Best Exercise Bikes For Home Use
UPDATED, September 13, 2021
Whether you can’t seem to find the time to make it to the gym or if you prefer exercising in the privacy of your home, you should consider an at-home workout on an exercise bike to keep you in good physical shape. Exercise bikes have come a long way since measuring pulse rate and calories-burned were considered advanced technologies. So, if you think a personal exercise bike at home can’t replace fancy gym equipment and provide you with a challenging workout, you should reconsider.
The Benefits Of A Working Out On An Exercise Bike
Riding an exercise bike provides a great workout that benefits multiple body systems by:
- Managing blood pressure
- Increasing immunity
- Reducing stress
- Improving sleep
- Increasing energy
- Improving brain function
But it doesn’t stop there! Other common benefits to workout on an exercise bike include:
Losing Weight
If your work-from-home schedule creates fewer opportunities to get moving during the day and you worry that your waist is starting to expand, an exercise bike is a convenient way to sneak away even if it’s just for 20 minutes so you can increase your activity and burn calories.
Balancing Cholesterol Levels
Exercising for at least 30 minutes per day can significantly impact cholesterol levels, but rigorous exercise is more beneficial than moderate levels of activity. For instance, aerobic workout sessions, including riding an exercise bike, can lower LDL or bad cholesterol. And high-intensity exercise raises HD or good cholesterol levels.
One of the best features of an exercise bike is that you’re able to adjust your bike’s speeds and resistance, giving you complete power to conveniently adjust your workout’s intensity at different intervals.
Toning Muscles
A workout on an exercise bike can strengthen and tone the muscles in your legs and core, and strong mid- and lower-body muscles promote good posture, balance, and stability.
Where you may think an exercise bike only challenges your lower body, the right exercise bike and workout can challenge your upper body strength as well. Focus on incorporating your bike’s handlebars to help strengthen your shoulders, biceps, and triceps.
A good place to start is the iFIT French Polynesia Beginner Cycle Series. You can easily sign up for your iFIT 30-Day Trial and get started with your iFIT trainer, John Peel, as he’ll take you through 12 workouts that focus on inclines, endurance, and intervals. While you’re working up a sweat, you’ll get to enjoy the spectacular views of Tamae Beach, the Ōpūnohu Pineapple Fields, Coconut Grove, and more as you get familiar with the bike.
Managing Blood Sugar Levels
Cycling, which is just another word for riding a bike, can help manage blood sugar levels. People who regularly engage in cycling reduce their risks of Type 2 diabetes by as much as 20%. This benefit occurs even for those who begin riding later in life.
Improving Balance
As we had already mentioned, biking strengthens lower body muscles, which can affect balance and stability. Additionally, strong leg muscles provide the foundation to help you engage in a wide range of daily activities requiring good coordination, including walking, climbing stairs, playing sports, and carrying packages.
Protecting Joints
If you suffer from any form of arthritis, you can still benefit from a heart-pumping workout on an exercise bike. Cycling is a low-impact, non-weight-bearing activity that puts less stress on joints, so it can be a great option for you over other machines.
The Best Exercise Bikes For Home Use
If you’ve come to the conclusion that you can benefit from having an exercise bike at home, you may wonder how to select the perfect bike for you and your goals. Of course, the best exercise bike is one you will use on a consistent basis. Still, many people find it challenging to stay motivated. Fortunately, you can choose bikes with interactive features that offer the right amount of encouragement to make cycling a daily habit.
Let’s go over our favorite exercise bike picks for home use:
Best Overall
Our best overall choice has to be the NordicTrack Commercial S22i Studio Cycle due to its extraordinary quality, design, and features accompanied with its virtual personal trainer, iFIT®. Nothing was spared in the making of this bike and you can now kiss workout boredom goodbye thanks to iFIT workouts, which happen to be available in a studio setting and filmed across a multitude of destinations all around the world. The workout and location is up to you to choose!
While you’re free to explore exotic adventures across 51 different countries through the bike’s 22-inch rotating, Smart HD Touchscreen, you’re accompanied by experienced iFIT trainers. As your trainer is pumping you up with motivation all the while automatically adjusting your bike for you during the workout, the Quiet Drive Incline Tech takes over to simulate inclines and declines of hills and valleys that are shown in your workout; making it seem as if you were there in person with your trainer.
