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Buying an Exercise Bike

By: Sean R Clark

Exercise bikes can provide excellent benefits to the heart, lungs, and circulatory system (otherwise known as the “cardiovascular”, or “CV”, for short, system) and the muscles of the lower body, including the hip, thigh, calf and gluteal muscles – and, as such, are a good way of maintaining, or reducing weight, particularly for larger, or more mature users, because of the low impact, and supported, nature of the exercise. With an exercise bike in your home, you can forget about having to drag yourself off to the gym, or out into the street, to exercise, and don’t have to contend with uneven roads and pavements, inclement weather, or traffic – not to mention the effects of the repeated pounding of the your leg joints, a common cause of “shin splints”, and other problems.

Types of Exercise Bike

Exercise bikes are of two basic designs – “upright”, where the user sits on a saddle, rather like that of a traditional, outdoor bicycle, situated directly above the pedals, and “recumbent”, which is slightly different, insofar as the pedals are positioned out in front of the user, who sits on a seat with a backrest, for extra support. Upright exercise bikes, because of the very nature of their design, have a smaller “footprint” than recumbent machines, but the latter type is more supportive to the lower back, is easier, perhaps, to mount and dismount, and places more emphasis on the thigh and gluteal muscles.

Other Considerations

All exercise bikes provide resistance, in one form or another, against which your muscles work, to give you your workout. The very best, and correspondingly expensive, models create resistance using electromagnets, which allow easy control, and quiet, frictionless operation. Other less sophisticated, and cheaper, methods include air resistance, generated by an integral fan, or a friction based braking system. The Carl Lewis EX30A Exercise Bike, for example, provides resistance with a 7kg flywheel, and the Carl Lewis EM12 Exercise Bike is a magnetic model.

Aside from providing the level of exercise appropriate to your ability and level of fitness, an exercise bike should be easy, and, most of all, comfortable to use. If you’re a large person, either in terms of height or weight, make sure that your chosen model has a sufficiently adjustable seat, and handlebars, and is physically sturdy enough to accommodate you. The Carl Lewis EM12 model, for example, has an adjustable saddle, and the Carl Lewis EX30A model an adjustable saddle and handlebars.

Responsible Exercise

Any form of exercise, whilst potentially of great benefit, is not entirely without risks and the use of exercise bikes or any other type of exercise equipment may not be appropriate for you. To reduce the risk of any injury, illness or other adverse effects you should ALWAYS consult your doctor before beginning any form of exercise program. You should also seek advice from a suitably qualified fitness professional as to the suitability of your proposed fitness programme as this will be determined by your age, weight, gender, current fitness level, any medical conditions and other factors. As with any exercise, if at any point during the use of an exercise bike you begin to feel faint, dizzy, light headed or experience any other form of physical discomfort, you should stop immediately and consult a doctor.

Conclusion

A correctly chosen exercise bike can make the difference between a pleasant, and not so pleasant exercise routine, and maybe even no routine at all. While it cannot, unfortunately, remove all of the hard work from exercising, it does at least give you the possibility of exercising in the privacy and comfort of your own home, as intensely, or gently, as you like, at a time to suit you – and may just provide the impetus you need to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Article Source: Main Articles

Sean Clark is eCommerce Director at Tribal UK.

Find a guide to buying exercise bikes at www.tribaluk.com - your home for quality electrical goods delivered FREE of charge to your door!

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