What's the best way to cycle in the gym?

the_syco

So, cycling in the gym. Currently I do a warm-up of about three minutes, and then a minute of "7" (which is easy), and then a minute of "15" (which is harder), and then back to a minute of "7" (I have no idea if these numbers actually mean specific weight). Can usually go for 13-15 minues before I just can't cycle anymore.

So, I'm wondering if this high/low minute by minute is better or worse than a long cycle (at maybe "11" or "12")? Would be working towards losing weight, and cycling in the gym is the least boring cardiac exercise.

Northern Monkey

The ideal heart rate for fat burning is 60-70% of your max so if that is your main goal stick to a level that keeps it around there for the longest amount of time.

conzy

The ideal heart rate is the one that let's you stay on the bike the longest.. if the goal is weight loss then you want to create the biggest calorie deficit. 40 minutes of moderate cycling would burn more calories than murdering yourself for 13 minutes

caviardreams

I think variety is probably good too - so do moderate intensity sessions a couple of times a week, and then maybe a more interval type session (like you describe in your OP) once a week - it will help mentally to have some variety too. Would you think about doing a spinning class if you are using a gym - it can add some variety and you can switch off your brain for 40 minutes or whatever as you don't need to think about what is coming next and it is harder to give up if you get bored


Edit: also the "numbers" roughly correspond with gears on a real bike, so represent relative resistance (at 7 the pedals will be a good bit easier to push than at 13 for example). A good cadence/rpm range to aim for is somewhere between 60 (with a high gear) -110 (with a low gear)

eet fuk

Hop onto an assault bike if it's available. See how many cals you can burn (according to the screen) in an hour. There's no gears (just a fan - you're battling the air!!) so you don't have to worrry about that side of things.

the_syco

conzy wrote: »

The ideal heart rate is the one that let's you stay on the bike the longest.. if the goal is weight loss then you want to create the biggest calorie deficit. 40 minutes of moderate cycling would burn more calories than murdering yourself for 13 minutes

Cool, that's what I was hoping. Shall try it at maybe 10 or 11 for 20 or 30 minutes to see how I get on.

Zillah

conzy wrote: »

The ideal heart rate is the one that let's you stay on the bike the longest.. if the goal is weight loss then you want to create the biggest calorie deficit. 40 minutes of moderate cycling would burn more calories than murdering yourself for 13 minutes

Nonsense. Intensity of exercise has been clearly shown to be a very important factor when it comes to its effect on health. There is a reason HIIT is currently the most recommended option.

If your goal is weight loss then you need to solve that in the kitchen, trying to out run a bad diet is a perfect way to waste a huge amount of time and end with frustrated failure.

TommyKnocker

conzy wrote: »

The ideal heart rate is the one that let's you stay on the bike the longest.. if the goal is weight loss then you want to create the biggest calorie deficit. 40 minutes of moderate cycling would burn more calories than murdering yourself for 13 minutes

Sorry but I would not agree with this at all.

Nothing against longer "moderate" sessions, but HIIT sessions 60 sec on/60 sec recovery or the like are also great ways to drop body fat.

5 min warm up, 10 x 60secs on / 60 secs recovery, 10 mins cool down is a 35 min work out with only 10 mins hard and will burn more calories then a 35 minute steady session.

The work portion should be really hard, but you also need to pace yourself so that you can complete all "on" sessions and ideally there should not be a huge difference between the 1st and last in regards to how hard you push. Also you can vary the duration of the work/recovery times and when the above starts to be easy increase the work and decrease the recovery.

If you cannot do 10 x 60 sec to start do 5 and build up or do 10 x 30 secs on with 45-60 secs recovery etc.

Mix 1 or 2 interval sessions per week in with your longer steady rides to keep it interesting and stave off boredom.

Macy0161

If you have coverage/ wifi in your gym and can access youtube (and have headphones), there's loads of spin classes online you could follow. GCN (global cycling network) used to have a few, of varying lengths which I found handy, that I've used in the past.

Alf Veedersane

TommyKnocker wrote: »

Sorry but I would not agree with this at all.

Nothing against longer "moderate" sessions, but HIIT sessions 60 sec on/60 sec recovery or the like are also great ways to drop body fat.

5 min warm up, 10 x 60secs on / 60 secs recovery, 10 mins cool down is a 35 min work out with only 10 mins hard and will burn more calories then a 35 minute steady session.

To be fair, conzy said 40 mins steady/moderate would likely burn more calories than 13 mins all out, which is true.

What you've described is 35 minutes of cycling at various intensities which would likely burn more than the same time at a steady pace. That's likely to be true but it depends on how hard they go in the work portion and how easy their warm up/cool down are.

The ultimate point being the one that burns more calories is the one to go for to lose weight.

the_syco

TommyKnocker wrote: »

5 min warm up, 10 x 60secs on / 60 secs recovery, 10 mins cool down is a 35 min work out with only 10 mins hard and will burn more calories then a 35 minute steady session.

Would never really get to the 10 x 60secs, as would be pushing as hard as possible for the 60 secs on "15", and then resting for 60 secs on "7". By 13 minutes, I'm usually fecked, with near zero energy left for cardio. Would do 60 secs of "7", and then immediately go onto the leg machines (seated leg curl, reverse leg extension, and the one like the reverse leg extension, but on my stomach). And then onto the dumbells.

No WiFi in the gym; workout purely to heavy metal.

Mellor

Zillah wrote: »

Nonsense. Intensity of exercise has been clearly shown to be a very important factor when it comes to its effect on health. There is a reason HIIT is currently the most recommended option.

Varied intensity is best for health, I'd agree with you there.
But nobody mentioned health. The topic was most calories burned. In that regard I don't think he is wrong.

HIIT is recommended as it's time efficient, but per workout I don't think it burns the most, even including for an afterburn.

TommyKnocker wrote: »

5 min warm up, 10 x 60secs on / 60 secs recovery, 10 mins cool down is a 35 min work out with only 10 mins hard and will burn more calories then a 35 minute steady session.

It probably won't tbh. Calories burned is essentially proportional to distance covered. A steady pace covers more distance as long as you are going hard for the intended time. Wogging for 35mins is a waste of time.

I vary my cardio between phases of steady state runs and interval runs. In an interval phase atm. Next week I'll be running 5 x 2mins on, 2min off. I'll cover 600m per work set. The off will be maybe 200m. So 4000m overall.
By last 20min steady run was 5000m. My Fitbit calories burned numbers tally closely with distance.

TommyKnocker

the_syco wrote: »

Would never really get to the 10 x 60secs, as would be pushing as hard as possible for the 60 secs on "15", and then resting for 60 secs on "7". By 13 minutes, I'm usually fecked, with near zero energy left for cardio. Would do 60 secs of "7", and then immediately go onto the leg machines (seated leg curl, reverse leg extension, and the one like the reverse leg extension, but on my stomach). And then onto the dumbells.

No WiFi in the gym; workout purely to heavy metal.

You mentioned the 60 secs on and 60 secs recovery routine. Also you stated that you can do this for 13-15 minutes which equates to 6 (12 minutes) or 7 (14 minutes) Active/Recovery segments. As I said, if you can't do 10 to start then work up to it, you're at 6-7 at the minute. Every couple of sessions just add on another round of Active/Recovery. Or on some sessions change up the active and recovery times. This is just so you do not get used to the same session each time and plateau.

Also once or twice a week is enough for HIIT sessions IMHO. Doing it all the time is a sure way to burn yourself out.