This meant that 12 people cycled indoors and 12 outdoors. Some plucky researchers studied 24 female middle-school students in Seoul, South Korea, who engaged in a 16-week course of cycling.

It’s hardly surprising that getting any form of intense cardio is good for you.īut is staying indoors better for you than hitting your nearest cycle path with aplomb? However, you won’t get the benefits if you don’t get the technique right - learn more here. You can also, however, adjust the difficulty of your spin in a more controlled way than simply picking a different hill up which to cycle when outdoors. The extra weight makes it a little easier than pushing your own body weight on a flat road or up a hill. While most stationary bikes have a weighted flywheel on the front (usually weighing around 40 pounds) to mimic what you’d feel outdoors, this weight builds momentum as you cycle. Indoor cycling “is the closest I can get to meditating,” says Emily Southworth, lead instructor at Recycle Studio in Boston. (Seriously, don’t cycle outdoors with your eyes shut - here’s our guide to bike safety.) It’s also pretty liberating to shut your eyes (a big no-no while cycling on roads), zone out, and let your legs do the work. If you’re short on time and gear, indoor cycling is an easy go-to, and you’ll never have to worry about changing a flat tire or following traffic laws. From the indoor cycling side of the story, there are some major benefits that you can’t get from riding outside: An ultra-fast, intense, stress-free workout, for one.

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