Treadmills vs. Exercise Bike

Many people in this day and age know that the key to a long life is to eat healthy and perform regular exercise. This fact has made gym memberships and home health equipment surge in the last decade. Many people choose the latter due to the fact of ease of use in their own home and not having to deal with gym rats.

There are hundreds of types of exercise equipment on the market, but the most popular are treadmills and exercise bikes. The major problem most people find with at home exercise equipment is overcoming boredom. The only thing that seems to work on boredom on a treadmill is a TV or watching an exercise program.

The same is true on an exercise bike, but some bikes allow you to plug into a TV or video game so that you may visually pedal thru a course. Recumbent bikes allow your hands to be free so that you may use the phone, magazine or book.

Safety on a Treadmill or Bike

If safety is a major concern due to age or injury, obviously the exercise bike is the safest for either. Not only while on a treadmill do you have to worry about a misstep, but also if you have children they can endanger the user or themselves. If a ball or any other item is placed under the deck and belt the treadmill can abruptly stop, or little fingers and hands can be hurt by putting them in places they don’t belong.

With treadmills you also have to remember that you are putting much more stress on your joints. With an upright exercise bike users may stress your back while trying to reach handle bars. Recumbent bikes are said to sometimes improve existing back pain by forcing proper posture and giving you support while exercising. Exercising on a bike compared to a treadmill will reduce joint stress and injury.

Calorie Burn

On average a treadmill will burn more calories per hour than an exercise bike. NordicTrack conducted a study using different types of exercise equipment and they found that all at the same intensity the treadmill and ski machine burned more calories per hour than any other piece of equipment.

If you are interested in losing weight, a treadmill is the way to go! If you are a healthy individual with no joint problems or health problems you can expect to lose about 750 calories per hour on a treadmill compared to 550 calories on a bike. The key to losing weight is thru vigorous activity which a treadmill can allow.

Conclusion

Both exercise bikes and treadmills are wonderful options for anyone interested in losing weight or improving health. The major decision is what you are truly interested in achieving, and if you feel that you will be able to stick with your program long term. Long term success is determined by long term usage, so pick wisely, or even better choose both if your wallet can afford the investment.