S/O: How hard should I be working

[Anonymous]

I do Peloton rides 4x week and usually work out really, really hard. Recently I've been unmotivated to work out so convinced myself to do the bear minimum on the suggested cadence/resistance, about 10 points lower than usual. I still feel like I got a good workout without exhausting myself. I clearly didn't hit the metrics I usually do...but so what? Is a "good workout" good enough if I just do that most of the time?

[Anonymous]

If you normally work out "really, really hard", then lowering the resistance by 10 points is probably still challenging for most people. And you yourself said you still feel like you got a good workout. And eventually you'll feel like ramping back up, it's normal.

So, I think you're fine. Unless you have a specific goal in mind that you're trying to reach or accomplish.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think riding a stationary bike is a “good” workout no matter how you slice it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think riding a stationary bike is a “good” workout no matter how you slice it

You are clueless, and I don't even own a Peloton or the like. But I do know you are incorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think riding a stationary bike is a “good” workout no matter how you slice it

You are clueless, and I don't even own a Peloton or the like. But I do know you are incorrect.

NP and I somewhat agree. Its good cardio but not a full body workout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think riding a stationary bike is a “good” workout no matter how you slice it

You are clueless, and I don't even own a Peloton or the like. But I do know you are incorrect.

NP and I somewhat agree. Its good cardio but not a full body workout.

Well now you’re changing the definition of “a good workout no matter how you slice it.”

I do own a stationary bike, and while it’s not good for increasing core strength, that’s not why I own it. It gets my heart rate to the zones I want it for the amount of time I want. It’s a good workout.

[Anonymous]

It’s fine OP. Consistency is most important for results. Not every workout should be an all out effort - you want to build up endurance by doing longer sustained pushes at slightly lower numbers than your max effort.

[Anonymous]

I believe a good workout is the one that gets done and a bad workout is one you hate so much your brain resists doing it again.

I only work out when I feel like it, when I feel like it. And I think because I put no pressure on myself to treat it like a chore, it’s easy for me to work out every day, for 20 minutes to two hours.

[Anonymous]

SAME OP. I'm about a year into the peloton and this month in particular I've just let go of some of my metrics, which has been hard for me! But yeah, you're right, I'm still working out and feeling good! And it totally still counts. I feel like getting to this point of like, 'every workout doesn't need to be an all out leave me on the floor huffing and puffing effort' is actually a sign of it being a PERMANENT change in my life.

I can't peak forever! But I want to keep exercising forever! I have been confused about people who target zone 3/4 for their primary HR zones while working out because when I'm going, I'm in zone 5 a LOT and mostly in high 4. But lately I've been realizing, but hey, you know what is sustainable as heck? A lot of zone 3 workouts! Now that I've lost a lot of weight and am trying to envision what this all looks like long term I'm cool with the 'moderate workout'. I think its a sign of success!

And LOL at the pp saying its not a good workout, ok, sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SAME OP. I'm about a year into the peloton and this month in particular I've just let go of some of my metrics, which has been hard for me! But yeah, you're right, I'm still working out and feeling good! And it totally still counts. I feel like getting to this point of like, 'every workout doesn't need to be an all out leave me on the floor huffing and puffing effort' is actually a sign of it being a PERMANENT change in my life.

I can't peak forever! But I want to keep exercising forever! I have been confused about people who target zone 3/4 for their primary HR zones while working out because when I'm going, I'm in zone 5 a LOT and mostly in high 4. But lately I've been realizing, but hey, you know what is sustainable as heck? A lot of zone 3 workouts! Now that I've lost a lot of weight and am trying to envision what this all looks like long term I'm cool with the 'moderate workout'. I think its a sign of success!

And LOL at the pp saying its not a good workout, ok, sure.

I guess its a good workout for the average person. But at the more advanced levels of fitness, bike alone is not a workout. It's decent cardio but doesn't burn that many calories. And not a full body workout. It's basically a warm up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAME OP. I'm about a year into the peloton and this month in particular I've just let go of some of my metrics, which has been hard for me! But yeah, you're right, I'm still working out and feeling good! And it totally still counts. I feel like getting to this point of like, 'every workout doesn't need to be an all out leave me on the floor huffing and puffing effort' is actually a sign of it being a PERMANENT change in my life.

