While all types of stationary and outdoor cycling can do wonders for your well-being, air bike exercise, in particular, appears to bring along a whole host of added benefits that you might not encounter on your scenic ride through the trails or towns.

So, what is an air bike exactly? Air bikes are a low-impact way to work your whole body, improving muscle strength and endurance. The air resistance is the magical ingredient that makes them ideal for both hardcore trainers and total beginners—the harder you work, the higher the resistance.

Let’s take a look at 10 advantages that make an air bike a great choice for your fitness plan.

If they aren’t just for leg day, what muscles do air bike work? Using an exercise bike with fan wheel like Tru Grit’s works both your upper and lower body, providing an aerobic routine that works your heart and a whole lot of other muscles.

Unlike a traditional stationary bike, air bikes are operated by both:

• Foot pedals
• Handles that you push forward and pull back with your arms and shoulders

Because of this two-prong motion, they require more core involvement to maintain balance when seated. Using an air bike over other stationary bikes can improve your posture and balance.

The variable nature of the fan resistance makes for immediate and responsive changes based on how hard you’re working at any given time. This keeps you on track with your exercise goals and in line with your fitness level, whether you’re maintaining a steady, gentle pace or pushing yourself to your limits.

Quick tip: Keep your back straight and check that your seat is adjusted correctly to maintain proper form. This will improve posture and balance, and ensure you make the most of your stationary biking.

Air bikes are among the most popular machines used by CrossFit enthusiasts and others with a take-no-prisoners approach to building strong bodies.

The air resistance bike is a great way to practice high-intensity interval training (HIIT), as it quickly and automatically reacts to changes in effort. You can stage high-intensity intervals as short as 10 seconds, and the air bike will follow your lead and provide maximum resistance.

You can also switch up your cardio workout session with other types of interval training that require combinations of high, medium, and low intensities. Air bikes are a great option for Tabata workouts that use 20/10-second intervals.¹

Quick tip: Look for an air bike designed for high-intensity training with commercial-grade steel components and construction designed to keep up with the do-or-die fitness crowd.

Because one of the air bike benefits is limitless resistance, you can easily use an air bike to build muscle by setting it to higher intensity levels.²

And because of the full-body engagement involved, air bikes can build many muscle groups, including:

• Leg muscles – Calves, hamstrings, quadriceps
• Upper body muscles – Biceps, shoulders, triceps
• Core muscles – Abdominals, obliques, glutes

Quick tip: If you’re accustomed to hitting the road for a run to build leg muscles, you might benefit from an air bike instead. It targets many of the same muscle groups—and then some—while protecting your knees and ankles from impact injuries.

Because you can jump right in and push your limits, air bikes can give you back a little free time. Being able to work both upper and lower body in intense, sweat-inducing, muscle-building bursts can give you all the same benefits of an hour-long workout in a fraction of the time.

Quick tip: Use these short workouts as a pick-me-up throughout the day, especially if you’re working from home and sitting throughout the day. They won’t eat into your working hours too much but will refresh and re-energize you in no time at all.

If weight loss or maintenance is one of your fitness goals, an air bike might be for you. They’re a fast road to increasing your daily aerobic movement and are among the highest calorie-burners of any type of exercise machine.³

The amount of calories you can burn is a variable tied to your age, gender, weight, muscle mass, and activity. In general, you can burn:

• About 250 calories every 30 minutes at moderate intensity
• Up to 380 calories per 30 minutes at high intensity

Quick tip: Ramp up your stationary bike workout length and intensity gradually and pair your activity with a balanced meal plan. You’ll be indoor cycling your way to weight loss before you know it.

Yes, we already mentioned the muscle-building power of an indoor cycling bike. However, this is one muscle that merits its own category.

Air bikes provide a great cardio workout, improving strength and endurance. By involving the whole body, air biking presents a faster path to aerobic activity while helping you avoid overexertion through the responsive nature of the fan’s resistance. The heart has no choice but to wake up and start pumping much-needed blood to all of the muscles involved in air biking.⁴

There are many studies related to heart health and cycling, but the most amazing is a recent study out of Purdue University. According to their findings, 20 minutes of cycling daily can reduce your risk of dying from a heart-related disease by 50%.⁵

Quick tip: Despite the heart-related health benefits of air bike exercise, you don’t have to reach a peak heart rate every time. There are advantages to both short, high-intensity cycling and more extended, moderate-intensity exercise.

The single best workout is the one that’s right for you. You wouldn’t want to sign up for a triathlon after a decade of relative inactivity, and you wouldn’t coach a professional athlete with a slow, gentle walk three times a week.

However, air resistance bikes work for both of these groups.

Air resistance bikes are ideal for everyone, from professional NFL players to your grandma with arthritis. They respond to your strength, speed, and intensity, whether that’s killing it with a Tabata workout or recovering from an injury or illness.

Quick tip: A quality exercise machine is an investment for your home studio, and although you can’t put a price on your health, you want something that will grow with you and potentially be a great fit for everyone in your home.

