Interval Training on a Bike for Fat Loss

Whether working out at home or the gym, the stationary bike is better than trying to do interval training on a treadmill. Interval cardio training is a much more time efficient method for burning calories than doing exercise at a steady pace.

If you're more interested in losing weight than competing in an endurance event, don't train like an endurance athlete. Intervals on the bike are also an effective workout at home, as the bike is a fairly cheap piece of home exercise equipment. Interval training uses periods of intense exercise with periods of lower intensity.

For example, after a short warmup, you would increase the tension on the bike and pedal all out for 10-20 seconds and then decrease the tension as you pedal at a lower intensity. You would then repeat these intervals for the desired amount of time before doing a cooldown to let your body recover and your heart rate to decrease.

In this manner you rev up your metabolism and can burn more calories after you are done exercising. So if you have limited time available or don't want to exercise several days a week, you can get good results. Its not easy to do interval training on a treadmill, so the bike is the logical choice. There's also less pounding on your joints this way. Avoiding overuse injuries common to runners is a good thing.

You could combine this with a strength training workout where you did dumbbell and bodyweight exercises in a circuit. This way you can get an intense workout for fat loss without going to the gym. Combining 30 minutes of interval strength training with interval bike training is a pretty efficient and effective workout, as this can be done in less than 60 minutes.

Obviously, you have to be reasonably healthy and injury free for this kind of exercise. This type of training mirrors my own routines and allows you to see results without spending hours and hours to lose fat.

In the Summer I will do outdoor bike riding and do longer sessions to enjoy the Sunshine and warm weather..... something I am severely missing after a loooong Winter. I have a mountain bike and pedaling my 240 pounds is a pretty good workout. Mixing up your workouts every so often is good for your body as well as keeping your mind fresh.

Its funny how all the serious cyclists are riding touring bikes that have lighter, more efficient frames and all the guys who lift weights are riding the mountain bikes. An hour of pedaling at a fast pace and plenty of Sun does a body good.