Indoor cycling is all about having fun, challenging your cardiovascular fitness, and having a safe and effective ride! Below, you’ll find a few do’s and don’ts to help you stay safe on your exercise bike and have the best possible cycling workout. Whether you’re brand new to the cycling game or a seasoned rider, keep reading to give yourself a refresh on these top pointers for an effective cycling workout at home.
Cycling Do’s
1. Warmup Before Your Workout
Warming up before any workout is incredibly important to warm up your muscles and cardiovascular system. During many cycling workouts, you’ll be completing challenging sprints and climbs, high intensity intervals, or heavy resistance pushes and it’s important to prepare your body for the hard work ahead. If you don’t have a regular warmup routine, check out this 10 Minute Indoor Cycle Bike Warmup.
2. Set Up Your Bike Properly for Your Body
Getting the right set up on your cycle bike is going to make a world of difference in the efficiency and effectiveness of your workout and will help reduce your risk of injury. Check out this Beginner’s Guide to Cycling which will go over how to set up your cycle bike for a perfect fit!
3. Mix Up Your Workouts
It’s important to mix up your workouts as it will challenge your body in different ways and help you continue to see results from your routine. We have tons of workouts in the Cycling Workout Collection on the Sunny Health & Fitness YouTube Channel to help you mix it up. If you prefer sticking to the same few workouts, just be mindful of your fitness level increasing over time and adjust your resistance and speed as you feel ready for it to continue seeing results.
4. Modify If Needed
Cycling instructors are there to give suggestions and cues, but if something doesn’t feel right, listen to your body and adjust your workout as needed. If you need to taper off the pace, reduce the resistance, or take additional rest, it’s all there for you if you need it. Remember, it’s your workout! Just do what you can, as you feel comfortable, and challenge yourself to add a bit more each time you come back to your bike.
Cycling Don’ts
1. Ride Without Resistance
When cycling you always want to be in control of your bike, not the other way around. By riding without resistance, you increase your risk for injury. We always recommend light to medium resistance as a base resistance, as you want your muscles to stay engaged and active throughout your ride.
2. Rely on the Handlebars
The handlebars are simply there for your balance, keep your grip on the handlebars light with wrists and elbows relaxed. Rather than leaning too heavily on the handlebars, focus on keeping an engaged core throughout each position in your cycling workout.
3. Sacrifice Form for Performance
When you’re really killing it on your bike and focused on merely surviving the workout, it can be hard to maintain proper cycling form. However, riding with incorrect form increases your risk for injury. While it may seem hard to focus on form now, I promise it’s worth it, even if you need to decrease your performance slightly in the meantime to make it happen. With practice, proper cycling form will become second nature, and then you’ll be set up in the proper positioning to take your performance to the next level and beyond.
4. Compare Yourself with Other Riders
There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to exercise. You might look a little different on your bike, find different positions more comfortable, or use a different resistance than the rider next to you or the instructor on your screen. Rather than competing with others, learn your comfort and fitness level, and own it! Compete with yourself to become a better you each and every time you get on your bike.
1 comment
I really enjoy the alternative workout , cycling and running routines that are offered on the sunny health and fitness emails. Sydney gives a great explanation of each workout as well as great encouragement for each fitness video. I’ve also downloaded the 30 minute a day workout plan from the sunny health and fitness guide. It’s been a great way to stay motivated and look forward to working out everyday. I also enjoy the extra video’s that are emailed each week that add a new challenge for me each week. These videos have been a great motivational help to me.