ExamineHealth

About a year and a half ago, I purchased a stationary exercise bike.  I had never owned one before, but was feeling the need to get some regular cardio exercise in.  Previous to this revelation, I had never thought much about cardio or aerobic exercise.  I always focused on strength training, anaerobic exercise.  What I discovered however, was that it wasn't very functional.  If I wanted to excel at the sports I enjoyed doing, rock climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, these things required aerobic fitness!  I was sucking wind doing the things that I loved, especially at altitude. 

So I put my new exercise bike behind my couch and in plain view of my TV.  My thinking was that since I usually watched at least some TV each night, I could ride my bike while doing so and get exercise in without wasting any time. 

Using the Bike

Once I got the bike, I started researching the most effective way to utilize it.  If you've read any of my other articles you know I like to optimize everything as much as possible.  So if I'm going to be riding this bike, I want to get maximum value for my efforts.  And what I realized was that riding it in the evening was not the most efficient use of the bike. 

What my research told me was that in order to maximize the benefit from cardio exercise, you want to workout first thing in the morning, and on an empty stomach.  This has to do with the substance your body is using for energy.  First thing in the morning, your stomach is empty and your blood sugar is low.  You don't have any glycogen to burn for energy, therefore your body turns to your fat stores.  Now this is not necessarily a good thing to do for high intensity training, as your body can't break down fat fast enough to provide you with all the energy you need.  But for relatively slow and steady aerobic activity like riding the exercise bike, your fat cells will do just fine.  This maximizes your fat burning capabilities during this activity.

After adopting the routine of riding my bike for 30 minutes every morning as soon as I woke up, I began realizing additional benefits as well.  Most closely related is the topic of your metabolism.  I'm sure everyone knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  This is because it kick starts your metabolism and begins those processes working in your body.  Once your metabolism is going, it begins burning calories.  Eating food and causing the digestive process to start is one way to start metabolism, but cardio exercise is another.  The time that you spend riding the bike first thing in the morning raises your metabolism like nothing else, supercharging it, not just while you're riding, but for hours!  Just the half hour that you spend on the bike in the morning turns your body into a fat burning furnace that works through the whole day.  You are ultimately burning many more calories than just what you burned while riding.

Side Effects

There are other effects of this raised metabolism, most notably is energy level.  I don't always feel like riding the bike when I first get up, in fact sometimes I try to put it off.  But I try to keep my mind out of it (which isn't hard to do that early in the morning) and just robotically get on the bike and start pedaling.  It never fails, when I step off that bike and begin stretching out for the day, I feel energized.  I feel like I'm ready to take on the world, and that energy also lasts!  I can tell halfway through the day whether or not I rode the bike that morning, the energy stays with you in the form of a gentle undercurrent that keeps you moving.

Of course some of that energy is mental, and can be attributed to my favorite side-effect from riding the bike every morning.  When I first got the bike, I thought that I would spend time watching TV while riding it.  However I've found that first thing in the morning, when I'm up and exercising and feeling good, I have a strong desire to feed my brain - and not junk food.  The thought of senseless entertainment doesn't appeal to me at all.  It's the beginning of the day!  I want to start it off right!  I've found that reading is really not hard at all to do while riding a stationary bike.  Sure it took a little while to really get used to it, but once you do, you hardly even notice you're on a bike at all.  Reading is the perfect distraction for me, it causes me to focus my whole attention on it, which focuses it away from riding the bike.  I often times will get lost in my book without realizing the timer has gone off signaling the end of my workout.

Now this practice really puts a spring in my step!  I prefer somewhat inspirational books, or simply reading about a topic that I'm interest in.  I like it to be something that I'm learning.  It's rare that I get uninterrupted time without distractions to sit and focus on a book.  In fact, I know that I wouldn't get as much reading in if I didn't perform this practice of riding and reading each morning.  The pages turn and the miles fly by and before I know it, it's time to get off and stretch.  Lately I've been taking this practice a step further and implementing my note taking method to further ingrain the things I just learned.  This is really maximizing your opportunity here.  The result is that you have a constant learning thread, coupled with your constant aerobic fitness progression, for all under 30 minutes first thing in the morning.  If you're waking up early, you don't even realize the time is gone.  The next thing you know, you're ravishing down breakfast and ready to begin your day.

Is It For You?

This being my first exercise bike, I can't be considered an expert on the choices, however in my true form, I did plenty of research on them before buying mine.  I ended up getting the Schwinn 101, of course everyone is likely familiar with Schwinn, and if it's a bike you're getting you can't go wrong with that company.  This model is a mid to low-range model, which keeps the price very reasonable, but still has the features that you want, including a couple of extras like a fan built into the control panel.  I usually just use the manual mode, which gives me a steady resistance and burn, but there are a bunch of other programs to try.  The bike feels strong and stable while riding and put together quickly and well.  It doesn't sway or creak under my 200lbs.  If you're looking for an intro bike to try this out, I highly recommend it.

If you're looking to raise your base fitness level, burn some serious calories on a regular basis to supplement your regular exercise program, I highly recommend getting a stationary bike for your home.  They don't take up very much room, and if you plan on reading most of the time, you don't need to put them in front of a TV.  Find a corner somewhere and use it for something that will make you smarter, healthier and keep you feeling better every day of your life.