Exercise bikes have become popular tools for building strength in the legs and lower body.
While it’s ideal for toning the legs, arms, and back, does an exercise bike tone your stomach?
Cycling is a low-impact activity that targets stomach fat and improves overall health, so exercise bikes are perfect for strengthening your core.
Keep reading to learn more.
Stomach Fat Explained
Stomach or abdominal fat can fall into two categories: visceral fat and subcutaneous fat.
Subcutaneous fat sits underneath the skin. When you pinch your stomach with your fingertips, you’ll be able to feel a layer of fat.
On the other hand, visceral fat is embedded deep within the abdominal cavity, surrounding the kidneys, liver, pancreas, and intestines.
While subcutaneous fat is squishy and soft, visceral or active fat is firm and potentially dangerous.
The more visceral fat in the body, the higher the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems.
Visceral fat makes up approximately 10% of a person’s total body fat. The more weight you put on, the thicker the visceral fat layers become.
Engaging in 30 minutes of daily exercise and making healthier food choices is an effective strategy for combating stomach fat.
Cycling is ideal for trimming visceral fat and promoting a healthy weight. As an aerobic exercise, cycling improves cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and joint mobility, decreases stress levels, strengthens the bones, and decreases body fat.
How Cycling Aids in Stomach Fat Reduction
Cycling is an excellent way to get in shape, but how does an exercise bike tone your stomach?
In addition to being a fun recreational activity, indoor or outdoor cycling has several benefits that may enhance the stomach toning process. These include better weight management, increased good cholesterol, and improved insulin resistance.
Weight Management
Many fitness enthusiasts have incorporated cycling into their daily routines to maximize fat loss efforts. Regular training sessions bolster aerobic endurance, a vital factor in short-term weight loss and long-term weight maintenance.
The abdominal muscles work hard during moderate to intense cycling sessions. Along with other core muscles, the abdominals provide stability and keep the body upright during riding. They transfer energy to the lower body, increase your energy expenditure, eliminate extra weight, and give the stomach area a strong, toned look.
Increased Good Cholesterol
A moderate-intensity cycling session and a protein-rich diet can positively impact your overall cholesterol profile. High cholesterol levels and excess body fat are connected, so aerobics activities like running, jogging, or cycling reduce LDL (low-density lipoprotein), also called “bad” cholesterol.
Moreover, a consistent cycling regimen can improve HDL (high-density lipoprotein) levels, decreasing the risk of numerous health complications and contouring the stomach muscles.
Improved Insulin Resistance
A recent study has indicated that regular cycling could improve the body’s insulin resistance. It allows the cells to absorb glucose from the bloodstream without difficulty, lowering the risk of elevated blood sugar and weight gain.
How to Tone Your Stomach While Cycling
If you’re looking to take your cycling routine to the next level, the following tips will help you hit major fitness milestones quickly. Most importantly, they’ll aid you in sculpting your abdominal muscles and slimming your waistline.
Moderate Intensity Wins the Fat Loss Race
Many amateur and professional cyclists structure their training using the 80/20 rule, and with good reason. Riding at a moderate pace for 80% of your cycling session improves endurance and stamina.
For the remainder of your routine, pick up the pace to burn calories and fat more effectively. This strategy prevents you from hitting a fitness plateau since you gradually increase the intensity without overexerting yourself.
Fasted Cycling
Fasted training refers to exercising on an empty stomach so that the body uses more fat as fuel. Instead of breaking down carbohydrates, the body eliminates fat, improving your endurance.
Fitness enthusiasts typically skip breakfast and hop on their bikes for a moderately intense morning ride. The relatively low workload ensures an easy cycling session.
This approach encourages the body to use fat as its primary energy source. Additionally, it aids in body composition and enhances stamina. It’s essential to stay the course and maintain a steady pace. Pushing too hard can trick the body into switching to burning carbs instead of fat.
Another way fasted training tones the stomach is through mitochondrial biogenesis. This process involves the creation of aerobic cells or mitochondria. The more mitochondria cells the body produces, the more efficiently it targets fat.
Note that fasted training shouldn’t be your go-to exercise method. Frequent fasted cycling can hamper the body’s ability to use carbohydrates. For the best results, try this method twice a week. If you notice your ab lines are becoming more defined, fasted cycling could be a good tool for improving endurance and better weight management.
Tweak Your Diet
No exercise plan is complete without a healthy diet. Regardless of how hard you’re training, the type of foods you’re consuming could disrupt your fitness journey. Avoid foods rich in sugar and saturated fat like cheese and butter to keep your muscles lean and prevent weight gain. Instead, eat more foods with high lean protein content like eggs, chicken, beans, leafy greens, potatoes, beef, and salmon.
Squeeze Your Abs
Contracting the abdominals is a foolproof method to tone the midsection. You don’t have to incorporate countless rounds of sit-ups to work the core. Tightening the abs while cycling is sufficient to strengthen the muscles and achieve a sculpted look. However, cycling can feel overwhelming, especially when you start working out consistently, and it’s easy to forget to squeeze the abs.
To ensure your muscles are tight during the entire cycling session, squeeze the abdominal muscles that contract when coughing. The more you ride, squeezing the abs will become second nature to you.
Use One Hand
Try using one hand for support instead of two. This modification will make your fitness regimen more challenging, and the muscles in your midsection will work harder to provide balance and stability.
Contract your abs, take one arm off the handlebars, and move it towards your back. Repeat the process with your other arm after a few minutes. This exercise will strengthen your upper body and give you a short but demanding ab workout.
Mind Your Posture
Good posture is crucial in cycling. It improves blood flow and promotes comfortable pedaling and muscle toning.
Sit straight to define your abs and target visceral fat when you notice you’re slouching.
Those unsure how to improve their cycling posture should relax their shoulders, bend their elbows, and align their knees with their feet.
Choose a Recumbent Bike
Recumbent exercise bikes are better abdominal sculptors than their upright counterparts. These models provide a good workout and target the lower abs and obliques due to their semi-reclined position.
Crunches
If you’re not a fan of using a crunch bench or exercising on the floor, you can do your abdominal workouts on a bike. As you apply pressure on the pedals, contract your core inwards. After a few minutes, relax your abdominals and pedal at a low-intensity pace.
Stand Up
Make sure your training includes intervals where you pedal while standing. Lifting your lower body from the seat kicks the core muscles into high gear to restore balance. This two-in-one exercise allows you to complete an effective cardio workout and tone your midsection.
Pedal Your Way to a Toned Stomach
Hopefully, this article has cleared up any lingering confusion surrounding the question, “Does an exercise bike tone your stomach?” You can personalize your routine and incorporate core-tightening exercises to sculpt your obliques and abdominals.
Remember, like any type of physical activity, it takes time and effort to see results with cycling. Start with three weekly rides to stay in shape and improve your fitness.