Do You Lose Weight When You Lie on Back & Bicycle?

Bicycles or bicycle crunches are usually considered an ab exercise, intended to tone and strengthen muscle more so than to drop pounds. However, almost any exercise burns more calories than not exercising at all. Whether that extra calorie burn will actually make you lose weight depends on a variety of factors, only some of which are directly related to the bicycle exercise.

  1. Bicycle Basics

    • If you lie flat on your back and pump your legs, you won't get much out of the exercise, because you're not doing it properly. To do a bicycle crunch, you must flex your stomach muscles to bring your shoulders off the ground as you pump your legs and twist your torso from side to side to bring one elbow and the opposite knee together. This engages most of the muscles in your core and hips for an effective burn.

    Calorie Burn

    • Health resource website FitClick.com reports a 150-pound person would burn about 255 calories per hour doing bicycle crunches. However, it is unlikely someone is going to do crunches for that long! A more reasonable five-minute session of bicycle crunches burns approximately 20 calories. A heavier person will burn more calories in the same workout, while lighter people will burn fewer.

    Spot Reduction

    • Some people believe that ab exercises like the bicycle crunch will target the abs for fat loss. This is a myth. When a modified diet and a regular exercise routine create a calorie deficit, you will start to lose fat from areas all over your body. However, an effective ab workout will tighten and tone the muscles, which will be better revealed after fat loss.

    Bottom Line

    • At 20 calories per five-minute session, a person would have to complete approximately 175 workouts to burn the number of calories in a single pound of fat. Bicycle crunches should be a part of an exercise program for weight loss -- alone, they are not an effective.