stationary bike low or high resitance?

[D-Y]

What would be more effective for burning fat on an exercise bike; going fast on a low setting or going higher on the resistance?

[PennState]

go as high as you can keeping your cadence around 80 rpms. This is optimal for bike riding. Much higher and you are doing what is considered mashing. This is where you have to press really hard, it is fine in the short term to get up over a hill, but prolonged mashing (like on a stationary bike for 30 minutes) really will do a job on your knees. And going at a much faster pace will just be wasted time as you won't really be pushing anything. at 80rpms you should also feel some restistance on the pedals, you push they push back but just a little. That is your sweet spot when pedalling. Once you find it, it is almost natural to pedal and adjust your resistance accordingly. IE: the more you do it, the high you can put the restistance, until you are really pushing some crazy resistance on the bike. But start out with it lower and get the stroke down.

[D-Y]

go as high as you can keeping your cadence around 80 rpms. This is optimal for bike riding. Much higher and you are doing what is considered mashing. This is where you have to press really hard, it is fine in the short term to get up over a hill, but prolonged mashing (like on a stationary bike for 30 minutes) really will do a job on your knees. And going at a much faster pace will just be wasted time as you won't really be pushing anything. at 80rpms you should also feel some restistance on the pedals, you push they push back but just a little. That is your sweet spot when pedalling. Once you find it, it is almost natural to pedal and adjust your resistance accordingly. IE: the more you do it, the high you can put the restistance, until you are really pushing some crazy resistance on the bike. But start out with it lower and get the stroke down.

Thank you that's some thorough advice.

[PatMac]

When i lost weight (95/100 pounds or so) I did nothing but the bike for cardio, I go pretty intense for 45/50 minutes with the resistance pretty high. Its hard and I was beat when I was done but it worked great