@thisisme123 It probably did carry-over some...
Is the 5 miles of recliner "hard enough" per the aforementioned talk test?
One way to know if it's hard enough: are you progressing on the bike? i.e. are you doing the 5 miles in less and less time? If not, then you may be getting a little complacent with your moderate-intensity conditioning.
If you pick a mileage target, and use the same speed and tension, you will keep getting better for a little while, assuming it was somewhat outside your current level of fitness. But at some point, you will just be maintaining your new level of fitness, because you're not providing enough stress to cause additional fitness adaptations.
Imagine it's Day 0 of your training, and you can do 10 push-ups, but the last rep is a real grinder. And every day from that point on you just 10 push-ups. At some point 10 pushups won't feel that hard, and maybe you could squeeze out 12 or 13, but you keep doing 10 anyway. At some point,1 set of 10 will no longer produce any strength gains. You would have to add another set of 10, or take that 1 set to 11 reps or more. It works the same with conditioning.
When people go from sedentary to active, even a brisk walk can be very challenging, and if it is, they will reap substantial health and fitness gains from a 20 minute brisk walk. In an absolute sense, they may get much more benefits, than folks who graduate from brisk walking to steady state cycling, running, etc. It's about challenging yourself with an appropriate amount and
relative intensity of exercise.