Twisted ankle? Prop it on the stationary footrest available on either side of the fan and pump your arms. Bruised shoulder? Concentrate on just the pedaling function for today.

Air bikes are popular rehab and physical therapy options because they:

• Allow you to isolate part of the body while you gently move the rest
• Are low impact so that they won’t put stress and pressure on your joints
• Provide resistance based on your strength, making it difficult to reinjure yourself accidentally

The bike’s variable resistance is critical. As discussed, the resistance level automatically responds and changes based on the intensity of your body’s movement.

Quick tip: Make sure you ramp up slowly, avoid overexertion, and move according to your body’s strength at the moment for solid physical therapy, rehab, and recovery workouts.

Because they employ most of the body and can be used gently, air bikes are a great way to warm up for a longer workout.⁶ They’ll warm up your:

• Back
• Shoulders
• Glutes
• Hamstrings

Quick tip: Use an air bike for five minutes to get your blood pumping before a different exercise activity. You can also use them as part of your warm-down, or to supplement your regular workout routine.

Let’s be honest here. On an old-school stationary bike, you can sit back and zone out a bit, maybe catch up on a Netflix guilty pleasure while you try to ignore the burning in your legs.

On an air bike? Not a chance.

Whether you want to or not, you’re going to be living in the moment as you move your whole body, and the air resistance meets you blow-for-blow, like a sparring partner of equal strength. You won’t be on autopilot, thinking of past regrets or future anxieties while you’re balancing on this ride.

And isn’t that a beautiful thing? Fully experiencing the moment you’re in, with mind and body engaged, has a multitude of benefits, including:⁷

• Emotion regulation
• Stress reduction
• Improved ability to adapt to change

Mindfulness isn’t just for yoga anymore; it’s connected to an improved experience in many activities, including HIIT.⁸ 

Quick tip: Experiencing and practicing mindfulness under physical stress can give you an edge for employing it during other stressful situations at home or work, or wherever life takes you.

Ten air resistance bike benefits still aren’t enough? Well, there are a lot more benefits to using an air bike based on both aerobic exercising and general cycling.

And what do we know about the air bike? Just that it’s the champion of aerobic activity and an all-encompassing form of cycling, so anything you get from aerobic activities or riding your bike, you’ll experience multiple times over on an air bike.

Hop on that air bike to improve your: 

• Brain power⁹
• Stress levels
• Mental health
• Sex life
• Metabolism¹⁰
• Lung function
• Cholesterol level
• Sleep quality and length

Looking pretty good, right?

Wherever you’re at with your fitness—now and in the future—you can’t go wrong with an air bike. The total and immediate responsiveness to your intensity can help you meet your fitness goal day by day, second by second.

At Tru Grit, we’re inspired by those who refuse to quit. Our products are made to withstand a brutal workout, and our Grit Bike is no exception. This air bike is crafted from industrial-grade steel with a MIG-welded chassis, easy to set up and easier to use.

Take a gentle step or a ferocious leap forward toward full-body fitness, including your mind. Tru Grit is here to help you make it happen.

Fit at Midlife. 28 Awesome Assault Bike Workouts. https://fitatmidlife.com/28-awesome-assault-bike-workouts/

Titan Fitness Blog. Top 10 Health Benefits of Using a Fan Bike. https://www.titan.fitness/blog/top-10-health-benefits-of-using-a-fan-bike.html

Home Gym Resource. Can You Lose Belly Fat By Cycling On An Air/Fan Bike? https://homegymresource.com/can-you-lose-belly-fat-by-cycling-on-an-air-fan-bike/

Home Gym Resource. Why Are Fan Bikes So Hard To Work Out On? https://homegymresource.com/why-are-fan-bikes-so-hard-to-work-out-on/

Save a Life by NHCPS. How Cycling Can Reduce Your Risk of Coronary Heart Disease by 50 Percent. https://nhcps.com/how-cycling-can-reduce-your-risk-of-coronary-heart-disease-by-50-percent/

T3 Smarter Living. What the hell is an air bike, and how can it make me seriously fit? https://www.t3.com/us/features/what-is-an-air-bike

American Psychological Association. What are the benefits of mindfulness. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/ce-corner

Daily Burn. Meditation Meets HIIT in New Mindful Fitness Approach. https://dailyburn.com/life/fitness/meditation-hiit-mindful-movement/

Forbes. Drive Sharper, Live Longer, Look Sexier And 42 Other Reasons To Ride A Bicycle In 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2018/12/31/drive-sharper-live-longer-look-sexier-and-43-other-reasons-to-ride-a-bicycle-in-2019/

Discerning Cyclist. How Does Cycling Help Your Body? A Cardio Health Guide. https://discerningcyclist.com/how-does-cycling-help-your-body-cardio/

National Cancer Institute. Physical Activity and Cancer. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/obesity/physical-activity-fact-sheet#what-is-known-about-the-relationship-between-physical-activity-and-cancer-risk

Better Me. Does Cycling Burn Belly Fat? Here’s What Fitness Experts Have To Say. https://betterme.world/articles/does-cycling-burn-belly-fat/