The exercise bike has become a trend lately for the simple reason that it allows you to exercise regardless of the weather or the season. You can do it at home and make the most of your time, while precisely evaluating your efforts. Although it will never replace the pleasure of an outdoor bike ride, it does have many advantages!
Why exercise with an exercise bike and for whom?
Riding an exercise bike is good. But first of all, you have to be in perfect agreement with the goals you want to achieve. Then, once you've decided what you want to do, you have to decide which exercise bike to buy and use. This is crucial because it represents a financial investment; the first purchase must be decisive. It is important to determine if the bike is for beginners or not, how often you will use it, and how many people will use it at home.
Normally, exercising with an exercise bike is open to everyone, regardless of age. It doesn't matter what your needs are, whether you want to build muscle, lose weight or do cardio. For a duration of 45 minutes, you use about 500 kcal. Thus, this sport:
You can do it by yourself, and no need to know how to ride a bike;
Allows you to build muscle, and helps you sleep better;
Increases brain capacity, because cycling stimulates the production of cells in the hippocampus which is used for memory;
Allows for better health; people who cycle for at least 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week are less likely to get sick than others.
In addition, the exercise bike has significant advantages. It is a sport activity that can be described as gentle on the cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary system. In addition to its affordable price, it takes up very little space in the house, especially if you choose the folding models.
Make a good choice when buying
The right choice when buying should be based on the possibilities to get. Indeed, the bike will push you to work your cardiovascular endurance. In addition, it is also recommended to strengthen thighs, calves and buttocks. And also, it is highly recommended for someone who wants to lose weight while burning calories. However, there are a few technical elements to take into account, which are:
The weight of the wheel, the higher it is, the smoother the pedaling: a wheel of less than 5 kg is ideal for rehabilitation, and from 5 to 8 kg to lose weight and gain endurance ;
The resistance, activated by brakes, allows you to control the effort: most of them are equipped with a magnetic system that can be adjusted from the console, allowing more levels of difficulty; and the console which indicates the speed, the distance covered, the calories burned, etc., the most efficient ones offer training programs.
Cycling differently thanks to virtual reality...
For those who are reluctant to be bored during their workout, you should know that it is now possible to ride an exercise bike in a different way, i.e. in virtual reality! This is possible if you are a fan of video games but are also a sports fan, and you don't have the time to combine the two. It is also possible that the fact of pedaling in the emptiness on your exercise bike lacks motivation. To better understand, here is a demonstration in the video below!
So the technology is here to help. This is a gadget combining virtual reality and exercise bike. Its sensors allow the movement of the pedals to be recorded. Depending on the program activated, you will be able to pedal while observing landscapes. This is the basics, but you can go further by transforming your bike into a tank, a horse, a helicopter. There you have it, everything is allowed, you just have to pedal to move around in these virtual worlds!