Stationary Bike..good form of cardio??

I wanna cut up but I have a bad knee so i cant run..
i can sit and pedal a bike tho..just as long as there isnt weight on it.
i would have to join a gym to do so tho.

is the stationary bike a good form of cardio to drop about 15 pounds of fat over the winter?if so at what speed, etc.?

thanks

The best thing to do is put it on effort level 4-5 (between 1 and 10) and pedal as hard as you can for one minute, then pedal a bit slower for another 1 or 2 minutes, then pedal hard for another minute and so on.

I like the recumbent bike (the one where you sit and put up your legs). My goal is 10-12 calories per minute.

The elliptical X-trainer is a better cardio machine cause it's low impact & works your whole body as all your limbs are moving. You also burn more calories on the elliptical than on a stationary bike for the same time period. Thie bike is only good for your lower body, whereas the elliptical works your whole body.

Just my 2c worth :)

sure you can use a stationary bike to loose 15 pounds no problem. I use the stationary bike for cardio myself, it i sjust a personal preference, there may or may not be better forms of cardio, but some cardio is better then none. As you have said you have a bad knee so do what you can do and stick with it and you will see results. I have dropped from about 215 to around 180 and used the stationary bike as my form of cardio, I have no complaints....works for me and the fact that I somewhat enjoy it makes it easier for me to stick with.

Any cardio is good cardio. If your primary goal os to loose weight then you need to keep you heart rate in the fat burning zone for your age. There are usually charts on the equipment that tell you this, or you can look it up online. I would recomenr that you keep you heart rate at that level for at least 15-20 min. You work out should look like this 3-5 min warm up, 20 min work at fat burning zone, then 3-5 min cool down. Your done in 30 minutes just enought time to watch your favorite show.

I'm not a big fan of bikes... it takes too long to burn a good amount of calories. Have you tried using an elliptical at all?

I've been using a recumbent bike for my cardio since Sept. 9th and have lost 15 lbs. so far. Of course, my diet was especially helpful in successfully losing the pounds along with my cardio.

Recumbent bikes are the bomb......play Halo2 while you work out!!

I lost 20lbs through diet and cardio on the recumbent.

I have problems with my right knee (from the pounding I used to put on it from running) and I found the elliptical to be the best cardio workout for me. I can do "sprints" on it and it only puts a small amount of pressure on my knee.
You can get a great burn on stationary bikes as well, but it takes longer and you arent burning as many calories as you would on the elliptical.

thanks for the replies.
no i havent done anything with the elliptical.
i just wanted to know if i would be wasting money joining a gym to do cardio to lose some weight.

I play my ps2 while on it...a whole game of NCAA football 2006 at 5 min periods is my timer,,,I go at level 20 for a good hour or 55 minutes, I can burn about 800-1000 cals.