We are living in an era where obesity is killing over ten people every minute. Lifestyle changes and excessive stress at work makes it almost impossible to afford those extra few minutes for ourselves.
Choosing to jog a few miles a day or merely visit a gym becomes a tiring option after spending over 10 working hours at an office.
Treadmill and stationary bicycles are considered as an excellent exercising alternative that can be easily installed at home. Installing these exercise gears at home not only helps one maintain good health but also promotes an active lifestyle.
Stationary bike vs. Treadmill: the similarities
Treadmill and Exercise bikes both are a very efficient exercising machine for a good cardio, and multiple resistance level training builds up.
However, choosing the right exercise gear for your home can be a confusing decision. Because many might be reluctant to accept both, it is a tough decision for sure.
Both the treadmill and stationary bicycles promote aerobic exercising that helps in endorphin release, which in turn supports better pain relief.
Exercising for a few minutes every day on either of the machines has also scientifically known to improve the mental status of patients suffering from depressive disorders.
Stationary bike vs. Treadmill - the Good vs. bad in both
Each of the exercise machines has its advantages and disadvantage for sure.
Stationary Bike
Advantages
Disadvantages
Treadmill
Advantages
Disadvantages
Both stationary bikes and treadmills have their own sets of limitations and advantages. However, choosing the right exercise gear is often slightly confusing.
In case of a Stationary bike through the regime mostly involves the lower body.
However, the stationary state allows a better and safer position whereas, in the case of a treadmill, one needs to carry their entire weight while running.
The treadmill
Sweat now, shine later. Keep pushing on that treadmill.
Running often is regarded as a very relaxing activity. However, running can become a difficult option when it's a matter of weather, terrain, and timings. You cannot simply choose to run on a rainy day or a rough and abrupt terrain. Nor can you do so in a relaxed fashion in the middle of a busy office work hour.
For people who love to run without worrying about any constraint, the treadmill is perhaps the best viable option. The treadmill allows an average of 50 to 250 calorie loss every hour which is outstanding progress. The electronic adjustments will enable one to custom allot the desired speed and duration without overworking or over stressing.
Treadmill promotes cardiovascular activities and also improves the blood circulation to a great deal. It is considered an excellent cardio exercise. Running as you listen to music on your iPod is not just relaxing, but it is also a great mood elevator.
Though a treadmill is a great exercise regime for people who love to run, the entire machine can be slightly noisy. The added need for ample space for placing the whole device horizontally makes it a somewhat difficult option, especially if you live in a small area.
The inclined angle setting along with speed control allows automatic improvement of the agility of the body without the need to go out and run of uneven terrain and harm you.
The Stationary Bike
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Cycling is another much-loved sport; however various constraint makes it tough many a time. Stationary bikes are an excellent choice for cycling enthusiasts. They are particularly suitable for people suffering from lower body ache as they promote fluid, muscular movements in the lower parts of the body.
For people with extensive back problems, they can choose the recumbent exercise bike which is a reclined bike that can be worked on while supporting the entire back arch. Since cycling is not regarded as a weight-bearing exercise, it has often been included in the ‘comfortable’ exercise protocols.
A stationary bike improves muscular tonality and is also an excellent rehabilitation technique to enhance the physical abilities in case of limb immobility and other movement-related issues.
A stationary bike often comes with an LCD console that clearly shows the speed and distance covered along with the calorie loss which is a great way to motivate someone to exercise better.
Since the seats and the handle are often adjustable, and the pedal can be modified for a backward or forward cycling direction it is an excellent choice for anybody.
Treadmill vs. A stationary bike: Impact on body
Let’s check how a stationary bike and a treadmill can be compared in terms of bodily impacts, which means how these two exercise gears exert impact on different body parts, no matter if you are doing exercise for better mobility or better slimming effects.
Exercise Bike vs. Treadmill for Belly Fat
According to the American College for Sports Medicine, an efficient way to lose abdominal fat but the ability to maintain muscle mass is the best done by high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Both the exercise gears can help in reducing belly fat.
Exercise Bike vs. Treadmill for knees
The nature of running, if on a treadmill means there is a jarring motion on both your knees with every step. You will find that running on a treadmill is slightly easier on your joints than running outside because of the convenience of the belt.
In comparison to that riding an exercise bike offers a low-impact exercise, which hardly puts a strain on your joints, but still offers a great workout for all your leg muscles. As you can adjust the resistance according to your capacity, your knee pain, if any, will be better taken care of in the working out in an exercise bike.
Exercise Bike vs. Treadmill for muscles
Running on a treadmill is more productive in terms of building and toning all body muscles. Working out of exercise bike is convenient for building and toning of leg muscles.
