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Exercise Bike Plan Follow Up

Blogs > micronesia
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micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24734 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-25 04:28:32
January 25 2009 04:25 GMT
#1
You might recall my earlier blog where I discussed my plans to use our old recumbent bike to get some exercise: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=85340

I set up the bike in front of my computer so I could see my monitor, and I changed the batteries in the control unit. I tried testing it out and... it doesn't work right. Every time I try increasing the resistance below the minimum amount, it dumps/restarts. I don't think this will work on the minimum setting. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy a new one.

But wait a second micronesia. Shouldn't you reconsider your plan to use an exercise bike in your basement now that you don't have one waiting for you? A reasonable question, but I honestly feel like the plan I've set up is the one that's most likely to be followed through. I even got my next few episodes of dbz lined up to watch. If I were to get a real bicycle instead, it would sit in the garage most of the year, and I can't watch anything while I use it.

So what kind of bike are you going to get? I hit Consumer Reports and they said the first thing to do is choose between a recumbent bike and an upright one. The recumbent ones are a little more comfortable, but cost more. I need to be able to see over the control unit to view my computer monitor effectively (that was my solution btw... no need for a tv) so I think an upright is more likely to help me with that although the recumbent I have at home which doesn't work would have been fine. They both offer similar workouts. Which one should I get? Why?



[image loading]

Poll: What kind of exercise bike?
(Vote): Upright
(Vote): Recumbent
(Vote): Other type of exercise device (explain)


For upright bikes, CR recommended: Schwinn 130 Upright Exercise Bike for $349 at Amazon.

[image loading]


There are cheaper alternatives, but supposedly this one is by far the best. If I'm going to actually use it then it's worth the money since I desperately need to get exercise.

CR recommended the recumbent bike: Spirit XBR25 seen here (for $1200):

[image loading]


For comparison, the recumbent Schwinn 231 is only $550 and is rated similarly to the upright Schwinn 130 I mentioned above.

Anyone have any experience with exercise bikes?

***
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-25 04:30:31
January 25 2009 04:29 GMT
#2
Recumbent bikes are terrible for exercise unless you're a 70 year old lady.

And they're all nauseating to use once you start doing some real exercise. I'd get the real bike or a treadmill or something.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24734 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-25 04:31:46
January 25 2009 04:29 GMT
#3
On January 25 2009 13:29 Jibba wrote:
Recumbent bikes are terrible for exercise unless you're a 70 year old lady.

Agreed. What's worse than terrible exercise is no exercise so I'm aiming for the lesser of two evils...

Would you consider the upright much better?

edit: keep in mind I want something that allows me to watch video while I do it so anything overly ambitious won't work out

edit2: Jibba by real bike to you mean upright exercise bike or a regular bicycle? I don't think I can really do anything else while I run on the treadmill.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
January 25 2009 04:31 GMT
#4
Yeah, upright is much better than recumbent. You can actually do well on it (like spinners do), it's just you start to feel like you're in a hamster wheel after a while.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24734 Posts
January 25 2009 04:33 GMT
#5
Ah ok. BTW I neglected to mention that the less space the device takes up, the better, so an upright bike makes a little bit more sense.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
January 25 2009 04:35 GMT
#6
I meant like a real bike, depending on where you live. Sort of pull a nA.Inky, without the whole tasting your own semen part.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
BanZu
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States3329 Posts
January 25 2009 04:37 GMT
#7
Upright, considering how darn expensive the recumbent is compared to its effectiveness
Sun Tzu once said, "Defiler becomes useless at the presences of a vessel."
evanthebouncy!
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States12796 Posts
January 25 2009 04:38 GMT
#8
I thought u meant
[image loading]
Life is run, it is dance, it is fast, passionate and BAM!, you dance and sing and booze while you can for now is the time and time is mine. Smile and laugh when still can for now is the time and soon you die!
Pengu1n
Profile Blog Joined October 2004
United States552 Posts
January 25 2009 05:05 GMT
#9
In my opinion you shouldn't waste your money on an exercise bike. Get a treadmill or an elliptical or a ski machine. You can still watch t.v. while using these and they are all better forms of exercise.

Not to mention using those bikes take forever to burn a sufficient amount of calories compared to the other cardio machines. I agree with Jibba they are for old ladies ;p
LosingID8
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
CA10828 Posts
January 25 2009 05:09 GMT
#10
On January 25 2009 13:38 evanthebouncy! wrote:
I thought u meant
[image loading]

omg this game was so fun
ModeratorResident K-POP Elitist
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24734 Posts
January 25 2009 05:10 GMT
#11
On January 25 2009 14:05 Pengu1n wrote:
In my opinion you shouldn't waste your money on an exercise bike. Get a treadmill or an elliptical or a ski machine. You can still watch t.v. while using these and they are all better forms of exercise.

Not to mention using those bikes take forever to burn a sufficient amount of calories compared to the other cardio machines. I agree with Jibba they are for old ladies ;p

Treadmills are big and heavy so I really don't think I'm going to be getting one.

Ellipticals are several times more expensive than the mid-level bikes according to my research. Are they heavier also? If they are harder to move, or take up a lot of space, then they are not very good for me at the moment. If I am using an exercise bike on a high resistance setting and I still feel like the workout is negligible, then you are probably right about the bike being too light, but I honestly think you are exaggerating about that. The goal isn't for me to get extremely in shape... it's for me to get some exercise while enjoying video.... I prefer the gradual approach to the all out extreme exercise approach (which will inevitably end with me having a big device in my basement collecting dust)
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
ChaoSbringer
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Australia1382 Posts
January 25 2009 05:19 GMT
#12
An elliptical will take up roughly 1.5 times room as upright bike lengthways. While they're probably about the same weight as a bike, they're a hell of a lot more of a pain in the ass to move around because of the parts you actually stand on.

