Recumbent bikes are an excellent way to lose weight for those who aren’t comfortable sitting atop either an actual bike or a stationary simulation. The recumbent bike is that exercycle that is situated closer to the floor and allows you to sit back and relax a little while biking. Don’t let that relaxing positioning of the body, fool you. With the help of a proper diet, I lost more fifty pounds with my only access to high intensity aerobic exercise being my recumbent bike
Of course, I did get a little addictive, sometimes spending as much as three hours a day on the thing. But that’s another story.
You don’t need all the fancy gizmos that come with today’s version of recumbent bikes. You can do without the adjustable tension that simulates going uphill and downhill in increasingly sophisticated permutations, but unless you live alone you will want to go for the quieter magnetic bikes over the older version with a strap that over time only gets louder.
Tension is adjustable in all recumbent bikes so don’t worry about that. You are spending up to hundreds more by investing in a bike that simulates nearly every topographical terrain that a real bike could possibly attack. Just get one that allows you to push yourself a little harder as you get more into the exercise. But always keep in mind that you can lose just as much weight on the lowest tension setting as you can on the highest. You just have to be willing to put in the time and maybe do away with bigger calves.
Aerobic exercise is really the key to recumbent biking anyway. If you want to build up your calves, then invest in weights. The great thing about a recumbent bike is that if you dedicate yourself to constant use and combine it with a proper diet, you can expect to start losing weight on a regular basis. The laid back physical situation means you aren’t as likely to give up as if you were hurting your back by bending over a typical bike.
Another positive aspect of settling into a recumbent position is the freedom of your hands. While you legs and feet do the real work, your hands are free to make the time pass more quickly. I bought myself a baseball game for the PS2 and as the pounds dripped away I narrow missed winning Rookie of the Year the first year, but then came back to win MVP in two years and batting titles five straight years. But a baseball video game could occupy my time whereas it might not occupy yours. Never fear: sit back in a recumbent position and play another type of video game or watch TV or read your Kindle or check your email or do whatever will make the time pass. The more quickly time passes, my friend, the longer you stay on the bike
That’s part of how I managed to lose those fifty pounds. If I hadn’t found a way of making that time pass, I might not have gotten to that extreme point of weight loss. If you can find something to match my own obsessive need to have my little avatar playing for the franchise team Portland Fury on All-Star Baseball 2005 become a veritable legendary player, I might never have passed the 50 pound mark. You can do the same with a recumbent bike. And without the sore back or bum that comes with using a traditional bike or a simulated tradition bike in its stationary form.
