Home Exercise Equipment Adviser

Ok, so you have come to the conclusion you need an exercise bike for home use. Maybe you need to loose a little weight, perhaps your under doctors orders or maybe you just fancy toning up and improving your well being with a little extra exercise. You google for an exercise bike and wham, a millions different choices. Recumbent, upright stationary, mini exercise cycle so many choices where do you start? Mini exercise bikes are something completely different to what most need so lets have a look at which you should choose, a recumbent vs upright exercise bike.

Basically, and I apologise to those who know already, but for the complete beginner the major difference between recumbent and an upright exercise bike is that a recumbent is an exercise bike where the pedals are generally level with or near the same plane as the saddle and an upright is a traditional exercise bike with the same stance as a normal road going bike but without the full set of wheels. Surprisingly, each type has various pros and cons and we’ll run through them so you can identify whether to opt for a recumbent versus an upright exercise bike.

Recumbent Exercise Cycle Benefits:

A stationary mini exercise bike is one of the best home exercise equipment accessories you can get. They can be a great way to get a low impact exercise workout no matter what your age or physical condition. Mini exercise bikes are available for those who are relatively fit and need a good workout to the frailest, and oldest who are looking to improve mobility or those looking to improve their fitness from scratch for the first time.

Description of a mini exercise bike.

A mini exercise bike (as in the image) is essentially a pedal unit on a stand. It is characterised by a lack of handle bars or seating arrangement. Depending on the level of mini stationary exercise bike you are after the bike may have a computer and other features or may simply be a tubular frame construction with a pedal crank attached. In general most table top exercise bicycles weigh as little as a few kilograms and are relatively small (think as an average 14ins x 17ins x 12ins).

Types And Styles of Mini Exercise Bike Available

Generally speaking there are four types of portable mini home exercise cycles on the market and they are distinguished from one another by their resistance mechanism or rather the type of resistance offered by the machine when the user pedals.

Exercise bikes are a great piece of  home exercise equipment to use to get a cardiovascular workout improving the health of your heart whilst improving the muscle tone of your lower body. A major benefit of using an exercise bike to improve fitness is that compared to other types of exercise use of a stationary exercise bike tends to be low impact. Selecting an exercise bike can be less than straightforward with so many models and types on the market. The main choices you will encounter will be whether to opt for an upright exercise bike, a recumbent exercise bike, a foldable or alternatively a mini exercise bike.

Recumbent exercise bikes are instantly recognisable. Any exercise bike that has the pedals at the same height as the seat is technically a recumbent bike. Notably these bikes will often come with a comfortable bucket seat which will lend itself well to a lounging posture when pedalling the bike.

Practical and Health Benefits

Recumbents are not just some fashion fad. There are compelling reasons to choose a recumbent over other types of exercise bike. The principal difference between a recumbent and upright exercise bike is in the lumbar support these bikes offer over other types. The lounging position and deep, supportive seats characteristic of these bikes means that unlike an upright exercise bike, it is impossible to hunch over whilst exercising, you and your body weight are fully supported during the exercise cycle.