I'd go for the upright bike personally, I never liked the elliptical I had, it just didn't feel very enjoyable to work out on, whereas on a bike you can just sort of zone out while peddling away.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
January 25 2009 07:23 GMT
#13
The problem with ellipticals is that the home use ones are shit-tastic, even though the ones in gyms are great. You can do a lot with an upright bike, but you just have to push yourself like in a spinning class.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24734 Posts
January 25 2009 07:25 GMT
#14
On January 25 2009 16:23 Jibba wrote:
The problem with ellipticals is that the home use ones are shit-tastic, even though the ones in gyms are great. You can do a lot with an upright bike, but you just have to push yourself like in a spinning class.

Do you just mean I'll need high resistance and to do long sessions? My current plan is ~20 minutes per session (1 episode)
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
January 25 2009 07:39 GMT
#15
It depends on intensity. Your best bet is to have some way to monitor your heart rate, although Polars usually cost $100. If you just do the same thing over and over your body is going to adjust.

Spinning classes usually have changes in resistance, sprints and jumps (rise up in your seat.) There's probably some Youtube videos that you can find the different positions on.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24734 Posts
January 25 2009 19:14 GMT
#16
On January 25 2009 16:39 Jibba wrote:
It depends on intensity. Your best bet is to have some way to monitor your heart rate, although Polars usually cost $100. If you just do the same thing over and over your body is going to adjust.

Spinning classes usually have changes in resistance, sprints and jumps (rise up in your seat.) There's probably some Youtube videos that you can find the different positions on.

Ah ok I guess I'll research spinning a bit to better understand this stuff.

Are the built in heart rate monitors (metal touch plates or w/e) not sufficient for this purpose? The high end exercise equipment come with chest straps but I wasn't planning on getting one of those.

BTW I just did a couple of runs yesterday and today using the old bike with the minimum resistance (the only way it still works) and that's actually a bit of a workout at the moment haha... I'll do this a few more times while I figure out what I'm going to do afterward. I go about 5 miles if I run at about 65 rpm for 20 minutes, burn about 100 calories, and get my pulse up quite a bit according to the device, although I'm not sure how accurate the pulse rate monitor is... I don't see how after 1 minute when I still feel perfectly fine my pulse can be like 110. My current pulse isn't great but it's not quite that bad haha.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
January 25 2009 19:19 GMT
#17
Oh, if it has the hand ones that'll work. I've never seen them built into bikes though.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24734 Posts
February 12 2009 17:44 GMT
#18
On January 26 2009 04:19 Jibba wrote:
Oh, if it has the hand ones that'll work. I've never seen them built into bikes though.

I'm not sure how accurate this is... either that or my heart rate gets way too high, way too fast, even though I feel fine :-/
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Dknight
Profile Blog Joined April 2005
United States5223 Posts
February 12 2009 19:27 GMT
#19
I dislike recumbent bikes. Go for the stand up! While I've never done a spinning class myself, I heard they are really, really hard but effective.
WGT<3. Former CL/NW head admin.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
February 13 2009 00:20 GMT
#20
On February 13 2009 02:44 micronesia wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 26 2009 04:19 Jibba wrote:
Oh, if it has the hand ones that'll work. I've never seen them built into bikes though.

I'm not sure how accurate this is... either that or my heart rate gets way too high, way too fast, even though I feel fine :-/

What kind of readings are you getting? Check it before you get started. Your heart might just have a high thresh hold, I know mine does. Also, looking down will bring your heart rate up.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
QuanticHawk
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States32083 Posts
February 13 2009 00:21 GMT
#21
Well, I wasn't the only one who thought excite bike first, apparently
PROFESSIONAL GAMER - SEND ME OFFERS TO JOIN YOUR TEAM - USA USA USA
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24734 Posts
March 01 2009 01:02 GMT
#22
On February 13 2009 09:20 Jibba wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 13 2009 02:44 micronesia wrote:
On January 26 2009 04:19 Jibba wrote:
Oh, if it has the hand ones that'll work. I've never seen them built into bikes though.

I'm not sure how accurate this is... either that or my heart rate gets way too high, way too fast, even though I feel fine :-/

What kind of readings are you getting? Check it before you get started. Your heart might just have a high thresh hold, I know mine does. Also, looking down will bring your heart rate up.

Oh yeah I haven't been going on the bike lately so I haven't had a chance to try this.

Basically I cranked up the resistance a bit too much and overdid it and my knee hurt a bit. Coincidentally I had a doctor's appointment where he concluded it's ok and that I should just rest up for a week or so and then resume but with lower resistance. I asked him to take my pulse and he said it was 60 and that he could set his watch to it. That surprised me but w/e I'm not complaining.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24734 Posts
March 01 2009 20:48 GMT
#23
I just started up again on lower resistance settings and feel fine. Hopefully this will work for a while.

Also I hope I have the bike adjusted well. My goal is to stretch my legs almost as far as they will go without locking the knee, but I'm worried maybe I could raise the seat a setting higher...
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
h3r1n6
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Iceland2039 Posts
March 01 2009 21:21 GMT
#24
Make the seat high enough, so your heel touches the pedal at its lowest point when the leg is stretched. That means when your feet are in a normal position, your leg is not completely, but almost stretched out.
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