And if cycling appeals, your eyes will turn to a static exercise bike(or a turbo trainer – a stationary device to which you can attach your 'real' bike. As an example, check out the Tacs Flux Smart Trainer, available for £549 at wiggle.co.uk.)
The best exercise bikes are less bulky than a treadmill or a cross-trainer, and it means you would swerve the journey to and from the gym (time efficient for those with busy schedules) or avoid the traffic you might encounter on a road bike (all the while sheltered from the elements), enjoying the same health benefits and performance improvements in the comfort of your own home.
Exercise Bikes in Pakistan
Short, high intensity interval training can significantly improve performance on the road
The idea of pedaling away in front of your own television is certainly an attractive one. The new generation of smart indoor bike trainers are oh-so covetable, and many can be linked up to training apps such as iFit, which uses Google Maps to simulate a real route, or virtual reality training programs like Zwift. However, they're also expensive (we're talking about you, Wattbike Atom and TechnoGym Bike Forma).
And while there's no doubt that a session will help you to shift calories, blitz fat and lose weight (cycling is a cardiovascular exercise which raises the heart rate and burns energy), according to Andy Vincent, personal trainer at luxury London health club Third Space, there are both pros and cons to relying solely on a stationary bike to meet your goals.
"Fixed bikes are low impact, as they remove the ground force reaction through the joints – so it's a great way to train and keep joints healthy in the process," he explains. "But they do tend to overload the hips. If we sit all day, our muscles shorten in response to a seated position. Cycling reinforces these muscle patterns, since it provides limited range of hip flexion. This can make them even more prone to being overactive and tight, and because the movement patterns are so limited, you don't get the all-round strength and conditioning that you would get from more multi-directional styles of training."
While Vincent acknowledges that stationary bikes are convenient – "you don’t need to take much time out of your day to fit it in" – and safer than road cycling (certainly if you live in a city), he points out that mentally, it’s tough to train at home. "If you're getting more advanced, you'll need more sprint-based training. This can be hard to achieve when trying to self-motivate - it’s much easier out on the road or in a class."
But of course, that's not always possible. A home exercise bike is a particularly practical plan for those with children, since parents can keep an ear out while still squeezing in time for themselves - without having to plan their regimes around childcare.
And according to Rhian Stephenson, the CEO of cult indoor cycling studio Psycle, studies have shown that road cyclists who use stationary bikes for shorter, high intensity interval training can significantly improve performance on the road without having to put in hours and hours of work.
