Totally Fitness Buying Guide
The Totally Fitness Buyers Guides are designed to assist you in making an informed decision and ensure that you purchase the correct equipment for your fitness needs ? whether you are looking to train for a marathon or just get in trim for the summer.
Buying Guide - Exercise Bikes
Stationary exercise bikes are excellent fitness machines for all types of users, including complete beginners. Exercise bikes are easy to use and have a number of levels of resistance, so you can work your lungs, heart and leg muscles as much or as little as you want. Cycling provides a great cardiovascular workout without putting strain your back and joints, so is good cross-training for runners who want to give their joints a rest. As well as working on your overall fitness and endurance, cycling also gives great tone to your leg and glute muscles.
Adjustable seats and handlebars as well as cushioned seat pads on the more expensive models mean that exercise bikes let you work out in comfort whilst watching television or even reading a book.
Most exercise bikes have consoles that monitor your speed, mileage and how much time you?ve been pedalling. More expensive bikes can also measure your heart rate and calorie expenditure and offer pre-defined work out programmes such as hill and flat workouts.
Choosing an Exercise Bike
Some types of exercise bike offer extra resistance for lower-body conditioning, some are kinder to the joints while some give detailed information on your heart rate and calorie expenditure. You?ll find two main types of exercise bike for sale:
Upright Bikes: Most similar to outdoor bikes. You sit up on a traditional bike seat whilst pedalling. Most budget exercise bike models are traditional uprights.
Recumbent Bikes: Recumbent bikes have a seat positioned at a low level which is parallel to the ground. The pedals are in front of you so you don?t bend your legs as much, which is great for cross-training runners. There?s also a back support for greater comfort. Recumbent bikes are a great choice if you suffer from back or knee problems.
Resistance
Pedal on a stationary bike with no resistance is like pedalling on a bike with a broken chain ? you?re going nowhere and your muscles aren?t doing any work. Stationary exercise bikes create resistance, so you?re actually powering along with your legs. Different exercise bikes have different means of creating resistance:
Magnetic: Lets you pedal quietly and without friction. You can increase resistance smoothly and easily. These are very popular in professional gyms environments.
Air: A fan built into the wheel builds up an air flow for you to pedal against. The harder you pedal, the greater the air flow and resistance. The air from the fan helps cool you down.
Direct Tension: Resistance is manually adjusted using dials.
Flywheel: Resistance is regulated by a heavy wheel and maintained by kinetic energy built up by your pedalling.
For more information, product reviews and further advice on chosing an exercise bike please check www.totallyfitness.co.uk/Cardio/Bikes/index.htm