The feature-packed iFIT platform offers a variety workouts that even take you off your exercise bike, including:
- A full range of beginner to advanced-level workouts
- Post-cycling exercises
- Guided floor exercises
- Strength-training exercises
- Yoga
After all that, we haven’t gotten to the best part! NordicTrack includes a 30-day iFIT Family Subscription with your bike purchase, allowing five users total to enjoy an adventurous workout on your bike.
Best Value
For a meaningful workout on a bike offering exceptional value, look no further than the ProForm Studio Bike Pro 22. It also has a 22″ Smart HD Touchscreen Display with SmartSwivel™, which allows you to have the perfect view of your workout on and off your bike. The handlebars, seat, and pedals can be easily adjusted to perfectly match your desired placement for a comfortable ride each time.
For when silence is a necessity, the patented SMR™ Silent Magnetic Resistance is a feature that cannot go unnoticed. Experience a smooth, frictionless, and silent ride without disrupting others around you, which makes all the difference if you happen to prefer early morning and late night workouts. The bike also includes small transport wheels that make for easy movement and storage.
ProForm also includes a one-year family subscription to iFIT with your bike purchase, so the ProForm Studio Bike Pro 22 is possibly the best value on the high-end bike market.
Best Commercial Quality
The Freemotion label offers the state-of-the-art Coachbike™, part of its 22 Series. It brings the gym home with its sturdy and quality technology. Freemotion touts Coachbike™ as the most innovative exercise bike on the market and offers users a near-endless supply of iFIT coaching sessions with painstakingly selected professional and Olympic athletes and trainers.
The Coachbike™ comes with an auto-adjusting incline and decline feature, an auto-fan, integrated Google Maps™ features, and the 22-inch adjustable HD touchscreen. The Coachbike™ comes equipped with audio jacks and Bluetooth® capability.
Conclusion
As you can see, working out on an exercise bike is a good workout and good for you. While you may have originally thought that it’s only working out your legs, it’s doing much more than that for your physical health.
As you continue to research your bike options, check back here on Exercisebike.com for upcoming bike reviews and information so you can have a better understanding of what is out there in the bike world. After all, we’re all just trying to do our best and find the right bike to get us where we want to be, physically and mentally.
DISCLAIMER: This article is not intended to replace the advice of a medical professional. The above information should not be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or medical condition. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet, sleep methods, daily activity, or fitness routine. Exercisebike.com assumes no responsibility for any personal injury or damage sustained by any recommendations, opinions, or advice given in this article. Always follow the safety precautions included in the owner’s manual of your fitness equipment.
IFIT DISCLAIMER: iFIT requires an internet connection and Wi-Fi to function. You will be required to provide your credit card information upon sign-up for iFIT. Your Commitment Period may be month-to-month or twelve (12), eighteen (18), or thirty-six (36) months, depending on your agreement. Terms shall apply to your iFIT use and subscription during your Commitment Period and any subsequent Renewal Term. Unless you cancel your account or notify us at least twenty four (24) hours prior to the expiration of your commitment period that you do not wish to renew your subscription, your iFIT subscription will automatically renew for an additional month, one (1) year, or two (2) year period, as applicable, for the same duration as your initial commitment period (“The Renewal Term”), and you authorize us to bill the then-applicable membership fee and any taxes to the payment method we have on record for you.
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/stationary-bike-workout#benefits
https://www.healthline.com/health/what-exercise-burns-the-most-calories#on-a-time-crunch
https://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/features/exercise-to-lower-cholesterol
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3906547/
https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20160712/pedal-away-from-type-2-diabetes
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/easy-ways-to-improve-your-balance
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/cycling-health-benefits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D4Mx7aP8QA&t=1s
https://www.nordictrack.com/exercise-bikes/s22i-studio-bike
https://exercisebike.com/ifit-bike-support-getting-started-with-ifit/
https://www.ifit.com/blog/travel-the-world-with-global-workouts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJSCf6hbw6w&t=1s
https://www.proform.com/exercise-bikes/studio-bike-pro-22
https://www.proform.com/blog/faq-studio-bike-pro-22/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps9cgry83LE&t=1s