Recumbent Stationary Bike Use

One of the most popular and effective means of getting your daily fill of exercise is the use of a recumbent stationary bike. These days, those looking for a way of slimming down for the swimsuit season, or just for general health, have many options for exercise, even if they may not have a glut of time. The best means of achieving your fitness goals is to commit to a steady pace of cardiovascular exercise, working your heart into a steady, high frequency rhythm for an hour per day. Many choose to get outside into the great outdoors and jog or bike to tone up or lose weight, but not all of us have the time or live in an area that makes outdoor exercise convenient. As such, millions of Americans turn to indoor equipment to get in shape.

Pedaling on a bicycle provides an excellent means of working out your whole body. Changes in terrain, or settings on an indoor model, makes it a higher intensity workout than simply running or swimming, while the ease of pedaling greatly decreases the strain on your back and knees. As a result, there are few exercises to rival constant use of a cycle to increase your heart capacity. An exercise bike simply substitutes the chain and wheel of a normal bike for resistance on the pedals in order to force more exertion — and thus a higher grade workout — into each rotation.

The difference between an upright cycle and a recumbent bike is the placement of the body. Uprights look like a standard bicycle, while recumbent cycles are situated lower to the ground. The advantage of a recumbent stationary bike is that it eases the back, so that there is little to no strain compared with sitting upright for minutes or hours. People with arthritis or bad joints are recommended to use a recumbent exercise bike so as not to risk injury. Although sitting down does decrease the overall efficiency of the workout, it adds additional strength to your thighs, hamstrings, and ankles.

Some recumbent stationary bike models have a large scale assortment of features, including magnetic clips for water bottles, music players, or even television mounts. These more expensive models — usually around a thousand dollars — have incline simulations and track memory, so that personal preferences and difficulties can be stored and used in your workout. An inexpensive model — perhaps as low as forty dollars — may have little more than a speedometer to indicate how fast you would be going on the open road.