I ride my stationary bike at home. It was always the stupidest feeling for me to drive to a car park just so i could workout
Edit: I’ll add if you have a bike already, they make basic stationary trainers for relatively cheap that you can attach your rear wheel to. Sometimes called bike training stands, they come in three styles:
Wind (less common these days)
magnetic (usually adjustable)
fluid (more roadlike feel)
They can be between $30-100. And then if you end up liking it then they also have smart trainers that are even better but expensive up front.
For the bike trainer stands then if you like it get a training tire which is more durable than standard tires. And you’re also going to want to find any fan and point it at you while working out.
If you miss the social aspect there are some apps like zwift, rouvy, etc that let you ride virtually with other people though $, and you’d also need some relatively cheap speed/cadence sensor hardware on your bike to send your speed/ cadence to send to those apps (this is not needed with a smart trainer). Because i hate extra subscriptions, I just watch TV or read a book (can be hard during a harder workout).
There’s a lot more i could say but basically i started with a 30 year old bike on a cheap magnetic trainer. It wasn’t the nicest set up in the world but it worked, and eventually i realized i liked it enough to just cut my gym free and save up for a nicer set up.
I like what I see here, I think I’ll give this a try at home too. What’s on your setup these days? Would you recommend magnetic for someone trying it out the first time?
My set up moved to a $1000 smart trainer about 12 years ago that i used almost daily for 10 years. Past few years I alternate with rowing just because i am trying to work out my upper body too
As far a which type to get though, this article has a chart comparing them (edit: electromagnetic is a “smart trainer”).
if i were starting again i probably would do a fluid trainer since its the most road-like feel without going into smart trainers which can range from $400-1500. The road-like feel just makes it more enjoyable and the fluid trainers have come down in price since i first started
I ride my stationary bike at home. It was always the stupidest feeling for me to drive to a car park just so i could workout
Edit: I’ll add if you have a bike already, they make basic stationary trainers for relatively cheap that you can attach your rear wheel to. Sometimes called bike training stands, they come in three styles:
They can be between $30-100. And then if you end up liking it then they also have smart trainers that are even better but expensive up front.
For the bike trainer stands then if you like it get a training tire which is more durable than standard tires. And you’re also going to want to find any fan and point it at you while working out.
If you miss the social aspect there are some apps like zwift, rouvy, etc that let you ride virtually with other people though $, and you’d also need some relatively cheap speed/cadence sensor hardware on your bike to send your speed/ cadence to send to those apps (this is not needed with a smart trainer). Because i hate extra subscriptions, I just watch TV or read a book (can be hard during a harder workout).
There’s a lot more i could say but basically i started with a 30 year old bike on a cheap magnetic trainer. It wasn’t the nicest set up in the world but it worked, and eventually i realized i liked it enough to just cut my gym free and save up for a nicer set up.
I like what I see here, I think I’ll give this a try at home too. What’s on your setup these days? Would you recommend magnetic for someone trying it out the first time?
My set up moved to a $1000 smart trainer about 12 years ago that i used almost daily for 10 years. Past few years I alternate with rowing just because i am trying to work out my upper body too
As far a which type to get though, this article has a chart comparing them (edit: electromagnetic is a “smart trainer”).
if i were starting again i probably would do a fluid trainer since its the most road-like feel without going into smart trainers which can range from $400-1500. The road-like feel just makes it more enjoyable and the fluid trainers have come down in price since i first started