In the event you discover that almost all cardio exercises really feel too exhausting in your physique, the very best recumbent train bikes are a wonderful various. As an alternative of sitting perched over the handlebars (like on a conventional stationary bike), you’re in a reclined seated place on a recumbent bike. That places much less pressure in your knees and core, and engages your hamstrings extra, Andy Fata-Chan, PT, DPT, a bodily therapist and health coach at Second Bodily Remedy & Efficiency in New York, tells SELF.
Intrigued? Able to improve your dwelling health club with a beginner-friendly piece of train gear? Proper this manner—we spoke to Dr. Fata-Chan about the advantages of recumbent bikes, what to search for within the mannequin you carry dwelling, and the very best machines presently available on the market.
Our high picks
- Finest General: NordicTrack 10 Recumbent Bike, $1,500
- Runner-Up: Sole LCR Train Bike, $2,000
- Finest Price range Decide: Merach S19 Recumbent Train Bike, $360
- Finest Splurge: Life Health RS1 Lifecycle Train Bike, $2,339
On this article
Store the very best recumbent train bikes
Begin pedaling.
Finest General: NordicTrack 10 Recumbent Bike
Dr. Fata-Chan extremely recommends NordicTrack’s recumbent bikes—and the brand new 10 mannequin is actually distinctive. It has an adjustable seat with lumbar help, huge pedals, and resistance stage controls proper on the handlebars. It’s a severely cozy bike that newcomers and seasoned cyclists can equally get pleasure from. The huge resistance vary and iFit entry make it simple to choose your tempo and discover lessons that focus on your health stage. Plus, with the bike’s SmartAdjust characteristic, it could mechanically dial into the precise stage of resistance that fits you.
At $1,500, the ten Recumbent Bike is definitely an funding. However its sheer consolation and studio-quality exercises make it properly value it.
Weight: 186 kilos | Dimensions: 67.20 x 23.30 x 51.90 inches | Resistance settings: 26 ranges of magnetic resistance | Weight capability: 350 kilos | Show: 10-inch touchscreen
Membership and app choices
This bike is appropriate with iFit memberships, which join you with hundreds of trainer-led exercises, sync with third-party apps like Strava and Apple Well being, and price $15 per thirty days for iFit Practice and $39 per thirty days for iFit Professional.
Runner-Up: Sole LCR Train Bike
For much more resistance choices, pre-programmed and customizable exercises, and a transparent interface, contemplate the Sole LCR, one other high choose from Dr. Fata-Chan. He says it has an ideal vary of options and shouts out the big show, which makes all of it the better to observe together with the Sole+ App’s exercises. It additionally has a snug seat and a heavy-duty flywheel, so you possibly can put a ton of miles on it with out worrying about put on and tear.
The one draw back to the Sole LCR is its barely greater price, which is why we put it behind the NordicTrack. That stated, for those who’re open to this worth level, it’ll severely improve your private home exercises.
Weight: 152 kilos | Dimensions: 56 x 29 x 60 inches | Resistance settings: 40 ranges of magnetic resistance | Weight capability: 350 kilos | Show: 10.10-inch touchscreen
Membership and app choices
The free Sole+ app comes with all Sole health gear and gives entry to a whole bunch of lessons.
Finest Price range Decide: Merach S19 Recumbent Train Bike
Merach’s extra budget-friendly S19 recumbent bike received a SELF Dwelling Health Award final yr for its almost silent trip, breathable mesh seat, and equipment shift-style resistance controls.
Katie Pierson, CPT, creator of MT Lady Health, an indoor biking teacher, and a Dwelling Health Award decide, informed us it’s her favourite machine when she desires a extra relaxed trip. “I assumed it was such an ideal piece of kit that I gave it to my mother after I used to be completed testing to assist her with hip-replacement rehab,” she says. “I nonetheless trip it after I go over to her home.”
Weight: 97 kilos | Dimensions: 48.03 x 23.62 x 46.46 inches | Resistance settings: 8 ranges of magnetic resistance | Weight capability: 330 kilos | Show: LCD show display screen
Membership and app choices
The Merach Health App has free lessons, progress monitoring, scenic rides, and exercise challenges.
Finest Splurge: Life Health RS1 Lifecycle Train Bike
Dr. Fata-Chan notes that the Life Health RS1 Lifecycle bike doesn’t have fairly as many high-tech options because the NordicTrack and Sole do, but it surely comes along with your selection of two show consoles. The Go Console gives core metrics, whereas the Observe 2.0 is extra detailed and may hook up with health trackers just like the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch. That lends the machine a streamlined expertise that spares you the difficult tech, so you may get straight to pedaling.
Bells and whistles apart, this bike merely gives a easy, luxurious trip. It’s quiet, snug, and constructed to final. In the event you’re bored with schlepping to your health club or PT to log a while on a recumbent bike, you possibly can carry that high-quality exercise expertise dwelling to you.
Weight: 133 kilos | Dimensions: 66.50 x 25.50 x 51.50 inches | Resistance settings: 20 ranges | Weight capability: 300 kilos | Show: LCD display screen
Membership and app choices
This bike is appropriate with the Life Health Join App while you entry it out of your private system and hook up with the bike through Bluetooth. The App has an unlimited train library, exercise monitoring, and exercise scheduling.
What are the advantages of utilizing a recumbent train bike, in comparison with biking on a standard train bike?
As SELF has beforehand reported, low-impact cardio is a good various to working or plyometrics for those who cope with joint ache. And in case your ache is concentrated in your knees and again, a recumbent bike is an particularly good choice—even in comparison with a typical train bike, Dr. Fata-Chan says. “The recumbent bike has much less calls for on the knees and again, so it may be used as a regression,” he explains. He provides that recumbent bikes additionally put much less stress in your core and trunk, attributable to their reclined seats.
Plus, recumbent bikes are the higher selection for folk recovering from an harm. “Whereas each [recumbent and upright bikes] are low influence, the recumbent is even much less influence, making it an ideal choice for rehab,” Dr. Fata-Chan says.
What do you have to search for when purchasing for a recumbent bike?
Perhaps you need an enormous show display screen, Bluetooth connectivity, or membership-only lessons. You will discover these techy options in a number of high-end fashions. However there are additionally recumbent bikes for many who need a extra streamlined consumer expertise—say, a easy LCD display screen and simple changes. Dr. Fata-Chan says these options are completely a matter of non-public choice, however it may be useful to notice which of them really feel key to your exercises earlier than you begin procuring.
Dr. Fata-Chan recommends contemplating the bike’s seat adjustability, whether or not it has added help within the again relaxation, and the way simply you may get onto and off the bike. It is best to be capable to attain the pedals comfortably and really feel supported by your decrease again. Most recumbent bikes have a step-through design that makes it comparatively simple to get seated and begin pedaling. However the placement of the bike’s handlebars and show console can have an effect on this, so see for those who can check a pair fashions out in individual.
Recumbent bikes are inclined to have bigger footprints than conventional train bikes, so be sure you have sufficient room in your house health club earlier than bringing one dwelling. Measure your house, then take note of the mannequin’s dimensions. Dr. Fata-Chan additionally notes that heavier bikes are typically sturdier and extra sturdy. In the event you plan to make use of your machine lots, the additional weight may very well be properly value it.
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