Cardiovascular exercise is characterized by moving the major muscle groups in a repetitive nature for a long duration. Specific machines such as exercise bikes and treadmills are designed to give you an aerobic workout from the comfort of the indoors.
Function
The function of an exercise bike is to simulate the action you would get if you were riding a bike outside. A treadmill does a similar feat, except its translation pertains to running outside instead of bicycling. Both machines are designed to improve your aerobic capacity and burn calories.
Features
Treadmills have handrails and a track that revolves around in a circular motion. They also have a kill switch that you can clip to your clothes in the event you should happen to fall off during training. Exercise bikes look completely different. They come equipped with an adjustable seat, handle bars and pedals that revolve around in a circle. They are also smaller than treadmills. Both the treadmill and the exercise bike can be adjusted to make your workout more intense. For example, with the treadmill, you can adjust the speed and incline to make your workout go from a slow walking pace to a full sprint. Exercise bikes only have an adjustment to turn up the resistance. This can make it harder to turn the pedals. When you make this adjustment, you can also stand up and pedal to simulate riding up hills.
Impact
Impact is a big area where exercise bikes and treadmills differ. Being that your feet repetitively land down on the track of the treadmill, the joints in your ankles, knees and hips receive a lot of stress. However, when you are riding an exercise bike, there is no impact at all.
Size
Caloric expenditure is always a goal when it comes to working out with both of these exercise machines. Seeing that you are in an upright position and you need to incorporate your whole body, the treadmill is more laborious than the exercise bike. According to calorie-counter.net, an average 60-minute treadmill workout burns approximately 785 calories, whereas the same time frame on an exercise bike burns approximately 575 calories. But it should be noted that this is an average. If you train at a high intensity on the bike and a low intensity on the treadmill, then the expenditures will be reversed.
Benefits
Treadmills and exercise bikes can both help you lose weight, which in turn can lower your risk for debilitating diseases. But one place where they differ is with the bones. Exercise bikes do not have a weight-bearing effect. Treadmills do. Working out on the treadmill can help strengthen your bones and reduce the onset of osteoporosis.
Identification
A recumbent bike is an exercise bike that has a seat with a backrest. This machine has the pedals out in front of your body so you are in a horizontal plane while working out. The big difference with this bike and treadmills is the fact that it does not put any stress on the lower back.
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