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Exercise Bikes

Recumbent Versus Upright: Which Is the Exercise Bike For You?

Indoor Exercise Bike

Making the choice of which exercise bike is the right one for your needs is much easier than evaluating different gym memberships or shopping for the right sneakers at the right price for your running regimen. There are two primary types of exercise bike: upright and recumbent.

While both models come with an extensive assortment of options to enhance the overall performance, choosing between the upright bikes or recumbent bikes is the first step in the decision process.

Benefits of a Recumbent Exercise Bike

The wide seat of a recumbent back makes this model the best choice for someone who is using an exercise bike to recover from surgery, find ease from a bad back or bad knees, or restore health after a prolonged illness. That’s because when using a recumbent bike, which has a seat like a regular chair, you’re pushing out, not down, with your feet on the pedals. The seat’s added comfort encourages the user to exercise longer while giving good support for the thighs and lower back. The recumbent bike isn’t designed to engineer a workout for the core muscles the way an upright exercise bike does, but it will still deliver a good cardio workout.

exercise bikes

Benefits of an Upright Exercise Bike

Like the street bikes you remember from younger days, the pedals of an upright bike are in the same position. The seat is also similar to the street bike; there is an option, however, for adding a gel seat cover for added comfort if you plan to have lengthier exercise sessions. The upright exercise bike gives your core muscles a more complete workout, which the recumbent bike cannot do. The user is balancing the bike seat as if on a regular bicycle. The effort involved in this is what gives that added challenge to the core muscles. These are some of the reasons why an athlete who is training for a biking tour or preparing for a bicycle marathon, would select an upright bike.

How Handlebars Can Make a Difference

Handlebars for the recumbent cyclist aren’t a major factor because the rider is sitting on a seat that is stable and doesn’t require any effort to maintain balance. For the cyclist using an upright exercise bike, the handlebars can look just the way they did when you were on your bicycle seat years ago, the one with the banana seat. But this is the twenty-first century, right? Now, your handlebars can be mobile so that they can be manipulated so that you have a full-body workout.

Adapting Your Exercise Bike to a Portable Environment

Whether you choose a recumbent or upright exercise bike, you can take advantage of the innovations that make your bike a portable model with the under-the-desk mini-cycle. If you want to keep up with your exercise routine even if you’re not at home, all you need is a mini-cycle and a chair. As you might expect, the mini-cycle isn’t designed for the same full workout that you expect from your standard exercise bike. But its affordable price makes it the perfect choice for away-from-home exercising.