There is no doubt that getting into formal exercise, especially in a gym setting, can be very overwhelming. Everyone asks the same questions when they first start out. “Where do I start?” “What exercises should I do?” “How do I know how much weight to use?”
Though I will always challenge each and every individual to get out of their comfort zone, and begin to familiarize themselves with the gym atmosphere, there are good ways and bad ways to go about it.
If you were to ask me what I would recommend when I was a young trainer in my late teens, I would’ve told you that you’ll just have to suck it up, because everyone deals with it.
Thankfully, my younger self isn’t writing this. Instead, it’s my more experienced-self writing to you today. And today, I would tell you that there are many ways you can improve your health as you slowly become more familiar with exercise and equipment.
One of those ways is through the recumbent bike. This bike gives opportunity for those in all walks of life to improve their health and fitness. Let me walk you through why and what bike we would choose as the best exercise bike in 2021.
BENEFIT #1: LOW RISK OF INJURY
One of the most understandably common fears when exercising is getting injured. There are exercises that require more skill, stability, and motor control than others, and taking on an exercise like that can be daunting.
Thankfully, the recumbent bike will give you an opportunity to improve your health and fitness with very little risk for injury. Whether you know how to ride a bike or not, the recumbent bike keeps you stable while allowing you to produce great force with your lower body.
With little risk of injury, virtually anyone at any skill level can utilize the bike as an effective tool for their health and fitness. With this benefit in mind, we recommend the Spirit XBR 55 Bike as the best exercise bike in 2021.
BENEFIT #2: RESISTANCE AND CARDIOVASCULAR BENEFIT
I have always said that resistance training in the form of lifting weights is the most effective. However, that doesn’t mean that other forms of resistance are completely ineffective. Though the bike will offer more cardiovascular benefit, there is still resistance benefit to the bike for those that are just starting to exercise.
With the ability to adjust the force required to pedal, the recumbent bike can offer the once sedentary individual to apply some resistance to their muscles.
And if you don’t happen to be green to exercise, and you get the meat and potatoes of your training program from free weights or machines, the bike will still serve as a great way to improve your cardiovascular health, potentially allowing you to live a longer, happier, and healthier life for years to come.
BENEFIT #3: CALORIE BURN
Let me be clear, I don’t believe that the intention of your workout should be to solely burn calories. If that was the case, you may as well just gyrate in space when you go to the gym.
That being said, calories are a factor, especially in fat loss, so you can certainly use your bike as a tool to burn additional calories when needed.
For fat loss, more calories need to be going out than there are going in, so burning calories can help this happen.
However, and this is a big however, the majority of your calories burned (about 60-80%) are burned at rest. 10-30% are burned from exercise. So, it’s important to lift weights and strength train to increase the amount of calories you burn at rest, especially if you want to lose fat AND keep it off. The more you burn at rest, the less excess activity you have to do to lose fat.
Your bike can be a tool that can help you increase the amount of calories you burned in the day (in addition to improving your heart health and endurance), but it mustn't be relied on to lose body fat.
If you’re looking for more information on the best exercise bike in 2021, contact your local Push Pedal Pull to learn more about the Spirit XBR 55 Bike and to receive personalized recommendations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life.