Both walking and riding a stationary bike (also known as a stationary bicycle or exercise bike) are great options for getting in cardio exercise. They each have their own unique benefits and downsides when it comes to physical fitness. Some key factors to consider when choosing between walking and biking include calories burned, impact on joints, convenience, time, ability to monitor and adjust intensity, and versatility in targeting different muscle groups.
Calories Burned
When comparing calories burned walking vs. biking, biking generally burns more calories per hour. Here is an overview of approximate calories burned per hour for a 125 pound person:
| Exercise | Calories burned per hour |
|---|---|
| Walking 3 mph (moderate pace) | 200 calories |
| Walking 4 mph (brisk pace) | 300 calories |
| Stationary biking moderate effort | 260 calories |
| Stationary biking vigorous effort | 390 calories |
As you can see, stationary biking generally burns more calories per hour than walking at a moderate pace. The faster the pace you walk or more intense you bike, the more calories will be burned.
This higher calorie burn makes sense when you consider the dynamics of biking vs. walking. With biking, you are seated and using primarily leg muscles to power the pedals in a continuous spinning motion. This repetitive movement recruits large muscle groups in the legs and butt, leading to more calories burned.
With walking, the movement is more segmented, switching between your right and left sides. Less muscle mass is engaged compared to biking. At a leisurely pace, walking is not as intense of an activity. However, walking at a brisk 4 mph pace can start to approach the intensity and calorie burn of biking.
Ultimately, biking tends to burn more calories per hour. But walking still provides an effective, low impact way to burn calories.
Impact on Joints
When it comes to impact on joints, walking is generally considered lower impact than biking.
With walking, both feet are regularly in contact with the ground, distributing your body weight evenly. The impact absorbed by the joints and bones in each leg is minimized. Additionally, walking is a low impact aerobic activity, meaning there are no repetitive jarring actions like jumping.
In comparison, biking requires supporting your full body weight in a seated position with all the impact going through the saddle. The repetitive circular pedaling motion also places more stress on the joints than the linear motion of walking. Pedaling engages the hips, knees, ankles and feet more dynamically through a fuller range of circular motion.
This is not to say biking is hard on the joints. Biking is still considered a low impact exercise, especially in comparison to higher impact activities like running. But between biking and walking, walking does place less stress and impact on the leg and hip joints.
For those looking to go easier on their joints, walking may be the better option. Lowering the resistance on a stationary bike and avoiding standing pedaling can also help reduce joint impact.
Convenience
When evaluating the convenience of walking vs biking, the stationary bike has a clear edge for at home fitness. With a stationary bike, you can get in a workout any time without having to travel anywhere. Just hop on and pedal away in the comfort of your own home. No concerns about weather or unsafe walking routes.
Walking requires more effort and planning. You need accessible safe routes for walks, preferably scenic trails or parks. Inclement weather may interfere with plans to walk outside. You also need to factor in travel time to and from walking locations.
That being said, walking is extremely accessible and convenient in the sense that it is always available anywhere as a mode of transportation and exercise. You can get in extra walking steps running errands around town or parking farther away to walk. No special equipment or gym membership required!
Overall, stationary bikes win out in terms of exercise convenience by allowing cardio workouts at home any time. But walking is unmatched in accessibility as an easy exercise option during everyday activities.
Time
When it comes to time efficiency, stationary biking also has advantages over walking. On a stationary bike, you are able to adjust resistance and pedaling speed to achieve target heart rate zones more quickly. This allows for intense cardio workouts in shorter periods of time.
Biking generally burns more calories per hour than moderate walking. With the ability to pedal vigorously and continuously, more calories can be burned in less time.
The duration of walking workouts depends significantly on your chosen pace. Leisurely walking burns fewer calories and takes longer to get effective cardio exercise. Interval walking with brisk bursts can help boost calorie burn and intensity. But overall, biking can provide a more time efficient sweat session.
Of course, walking has benefits when it comes to dual tasking. You can walk casually outdoors while enjoying nature and scenery. Walking also allows for socializing simultaneously. Biking intensely on a stationary bike does not lend itself well to multitasking.
