tips and reminders so you can learn how to effectively and safely use your spin bike at home.

Find your ideal bike fit

We have different body frames, weights, and heights. The best in the list may not actually fit your build, so it would not necessarily be the best one for you. What you need to find out has to do with the specific features of your bike. Find out the maximum height and weight that your bike can allow.

Apply the right resistance

Pushing yourself to work out too hard, too fast, and too soon will affect you rather negatively. Make sure that your workouts gradually intensify, starting from basic moves and speed first. This allows you to condition your body into performing better as time passes without exhausting yourself all at once.

Pacing yourself

Applying the right resistance and not pushing yourself to your limits when you first ride your spin bike also serves as a good tip so you can endure longer and perform consistently. Gym experts and coaches who direct spin classes may lead you to HIIT (high-intensity interval training) programs.

HIIT programs fluctuate the speed of your ride from slow to moderate to fast in between intervals. The fastest recommended speed should only reach 100 RPM, not going over 110 RPM so as to avoid getting injured or encountering accidents and muscle fatigue or exhaustion.

Do circuit training

If you plan on losing weight, why not push it further and allow yourself to improve your performance and physical capacity. Circuit training keeps your cardiovascular system in tiptop shape, increasing your heart rate, speeding up your calorie burn, giving you enough energy, and making you lose weight!

Do steady-state cardio or interval cardio circuits, whichever you feel is what’s needed to reach your fitness goals. These exercise variations can effectively work out different muscles on the body, giving you complete improvement in your appearance, energy, mood, endurance, and performance.

 

We hope that we shed some light on how to use a spin bike correctly to help you have an effective, safe, and enjoyable whole-body cardio exercise. Sure, nothing compares to the feel of a smooth road or bumpy gravel under your tires. But no matter how much you love riding outside, there are times when you’re going to be limited to spin workouts inside. And that’s a good thing!

 

References:

Mateo A. (April 2021) 4 Non-Boring Spin Workouts For Strength and Speed.

https://www.bicycling.com/training/a28940733/spin-workouts/

October 2017. Cycling like a pro: How to set up a spin bike.

https://www.fitnessfirst.co.uk/inside-track/fitness/cycling-like-a-pro-how-to-set-up-a-spin-bike/

Delitt J. How to Use Indoor Bikes at the Gym: Types of Bikes and How to Set Up an Indoor Bike.

https://aaptiv.com/magazine/how-to-use-and-indoor-bikes

Quinn E. (August 2019). Get the Most Out of a Stationary Bike Workout.

https://www.verywellfit.com/how-to-use-a-stationary-bike-3120808

Emery L. (November 2020). The 30-Minute Stationary Bike Workout You Can Do On Your Own.

https://www.shape.com/fitness/cardio/spin-slim-workout-plan