There is a reason recumbent bikes are now more popular for residential use than upright exercise bikes. While upright bikes offer more of a challenge to muscles throughout the body, recumbent bikes are much gentler on the joints. These bikes are more like sitting in a chair and pedaling, though you can incorporate your arms to achieve a whole body workout without worrying about injury.

When recumbent bikes were first designed it was use in physical therapy. Therapy patients often cannot balance themselves on a regular bike seat and many have difficulty getting up on an upright bike because of the center bar. That is why many recumbent bikes are designed with a step-through design that doesn’t require lifting the leg to mount. As the general public placed more demand for access to these bikes the market for residential models took off.

Today, every major home fitness manufacturer has at least a small line of recumbent exercise bikes and many are sold at very affordable price points. To give you an idea of what to expect from a recumbent bike today, we will use the popular Schwinn 240 Recumbent Exercise Bike as an example.

Schwinn is a reputable brand name in the fitness industry and they currently offer an impressive line of the recumbent bikes designed for residential use. The Schwinn 240 model sells for well under $1,000 and is one of their most popular products because it offers all the basic features consumers expect from their home fitness equipment.

Let’s start with the design. The Schwinn 240 Bike has a reasonable sized seat and allows the legs to stretch out in front for a safe ride. It has a big console and both the seat and console can be adjusted to fit users of different heights. The design also includes a heavy 20 pound flywheel which makes the ride smooth and adds stability to the overall bike.

The frame on this recumbent bike is open so users can step through and sit down without stepping over the center bar that upright bikes usually include. There are some recumbent bikes on the market that do not have the step through design, but they are by far less popular than this design.

The Schwinn 240 recumbent exercise bike also offers a variety of convenience features that make the bike more effective for users who want to lose weight or meet fitness goals. There are 16 different resistance options and a variety of workouts programmed into the console. The console is even designed to work with wireless heart rate monitors, though it does not come with a wireless chest strap like many higher priced recumbent bikes include.

You don’t get all the bells and whistles on this bike, but you get all the expected features plus a bit more for a nice price.

If you want to pay more you can find fancy recumbent bikes that design a workout based on your active heart rate or which have built-in computer screens on your console. You can also find many with connections for your iPod and built-in speaker systems. The technology advancements in recent years have been nothing short of amazing!

Tags: cardio, exercise, recumbent bike, schwinn bike
Filed under: Fat Loss Products