How to choose an exercise bike for your home? Types of exercise bikes. Best tips for choosing home exercise equipment

It’s not difficult to figure out how to choose an exercise bike for your home. First you need to decide on the purposes of its use, then study the main types and their technical characteristics. This article describes the selection rules in more detail.

Purpose of use

First of all, you need to understand for what purpose the device will be used. Conventionally, three groups of tasks can be distinguished:

1. Maintain moderate activity, especially while recovering from injury. This also includes recreational activities for older people, gentle exercises for people with a lot of excess weight.
2. Losing weight at a moderate pace, maintaining muscle tone.
3. Active weight loss and rapid formation of beautiful leg relief.

In the first case, you can exercise only 1-2 times a week. For such purposes, standard models are suitable, as well as a bicycle ergometer - this is a tool that simulates riding a bicycle. Compared to conventional exercise machines, these are more advanced models. They allow you to adjust the load as accurately as possible due to the necessary settings.

In the second case, it is recommended to choose a regular model for home use, inexpensive, but at the same time not too cheap. This is the most common group of models that are purchased most often. The amount of training is moderate - 2-3 times a week.

Finally, for quick weight loss and sports training (third case), it is recommended to purchase professional devices. They are more expensive, but have increased wear resistance. Designed for intensive training 5-6 times a week.

Types of exercise bikes

When choosing, you should also study the main types of exercise bikes. Depending on the dimensions, there are 2 types:

1. Vertical – a classic version with a seat like a regular bicycle. They are compact, so they are well suited even for a small city apartment.
2. Horizontal – has a seat with a backrest, which reduces the load on the back. Suitable for people who are overweight, as well as those with diseases or back injuries.

Another important criterion is related to the control system. It can be of 3 types:

1. Mechanical – works without connecting to electricity, simple and easy to operate. Such models are cheaper, but they do not allow you to set this or that program or determine the load level.
2. Electromagnetic – a modern simulator with a network connection. Equipped with several programs with different numbers of load levels (minimum 16). It operates from the mains, or less often from a built-in generator, which needs to be periodically charged.
3. Induction – the most advanced devices are classified as professional simulators. They are characterized by maximum reliability and are able to maintain a given load level for a long time. At the same time, they are the most expensive and are most often used in fitness centers.

Criterias of choice

Also, before purchasing, you should pay attention to other criteria on how to choose a home exercise bike:

1. User weight - each model has a maximum load, but you need to purchase it with a reserve (optimally add 20%).
2. Space in the apartment - if it is too small, do not give up the exercise machine. You can simply purchase a folding model or a compact vertical device.
3. Availability of programs - if your goals are related to weight loss or cardio exercises, you need to choose a model with pre-installed software.
4. The presence of an informative display is a convenient addition that allows you to get all the necessary information during training.
5. Flywheel weight is a very important parameter that is often overlooked. This is a disk that begins to rotate when you press the pedals. It is optimal for it to have a fairly large weight - at least 8 kg. If you plan to imitate cycling as accurately as possible, the weight should be between 15-20 kg.

Thus, there are several ways to choose an exercise bike for your home by studying the types of exercise bikes. All the criteria described are important - from the type of device to the weight of the flywheel. It is better to purchase models from advanced brands with a long warranty period. It won’t hurt to study customer reviews on different sites.