A good exercise workout.

The exercise bike is an old faithful in the exercise equipment field. Weird exercise machines have come and gone out of fashion but the exercise bike is still a proven machine to build fitness.

For overall fitness you need exercise for heart fitness, muscle building and flexibility. Your exercise bike can be a key part in your overall program. Especially during wet or cold weather the exercise bike is useful every day and at any time.

Heart Conditioning

For the cardio-vascular or heart conditioning you need to will elevate your heart rate up to 50 percent of your maximum if you're a beginner or 70 percent if you're more experienced. Then you should maintain that rate at least for 15 minutes and longer is better. Your maximum heart rate is about 220 minus your age.

Rather than just pedaling away at an even pace for a half hour, try interval training by mixing up the pace of your exercise bike workout to make it more challenging and interesting. Try this variation:

3 minutes easy warm-up pedaling

2 minutes moderate

1 minute fast

2 minutes moderate

1 minute fast

1 minute moderate

30 seconds fast

1 minute moderate

30 seconds fast

2 minutes moderate

1 minute fast

2 minutes moderate

3 minutes slow

Bet that's not boring!

Muscle Building

For muscle building nothing beats weight training. Simple weight lifting routines done just once a week can help you improve. There is a wealth of information on the Internet to help you design a simple set of exercises to tone and build muscle.

The exercise bike provide a great load bearing exercise for you lower body. Your exercise bike is working all the major muscles of your lower body. If you have a dual action machine that works your arms too you're getting at all the major muscles of your body. But you still need a weight lifting routine for an ideal program.

Stretching

A stretching routine rounds out your overall program to improve your overall fitness.