Stationary Recumbent Chair Cycling Experience Makes Exercise Easy with Excy
Quick Tip: Optimal Pin Placement: Bottom hole. Place the Keeper on the seated surface and Connect Excy. Keep your back aligned with and tight against the back of the seat. Add arm weights or resistance bands for total body workout. Place chair against wall for added stability. See more positions.
Cycling Forwards
Backwards Cycling
Back and Forth Pedal Exercise
Video for Stationary Recumbent Chair Cycling Exercise
Stationary Recumbent Chair Cycling Setup
Place the Keeper on a stable chair or couch with the Keeper End Holes even with the front of the seat and the excess material placed over the back of the seated surface. Open your Excy system and place the Clevis Pin in the bottom hole for the recumbent chair exercise. Connect the Excy system using the dual center Keeper Holes and Post Band. Place the right crank arm in the top furthest position (between 2 and 3 o’clock). Adjust the Slide until your right leg is straight with your heel placed on the pedal. Lock the Slide. Pedal forward with the balls of your feet and make sure you have a 25-30 degree bend in your knee (your knee should never be fully extended). If you have too little or too much angle, adjust the Slide. Your feet should be close to the crank arm, but never so close that your ankle hits on its way through the stroke. Avoid splaying your feet outwards or rotating them inwards while cycling. The favored foot position is barefoot or with socks. When wearing shoes, make sure they are suitable to allow you to maintain a fixed and stable position on the pedals. Consider placing pillows behind your back for added comfort and support. The chair can be placed up against a wall for more stability. Resistance bands and hand weights can be added for a whole body workout. Any 9/16” standard pedal thread can be added to the Excy system. Exercise: When cycling, think in terms of square rotations to improve your technique and pedaling efficiency. Envision pushing your foot forward along the top of the square, and then curling your toes and pushing down against the front side of the square and pulling towards your glutes as you pull up the backside of the square. Through the bottom of the pedal stroke you simply need to un-weigh and apply a little of force while pulling up the pedal to keep the momentum going. Select a comfortable resistance as you learn to use the Excy system. The higher the resistance, the more difficult it is to pedal. Naturally, this means your leg muscles are getting a better strength training workout, but it also means that your rotations will be less smooth and like riding a real bike up a hill that requires more of a cranking motion vs. spinning. Keep your back aligned with and tight against the back of the seat. Explore other Chair Recumbent positions for “Back and Forth” and “Backwards Pedaling” exercises.
Video Recumbent Chair Setup Instructions
Snapshot Recumbent Chair Workout
Getting Started
There’s a big advantage of pedaling, spinning, or cranking Excy with controlled forces. Take time to pedal slowly at the easiest levels until it feels smooth and controlled before increasing resistance. Before pedaling, always protect your surface with a towel or mat.
Pedaling Forwards & Backwards
Whether using hands or feet, think in terms of square rotations to improve technique. Envision pushing your hand or foot forward along the top of a square and pushing down against the front side of the square and pulling towards your body as you pull up the backside of the square. To pedal backwards, follow the same process.
Back and Forth Strokes
Pedaling back and forth is great for range of motion and strength training. Simply apply pressure, unweight the opposite hand or foot in a repeating motion.
Isometrics
Instead of relying on pedaling with resistance cranked up to fatigue the muscle, you will instead set the resistance to easy and steadily press into the pedals with even forces to constrict your upper or lower body muscles and hold it until fatigue sets in.
Resistance Guidelines for Clinic and Home Physical Therapy
Excy offers a wide range of resistance to accommodate all riders. Depending on your goals, you may want to do more rotations or cranks with less resistance, or the opposite. Excy is designed to take either path or a combination of both. Generally, rotations with light to moderate resistance are used to improve cardio vascular endurance, while high resistance with fewer cranks are used to increase muscle size and strength. It is important to start easy before increasing tension as it is easy to get very sore muscles almost immediately doing high tension cranking motions that a person is not use to.
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On-Demand Exercise, Home Physical Therapy, and Strength Training Instruction!
Download the free Excy mobile coaching application for on-demand, live, and guided workouts. Save workouts, set goals, and keep track of progress over time! Watch instructional videos from physical therapists to learn proper technique. Contact with questions at excy@excy.com or 425-205-9444.
