A folding exercise bike isn’t known for producing great workouts, but that’s just not the case with Excy! In today’s live cycling workout, we get into great beginner and advanced core and leg cycling workouts using an exercise ball with the Excy Keeper. The Excy Mobile Coaching “Cycle Leg Blast” 15 minute workout was our guide, followed by the “Play” interval workout set to a 5 minute burst.

First, we started on the floor in a recumbent cycling position that is amazing for those who are just getting started, including those who are looking for a home physical therapy cycling solution. You can go as hard or as easy as you’d like in this position. There are so many ways to enjoy Excy as a recumbent exercise bike and this is a favorite for sure. Next, we shifted our floor cycling position to sit on top of the exercise ball for a more complex workout that incorporates your legs and your core. In this position, placing the exercise ball against the wall offers some added stability (hold onto the ball for even more stability). Cycling while sitting on an exercise ball is very tough and there are so many other ways to use Excy to work on balance and core training, so don’t pressure yourself or over due it. For the vast majority of people, just sitting on the ball and trying to lift a leg is a very difficult thing to do while maintaining good trunk stability. So, sitting on an exercise ball with your feet on an alternating cycling surface is very challenging.

We wrapped up today’s cycling workout by moving the exercise ball away from the wall for an advanced total body cycling experience that centers around focusing on creating better balance and a strong core. The value of this exercise is that it demands that your core and back muscles work well together to create a base of support in order to coordinate these motions. It’s important to start with the simplest exercises first before working up to complex positions. If an exercise ball is too challenging, consider starting by sitting on a stool. You can add arm motions and hand weights for even a higher degree of difficulty. But remember your personal goals. For some, it’s about the bigger challenging moves, but for most, it’s about getting the cycling in and working to get your heart rate up!

When it comes to a traditional folding exercise bike, they don’t stand up to moderate to higher intensity rugged workouts because they scoot. They also have weight limits. With Excy, there is not scooting, there are no weight limit (except for the standing unicycle exercise position), and we have over 100 different workouts to pick from to accommodate entire families from fitness beginners, to those battling an injury, to elite athletes. Because Excy weighs only 14 pounds and is a full body folding exercise bike for easy storage and transport, we always invite you to move it room to room (it’s a lot more fun to do a workout surrounded by the people you want to spend time with and not socially isolated to a specific room). But, you can also take it with you, so think about taking Excy with you to work, while traveling, and even to the physical therapy clinic so you can connect what happens in the clinic to home physical therapy exercises. You can even deflate the exercise ball and make it part of a traveling workout with Excy. In other words, with the Excy folding exercise bike, you can unfold a lot of workouts on your own schedule.

Snapshot of Today’s Cycling Exercise Ball Workout!

The Full Cycling Exercise Ball Workout

Proper Setup for Using Excy for a Cycling Exercise Ball Workout

Explore more setup tips here for cycling your legs, but don’t forget the Excy upper body ergometer workouts too that allow you to hand cycle anywhere.

Always consult a doctor before starting a new exercise program.