If you are looking for an effective home weight-loss machine, this article is for you. Consider the pros and cons of exercise bikes and treadmills and compare the weight-loss effects of regular exercise on each.
You’ll agree that it’s expensive to buy two machines at once, and there may not be enough space at home for both. And you want to look spectacular and preferably achieve the result not in years, but quite a foreseeable period.
Let’s find out which exercise machine is best for losing weight at home, exercise bike vs treadmill?
Pros and cons of the home stationary bike
Advantages of exercising on a stationary bike
The exercise bike is a practical home companion that helps you lose weight, burn excess fat, improve cardiovascular endurance, relieve tension, and improve muscle tone. The benefits of exercising on a stationary bike are apparent:
* Regular exercise on the exercise bike will give you slim legs and firm thighs. After all, the legs (calves, shins) and gluteal muscles are the main areas of action.
* The exercise also indirectly engages the oblique abdominals and back muscles.
* Given that we are predominantly seated for the workout, there is no shock load on the legs of the legs as there is intensely running on a treadmill.
* It is challenging to injure yourself on the exercise bike because your upper body is in a static position most of the time.
* The dimensions of the simulator are both a plus and a minus here. If you’re opting for a mini treadmill, they’re superior to treadmills in terms of size. However, many modern models of treadmills are foldable. Still, exercise bikes, especially horizontal ones, will take up all the space they have available, and you can’t just fold them up after your workout.
* Bicycles are generally less expensive than treadmills. Especially when it comes to simple models with a good fit. Here, in the under 10,000-ruble budget, you can buy a stationary bike with a display and magnetic loading system. The budget for an electric treadmill, on the other hand, starts at only 20-25 thousand.
Minuses
The main area of the exercise bike is the leg and gluteal muscles, indirectly the back and oblique muscles, but this is not a question of evenly distributing the load. And therein lies the main disadvantage of exercising on these machines.
The second important point is that the exercise bike burns fewer calories. We aim to lose weight effectively by exercising at home, which means burning as many calories as possible.
Can I lose weight by exercising on a stationary bike at home?
The easiest way is to look at how many calories we will expend in a 60-minute workout at an average pace.
The average is 400-500 kcal. If you work out more intensively at a higher heart rate (around 150-170 beats per minute), you’ll burn 800 calories in an hour.
However, only professional athletes can maintain this rate for a whole hour. If we talk about home training for weight loss, we will take precisely 500 calories per hour for comparison.
Choose your exercise bike.
Pros and cons of the treadmill
A treadmill is an exercise machine that, like the exercise bike, belongs to the cardio group and provides aerobic exercise to the body. There are several types of the treadmill, both for home and gym use, and mechanical and electric. In the first case, you push the treadmill with your feet, while in the second, the motor does it for you.
Advantages of treadmills at home
* Unlike on a stationary bike, running puts an even load on the body. The leg, gluteal, abs and back muscles will all work out equally. Of course, you won’t get a toned muscle on a treadmill, but you’ll get a tighter body with no problem.
* Generally, treadmills have more options for changing the load. You can set the pace of running (or walking) and the angle of incline, etc. A combination of these settings allows you to choose a regime that suits your needs and is safe yet effective in losing weight.
* Running on a treadmill improves your overall coordination as it trains your stabiliser muscles.
* As we shall see below, running on a treadmill is more effective for weight loss, making sense, as it involves more muscles.
* Many modern treadmills have a folding mechanism and transport rollers, which reduce the space requirement considerably.
Minuses
* First of all – treadmill running is contraindicated for people with a second or higher degree of obesity. During exercise, there is an impact on the spine and joints. With this excess weight, instead of losing weight, there is a risk of serious injury.
* Also, treadmill running is not suitable for those with musculoskeletal problems or breathing problems.
* Price. As mentioned earlier, treadmills with a medium feature set cost 1.5 to 2 times more than exercise bikes with similar functionality.
How does running on a treadmill affect weight loss?
Great effect! The treadmill is the leader in calorie expenditure among home exercise machines. If you walk at a regular (brisk) pace for an hour, you can burn up to 400 calories. An intense 60-minute run burns 500-900 calories.
Of course, you don’t want to run 60 minutes at a high heart rate right from your first training session. But if you train wisely and build up your intensity gradually, you can reach these 500-900 calorie levels in a month or a month and a half.
Which is more effective for losing weight – the exercise bike or the treadmill?
If you look at the dry numbers, you will burn more calories if you exercise at home on a treadmill. And so, purely theoretically, it is for weight loss than running is better suited.
Compare that with 500 calories in an hour on the exercise bike and 700-800 calories on the treadmill. Initially, you will burn about the same number of calories on both machines.
However, after 1-2 months of regular exercise and with increasing intensity and duration on the stationary bicycle, you risk hitting a wall; on the treadmill, however, there is much more room to grow. As mentioned earlier, the treadmill has more adjustments for load growth.
Who is better suited to the exercise bike?
Previously, we found out that weight loss is slower when you exercise on a stationary bike. However, if you only need to correct problem areas, such as ‘lugs’ on the hips, this option is more suitable.
If you are starting with a heavy workout, it is safer to start on a stationary bike. It has no detrimental effect on tendons, knees, etc. Adjust your diet and exercise regularly for 3-4 months, and when the weight has fallen, you can move on to a treadmill or outdoor running.
