How to Make Exercise Bike Seat More Comfortable?
Last Updated on August 15, 2021 by Justin Harris
How to Make Exercise Bike Seat More Comfortable: Exercise bikes are excellent equipment for workouts, burning calories, and building muscles. However, there is one con that holds true for most exercise bikes, and it is the fact that they hurt our butts during workouts.
Most people ignore it initially, taking it to be something that may stop bothering them as they get more used to their bikes, but that’s not the case. Exercise bikes do hurt unless you go wisely about making the seat more comfortable.
If you are also experiencing some pain while using your exercise bike, it can lead to some side effects if you leave the problem unaddressed for too long. However, the good news is there are ways to fix this problem. Before getting to that, you must first understand what makes an exercise bike so uncomfortable.
This post will give you a very comprehensive picture of this problem and suggest to you the best ways to beat it. If you read this post carefully, you should know how to get your exercise bike seat more comfortable by the end of this post. Once you do this, this will help you work out with a better focus for sure.
Why Do Exercise Bike Seats Hurt?
It should not be tough to comprehend why exercise bike seats hurt. Technically, while you are using an exercise bike, you have just three points of contact; your hands, feet, and your butts. You use your hands to hold the handles, but your hands take the least weight.
The feet take comparatively more weight, but the knees act as shock absorbers and direct most of the weight to your butts. Hence, the magnitude of the pain you may experience while using an exercise bike depends on your body weight. Further, most exercise seats have minimal padding.
Ways to Prevent Exercise Bike Seat From Hurting My Butts
Now that we know why exercise bike seats hurt, it’s time that we look into some of the ways we can prevent it from hurting. There are ways you can beat this problem.
Adjust Your Saddle
Adjusting the saddle a bit has worked for many in the past. However, this would only work for a certain body weight, and beyond that, it may not work that well. For those with average body weight, raising or lowering the saddle may make things a little or more comfortable. Further, you could try moving your saddle away or close to the handlebars and see if that brings you some sort of comfort.
Sit in the Right Posture
Another reason behind experiencing pain in your butts while using an exercise bike can be your incorrect sitting posture. If you are wondering as to what the correct posture is, you must make the most out of the cushioned part to position your sit bones correctly and must not be too away forward on the saddle.
Padded Shorts
If you need a quick solution to this problem without experimenting much, you can right away get a good pair of padded shorts for you, and you are not going to experience any pain as you put them on during your workouts. The padded shorts take good care of your sitting bones, and you can paddle your bike for hours without experiencing the slightest pain in your butts.
Seat Covers With Gel Padding
Using a seat cover with gel padding is another excellent option to deal with this problem, and using one such seat cover can make things exceptionally comfortable. These seat covers come with lots of cushioning for saddle width up to 7” wide and more. Using a slip-on seat cover with gel padding is an excellent option for home exercise bikes.
Change the Saddle
If you don’t want to try any of the above methods and are looking for the most straight-forward way to beat this problem, you may consider replacing your existing saddle with a better and comfortable one. The best part is there are several good saddles available in the market.
One good example is the saddle from Bikeroo, which comes with extra width for more comfort. Besides, it comes with all the essential tools, which is why it should not be tough to fit it to your bike.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)
Why Do My Butts Hurt While Using My Exercise Bike?
The butts hurt while using an exercise bike because of extra weight on the butts and sitting bones. Further, most saddles come with very little padding, which makes sitting uncomfortable and painful. The pain is directly related to body weight and uncomfortable saddle.
How Can I Make My Exercise Bike Seat More Comfortable?
Exercise bike seats may not be comfortable to sit on and may start hurting your butts. However, you can make your exercise bike seat more comfortable by trying out the following ways:
- Raising or lowering the saddle
- Moving your saddle away or close to the handlebars
- Sitting in the right posture and making the most out of the cushioned part
- Putting on a pair of padded shorts
- Using a seat cover with gel padding
- Replacing the current saddle with a better one
The Bottom Line
Pain in the butts while cycling on the exercise bike is a problem that almost all users face. Some overlook the problem, while others look forward to finding a remedy. However, if you are not addressing this problem for too long, you are making a big mistake, and it can lead to some worse side effects in times to come.
This is something that one must be aware of, even before getting started with an exercise bike. However, it’s never too late, and as you have seen in this post, there are many effective ways to resolve this problem.
Final Words
We suggest you start with adjusting your saddle first and working on your sitting position first. If that doesn’t make things comfortable, you can move over to the other methods.