I can't peak forever! But I want to keep exercising forever! I have been confused about people who target zone 3/4 for their primary HR zones while working out because when I'm going, I'm in zone 5 a LOT and mostly in high 4. But lately I've been realizing, but hey, you know what is sustainable as heck? A lot of zone 3 workouts! Now that I've lost a lot of weight and am trying to envision what this all looks like long term I'm cool with the 'moderate workout'. I think its a sign of success!

And LOL at the pp saying its not a good workout, ok, sure.

I guess its a good workout for the average person. But at the more advanced levels of fitness, bike alone is not a workout. It's decent cardio but doesn't burn that many calories. And not a full body workout. It's basically a warm up.

Such an annoying, unhelpful comment! Lots of "real" athletes at "advanced levels of fitness" use peloton (Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, for example). It is an excellent cardio machine and platform, and so if you're trying to get a good cardio workout, you can get a good workout on a Peloton. Obviously, if you're trying to gain huge biceps or have some other non-cardio based goal (or non-cycling based goal), it won't help with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAME OP. I'm about a year into the peloton and this month in particular I've just let go of some of my metrics, which has been hard for me! But yeah, you're right, I'm still working out and feeling good! And it totally still counts. I feel like getting to this point of like, 'every workout doesn't need to be an all out leave me on the floor huffing and puffing effort' is actually a sign of it being a PERMANENT change in my life.

I can't peak forever! But I want to keep exercising forever! I have been confused about people who target zone 3/4 for their primary HR zones while working out because when I'm going, I'm in zone 5 a LOT and mostly in high 4. But lately I've been realizing, but hey, you know what is sustainable as heck? A lot of zone 3 workouts! Now that I've lost a lot of weight and am trying to envision what this all looks like long term I'm cool with the 'moderate workout'. I think its a sign of success!

And LOL at the pp saying its not a good workout, ok, sure.

I guess its a good workout for the average person. But at the more advanced levels of fitness, bike alone is not a workout. It's decent cardio but doesn't burn that many calories. And not a full body workout. It's basically a warm up.

It's basically a warm up? shut up with that $hit. At this point you're just being contrarian....for the hell of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAME OP. I'm about a year into the peloton and this month in particular I've just let go of some of my metrics, which has been hard for me! But yeah, you're right, I'm still working out and feeling good! And it totally still counts. I feel like getting to this point of like, 'every workout doesn't need to be an all out leave me on the floor huffing and puffing effort' is actually a sign of it being a PERMANENT change in my life.

I can't peak forever! But I want to keep exercising forever! I have been confused about people who target zone 3/4 for their primary HR zones while working out because when I'm going, I'm in zone 5 a LOT and mostly in high 4. But lately I've been realizing, but hey, you know what is sustainable as heck? A lot of zone 3 workouts! Now that I've lost a lot of weight and am trying to envision what this all looks like long term I'm cool with the 'moderate workout'. I think its a sign of success!

And LOL at the pp saying its not a good workout, ok, sure.

I guess its a good workout for the average person. But at the more advanced levels of fitness, bike alone is not a workout. It's decent cardio but doesn't burn that many calories. And not a full body workout. It's basically a warm up.

Such an annoying, unhelpful comment! Lots of "real" athletes at "advanced levels of fitness" use peloton (Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, for example). It is an excellent cardio machine and platform, and so if you're trying to get a good cardio workout, you can get a good workout on a Peloton. Obviously, if you're trying to gain huge biceps or have some other non-cardio based goal (or non-cycling based goal), it won't help with that.

That’s my point. Cycling is good cardio and has its place in a well rounded fitness program. My point is bike alone is not going to get you in shape no matter how “hard” you work. Yes, it will improve cardiovascular endurance. When I say in shape, I mean aesthetically. I can’t speak for anyone else but if I’m spending that much time working out I want to *look* like I work out. But I know everyone doesn’t have the same goals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAME OP. I'm about a year into the peloton and this month in particular I've just let go of some of my metrics, which has been hard for me! But yeah, you're right, I'm still working out and feeling good! And it totally still counts. I feel like getting to this point of like, 'every workout doesn't need to be an all out leave me on the floor huffing and puffing effort' is actually a sign of it being a PERMANENT change in my life.

I can't peak forever! But I want to keep exercising forever! I have been confused about people who target zone 3/4 for their primary HR zones while working out because when I'm going, I'm in zone 5 a LOT and mostly in high 4. But lately I've been realizing, but hey, you know what is sustainable as heck? A lot of zone 3 workouts! Now that I've lost a lot of weight and am trying to envision what this all looks like long term I'm cool with the 'moderate workout'. I think its a sign of success!

