Some of the benefits of indoor cycling are slimming, toning your legs, strengthening your heart, reducing stress, amongst many others. That’s why at BKOOL we recommend this exercise for the whole family.
The different resistance and speed configurations of our training sessions and the entertaining private classes adapted to the user provide great physical and psychological benefits. Such as which ones?
Indoor cycling benefits
Benefits for your knees
Indoor cycling strengthens the knees, specifically the muscles responsible for supporting this joint: quadriceps and hamstrings. This type of exercise is a good option for the rehabilitation of knee injuries, due to the low impact that cycling has on the knee, compared to other forms of exercising.
However, if this is your case, here at Bkool we recommend you to do exercises supervised by doctors or physiotherapists, who will tell you how to do indoor cycling in the most suitable way for you.
Benefits for the abdomen
Training sessions that focus on this part of the body will tone and strengthen the abdomen. It is advisable to stay very stable on the saddle to encourage the movement of the abdominal muscles when pedalling. We also advise you to alternate intensities of pedalling, as pedalling intensely contracts the abdominal muscles and when you slow the pace down, the abdominal muscles relax.
Benefits for the legs
Performing indoor cycling is a great way to increase leg strength and resistance. By doing this exercise you will sculpt your lower limbs and shape your thighs. The calves are also worked very hard, so indoor cycling tones and strengthens them.
Benefits for the gluteus
Cyclic and elliptical pedalling constantly moves your glutes, making them work non-stop. If you want to tone this part of your body, we recommend alternating between seated and standing pedalling. Standing up is a climbing movement with more resistance that contracts the glutes and helps the hamstrings.
Benefits for the back
Indoor cycling training is low-impact and does not put pressure on the vertebrae, intervertebral discs and facet joints of the spine. For this reason, indoor cycling is perfect for fighting back pain.
If you suffer from back pain, you should also consult a specialist to supervise your training.
Benefits for the heart
Exercising on an indoor bike is a good aerobic activity that benefits cardiovascular health, because during exercise our body produces a high demand for oxygen that our heart satisfies by pumping more blood, beating faster.
The heart is a trainable muscle and this exercise strengthens it, giving it the ability to beat at a lower heart rate. This has a significant impact on lowering blood pressure and therefore reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Benefits in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and cholesterol
Related to the previous section, indoor cycling is perfect for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease because during this exercise the muscles demand glucose, thereby lowering blood sugar.
Practising this type of physical activity improves insulin resistance, a determining factor in the development of type 2 diabetes. As an aerobic exercise, it also helps to reduce harmful cholesterol (LDL) and increase the good cholesterol (HDL).
Benefits for weight loss
Indoor cycling helps you lose weight and tone up. To do this, you need to choose one of our specific workouts that alternate low to medium intensity cardiovascular exercises with high intensity ones.
Calorie loss will depend on the intensity of the pedalling and the duration of the exercise, but with a balanced diet and indoor cycling you can achieve an athletic and toned silhouette.
Benefits for the brain
The advantages of indoor cycling are not only reflected physically but also mentally, as this exercise provides emotional well-being, also favouring cognitive processes.
During training, endorphins are secreted in the hypothalamus and they stimulate areas of the brain that produce the feeling of happiness. These “happiness hormones” have an anxiolytic and analgesic effect which reduces exhaustion. This state lasts for a few hours until the endorphins are neutralised by other enzymes that restore the hormonal balance.
In addition, this aerobic exercise also slows age-related deterioration in the brain. It may also have a preventive effect on neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Sleep quality is also improved, as this cardio exercise has a relaxing effect that induces a better rest.
As you can see, the benefits of indoor cycling are many and varied, making it the ideal choice for the whole family.
