Can You Build Endurance on an Indoor Exercise Bike?

While it may seem like building endurance will come naturally when working out with an exercise bike, it is important to take specific steps in order to maximize the effectiveness of an exercise bike routine. Obviously, any amount of pedaling that you do will help to burn calories and give your cardiovascular system a workout, but you can further increase your endurance by having a better understanding of various workout strategies and techniques.

Reaching Your Target Heart Rate

Reaching your target heart rate will help you to increase your endurance. Men can determine their target heart rate by subtracting their age from 200 while women can calculate their target heart rate by subtracting 88 percent of their age from 206 to calculate their maximum heart rate. You can then take this number and multiply it by 0.70 and 0.80 in order to calculate your target heart rate range. If you are just getting started with your workout routine, it might be better to aim for somewhere between 50 percent and 70 percent of your maximum heart rate.

One way to achieve your target heart rate on an exercise bike while also giving your body time for recovery is to use interval training. Interval training involves working out at a lower intensity before briefly increasing the intensity and then returning to the lower intensity. You then repeat this process throughout the duration of your workout. For example, you may pedal at a warm up pace for 5 minutes before increasing your pace to the fastest speed that you can maintain for 2 minutes. After the 2-minute interval, you might then return to a pace that is slightly faster than your warm up pace for 5 minutes before increasing it once again. In this way, you help your heart reach and maintain your target heart rate, thereby helping to increase your endurance.

Stamina Versus Endurance

While the terms stamina and endurance are frequently used interchangeably, they are actually two different things. Stamina is more correctly used to refer to the cardiorespiratory system’s ability to work over time while endurance is the muscle’s ability to work over time. Working at high speeds and heart rates for short periods will build your cardio capacity, while working at lower speeds and heart rates for a longer period of time will increase your cardio stamina. Therefore, if you are interested in building stamina, or cardio endurance, it is better to increase the amount of time that you work out at each session rather than to increase the number of times you workout each week.

Monitoring Progress

To ensure you are achieving your fitness goals, it is important to keep notes on your progress. In doing so, you should keep track of your average heart rate, your maximum heart rate during your workout, the number of minutes you spent in your target heart rate zone and the number of minutes you worked out altogether. In this way, you can gradually increase your speed and intensity in a way that will safely and effectively help you reach your goals.