And LOL at the pp saying its not a good workout, ok, sure.

I guess its a good workout for the average person. But at the more advanced levels of fitness, bike alone is not a workout. It's decent cardio but doesn't burn that many calories. And not a full body workout. It's basically a warm up.

Such an annoying, unhelpful comment! Lots of "real" athletes at "advanced levels of fitness" use peloton (Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, for example). It is an excellent cardio machine and platform, and so if you're trying to get a good cardio workout, you can get a good workout on a Peloton. Obviously, if you're trying to gain huge biceps or have some other non-cardio based goal (or non-cycling based goal), it won't help with that.

That’s my point. Cycling is good cardio and has its place in a well rounded fitness program. My point is bike alone is not going to get you in shape no matter how “hard” you work. Yes, it will improve cardiovascular endurance. When I say in shape, I mean aesthetically. I can’t speak for anyone else but if I’m spending that much time working out I want to *look* like I work out. But I know everyone doesn’t have the same goals.

That is a ridiculous goal and standard for working out frankly. Every single person age 10-80 benefits from some cardio. It will improve their health. Very very very few people statistically are capable of achieving some defined muscular body like you are describing. As someone who has gone from 210 pounds to 160 pounds using this crappy workout program I don’t have big guns but look a helluva lot better and much more importantly I feel a LOT better.

People like you keep people like the old me on the sofa. Fitness is more than a rock hard bod. Kind empathetic humans who aren’t overly focused on their own six pack get this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAME OP. I'm about a year into the peloton and this month in particular I've just let go of some of my metrics, which has been hard for me! But yeah, you're right, I'm still working out and feeling good! And it totally still counts. I feel like getting to this point of like, 'every workout doesn't need to be an all out leave me on the floor huffing and puffing effort' is actually a sign of it being a PERMANENT change in my life.

I can't peak forever! But I want to keep exercising forever! I have been confused about people who target zone 3/4 for their primary HR zones while working out because when I'm going, I'm in zone 5 a LOT and mostly in high 4. But lately I've been realizing, but hey, you know what is sustainable as heck? A lot of zone 3 workouts! Now that I've lost a lot of weight and am trying to envision what this all looks like long term I'm cool with the 'moderate workout'. I think its a sign of success!

And LOL at the pp saying its not a good workout, ok, sure.

I guess its a good workout for the average person. But at the more advanced levels of fitness, bike alone is not a workout. It's decent cardio but doesn't burn that many calories. And not a full body workout. It's basically a warm up.

Such an annoying, unhelpful comment! Lots of "real" athletes at "advanced levels of fitness" use peloton (Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, for example). It is an excellent cardio machine and platform, and so if you're trying to get a good cardio workout, you can get a good workout on a Peloton. Obviously, if you're trying to gain huge biceps or have some other non-cardio based goal (or non-cycling based goal), it won't help with that.

That’s my point. Cycling is good cardio and has its place in a well rounded fitness program. My point is bike alone is not going to get you in shape no matter how “hard” you work. Yes, it will improve cardiovascular endurance. When I say in shape, I mean aesthetically. I can’t speak for anyone else but if I’m spending that much time working out I want to *look* like I work out. But I know everyone doesn’t have the same goals.

That is a ridiculous goal and standard for working out frankly. Every single person age 10-80 benefits from some cardio. It will improve their health. Very very very few people statistically are capable of achieving some defined muscular body like you are describing. As someone who has gone from 210 pounds to 160 pounds using this crappy workout program I don’t have big guns but look a helluva lot better and much more importantly I feel a LOT better.

People like you keep people like the old me on the sofa. Fitness is more than a rock hard bod. Kind empathetic humans who aren’t overly focused on their own six pack get this.

i have not done a workout on a Peloton but I can say as a veteran of many types of workouts all disciplines of resistance training and forms of cardio that cycling is great for cardio and is also an underrated upper body workout. It is totally dependent on how you ride to get the upper body benefits. Specifically you need to ride in the drops ( the lower handlebars) arms are engaged there as well as chest and shoulders. Arms are used to pull on the bike driving the legs on climbs. Engaging the core is also a benefit. Cycling is still cardio based but I did not expect the other side benefits of riding until after I had adopted cycling training as a go to workout. Weights are still a must for me but I can see where cycling could check all boxes for some people