The treadmill works on the muscles like quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. You can improve the rear muscle strength (calves and glutes), which are boosted by increasing the incline of it. It’s not adequate for building strength in the legs but it helps in increasing cardiovascular fitness.
Similarly, an exercise bike works on the muscles like quadriceps, glutes, hamstring, and calves with more emphasis on the glutes due to the sitting posture on the bike.
A bike doesn't offer the same influence and weight-bearing capacity to build the strength and bone density like a treadmill.As a user, you can turn up the resistance level to build up the strength to some extent in the legs.
It is not intense although.
Must Read This Article: What Muscles Does a Recumbent Bike Work?
Treadmill vs. A stationary bike: user experience
(Price, ease of use, durability, maintenance, Risks, Workout Variation)
Treadmill vs. a stationary bike is an important factor if the user experience is taken in count. Here we have segregated user experience from different parameters.
Treadmill vs. A stationary bike: Price
We all know that a treadmill is comparatively more expensive than a stationary bike. Moreover, a treadmill occupies a great deal more space too.
In comparison to that, a stationary bike is less expensive. It occupies lesser space in a room is affordable in terms of adjust ability.
Worried About Your Burn Calories! Check Out: How to Burn Calories and Lose Weight with Recumbent Bikes.
Treadmill vs. A stationary bike: Maintenance
The maintenance necessities for stationary bikes are comparatively lesser. You need to retain it clean and confirm that all the nuts and bolts are completely tightened up.
If you have a friction resistance, depending on the use of a resistance pad may need supplanting in every 12-month time.
If the bike has a chain drive, you need to tight and lubricate it from time to time similar to a common bike. This simple maintenance can be done at home.
Treadmills need somehow more maintenance as they are built with an electric motor that has to be kept in good functioning condition. It is vital to keep it clean and the whole thing correctly tightened.
Furthermore, for a treadmill, you need to maintain the console to confirm that you can continue to use it. The console may need to get brushed and cleaned – you have to stay safe from electrical hazards too.
Machine durability
When looking at which machine can break down quite frequently, if you count on the comparison of the stationary bike vs. treadmill, the treadmill displays more vulnerability.
A treadmill has many fragile points like a belt, motor, &capability to the slope, whereas a bike has lesser complexity to break.
Stationary bikes infrequently ever break down, so it’s unusual to need regular servicing. As this may add to the entire cost of the machine, this may be somewhat you really do need to count on.
Ease of Use
When it comes to the point of ease of use, both of these exercise gears require natural movement patterns, so there are no real and major differences.
The treadmill needs a basic acquaintance with the machine, as most people get confused when the feel of the belt starts moving beneath them.
The bike is usually just like a plug and play type machine, so there’s hardly any learning curve. Both the gears are very user-friendly so these are perfectly convenient for beginners as well as for the advanced trainees.
Treadmill vs. A stationary bike: Risk
Safety is one of the basic needs of any exercise gear. The assessment of risk can help us in understanding the safety factors of these two gears.
In terms of safety, an exercise bike is a better option. It is stable enough and hardy has its chance to slip off.
In this aspect, the treadmill walk may get risky at least for the beginners. Thus is prevalent in the machines with shock absorption feature as well.
The treadmill is safer for people with general health, but if you have joint pain, bile is a safer gear for tour work out session.
Workout variation
Variations | Treadmill | Stationary bike |
Fat burn | High | modest |
Joint impact | High | modest |
Muscle strength | Low | restrained |
variability | modest | low |
Cardio | high | Low-moderate |
Focus on legs | restrained | high |
Treadmill vs. A stationary bike: real-life records
When you are exercising on an exercise bike, condition alto the intensity of your exercise, you will get to burn at least from 600 to 1100 calories within an hour. It is important to consider that most of the strain will be on the leg muscles if you do your workout session with a bike.
A treadmill can burn approx. 700 to 1300 calories per hour, and that is why pursuing a weight loss program is more effective on a treadmill. However, you must be accustomed to outdoor running to enjoy great benefits on the Treadmill.
Which is better: a stationary exercise bike or treadmill
There is no formula for assessing a better/worse degree if an exercise bike and treadmill are compared in terms of superiority. The suitability of these gears depends on the workout mission and the general health of the users.
For overall weight loss, the treadmill is a better option but it is not meant for a home gym and it occupies a huge space area.
But in case you are having joint pain and you want to maintain your cardiovascular endurance without exerting tension on your spine, the exercise bike is a better option than a treadmill.
Also, stationary bikes are more affordable in comparison to a treadmill, and they can be stored easily as well. An exercise bike is a comfy yet challenging mode for burning calories for the users who should follow a more low-impact method for enjoying a cardio workout with stability and safety.
Read Also: Air Bikes.
