Recumbent Bike or Elliptical?

[Chrono]

Recumbent bike or Elliptical? Which one and why?

 

[HN]

if it had to be between the two, i'd go with elliptical. recumbent bikes just feel so, i dunno, stiff.

now, if i had secret choice #3, i'd go with a rower

 

[brikis98]

Depends on what your goals are.

 

[boomhower]

Recumbants have always been to uncomfortable. Plus I always felt ellipticals give a better workout.

 

[RKS]

It's easier to eat and read on a recumbant. :laugh:

I've found an elliptical to be a better workout since you can control which muscles to use as well as keep your upper body in the loop.

 

[KingGheedora]

I find recumbents to be uncomfortable, so even though I don't really like ellipticals I'd probably go with one of those. I'd choose a normal stationary bike over both.

 

[Titan]

Ellipticals allow you to move your whole body.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Originally posted by: RKS
It's easier to eat and read on a recumbant. :laugh:

LMAO

seriously...I think the only way I would ever chose a recumbent is if I was disabled, elderly, or really really really fat.

 

[NAC]

Recumbents are smaller than most ellipticals. And I think dollar for dollar - a say $300 bike will be sturdier and last longer and probably feel more ?natural? than a $300 recumbent. So if money and/or space is an issue - bikes have advantages. And either will give you a good workout as long as you actually use it.

But I think that is the key - you need to want to use it. If you want a bike, and will use a bike more - than get it. If you want an elliptical and will use it more - then get that.

I have a cheap elliptical and am thinking about getting a recumbent.

 

[Deeko]

I'd get a regular bike. I hate both recumbent bikes and ellipticals.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: brikis98
Depends on what your goals are.

Well then, what are your goals?

 

[PingSpike]

We have a recumbent. Man, we bought this shitty upright weslo bike from walmart when our last one broke and the fucking seat on that thing was absolutely punishing. I mean, like 10 seconds after you got on it, you hadn't even started pedaling yet your ass was already screaming. Even with a huge pillow on it the thing was still destroying my ass after about 20 minutes. I have to assume some sadistical designer set out to design that torture device because I just don't think incompetence can explain how horrible the thing was. The only time the pain stopped is when your ass finally went numb, like a torture victim passing out from the pain.

To top it all off, it was really high up and my wife fell off the thing. It went back to the store after that.

 

[gramboh]

I assume you are wanting to do "cardio" type work. I'd recommend a C2 rower, far superior to bike/eliptical in my personal experience. Can scale a lot better too.

 

[gotsmack]

I have owned the following piece of equipment:

1. Elliptical machine
2. Air powered Rower
3. Recumbent Bike
4. Pull up frame

Here is the thing, if you want to do any pull-ups, push ups, or any other sort of exercises that work the arms you can't use the rower to get your cardio exercise.

The elliptical is really easy to cheat on, I can do 10 miles on max resistance while watching a movie. I used to do 3 miles every day on it UNTIL my knees got really weak. My co worker said it was because I had the resistance up to high and the elliptical bike sets your feet too far apart (vs natural distance from running). Here is how you cheat. Set the resistance to at least 3 and then shift all of your weight onto the side of your body where the pedal is a little past the max distance from the floor. Your weight will push the pedal down and the elliptical's mechanics will push the opposite pedal to the max distance from the floor. All you're doing is basically shifting your weight from left to right and back. You'll work up a sweat eventually but it's not much of a real workout.

Pull up frames kick ass, but need a lot of room (height). Don't get the doorway ones because those will mess your door frame. It was the cheapest piece of equipment ($100) and I definitely got my money's worth. If you don;t have the space you can just do Hindu Pushups for an about equivalent workout.

The Recumbent Bike, I have owned 2. I first bought a cheap one branded Spartan or something like that from Sports Authority and it eventually broke. I replaced it with a Schwinn I got from Amazon. It's definitely worth the extra money and the best low impact cardio device for me since I do pull ups and hindu push ups to strengthen my upper body.