What is considered a moderate and vigorous speed on stationary bike?

J

JustAGirl1243

New member
I am trying to accurately log my calories.

What is the approximate MPH on a stationary exercise bike to be considered 'moderate'? What about 'vigorous'?

I am 218 lbs, 5'8. When I put that into the livestrong website i get '1,038 calories burned per hour.' at a vigorous speed.

I typically only bike 5 miles at a time, getting done in 17 minutes. Is this moderate or vigorous?
 
That really depends on three thing; Your heart rate, your leg strength and your leg length. There is no exact answer to this question because all of us are built differently and have difference abilities. Moreover all stationary bikes are designed differently. I would generally say anything below 5.5mph or 55 rpm. Is not consider to be vigorous. The best way to gage exercise intensity is monitoring your heart rate. The general rules is 220 minus your age. To personalize this result take your pulse within 20 minutes of waking up. Below I have listed a link to a page with a calculator to the Karvonen formula for targeted heart rate.

Place your resting heart rate (pulse) number into the calculator and let it do the rest. Now you will be able to tell if you are exercising vigorously without having to worry about speed. 65% to 85% of your maximum heart rate is considered vigorous no matter what speed you are going.

Good Luck. Use the links below for additional info.
 
5 miles is an awful long time and effort, that's pretty good. In your case, it might be vigorous but you know your own body. Probably have been doing this for quite a while.

But yes, it helps you if you do it longer and faster. There pretty much reps, you can say. Having a slow, calm workout does help but a faster and longer workout will improve your stamina and durability, it has many benefits. That's why they say when you jog or run for example, to keep doing it at a pace and a good amount of time because you burn more calories. Same thing as biking, for example.

Try adding pressure to the handles and the movements on your bike, increase that torque. That's pretty much the next level, that will definitely help you. But in your case, I'd say that's pretty good.
 
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