So biking wins for shorter focused workout sessions, while walking offers opportunities to pair with other activities.
Ability to Monitor and Adjust Intensity
Stationary bikes provide extensive options for monitoring your exertion level and fine tuning workout intensity. Features like watt meters, heart rate monitors, RPM trackers and calorie counters allow you to dial in precisely to target training zones.
Resistance levels and pedaling speed can be adjusted instantly to increase or decrease intensity. This responsiveness enables precise interval training where you can rapidly alternate between high and low intensity.
With walking, it is more difficult to monitor and adjust intensity in real time. You can use fitness trackers to view metrics like steps, heart rate and approximate calorie burn. But you cannot make instant changes to resistance or speed beyond just changing your walking pace. Interval walking requires more coordination to manually time intervals and shift paces accordingly. Heart rate spikes from intensity changes happen less immediately than biking intervals.
Biking provides a major advantage for training with focused intensity. The detailed performance tracking and easy resistance adjustments facilitate pushing yourself into specific heart rate zones. This level of precision control over workout intensity is harder to achieve with walking.
Versatility in Targeting Muscles
When it comes to versatility in working various muscle groups, biking has an edge over walking. With a stationary bike, you can selectively target different lower body muscles by shifting positions and pedaling in different ways.
Sitting upright targets glutes, quads and calf muscles. Leaning forward engages core muscles more. Pedaling while standing recruits more hamstrings and glutes. Backward pedaling hits the quadriceps in a different way. Changing pedal resistance and cadence also alters muscle activation.
With walking, the same core lower body muscles are consistently activated without as many options to isolate specific groups. The linear nature of the movement pattern is less dynamic than the circular pedaling motion which can be manipulated in multiple planes.
That being said, walking engages more muscles throughout the upper body not used in biking. The swinging arm motion works the shoulders, back, chest and arms. The core must activate to stabilize the spine with each stride. So walking provides more total body musculoskeletal engagement by incorporating upper body muscles that biking does not.
In summary, biking enables more versatility and flexibility in targeting lower body muscles through position and resistance adjustments. But walking activates more overall musculature by involving the upper body while hitting many of the same leg muscles.
Weight Loss Benefits
Both stationary biking and walking can be effective for weight loss when done regularly and combined with a healthy diet. As aerobic exercises, they burn calories and boost metabolism which assists with shedding pounds.
Here is an overview of how each activity promotes weight loss:
Stationary Biking Weight Loss Benefits
– Burns more calories per hour than walking at a moderate pace
– Allows for high intensity interval training which continues burning calories even after the workout is over
– Engages large leg muscles which require more energy and burn more calories
– Can be done vigorously and continuously to maximize calorie expenditure
– Provides metrics like wattage and RPMs to keep intensity high and calories burning
Walking Weight Loss Benefits
– Effective low impact exercise option for those unable to do higher impact activity like running
– Convenient and accessible way to burn extra calories during everyday activities and transportation
– No gym equipment required, can be done anywhere outdoors
– Works muscles throughout the upper and lower body for whole body calorie burn
– Lower risk of injury than more intense exercises, allowing for consistency in workouts
– Can be performed at a moderate pace for extended durations to burn calories
– Pairs well with healthy diet changes like smaller portion sizes and avoiding unhealthy snacks
For optimal weight loss results, combining walking and stationary biking workouts throughout the week plus a calorie controlled diet is recommended. This mixes high intensity bike sessions with moderate steady state walks for maximum caloric deficit. Consistency is key!
Muscle Toning
Both stationary biking and walking can provide muscle toning effects in the lower body. Toning involves strengthening muscles without bulking up. Here is an overview of the toning benefits of each exercise method:
Biking Muscle Toning Effects
– Tones glutes and thighs – The seated cycling motion targets these large lower body muscle groups to sculpt and define.
– Calves and shins – Pedaling engages the calf muscles to shape and tone this area prone to appearing flabby.
– Hamstrings – Standing while pedaling works the hamstrings in the back of the thighs.
– Core – Upright and leaning forward cycling positions activate abdominal muscles to improve core strength and tone.
Walking Muscle Toning Benefits
– Glutes – Hip extension involved in walking strides tones and lifts the butt muscles.
