Cycling as a complement to yoga at home

Cycling is the ideal complement for yoga at home, as it allows us to do aerobic work and train our cardiovascular system.

We have already said on several occasions that while yoga is an excellent physical exercise, it may have certain deficiencies in cardiovascular training. For this reason, an exercise bike is an excellent investment if we want to get in shape without leaving home.

We understand as cardiovascular work all that exercise that keeps our heart beating at 60% - 70% of its maximum frequency (HRmax), for a duration of between 20 and 60 minutes.
Aerobic cardiovascular work serves to:

• Strengthen the heart
• Capillarize the muscles and get more blood and oxygen throughout the body.
• Increase metabolism and burn fat.
• Release of endorphins (wellness hormones).

Surely there are many more benefits, but only with the aforementioned, it is more than enough reason to do a little cardio.

How do we train?

One of the biggest obstacles to exercise is laziness , so if we have the bicycle "at hand", in some room of our house, we just have to get on it and start pedaling. We can do 2 or 3 weekly sessions of a minimum duration of 20 minutes ( ideally 40 minutes ).

To be more enjoyable and productive, we can pedal while listening to a podcast or if we have the bike in front of a television, watch a documentary. In this way, in addition to exercising the body, we also cultivate a bit . Of course you can also listen to music if that encourages and motivates you more.

An advantage is that most modern exercise bikes have heart rate monitors installed in the handlebar , in the form of metal plates, which only by putting our two hands on top allows us to know our pulsations per minute This is very useful to keep the cadence and rhythm inside of an aerobic frequency.

The first thing we have to know is our FCmax ( maximum heart rate ). A simple formula to calculate it is as follows:

FCmax = 220 - age

There are more complex formulas that take weight and fitness into account, but as a reference, with the above formula we can obtain a fairly accurate estimate.

For example, a 35-year-old person will have an HRmax of 185 beats per minute.

60% for her will be 111 ppm and 70% will be 130 ppm. Knowing this, we can do bicycle routines in which our heart stays between approximately 110 and 130 ppm.

It is important that everyone calculate their FCmax and their FC60% and FC70%, so that they know what the intensity of their exercise should be.

That is the ideal range for aerobic exercise, and contrary to what you think, more intensity is not synonymous with more effective work. The duration of the exercise is also important, less than 20 minutes will hardly have an impact on the body.

If you are in a very low form, do not be surprised that your pulsations are triggered before the minimum effort, in that case you will have to pedal very softly until your heart is gradually trained.

Before or after a yoga session?

Ideally, do it before, and then yoga will help you stretch and relax, although you can do isolated cardio sessions.


From here I encourage you and I recommend that you add this plus to your life, and do not consider the purchase of an exercise cycling as an expense, but as an investment in your health.

Gopal