Last updated on July 1st, 2021
Yes, riding a stationary bike does burn fat and therefore you will be burning belly fat during this exercise. While riding a bike doesn’t work your stomach as much as your legs, so you won’t be gaining as much muscle in this area. Instead, that will be more focused on your legs and glutes.
When exercising, you don’t have the ability to target one area of your body when trying to burn fat. It is a myth that you can burn only belly fat with certain exercises, much like it’s a myth that you can grow your glutes but not legs with squats.
There are plenty of articles online that will mislead you and tell you that you can burn belly fat by doing lots of burpees, mountain climbers, crunches, and more. However, this is not the case.
When exercising to burn fat, it doesn’t matter which area you’re working out – you will be burning fat from all over your body. So, while you might be crunching your abs 1000 times a day, you’re not necessarily going to burn belly fat. You might be burning fat from your arms, legs, or glutes.
However, you will be toning your stomach muscles through the crunches, giving them more definition which might perhaps give you the illusion that you’re burning belly fat. The same goes for a stationary bike. Just because you’re working your legs and glutes the most, it doesn’t mean that these are the areas you’ll be burning fat from. You’ll be burning fat from all over your body, including your stomach.
Does an exercise bike help lose leg fat?
Similar to the answer above, yes, an exercise bike will help you to burn fat from your legs. This is because you’ll be burning fat from all over your body, and your legs are a part of your body! You might start to see results from your exercise bike on your legs much quicker than on your stomach. This is an illusion; however, and does not necessarily mean that you’re burning fat from only one part of your body.
The first reason why your legs might look more dramatically different quicker than your stomach is that your legs are doing most of the work and are therefore becoming toned. Just like a crunch will target your abdominal muscles the most, an exercise bike will focus on your leg and glute muscles.
So, while these muscles are getting stronger and growing, they will look more toned and shapely. This might give you the impression that you’re burning more fat from this area when you’re actually burning fat from all over your body.
However, no other area of your body is getting as toned as your legs and glutes are, so you’ll associate this change with burning fat instead of growing your muscles.
As your legs and glutes grow, the rest of your body might also begin to look smaller in proportion. So, you might see a difference in your stomach, hips, and arms because they look smaller in proportion to your now larger legs.
Another reason why you might see a more dramatic difference in your legs when using an exercise bike is that people tend to lose weight from these areas first. Doctors have confirmed that women tend to lose weight first in their legs, hips, and glutes, while men often see the first difference in their stomachs.
With that being said, burning fat is not a one size fits all issue. While most women find that burning belly fat is the hardest to shed, some people experience having their legs as their problem areas.
So, using an exercise bike does help you lose weight on your legs, just like it does for the rest of your body. However, you’re most likely to see a change in your legs through the process of toning the muscles rather than burning fat from them.
Do exercise bikes make your bum bigger?
No, an exercise bike does not actually make your bum bigger. However, it can change its appearance and therefore give you the illusion that it is getting bigger. Regularly using an exercise bike helps you to both burn fat and tone your lower body.
Losing weight all over your body might mean that your bum gets slimmer or appears more toned. Working your glutes and legs through pedalling will lift your bum and make it appear rounder and larger, which is probably what you’re going for. So, while using the exercise bike is not necessarily making your bum larger or smaller, it will change its appearance and make you happier with its shape.
With that being said, it’s important to note that an exercise bike might not be the best way to work your glute muscles. Pedalling while sitting on the bike seat will mainly work your legs rather than your glutes, so your legs will get the most of the physical change.
Changing the appearance of your legs might make your bum look smaller and flatter, which could be the exact opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. To prevent this from happening, it’s vital that you switch up your cycling positions to get a varied change in resistance.
To do this, you should alter the resistance of the machine periodically so that you have a varied time of working harder as well as rest periods. You should also split your time between sitting and standing so that you work more muscles than just your legs. Sitting down the entire time will only work a few muscles, while standing will focus on a new set altogether.
It’s worth mentioning that using an exercise bike is not the best way to grow your glutes. Instead, you’ll see better results by using glute activation exercises such as hip abductors, crab walks, and kicks, and equipment like resistance bands and weights. These will put more pressure on your glute muscles and put the primary focus on them rather than your entire lower body.
