I don't bike outdoors because I don't feel safe. I bike in the gym where I can keep track of my distance and speed. There's a timer on the stationary bikes and usually they're set at 20 minutes. You can choose to have however much resistance you want. The higher the resistance mimics the hills you would be biking over if you were to bike outdoors.
You can definitely take the easy way. You can just cruise right through the 20 minutes with minimum to no resistance. While that is quite the bike ride you would have through the park, there would only be a little calories lost. For you to get the most out of your cardio, make use of the resistance levels, speed, and time.
Overall, cardio exercise is mandatory in weight-loss. A good cardio workout will strengthen your lungs, burn fat, strengthen your heart, increase endurance and stamina, and tone muscles. You can adjust the settings on the stationary bike according to the results you want to have. Sure, you can't lose fat on specific spots in your body only, but you can guide the way you lose the fat and focus on a certain place like your legs, abs, and arms by the way you position your self on the bike. The better part of cardio is that it burns fat all around your body.
I used to love my legs a lot. Of course this was when I was a varsity volleyball player and a dancer. I am neither of those now so if you can imagine my legs have muscle inside them. Strong muscle. Over the years, I have piled on a thick layer of fat and it makes my legs look big.
My goal: smaller thighs and calves.
Because I have muscle already in my thighs, I don't want to make the layer of fat on top to become even more muscle. I just want the fat to go away, so my legs would be back to how it was.
HOW TO GET BETTER LEGS WITH BIKING:
If your legs have underlying muscle and you just want to delete the fat that's covered your thigh muscles, then this is your workout on the bike.
Time: 20 minutes.
Resistance: little to none.
Distance: 5-6 miles
I prefer the manual setting so you can control it yourself.
The purpose of the little to no resistance is so that your leg fat wouldn't be hardened into muscle. Since your legs wouldn't be struggling so much to push the pedals, you're able to pedal faster. Instead of using up most of your energy trying to pedal, you'd use it up for the distance and speed. For me to meet 6 mile mark, I usually bike with level 1 resistance and my speed range is within 18-20RPM.
I notice that with biking I sweat more and at the same time lose more calories in a short amount of time. 6.4 miles in 20 minutes = 259 calories for me.
If your legs are skinny with little muscle, then you should probably put the resistance into your workout. Building leg muscle is important! To build a little muscle in your butt, hamstrings, quads, calves, hike up the resistance level to 3 or 4. Time yourself. for example: In 20 minute time I should reach 5 miles within levels 3-4. With that time frame you'll be pushing yourself to meet your goal. When you do, you'll be sweating so much :)
If you're not into biking and running is your thing, then change your settings to no inclination and your speed to 5.0-6.0 depending on what you're comfortable with. If you can, try not to stop running until you finish your 20 minutes.
The thing about losing fat and not building too much of it is, you have to do things fast and for a long period of time. With building muscle, you'd have to do it slowly and only a little.
For example: you have skinny legs with very little muscle. Your goal is to have toned thighs and calves. You can incline your treadmill to a higher level as if your walking up hill. Then in 20 minutes time, walk. THE WHOLE TIME. That will build your leg muscles faster. If you feel like your legs are getting immune to the inclined level, then push it to level 5 or level 8 or even level 10. Whatever it is, don't stop walking until the 20 minutes are done. This will also work out your abs, butt, quads, calves, hamstrings. Don't forget to stretch, though!
Another good one is the Stairmaster. Oh my goodness, the Stairmaster. Lol. Just climb stairs for 20 minutes. Run it, walk it, whatever. This thing will definitely get your cardio done as well as build legs.