– Quadriceps – Forward leg motion uses quads to straighten the knee for an toned look.
– Hamstrings – The leg swing backward motion strengthens and tones hamstring muscles.
– Calves – Heel lifts while walking sculpt and shape up calf muscles.
– Core and back – Torso must engage during walking for balance and stability, toning these muscles.
– Arms – Swinging the arms activates shoulder and upper back muscles for tone.
The catch with walking is intensity must be high enough to reap toning effects. Leisurely strolling will burn some calories but won’t necessarily tone. Brisk power walking, walking on an incline, or walking intervals with upper body movements can better activate muscles to promote toning.
Overall, biking and walking both provide notable muscle toning effects for a sculpted lower body. Biking targets some areas more dynamically, but walking has potential to deliver more well-rounded toning to upper and lower body.
Cardiovascular Health
Both biking and walking are great forms of aerobic cardiovascular exercise. Here are some of the key cardiovascular benefits they offer:
Biking Cardiovascular Benefits
– Strengthens the heart muscle
– Lowers resting heart rate
– Improves lung capacity and oxygen circulation
– Burns calories and reduces fat which optimizes blood flow
– Regulation of blood pressure
– Raises HDL “good” cholesterol
Walking Cardiovascular Benefits
– Lowers high blood pressure risk
– Improves circulation and blood flood
– Manages weight and body composition which reduces heart disease risk
– Decreases LDL “bad” cholesterol
– Regulation of blood sugar and insulin response
– Increased energy levels
The action of the legs in both cycling and walking require the heart to pump faster to deliver oxygenated blood to working muscles. Over time, the heart adapts and becomes more efficient. Lung capacity improves to take in and distribute oxygen throughout the body. These cardiovascular enhancements lower the risk of health issues like high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.
One advantage biking has relates to heart rate response. On a stationary bike, it is easier to monitor heart rate and maintain higher training zones continuously for optimal cardiovascular conditioning. With walking, heart rate peaks and falls are more variable based on changes in terrain.
But from a broad perspective, both activities provide stellar cardiovascular exercise. Regularly including biking and walking workouts leads to impressive heart health.
Arthritis Impact
Due to the low impact nature of stationary biking and walking, both activities are recommended for people with arthritis. Here are some key points about how each exercise affects those with arthritis:
Biking with Arthritis
– Smooth circular pedaling motion avoids jarring impact to inflamed joints
– Does not involve weight bearing which can aggravate knee and hip arthritis
– Can adjust bike seat and handlebars to accommodate limited mobility
– Provides an aerobic workout to improve joint flexibility and range of motion
– Strengthens muscles around joints for added support and reduced pain
– No pounding like running so lower risk of further damaging cartilage
Walking with Arthritis
– Rhythmic and linear motion is gentle on joints
– Weight bearing nature helps build strength around arthritic joints
– Can use assistive walking devices like canes or walkers to reduce discomfort
– Manageable way to improve mobility and range of motion in joints
– Provides low impact cardio exercise with medical benefits like weight loss to lessen arthritis burden
– Lower chance of falls or accidents like cycling due to better balance
When selecting between biking or walking, those with severe lower body arthritis may gravitate towards biking to avoid pressure on knee, hip and ankle joints. Upper body arthritics can still walk comfortably. Consulting a doctor for guidance is recommended, as both activities can be tailored for specific needs. Overall, walking and biking give safe active therapy options for arthritis.
Conclusion
In summary, both walking and stationary biking have unique advantages that make them beneficial forms of exercise. Biking offers higher calorie burning, joint impact reduction, and versatility in targeting muscles. But walking provides unmatched convenience and accessibility anywhere, while working the whole body.
For well-rounded cardio fitness, combining walking and biking workouts is ideal. Biking enables pushing intense cardio intervals while walking offers steady state endurance at lower intensities. Together they complement each other through a balanced mix of training stimuli.
In the debate of walking vs. biking, there is no universally “better” choice. The right option depends on individual health and fitness goals. Maximizing the benefits of both activities delivers optimal results. Consistency and enjoyment with either walking or biking are most important!