The Steady State Ride is a beginner-friendly machine strength exercise that targets the quadriceps and glutes, with the hamstrings, calves and abdominals working alongside. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Primary musclesQuads, Glutes
Secondary musclesHamstrings, Calves, Abs
EquipmentMachine
LevelBeginner
TypeStrength
3D demo in the EGON app
01 Execution
How to do the Steady State Ride
Set the saddle so your knee keeps a slight bend at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
Sit with your sit bones on the widest part of the saddle and hold the bars with relaxed arms.
Add enough resistance that the flywheel feels loaded rather than spinning freely.
Drive through the top of the stroke with the hips and push the pedal down through the whole foot.
Pull through the bottom and lift on the upstroke so both legs contribute to a complete circle.
Hold that cadence and resistance for the planned duration, keeping the torso quiet in the saddle.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
Builds aerobic base below lactate threshold with no impact on the joints.
Loads the hip and knee extensors repeatedly at a controlled, repeatable output.
Easy to hold and easy to measure, so progression can be tracked by duration or resistance.
03 Don't do this
Common mistakes
Mashing straight down on the pedals, which wastes the upstroke and makes the ride choppy.
Spinning fast with almost no resistance, which raises cadence without raising real workload.
Sitting too far forward on the saddle, which causes discomfort and shifts load off the glutes.
Riding a steady session too hard, which pushes it above threshold and stops it being a base ride.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Steady State Ride, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