Who should exercise on a treadmill?
First and foremost, for those who are not overweight and want to lose weight faster. With a correct and gradual build-up of exercise (pace and incline), you can quickly achieve results.
However, pay attention to several factors:
* Gradually increase the intensity of your running training.
* Alternate periods of slow running, fast running and walking.
* Do not train every day, especially at the beginning. You want to lose weight as quickly as possible, but your training programme should always include days for recovery.
* When exercising on the treadmill or even on the exercise bike, remember to drink plenty of fluids.
* Adjust your diet and nutrition simultaneously; otherwise, no amount of training – neither on a treadmill nor on a stationary bike – will make you lose weight. It is essential to maintain a calorie deficit – eat less, burn more. But not at the expense of health.
Which is better for the home: a treadmill or a stationary bike?
If you’re currently in the throes of deciding what to buy for your small flat so you can cardio-exercise in the evenings while watching your favourite TV series, then you need to choose thoroughly.
Let’s try to break down our comparison into separate segments and show the pros and cons of both trainers in each. It’s up to you to decide which part is more critical to you and choose your gear according to your capabilities and preferences. Here we go:
Aerobic effect
The treadmill, like the exercise bike, stresses your cardiovascular system, creating an aerobic effect. Your breathing builds endurance and, of course, helps you lose weight by increasing your internal energy expenditure for a given workload.
There is a perception that a treadmill does it better, but this is not entirely true. The treadmill makes it a little more efficient in time by putting more strain on your body. You’ll agree that running is much more complicated and more energy-intensive than cycling.
The exercise bike will allow you to put quite a decent amount of stress on your body that will upset it and start burning calories and fat along with it, just the time spent on one workout will be a little longer. In simple terms, running on a treadmill will exhaust you in about 20-30 minutes (depending on how you run and your fitness), while you should pedal for about 50-60 minutes to get the same exertion on a stationary bike.
The process is stretched, but it also becomes more “light” and comfortable.
Muscle tone.
Of course, cardio machines don’t just affect your general fitness and endurance; they also help you get your muscle groups working.
And of course. It’s hard to disagree that running not only trains your lower body but by constantly rocking your torso, your back, abs and even your arms are loaded. In other words, when you make running movements, your whole body tenses up, it’s as if it’s filling up and preparing for a battle, with a mammoth that you are catching up with, or with a lion that is catching up with you.
In this case, the exercise bike only loads your lower body, while the upper body sits quietly in a padded seat for the most part.
The strain on the joints.
As you can see from the previous two points, the treadmill is more effective at getting your body pumped up and will allow you to exercise your body more effectively in a shorter period.
But, precisely because of the more comfortable and gradual loading, the exercise bike is safer for your joints in your legs, knees, feet. Because there is no load on your back, cycling is more suitable for overweight or seniors.
And, if you’re not in your twenties and have minor back problems, scoliosis and the other joys of the upright man, cycling is preferable. But cycling has its disadvantages too – long rides on a bike can lead to blood stasis in the groin and the ‘back’ area, leading to some problems.
My advice – take five-minute breaks every 20km, this will allow you to “cool down” your blood vessels!
A variety of training.
A treadmill is said to have more varied features, and a greater variety of workouts, both in the form of programmes and in the form of your own designed programmes.
You can walk, slow, fast, jog, or run at a rapid pace, on flat ground, uphill, changing your speed constantly or competing with your results. The exercise bike usually offers only a pedal resistance force.
But I wouldn’t focus too much on this, as you can also go faster or slower, with various pedalling efforts, while continually changing your pace, increasing or decreasing your workload and making your workout more interval-based.
That said, you can also do all this on ordinary, cheap models of exercise bikes. At the same time, treadmills are severely limited depending on the model and their cost.
Price and comfort.
Finally, we come to the last point – price, size and usability. And here, of course, the exercise bike wins it all.
They are less expensive, the price range is comprehensive, and you can get quite an excellent model with all the features you need for a reasonable price.
Even a simple exercise bike with a minimum distance meter and a “knob” for the load will suit 80% of users.
They take up far less space than their jogging counterparts, are lighter in weight and easy to carry, stow on the balcony or in the cupboard.
Conclusion
Treadmills are much larger, heavier and more cumbersome. But, you might say, there are smaller, narrower models on the market.
Yes, but using them severely limits your workload and training regimes, they are uncomfortable to run on and must be precisely matched to your weight and height. And for the cost, they will still be like a great exercise bike, which will have more programmes, features.
Yes, and it will simply be more comfortable. If you go for a more comfortable treadmill, wide, bulky, with a wide range of programmes, incline changes, etc., it will cost you a pretty penny.
It is also worth remembering that the cheaper and less expensive models on the market are not always of good quality and require periodic maintenance and repairs, which will also cost a lot of money.
What’s the bottom line? And at the end of the day, use what you have. Or according to your capabilities.
If you have money, you are young and fit, you have a big house and plenty of space. You should get a treadmill. It will provide you with an excellent workout and allow you to reach your goals quickly and efficiently.
If you’re starting and you’re limited on funds and space, and you’re not sure if you need it all or if a piece of cake, a sofa and a soap opera play a big part in your life, take the exercise bike. For a flat, it’s a great option. As for the gym, look at your health, weight and the strain on your joints and back.
The main thing is not to do any harm, but to help yourself become fitter, stronger and more resilient!