Choose one Based on Price, Health Benefits and Ease of Use

The two major types of exercise bikes available on the market are upright and recumbent bikes. The upright exercise bike is similar to a road bike in appearance but has a vertical orientation. On the other hand, the recumbent bike has seating for the rider that allows him or her to be seated against a backrest and also has legs out in front. There is considerable difference of opinions when experts weigh the health benefits of upright vs. recumbent exercise bikes.

The recumbent exercise bike certainly provides comfort and is easy to use, more so for people who may be suffering from back pain or for those who are new to exercising. However, experts consider the recumbent exercise bike to be conducive to slow speeds as well as being less intensive workout bikes. So, the debate regarding upright vs. recumbent exercise bikes rages on.

There is certainly more movement allowable when using the upright bike and this includes riding in either a standing position or racing position but causes more strain on the back. There is however, considerable consensus of opinion amongst experts that the upright vs. recumbent exercise bike choice is dependent on personal choice rather than health benefit considerations. To this end, it may be mentioned that even manufacturers of bikes offer both styles of bikes though recumbent exercise bikes are higher priced. Thus, the price factor is another consideration that needs to be taken into account when evaluating upright vs. recumbent exercise bike choices and one should also try out both types to see which is more comfortable.

To make the upright vs. recumbent exercise bikes debate more interesting it may be noted that manufacturers of bikes are trying to counter the notion that indoor biking is a boring exercise and thus provide users with pre-programmed workouts to add variety to the subject matter. There is the Life Fitness C3-5 upright bike costing approximately US$1,600 and its counterpart in the recumbent bike space, is the Life Fitness R3-5 which costs approximately US$1,800 and both are excellent bikes having features such as twenty levels of resistance and as many as ten programmed workouts.

They also have Polar heart-rate monitors that include wireless chest straps and there is not much to choose from between the two when comparing upright vs. recumbent exercise bikes since both are powered by pedaling and have the highest weight capacity from among the other stationary bike category.