Walking into a fitness club or gym anywhere in the nation will expose you to various cardio workout machines such as the treadmill and exercise bike. Both the treadmill and exercise bike have advantages and disadvantages for improving your strength and endurance, burning calories and improving your overall fitness level. However, the ultimate deciding factors for saying an exercise bike or treadmill is better are your personal criteria such as fitness interests, health conditions, workout goals and ability level.
Impact
Exercise bikes provide a low-impact workout while the treadmill uses a load-bearing exercise. As a result, exercise bikes are a safer workout for rehab clients, older trainers or someone looking to reduce the impact felt on the knees, hips, back and joints. The pounding on the body during every step on the treadmill increases your potential for muscle or joint injury from overuse.
Workouts
Both the exercise bike and treadmill have various workouts and adjustments to meet your workout goals. The treadmill offers a better full-body workout, with adjustments for incline and speed that allow for walking, climbing or running to increase lower body muscle tone and bone density. You can also use hand weights to incorporate the upper body on the treadmill. The exercise bike, however, focuses on the lower body such as the quadriceps, hamstrings and hips.
Calories
Weight loss is a common fitness goal and one of the keys to achieving a weight loss goal is burning excessive calories. By providing a full-body workout, the treadmill has the ability to burn more calories per hour than the exercise bike. Running at 8 mph for one hour can burn 986 calories if you weigh 160 lbs. or up to 1,472 calories if you weigh 240 lbs. Biking at 10 mph burns 292 calories per hour if you weigh 160 lbs. and only 436 calories if you weigh 240 lbs.
Features
Both exercise bikes and treadmills require a significant amount of floor space, but exercise bikes are generally smaller than treadmills. If you are limited in space for a home gym, an exercise bike is often a better choice. Features found on both exercise bikes and treadmills include a computer panel display that shows workout data such as speed, pace, time, distance and calories.
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