Upright exercise bikes may be one of the most familiar-looking pieces of equipment in the gym. Capable of burning up to 466 calories in half an hour of effort, as printed in the Harvard Heart Letter, this easily approachable piece of exercise equipment also tones your entire lower body as you work toward meeting the American Heart Association's recommendation of 30 minutes of moderate cardio five times a week or 20 minutes of vigorous cardio three times a week.
Appearance
Upright exercise bikes look a little bit like your standard road bike. Differences include a sturdy steel frame that's usually encased in plastic to hide the moving parts; an extra-wide, padded seat; and an electronics console with hand grips in place of handlebars.
Adjustability
Upright exercise bikes usually offer only one adjustment: the seat. A locking pin holds the seat in place; just pull the pin out, slide the seat up or down so that you can pedal comfortably, then release the pin and make sure it slides completely back into place before mounting the bike.
Features
While you may still encounter decades-old exercise bikes with direct-resistance flywheels adjusted by means of a twist knob, most contemporary models have push-button electronic consoles that let you adjust resistance, view distance and speed traveled, and select pre-programmed biking courses that automatically adjust the resistance for you.
Advantages
The biggest advantages of upright exercise bikes, as opposed to recumbent exercise bikes, is that they closely resemble a piece of equipment that's familiar to most users; how one sits on an upright bike, and how one pedals it, is something that even a gym novice can figure out easily, and avid bikers will find that an upright bike challenges their muscles in much the same way a real bike does.
Disadvantages
The downsides of upright exercise bikes--applicable only to some exercisers--include lack of back support and discomfort from the seat. Even though exercise bike seats are broader and more comfortable than a real bike seat, overweight individuals who support a lot of weight on a relatively small, delicate area of the body when pedaling an upright bike may find a recumbent bike seat more comfortable than that of an upright.
While many exercisers appreciate the upright bike's similarity to a real bike, some may have a gripe with the fact that an exercise bike's relatively broad construction does shift the motion of pedaling, if only slightly, wider than that on a real bike.
Member Comments