Recumbent Bike Exercise Plan
Exercising forms a very important part in our quest to have the perfect body. Along with eating right, we need a good exercise regime to ensure that our body gets enough and appropriate blood circulation and our muscles are stressed and relaxed alternatively. Recumbent bikes are proving to be a great exercise equipment for this purpose. The salient feature about these bikes is that they are exercise bikes which offer back support to the person using it. So, compared to the normal exercise bikes, these are not only more comfortable to sit on, but they are also easier to use. However, there's no point in getting this bike if you don't follow a good exercise plan. This Buzzle article will give you an outline of one such plan that you can try out.
Workout Plan
Among the many exercise benefits that recumbent bikes have, the main one is definitely its ability to make you burn as many as 1000 calories in an hour long workout. Apart from burning calories, it gives your muscles the exercise they need. Hence, they become more relaxed. Also, exercising on a recumbent bike helps in improving blood circulation in the body, and thus helps to prevent cardiac problems as well. Now, let us see how exactly you can go about extracting all these positives from the bike, using the workout plan given below.
Take it Easy
The most important step in any workout is the pre-workout warm up. So, do simple warm ups for about 5 minutes before you begin pedaling. Your first phase of the exercise plan is as good as a prolonged warm up in addition to it. Set the bike at a low or medium intensity rate, especially if you're just a beginner. When you set it at a low or medium intensity, you are not required to apply much pressure while pedaling. Continue this slow pedaling for about half an hour, thrice a week, until you get perfectly comfortable with the pedaling and don't get tired doing it.
Mix and Match
When you're okay with the speed, you know that you can keep pedaling, no matter what. So, introduce a little twist in your pedaling routine. Use a pair of dumbbells for curling biceps while you pedal, to check your level of endurance. Do them in moderation, say sets of 12 in the beginning. See if you last the usual half an hour. If you cannot in the first few attempts, don't push yourself. Keep trying, but don't burn out. Slowly, you'll be able to reach half an hour with the dumbbells as well.
Speed Up
Once you're comfortable with the low and medium intensity, and its variation, it's time to give yourself a gentle push. Turn the intensity level to high. Continue pedaling, along with the dumbbells, but at a higher speed. Check for how long you can painlessly get through the workout without stopping. Once again, if you feel very tired, don't push yourself too hard. Give it your all, but not to the point of crashing out.
Trial and Error
Once you've become completely accustomed to the routine using the recumbent bike, you can begin experimenting by inducing different things within the workout plan. For instance, you can raise the seat of your bike. This will mean that you'll have to stretch further to ensure that your feet reaches the pedals. This in turn, will stretch your abdomen muscles. Also, you can follow a slow-fast-slow method, in which you begin by pedaling slowly for a little while, followed by furiously fast pedaling for a little while, and then back to the slow pedaling. Make sure that all these 'trials' help you by enhancing your workout duration slowly. Else, you'll be tiring yourself within half of your stipulated workout time and that is definitely not healthy.
Combine this exercise plan with another form of exercise like a sport. The total time spent on a recumbent bike can barely exceed more than an hour. Along with another sport, it will go up by another hour. 6 hours a week is not too much time to ensure that your body is fit and healthy, is it?
