Exercise for Absolute Beginners: Indoor Bikes

Indoor bikes are a great way to experience bicycling even if you never learned how to ride a traditional bike. An indoor bike allows you to feel like you are on a bicycle without having to worry about the safety issues that riding on the open road brings. In addition to offering aerobic exercise, it also improves the muscle tone of your hips, buttocks and thighs.

You will find computerized and non-computerized stationary bikes, but those extra features don't necessarily provide a better workout. Computerized models may have a display that shows your cadence or heart rate. Calorie counters on exercise machines are known to be largely inaccurate so they're not necessarily worth using, in my opinion.

Most gyms have both traditional, upright stationary bikes and recumbent (semi-reclined) bikes. Upright bikes are almost identical to regular bikes -- expect for the fact that they're stationary. Recumbent bikes position you differently; you sit in them with the pedals and your feet in front of you, rather than below you. These bikes are ideal for someone who has back problems because they support the lower back while upright bikes do not.

You can set the resistance level on most exercise bikes. It is important that you do not set the resistance too high when you are first starting out. You want to get a good work out, but cycling should not actually hurt, even for a beginner. If you are in continual pain, it is a sign that your resistance is set too high for your fitness level.

Spin classes are a relatively new variation on indoor cycling. Spin classes attempt to replicate more closely the experience of on-road biking. The pedal action and resistance in a spin class will differ from what a beginner would experience with a regular stationary bike.

Spin classes are led by an instructor and include upbeat music. They offer varied levels of intensity and may sometimes include guided imagery, which means the instructor helps you envision different scenarios as you complete the workout. Spin classes are usually quite intense so you may wish to ride a regular stationary bike for some time and work up to joining a spin class.

You can also ride a spin bike on your own without being in a spin class. Spin bikes have a more narrow seat, are more adjustable, and provide a wider range of resistance. You will find that the pedals are smoother to operate on a spin bike than on a regular bike.

Spin bikes do not offer the electronic gizmos that some other bikes do, but most spin bikers I know say it is worth sacrificing the bells and whistles to experience an exercise that is so similar to true outdoor biking in the comfort of their gym.

More from the "Absolute Beginners" Series:

Read More

The Most Popular Exercise Bikes In December 2012

Exercise bike sales are not usually that high just before Christmas, but sales remain pretty steady because they are often bought for other people as Christmas presents. So which ones are proving popular just before Christmas 2012?

Well two of the most popular exercise bikes are not actually conventional exercise bicycles at all. I am talking here about two low-cost machines that simply include the pedals and that's it.

These are actually quite convenient because they are easy to carry around, and you can pedal away at your desk whilst you are working if you want to. Alternatively you could sit down in the evening and burn lots of calories whilst watching your favourite TV programs, for example.

On a similar note, another bike that is topping the sales charts is the FitDesk Semi-Recumbent Pedal Desk bike. Indeed this $250 model is actually the number one selling bicycle as I write this article.

This FitDesk model provides you with both a desk and an exercise bicycle all in one, which is once again useful for people with busy lifestyles. It also allows you to read something whilst you are performing your workouts.

Out of the more conventional bikes, it seems to be the recumbent models that are proving to be equally as popular as the upright bikes.

Looking at the list of the best-sellers on Amazon.com, the recumbent bicycles feature heavily, and it is not just the cheaper models either.

Whilst some of the models are available for between $100 and $150, one of the top-sellers is the Schwinn 240, which costs just under $300.

This model provides you with 17 different workout programs, and there are 16 resistance levels to satisfy both beginners and those people who want more of a challenge.

There is now a newer version available that is also selling well, according to the latest sales figures. This model is the Schwinn 250, and it has a few more features than the 240 model, and costs approximately $100 more although there is not that much of a difference between them in all honesty.

Finally it is worth mentioning that upright bikes are still reasonable popular with consumers. For example the Body Rider Fan Bike, which costs around $100 at the time of writing, and the Schwinn AD2 Airdyne, which costs over $300, are both generating a decent amount of sales.

However the current trend seems to be for the recumbent and desk-style bikes, rather than the more conventional bicycles. So it will be interesting to see if this trend continues into 2013.

Read More