Power output are a measure of the work that is performed on a stationary bike. This measurement provide you with data regarding the intensity of you’re exercises on the stationary bike. Many individual choose to exercise on the stationary bike without measuring their power outputs.
However, exercising without measuring your power output make it difficult for individuals to ensure that they are performing enough exercise to reach the correct intensity for there physical health. A power reference will show you how to transition from exercising without measuring your power output to exercising with data to guide your efforts. Your power reference will allow you to see if your stationary bike workouts occur in a recovery zone or if you is performing at a high intensity.
Find your Functional Threshold Power and train with power
Many individuals often seek to perform the same number of watts per kilogram that others achieves on the stationary bike. However, performing at a wattage without considering your physical strength and physiology can lead to burnouts. Your progress on the stationary bike will rely upon knowing your Functional Threshold Power.
Your Functional Threshold Power is the maximum amount of wattage that you can sustain for one hour. By determining your Functional Threshold Power, training zones will allow you to target the correct amount of wattage for your workout. The physics of indoor biking differ from that of outdoor biking.
Indoors, there is no wind resistance or hills to contend with. Because there is no resistance or hills indoors, your power output will be the best metric to measure your performance on the stationary bike. The number of calories that you burn will correlate with the number of watts that you produce.
However, the correlation will not be linear. If you double the amount of watts that you produce, you may triple the number of calories that you burn. High-intensity intervals will allow you to experience the metabolic benefit of biking indoors in a short amount of time.
However, high-intensity intervals requires you to allow time for your muscles to recover so as to not strain or exhaust yourself during these efforts. The way that you position your body on the stationary bike will have an impact on your physical health. Poor positioning on the stationary bike may result in pain in your joints or muscles.
For example, positioning your saddle too low may place strain on the patella. Additionally, if you have a reach that is too long on your stationary bike, you may experience pain in your lower back. Using clipless pedals may also have an effect on the muscles that you use while biking.
Clipless pedals locks your feet into the pedals. When you use clipless pedals, you may find that you can perform pull motion with your feet. Pulling with your feet allow you to even out the use of each muscle group on your body rather than using only those that perform the downward motion of pedaling the stationary bike.
You can determine your Functional Threshold Power by performing a twenty-minute threshold test. This test is often performed because it will allow you to find your physical limits on the stationary bike. During this test, you must find a balance between performing too few exercises to exhaust yourself and too many to conserve enough energy for the twenty minute of cycling.
Once you know your Functional Threshold Power, you can calculate your watts per kilogram. By calculating your watts per kilogram, you can compare your performance on the stationary bike to others. Consistency is vital to seeing improvement in your stationary bike performance.
However, performing high-intensity workouts for your stationary bike every session will eventually lead to extreme fatigue. To avoid this issue, find a balance between high-intensity VO2 max workouts and long endurance rides on the stationary bike. This balance will allow you to build a wider aerobic base for your physical system over time.
This wider aerobic base will eventually allow you to increase your Functional Threshold Power. Additionally, you must dedicate time to allow your body to recover from the exercise that you performed on the stationary bike. During this recovery period, your body should hydrate and repair the muscles that you intensely activated during your biking session.
This recovery period is necessary to prepare your body for your next stationary bike training session. By tracking your power output on the stationary bike, you will have an understanding of the difference between your fatigue and physical failure. By knowing this information, you can both push yourself harder during your training session and allow yourself to recover from the exertion of biking on the stationary bike.
The goal in using a stationary bike is to apply the appropriate amount of pressure to the stationary bike pedals to achieve the correct results.
