CEBU, Philippines - If you want your legs to get leaner and your abs flatter, spinning or stationary bicycles could be the workout for you. Many women think that bicycles will make their legs bigger and tough. The opposite happens when doing a workout on stationary or spinning bicycles. Stationary bicycles tone arms, legs, core and buttocks.
Many people also hitch rides on motorcycles not knowing its inherent dangers and risks to the driver and passengers because of imbalance. They think they can just sit on the motorcycle as though nothing will happen to them. Dennis Catantan, Olympia club and recreation manager of Avenue Plaza Hotel, said that those who want to drive motorcycles or ride would have an edge in safety if they trained in a stationary or spinning bike first before riding on the road.
Stationary bicycles or spinning workouts have long been used in gyms because it offers the option of a low-impact aerobic exercise. Stationary bikes are much like the normal bicycles with saddles, handlebars and pedals only that the stationary bike is by its name, “stationary” while the bicycle is used for transportation.
Stationary bikes have proven to be helpful in cardiovascular exercise and medical therapy because it increases blood circulation and in the transportation of oxygen to various parts of the body. It is good training for cyclists. It is used to be that this spinning exercise was done individually. But at Avenue Plaza Hotel’s Olympia gym, spinning is done as a group exercise. Although the total regimen is basically a cardio workout, Dennis Catantan, who is also a fitness trainer, has designed the exercise such that it would tone specific muscle groups while getting the legs spinning. For the arms, there is a position of putting the hands on bicycle handles and stretching the arms while biking.
The left and right sways, front and back pumping helps to tone the arms and also strengthen the spine. This component of the exercise enhances balance because it helps you to understand the listing of your body weight in the rolling and pitching of the motorcycle.
Spinning exercise tones glutes, abdomen or core, buttocks and legs because these are the muscle groups that are directly affected. Toning is done by adjusting the resistance of the bike because the body balances while on a pedal and in doing so gets those often stubborn muscle groups to burn calories. The spinning enhances weight reduction.
Catantan cautions that stretching must be done before getting on the bike especially stretching of the hamstrings and legs. Bike seat must be adjusted to hip level so this is not too low or too high and there is enough room for the legs to extend and pedal.
Catantan has designed the routine so that in the cool down, there is stretching on the bike and when getting down.
Doing applies for motorcycle drivers and riders. Many of those who hitch on motorcycles do so without regard as to how their weight would affect the overall balance of the motorcycle. This poses potential risks to the driver and to the passenger.
If you are just learning how to ride a motorcycle two or three sessions on the stationary bike will help you understand your balance. Helmets and other head gear protect the head but the most critical in riding motorcycles is the neck. Broken limbs and fractured bones have been found to be common in motorcycle accidents but broken neck is lethal. Hence learning to balance is safest thing to do. The motorcycle was invented to enhance speed and accessibility not to speed to death. It won’t take much to understand the body and to learn its balance.
While spinning or stationary bicycle exercise has been done in gyms for decades, it is only lately that fitness trainers are encouraging this as a preparatory and precautionary exercise for motorcycle riders. While motorcycle is often associated with you, the spinning workout is for all ages.