A few months ago, I got the chance to test the NordicTrack Commercial S221 Studio Cycle exercise bike. Although I was apprehensive at first, given my history of discomfort in the bike saddle, I finally decided to give it a try. I don’t have a gym in my apartment building, and the possibility of having equipment that allows me to work out at any time without leaving the house was tempting. I have many friends who swear by cycling to strengthen their calves and thighs. So, curious about the impact of indoor cycling as cross-training, I went ahead.
Experts in this article
- John Peel, CPTiFit Master Trainer, founder of John Peel Fitness and creator of JP Fit 30.
Here’s what happened when I swapped running for indoor cycling for a month
After receiving the bike, I decided to add three days of cycling (as opposed to running) to the three days of strength training I was already doing and see what the result would be after a month. I was curious if I would really notice a difference in my lower body strength with this combination of exercise, compared to the combination of strength training and running that I am used to.
NordicTrack I used partners with if that, an interactive personal training platform with on-demand fitness classes. Users have the option of unguided rides, studio bootcamps with instructors, and “outdoor” rides where you get a first-person view of what it would be like to ride outside with the instructor. Since I already have a specific strength training program that I follow, I skipped the bootcamps and went for the outdoor walks.
The series I chose for my month of testing was the Bhutan route with the iFit Master Trainer John Peel, CPT. As he drove through the beautiful scenery (which almost made me forget the pain in my butt from the bike seat I wasn’t used to), the bike automatically changed the incline and resistance according to the actual terrain in Bhutan, which I loved because I didn’t even have the option to take is easy for myself.
I should stop here and note that when it comes to home workouts, I’m good at doing the bare minimum and taking long breaks on the couch to answer a text, eat a snack, or do laundry. This bike made it much more difficult.
After switching to indoor cycling for cross-training, I can honestly say that I’ve never felt my quads, glutes and calves working harder.
As someone who has stuck strictly to running for cardio, after switching to indoor cycling for cross-training, I can honestly say that I’ve never felt my quads, glutes, and calves working harder. Those muscles were still sore the day after the workout. In fact, I was grateful for the days when I had to lift my mid-cycle workouts just to give my legs and butt a break.
Peel, who felt close to me after we spent time together in Bhutan, was kind enough to talk to me on the phone about indoor cycling as cross-training and confirmed that strength training on top of the bike is indeed the way to go. “Set aside certain days where you don’t just get on the bike, but do more specific strength-training movements off the bike,” Peel says of the power of cross-training to strengthen your entire body.
Cycling dominates the lower body, he explains, which is great for your quads and will strengthen them. But cycling can also lead to weaknesses in the hip flexors, glutes, lower back and core when you don’t combine it with strength training.
“Set aside certain days where you’re not just pounding the bike, but actually doing more specific strength-training movements off the bike.” — John Peel, CPT
As I continued to cross-train with cycling and strength classes throughout the month, I started to notice a few things in my rides and lifts.
When I first started cycling, I used whatever resistance and incline the bike chose for me. It was more than enough, and I often found it difficult to reach the recommended revolutions per minute (RPMs). However, by the end of the month, I was actually hitting RPMs pretty easily with the default programming. I even ended up adding more resistance. This is something I never thought I would do when I first got on the bike a month earlier.
On the strength training side of cross training, I saw huge gains in my lifts—especially my squats, as my quads felt more activated than usual. Additionally, I hit a personal record for the one rep max, which is the heaviest weight you can lift for a single rep. Would I do it regardless? Maybe, but I’d like to think the bike helped.
How to tell if cross-training with indoor cycling is helping you build strength
As much as I thought I might be seeing strength results as a result of indoor cycling cross training, I wasn’t sure how to really know. Peel offered some tips for tracking your power on the bike and broke it down compared to running.
“Someone who runs a 10-minute mile, that’s the equivalent of being able to bike 3.5 miles in 10 minutes. Put that 3.5 mile mark on the bike and see how long you can last pushing in a good steady state where you’re not absolutely destroying yourself. See how well your heart rate works and how well it responds over those 3.5 miles,” he says.
He suggests doing the above test once a month, taking notes on your heart rate and how hard the session is, so you have a baseline to use as a reference point.
Ultimately, I think cross-training with indoor cycling as opposed to running helped me strengthen my lower body, especially my quads, after a month. I’m also seeing more definition on my legs than I’ve seen in a while.
The best part; I could do 50 percent of my workouts for the month at home. Oh, and in case you’re wondering if the bike seat and I ever got along during that time, the answer is yes. My bike-loving friends I mentioned earlier told me that eventually my haircut would stop hurting the more I rode, and it turns out they were right about that, too.
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