You’ve decided you want to
exercise at home. There are hundreds of
pieces of home cardio equipment available.
The most popular are treadmills and exercise bikes. In deciding between the two, you should
compare long-term sustainability, the effectiveness of the workouts, and
safety.
Overcoming Boredom
The biggest obstacle to a
home exercise routine is sticking with it.
You don’t have to drive to a gym, so your home fitness equipment is more
convenient. The problem is that other
distractions are just as convenient at home.
The key is to make your routine fun.
You want to look forward to your daily workout. You have to be realistic. Playing with the heart rate monitor or
watching the calorie counter go up will only be fun the first couple of times
you exercise.
On a treadmill, you
walk. Walking isn’t that fun. You can walk at different speeds, but that
isn’t really much more fun. If you get a
treadmill that offers an incline, that keeps it a bit more interesting. Walking uphill isn’t exactly fun, but it’s
different. It presents a challenge.
You can’t really read on a
treadmill because you are bouncing up and down.
You can’t keep your eyes on the same sentence, and you usually end up
with a headache. Basically, the only
thing fun to do on a treadmill is watch television or movies. If you are really into TV or movies and are
able to put your treadmill in front of a television, you can probably keep your
treadmill workout from becoming too boring.
Problems consist of commercials, the noise coming from the machine, and
again, the bouncing.
- Exercise
Bikes vs. Boredom
Exercise bikes are unique in
that many of them come programmed with various biking routines. You simulate different courses that require
you to sprint, pedal uphill, and perform at different levels within one workout
without having to keep pressing buttons and changing everything. You can even select random programs so you
don’t know what’s coming, which really keeps you on your toes. Some exercise bikes can even be plugged into
televisions and video games to let you interactively pedal through visual
courses.
On upright exercise bikes,
you run into some of the same problems as treadmills as far as reading is
concerned. Recumbent bikes, however,
allow your hands to be free to hold a book or magazine, video game controller,
or phone. Multi-tasking during an
exercise bike workout keeps it from becoming boring and allows your workout to
more easily fit into a busy schedule.
Defeating boredom to
successfully keep up a long-term exercise routine is much easier with an
exercise bike than a treadmill.
The Calorie Factor
In a study conducted by
Nordic Track, young, healthy people used various exercise machines and did
cardio workouts. Although they felt they
used the same intensity on all machines, they burned the most calories on
treadmills and ski machines.
On average, most people burn
about 750 calories per hour on a treadmill.
The same people are likely to burn about 550 calories per hour on an
exercise bike. So it’s a no-brainer,
right? You should get a treadmill
because they burn more calories.
Well, not exactly. You can’t get so caught up in which machine
burns the most calories. You have to
take a lot of other factors into consideration.
How likely are you to sustain a treadmill routine as opposed to an
exercise bike routine?
Because exercise bikes are
usually more fun than treadmills, you are much more likely to stick with it
long-term. This means that even though
you can burn more calories on a treadmill, you are also more likely to stop
using it altogether.
You might also find it
difficult to use it long enough per workout session to get the full
benefits. Most people find it easier to
workout for 20 minutes on an exercise bike than 20 minutes on a treadmill. You have to think about that. If you are likely to only do 10 minutes on a
treadmill but can easily do 20 minutes on an exercise bike, you will burn more
calories per session on an exercise bike.
So just going strictly by the
numbers, treadmills burn more calories.
If you easily get bored or have tried and failed to stick with exercise
routines in the past, you might want to consider burning less calories per hour
in favor of a sustainable long-term exercise bike regimen.
Your Safety
The biggest difference
between exercise bikes and treadmills is overall safety to your body.
The first case of safety is
the most basic. You can fall off of a
treadmill. It’s very difficult, however,
to fall off of an exercise bike. In
fact, you would probably have to try
to fall when riding an exercise bike.
While you might be thinking you’d have to be pretty clumsy to fall while
walking, it happens more than you’d think.
People get involved with watching television or the beat of music. One wrong step and you can seriously injure
yourself. It’s also possible to spill
water or sweat on the treadmill track, causing a safety hazard you might not
notice until after you’ve slipped.
Another safety hazard is
injury from the activity itself. A
treadmill puts quite a bit of stress on your joints, especially your knees and
ankles. Even if you invest in a
treadmill with some degree of shock absorption, when you eventually get to a
jogging or running point, you can put severe orthopedic stress on your body,
even up to three times your body weight.
People with existing conditions such as arthritis will find a treadmill
painful at times due to this stress.
Otherwise healthy individuals can sustain injury and possible long-term
damage over time.
Exercise bikes put much less
stress on your joints. A properly
positioned exercise bike supports your weight and still allows you to receive
the benefits of a higher impact cardio workout.
Upright bikes can sometimes stress your back in the way you have to bend
to reach the handlebars. Recumbent
exercise bikes, however, can actually improve existing back pain by forcing
proper posture and giving support as you exercise. On any exercise bike properly used, your
knees and ankles are not stressed as they are on a treadmill.
The less you stress joints,
the less likely you are to sustain an injury during your workout. You are also less likely to be sore
afterwards. Most importantly, a
non-workout injury doesn’t always have to halt your exercise routine on an
exercise bike. If you hurt your back or
neck, you will find the support of a recumbent exercise bike will keep you from
having to stop your exercise regimen altogether. Let’s face it – if you have to stop, you are
less likely to start again.
An Exercise Bike is
Better for Your Health than a Treadmill
As you can see, both pieces
of home fitness equipment have advantages.
While the treadmill continues to be the most popular piece of home gym
equipment, most people are more likely to faithfully use an exercise bike. This means you’re more likely to have to dust
a treadmill until it gets the garage sale sticker.
Michael
Walker is a freelance author providing useful
information about stationary
exercise bikes, recumbent
bikes and mini
exercise cycles. His numerous articles offer comprehensive
tips and
solutions for the fitness enthusiast.
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