Is 1 1/2 hr. on a exercise bike too much?

[AMR]

I got my exercise moved into my new apartment and put back together. I'm ready to get to it! I was thinking about riding on it for an hour and a half in the mornings before class. I have a intense interval program I do for an half an hour, then I repeat that only at lower resistance again for an half an hour, and then the last 30 minutes is just steady at one level.

Does this sound like too much? I'd like to do this Monday-Friday. I'm not overweight and already have a pretty athletic build. But I figure if I lost 15 pounds I'd look really cut and fit. I don't want to deteriorate my muscle build. Could you guess how long it would take me to loose this weight at an hour and a half five times a week? Thanks!

 

[Ride_On]

First off, nobody can guess how much weight you are going to lose doing that. Don't try and quantify it like that. Just work hard, eat right, and the results will come. If you want to get technical, a 500 calorie a day deficit from either exercise or eat less, or any combination of the two, will get you roughly, and I emphasize roughly, one pound of weight loss per week. There are a lot of variables, one being that it may not all be fat.

Second, yes that is definitely too much unless you are training for a serious bike race. Rest is part of any good routine. If you're really doing an "intense interval session" for the first half hour, that is like enough for you. I'm not sure if you're referring to HIIT or not, but if you can handle it (since you said you're pretty athletic), I would say do that 2x per week plus another 1-2 days of moderate steady state. HIIT can effectively be done for 20-30 minutes with the same or better benefits that long duration lower intensity cardio. For moderate intensity duration, well that's up to you, but I wouldn't exceed an hour or you're probably pushing the limit for muscle loss. The one exception to that would be if you're really doing low intensity exercise, but most people don't do that.

Above both of those, adopt a solid weight training routine (see the Weight Training sticky) and stick with that. Above all, make sure your diet is in check because that will be, by far, the most important aspect in leaning out.