Spin Bikes And The Health Benefits: Everything You Need To Know
Spin bikes have been around for a while now. While some people may be well versed in them, there are often many questions of exactly what they are and how they can help enhance your workouts.
What Is A Spin Bike And Its Most Common Purpose?
A stationary bike, or spin bike, is a machine used as exercise equipment indoors. The main difference between the two is how the resistance is applied.
Spin bikes have a flywheel for resistance and a regular stationary bike has resistance connected directly to the pedals with a chain, similarly to a regular bike you would ride outside. One of the main purposes of riding a bike is to build strength in your lower body, this can even include your core, back and glutes.
What Are The Benefits To Spin Bikes?
Great for Cardiovascular Health
Cycling is a great cardiovascular workout to strengthen the heart, lungs, and muscles. This is turn also helps to lower blood pressure, improve your sleep, and lower stress levels.
Great Alternative For Those Facing Joint Pain
Often people will not want to workout due to their joints hurting, or possible injuries they may have. However, spin bikes can help remedy that problem by allowing you to still workout through these problems you may be facing.
Using a bike creates a low impact workout that is easy on your joints. This makes it a good workout option for people with joint issues or injuries.
Interval Workouts
Another great benefit to riding a bike is the simple ability to do interval workouts. Interval training allows you to alternate short bursts of intense exercise with intervals of less intense exercise.
This type of training can increase your cardio endurance and burn more calories in a short amount of time. You can easily adjust the resistance on bikes which makes them very ideal for intervals.
Reduce Your Impact
Your ankles, knees, hips, and other joints can be put under a lot of stress when running, jogging, jumping, or doing other high-impact aerobic exercises.
When riding a bike, your body doesn’t feel the impact that it would with these other types of exercise. The bike is much kinder on your precious joints with less stress. Although the bike is less impact, it is still important to keep proper form while riding.
This means your knees should bend just slightly on the down pedal stroke. If it is too bent or too straight, you will need to adjust the seat height.
Join A Biking Community
I think most bicyclists would prefer to ride outside, however, when the weather does not cooperate, it can become dangerous and not as enjoyable at times.
If you are looking to ride your favorite outdoor bike, inside, you can get a trainer for racing bikes. A bike trainer will allow you to hook your bike in it to keep stationary indoors.
There are plenty of apps and spin bikes out there that allow you to become part of a specific community. Peloton and Nordic Trac spin bikes have screens attached to them where you can ride along with other riders either in a class, or choose your very own path to virtually ride on.
These also allow you to compete against other from all over the U.S., which sounds like a pretty competitive way to get some great workouts in!
Biking At Ascend
Looking to get started on incorporating spin bikes into your workout? Ascend also has brand new spin bikes available for members to use! Everyone is welcome and if you’re not a member yet, you can drop in and use them as well.
Not sure if you want to use the bikes yet? That’s fine! We also offer a wide variety of equipment you can use to enhance your workouts, or even join a GroupX class to help guide you through a workout as well.
