I hear a lot of people talk about how they are bored with an indoor stationary bike and then, of course, don't get effective workouts or just quit altogether. I want to share some thoughts and experiences.
Some preliminaries first:
Measurement and metrics - Be careful to not "over interpret" the statistics you are presented by the bike. For example, several brands of stationary bikes, when reporting distance traveled do something very interesting. The slower (and harder) you bike, the more mileage you accumulate. What can happen is that the bike is reporting "effective" mileage. That is, for the effort you are extending, from selecting higher intensity levels on the bike, the bike is reporting how much mileage you would be accumulating if you were on a flat surface, expending that effort (assuming you even could.) Calorie expenditures should also be viewed very generally. The bike knows nothing of your heart rate, your body size or weight; which are all factors that go into determining calorie expenditure. (Invest in a heart rate monitor and use a bike that interfaces with your HRM; such as Polar.) Having said this however, keep in mind that over time, if you are getting "more distance" reported, then certainly you are doing better, relatively speaking. Just don't take those numbers as "gospel".
They may look the same ... but .. I use one of the older LifeFitness models at my gym. Be aware that two bikes that are identical looking may be anything but similar. The programs loaded into the bikes may be different. For example, this model of bike has several different programs; one goes from Level 1-20 and another goes from Level 1-12. Some have a 60 minute max, some have a 90 minute max. The point is that if you are keeping track of your time and intensity, be aware that a given level on one bike may be completely different from another bike of the same model.
We are creatures of habit and like to be able to measure progress. That can mean repeating a task and measuring progress. The problem is that our bodies are very capable of adapting, resulting in diminishing returns. The problem is that we have been trained to measure the wrong things. This is not to say that keeping track of progress is a bad thing. What matters most however, in terms of what to measure is our recovery time. That is, how long it takes for our heart rate to recover back to a resting or near resting rate. That is the real indication of cardiovascular health.
So how do we change up our workouts (in this case on a stationary bike) to keep things fresh. Again, I am going to use the bike that I know the best as a reference point. You can easily translate the suggestions here to any indoor bike that you use. Here are several different kinds of workouts that I go through to keep things fresh. (These are all for my bike where the max intensity is Level 12.)
1. Random intensity mode. 90 minutes. For 10 minutes each, Level 8,9,10,8,9,10,8,9,10. Relatively constant RPM.
2. Same as above in Hill Mode. Hill Mode kind of has a built-in "interval" training aspect to it.
3. Same as 1, except I will go 8,9,10,11,12,7,8,9,7.
4. Random mode. 35 minutes. 5 minute intervals. 9,10,11,9,10,11,7
5. Random mode. 45 minutes. Interval ride. 45 seconds 'on', 75 seconds 'off'.
Warm up for 5 minutes at level 6. 10 minutes each at level 8, 9, 10, 11. Then cool down. The key with interval training is that it doesn't mean just "go faster". You have to go as hard as you can in the 'on' cycle. If you have to bail, go down a level for 3-4 minutes, then come back again. If you have anything left at the end of this workout, then you need to extend the levels or extend the time split between 'on' compared to 'off'.
Note, these are just a few of the workouts that I do. I will post more. Also, obviously, this kind of variation in your workout can be applied to ellipticals or any other kind of indoor cardio machine workout.
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