Shoulders · Leverage Machine
Hands Bike
How to do the hands bike, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Leverage Machine
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- time
- Movement
- Rotation
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Sit at the arm bike and grip the rotating handles. Crank the handles in a smooth, continuous circle for a set time, driving with your shoulders and arms to build upper-body cardio.
- 1Shoulders, arms, and forearms driving each rotation
- 2Steady, even cranking rhythm
- 3Controlled breathing as your heart rate climbs
Common mistakes
- Hunching or rounding your back over the machine
- Jerking the handles instead of cranking smoothly
- Gripping so tight your forearms fatigue early
Muscles worked
The hands bike works the biceps, triceps, forearms, front delts, mid chest, lats, upper traps, mid traps, upper abs, side delts, and rear delts.
- BicepsSupport
- TricepsSupport
- ForearmsSupport
- Front DeltsSupport
- Mid ChestSupport
- LatsSupport
- Upper TrapsSupport
- Mid TrapsSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- Side DeltsSupport
- Rear DeltsSupport
- Lower AbsMinor
- ObliquesMinor
Kovo programs the hands bike for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More shoulders exercises
- How to do the battle rope alternating waves
- How to do the arm circles
- How to do the arnold press
- How to do the resistance band front raise
- How to do the resistance band lateral raise
- How to do the resistance band overhead press
Last reviewed June 2026.