Exercise Bike Sprinting vs. Track Sprinting

Sprinting is a form of anaerobic exercise that can help you lose weight, build strength and gain endurance at an impressive rate. While most people might think of track sprinting as the most effective form of sprint training, any exercise that involves speed and increases your heart rate can be considered sprinting. Exercise bike sprinting has many of the same benefits as track sprinting, but it may be a bit easier on your joints.

  1. Anaerobic Conditioning

    • There isn't a specific speed you need to hit for your exercise to qualify as a sprint. By definition, a sprint is an anaerobic exercise during which your muscles consume glycogen instead of oxygen to propel them. To hit the anaerobic sprinting heart rate zone, you need to jack your heart rate up to 80 or 90 percent of your maximum. Fast running has the same effect on your heart rate as fast cycling.

    Calories Burned

    • How many calories you'll burn from a sprint depends on your weight and effort, but you can burn more calories sprinting than you can during traditional aerobic cardio. A 2012 study conducted by researchers in Sydney, Australia found that men who sprint for an hour per week burn as many calories as those who jog for seven hours per week. The participants of the study used bikes, but the results translate to sprinting in any form, according to the researchers.

    Technique

    • Sprinting is a fairly straightforward exercise, but it takes a lot of technique to avoid injury and get the most out of your workout. Both on the track and on the bike, experts recommend keeping your focus straight ahead, but the actual techniques of both exercises vary considerably. Biking involves a crouched, tense posture, while track sprinters are erect and move their arms as quickly as their legs. An effective way to approach any sprint-based workout is to alternate between periods of high and low intensity, which is referred to as interval training. Through interval training, you can keep up a sprint workout for 20 minutes or more instead of burning out quickly.

    Injuries

    • Knee pain is among the most common sources of discomfort for cyclists. Cycling expert Nicole Cooke claims that most cycling-related injuries are a result of improper foot position and awkward positioning of the seat relative to the handlebars. However, sprinting on a track may be more stressful on your joints, since it involves repeated impacts that are absorbed through your feet, ankles, knees and hips.