With a renewed commitment to exercising, but poor weather conditions or time constraints many people turn to indoor home equipment as their means of getting in shape and staying fit.
Currently there are thousands of various types of home exercise programs to choose from. However, most people have discovered that they prefer the treadmill or the exercise bike.
The hard decision comes when you have to choose between both pieces of equipment. There are several things you should consider before making this decision including long-term sustainability, workout effectiveness, and safety.
One of the largest obstacles that must be overcome when exercising from home is continuing to exercise over a long period of time. The convenience of home exercise equipment makes it much less time consuming than going to a gym, but it can still be difficult to stay committed to exercising.
The best way to overcome this problem is to make exercising fun. If you look forward to your workout every day, it will be much easier to make it a habit.
Various exercising routines and programs on home exercise equipment can make exercising fun in the beginning, but this wears off very quickly. You will need a longer term solution to keep exercising fun.
It is very difficult to do anything but watch movies or a television show or listen to music on a treadmill because you are bouncing up and down all of the time. If these things will keep you motivated and exercising fun, then go for it.
However, the noise of the machine may compete with the television set. Exercise bikes are much more exciting.
Some bikes can be hooked up to a television screen so that you will be pedaling through an interactive biking course. Recumbent bikes are ideal for reading, watching television, listening to music, talking on the phone, or working on a computer because your hands are free.
This can help your exercising routines fit in better with your busy schedule and exercising will become more fun. It will be much easier to keep up exercising on a long term basis.
The most common goal of exercising is not to become fit and stay fit, but to lose weight. Studies have shown that the most calories are burned on a treadmill or ski machine.
For every hour spent on a treadmill, a person will use about 750 calories per hour. Likewise for every hour spent on a bike machine, a person will use about 550 calories per hour on an exercise bike.
Looking at these statistics, most people automatically choose the treadmill. However, because it is more boring than a bike, they do not keep up their routine, and therefore do not burn more calories.
In comparison, on a bike they burn fewer calories every day, but they do keep up the routine longer. For most people the bike is more effective in helping them continually burn calories.
Another important factor to evaluate is the safety of both machines. The most obvious cause for concern is that you can fall off of a treadmill very easily.
If you get distracted and misstep, spill water and slip, or faint while running you will fall off and you could severely hurt yourself. However, it is comparatively very difficult to fall off an exercise bike.
In addition, there are hidden health problems related to treadmills. When you run you are putting a lot of stress on joints such as knees and ankles.
People with arthritis will find is very difficult to run at all on a treadmill because of the pain. Over time, this stress can cause problems in very healthy people.
Exercise bikes have much less stress involved with exercising. Upright bikes can sometimes stress your back from sitting upright.
However, recumbent bikes have been known to help improve back problems because they force a rider to keep a good posture and provide support. In addition, the knees and ankles will receive much less stress on an exercise bike.
The less stress your body faces during a workout the less likely it is that you will seriously injure yourself. You will also be less sore in the days following a hard work out.
An exercise bike has many more benefits than a treadmill. They are an excellent option for working out on a regular basis.
Author Resource:-
Ronald Pedactor is a fitness trainer. He has been coaching athletes for more then 20 years. He recommends Proform Exercise Bikes to achieve your highest biking performance.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.massagebyben.com/articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites 