The stationary bike is one of the top cardio machines for beginners. Here is a collection of workouts for newbies, tips for success, and more.
The stationary bike is one of the best cardio machines—and one of my personal favorites!
Not only can you get truly hardcore cardio exercise, but the workout is surprisingly joint-friendly, too.
Whether you’re going for an hour-long sweat session or just want to finish off your resistance training workout with some light cardio, the exercise bike is here for it.
It doesn’t matter if you’re totally new to the gym; there are lots of stationary bike workouts for beginners that you can try even if you’ve never trained on any cardio machines before.
In this post, I’ll share with you some of the all-time best stationary bike workouts beginners can try. I’ll include a great “light” workout, a stationary bike workout for weight loss, an endurance-boosting sweat session, and a calorie-torching HIIT session.
I’ll also share with you some of the stationary bike benefits that will help you understand why the machine is ideal for your use, as well as some tips to make sure every minute you spend on the stationary bike is spent to best effect.
Let’s get to pedalin’!
Stationary Bike Workouts for Beginners
It can be intimidating walking into the gym for the first time and saddling up on a stationary bike, unsure what to do.
Fret not!
In this collection of workouts, we will be using the term “rate of perceived exertion” or RPE. It’s a subjective scale representing effort, incorporating heart rate, muscle fatigue, breathing rate, and overall discomfort.
This scale, used from 0-10, with ten representing maximal exertion, is a handy way to measure the intensity of your workouts.
Okay, with that under our belt, let’s jump into the best beginner-friendly stationary bike workouts you can do to burn calories (and fat), strengthen your leg muscles, and improve your cardiovascular fitness.
Workout #1: Cardio for Newbies
This workout is ideal for beginners who want to get accustomed to training on the stationary bike but aren’t yet acclimated to the hard work of weightlifting or cardio machines.
It’s a solid “newbie” workout that’ll get you started on your fitness journey, and will keep you working and sweating hard long enough to burn serious calories.
The Workout:
- Begin with 5 minutes of stretching (focused on your lower body muscles and core), followed by 5 minutes of “light cycling” (at a “rate of perceived exertion”, or RPE of 2 to 3).
- Cycle at 4 to 5 RPE for 3 minutes.
- Pedal faster to reach 7 to 8 RPE for 1 minute.
- Return to 5 to 6 RPE for 1 minute.
- Raise the resistance to around 50%, and cycle for 3 minutes.
- Raise the resistance to 75%, and cycle standing up for 1 minute.
- Return the resistance to 25% and cycle for 1 minute at 5 to 6 RPE.
- Repeat this sequence 3 times, for a total of 30 minutes of cycling time.
- Cool down with 5 minutes of cycling at 2 to 3 RPE and 5 minutes of stretching.
Workout #2: Hill Climb
This workout focuses more on your muscular endurance along with your cardiovascular endurance, working those leg muscles hard by using your stationary bike’s resistance to simulate hill conditions.
The Workout:
- Warm up with 5 minutes of stretching followed by 5 minutes of cycling at 2 to 3 RPE.
- Cycle at 4 to 5 RPE and 25% resistance for 2 minutes.
- Raise the resistance to 50%, and maintain that pace for 2 minutes.
- Pedal standing up at 50% resistance for 1 minute.
- Lower the resistance to 25% and return to around 4 RPE for 2 minutes.
- Repeat this cycle 5 times, for a total of 35 minutes. (If you can raise the resistance to 75% when pedaling seated or standing up, do it!)
- Cool down with 5 minutes of cycling at 2 to 3 RPE and 5 minutes of stretching.
Workout #3: Pyramid Endurance Session
This workout is focused on your endurance, but it’ll put your leg strength to the test, too!
At the “top of the pyramid”, you might feel like your heart and lungs will burst and your legs are on fire. That’s how you know you’re doing it right.
The Workout:
- Warm up with 5 minutes of stretching followed by 5 minutes of cycling at 2 to 3 RPE.
- Raise resistance to 25% and cycle at 4 RPE for 1 minute.
- Increase to 5 RPE for 1 minute.
- Increase the resistance slightly (to 35%) and cycle at 5 RPE for 1 minute.
- Increase to 6 RPE for 1 minute.
- Increase the resistance again (to 45%) and cycle at 6 RPE for 1 minute.
- Increase to 7 RPE for 1 minute.
- Increase the resistance again (to 50%) and cycle at 7 RPE for 1 minute.
- Increase to 8 RPE for 1 minute.
- Increase to 9 RPE for 1 minute.
- Increase to 10 RPE for 1 minute.
- Lower to 9 RPE for 1 minute.
- Lower to 8 RPE for 1 minute.
- Lower to 7 RPE for 1 minute.
- Lower the resistance to 45% and cycle at 7 RPE for 1 minute.
- Lower to 6 RPE for 1 minute.
- Lower the resistance to 35% and cycle at 6 RPE for 1 minute.
- Lower to 5 RPE for 1 minute.
- Lower the resistance to 25% and cycle at 5 RPE for 1 minute.
- Lower to 4 RPE for 1 minute.
- Cool down with 5 minutes of cycling at 2 to 3 RPE and 5 minutes of stretching.
Workout #4: HIIT It Hard
High-intensity interval training (known as HIIT or simply as interval training) is characterized by shorter bursts of high intensity effort (75% to 90% of maximum effort) balanced with periods of rest.
Stationary bike HIIT workouts are an excellent option for beginners as they give you all of the benefits of longer, steady-state workouts in less time.
HIIT workouts are also awesome for beginners as they reduce the likelihood of dropout.
With less of a time commitment, and the added stimulation of variable resistance, a study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine (Reljic et al, 2019) showed that HIIT workouts resulted in “lower dropout rates than commonly reported for traditional exercise programs.”
With this workout, it’s about pedaling as fast and furiously as you can for the duration of the high-intensity interval, then using the low-intensity interval for active recovery.
Done right, you’ll burn a lot of calories in just 20 minutes.
The Workout:
- Warm up with 5 minutes of dynamic stretching followed by 5 minutes of cycling at 2 to 3 RPE.
- Raise the resistance to 25%, and cycle as fast as you can for 30 seconds.
- Slow down to 4 RPE and cycle for 90 seconds to recover.
- Repeat this cycle 10 times for a total of 20 minutes.
- Cool down with 5 minutes of cycling at 2 to 3 RPE and 5 minutes of stretching.
Stationary Bike Beginner Tips for Success
Starting a new training routine can be difficult, especially if you are new to stationary bikes.
However, with some of these time-tested and proven tips, based on decades of training clients and working out, you will make the most of your time on the bike.
- Set the bike to the correct height and position. Not only will this encourage proper cycling form, but will also help to reduce the risk of saddle sores or a bruised sit area.
- Maintain the proper form while you cycle: head up, spine straight, chest open, and eyes straight ahead. Proper form is crucial for avoiding lower back injuries or strain.
- Some resistance is better than none. If there is insufficient resistance, you may “bounce” in the saddle, making for a much more uncomfortable ride.
- Always warm up and cool down. Warm-ups will help to prevent injuries, and cool-downs will combat post-workout soreness. Both are also “easy” ways to burn a bunch more calories during the workout.
- Stand and sit. Pedaling standing up will target your glutes and hamstrings more, while pedaling sitting down is all about those quads.
- Keep a towel and some water handy. You’ll want to wipe away sweat and re-hydrate to get through your workout!
What are the benefits of stationary bikes for beginners?
The benefits of stationary bikes for beginners include reduced joint stress, ease of use, burning lots of calories, and high levels of functionality.
According to the Harvard Medical School, a vigorous 30-minute stationary bike workout will burn over 440 calories for a 185lb person. That is nearly 900 calories if you stretch it out to an hour.
The calories burned on the stationary bike, plus the low-impact nature of the bike, make it the perfect cardio machine for beginners.
The different types of stationary bikes are also highly functional, from the online classes done via spin bikes like the Peloton to extra low-impact recumbent bikes. No matter where you are in your fitness and health journey, there is an exercise bike that matches your needs and goals.
How long should a beginner use a stationary bike?
Beginners should aim to spend 30 minutes on the bike to maximize calorie burning and cardiovascular health.
Longer steady-state workouts for burning fat should be expanded to 45 to 60 minutes as you become more proficient on the bike. With higher-intensity workouts (such as HIIT or pyramid training), 20 to 25 minutes is typically enough to see results.
HIIT workouts are also an excellent time-saver as you can get a lot of the same fat-burning and VO2 max improvements in half the time as traditional cardio workouts.
Trainees in a study (Thum et al, 2017) described HIIT workouts as more enjoyable compared to long, steady-state cardio workouts because of the “time efficiency and constantly changing stimulus.”
Can you get in shape just by using a stationary bike?
The stationary bike chiefly focuses on two areas of your fitness: cardiovascular endurance (your heart, lungs, and blood vessels’ function) and muscular endurance (your muscles’ ability to sustain effort for prolonged periods).
However, you’re still missing two areas: muscular strength (which comes through lifting weights) and flexibility/mobility (which comes through specifically focused training).
The stationary bike should play an important role in your fitness but should be used alongside other exercise machines and resistance training workouts.
Can beginners build muscle with a stationary bike?
The stationary bike is highly effective for building lower body muscle. Primary muscles worked on the stationary bike include the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus medias, calves, and the psoas major muscle.
The stationary bike can help you build muscles in your thighs—take a look at world-class cyclists and you see what I mean; they have tree-trunk legs—but for people serious about hypertrophy and muscle-building, you will want to pair stationary bike workouts with resistance training.
The Bottom Line
If your goal is to burn more calories and get in better shape without putting your body at risk, I highly recommend the stationary bike.
Thanks to its low-impact nature, your bones and joints won’t take a beating (like they would when running) and minimal recovery time is required between workouts. The fact that you can use workouts like the Pyramid or HIIT workouts I shared above means you can still burn a lot of calories in the time you invest—meaning you can very well see real results over time!
