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[–] 236 points 1 year ago (59 children)

People always point out the irony of driving to a gym to ride a stationary bike. But one of the primary reasons people do it is because they don't feel safe riding bikes on the road with all the cars. Its an onion of irony.

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  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago (25 children)

    Biking for transit also isn't much of a workout if you're relatively fit. There's a cap to how fast you can go before it becomes dangerous because of obstacles and limited reaction time.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    I'm lucky that despite living in a car centric Texas suburb, there are tons of of bike paths, and quiet neighborhood streets to get a workout ride on. Commuting by bike is currently not viable, but a new commuter rail line is opening next year that might make it work for me.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago*

    And also not wanting to show up at work a sweaty, disgusting mess because you decided to do threshold intervals on the way to work

    Although i've been told that it's normal for dutch people to show up at work meetings in various states of wetness like rain or sweat

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    right but it's comparable to the type of cycling that the grand majority of people do on the bikes at gyms

    which, to be fair, is often because that's a warmup/cooldown activity at the gym. but there are people who go and just cycle at a low moderate pace and then drive home.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    If you're fit, then cycling will ensure you stay fit. If you don't have to strain yourself, that's a plus. It's supposed to be fun commute, not a challenge.

    If you want to workout, go the long way?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    I think that person is saying that street biking requires a lot of slowing and stopping cause we invented cars then immediately had to invent traffic lights. I'm lucky in that I can stay at a decent speed for like 30% of my commute and even that doesn't really feel like a workout.

    Going the 'long way' increases the time not the load, and it's the load that's missing.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (18 children)

    Indoor biking isn't much of a workout either to be fair.

    It's one of those things that seeped into the public mind as part of going to the gym. Whereas you can get the same or better cardio while lifting weights that also builds your muscles, while indoor bike is imo just a meh, or borderline the "lazy" choice realistically for a lot of people.

    It's what you do when you don't want to run because that's hard, and the elliptical is too hard because that actually hits the whole body.

    Ofc this is a generalization of the majority, individuals can still use it to great effect, but imo, meh.

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  • The cheapest treadmills and ellipticals are a lot more expensive than the cheapest exercise bikes. They take up more room, too (especially the treadmills.)

    Of course, I'm talking about exercising at home here rather than going to the gym, but it's worth pointing out regardless.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Naw, bad take. I hate spinning, but it absolutely can be a solid workout.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    okay but that's just an issue with your narrow definition of workout lmao

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Gonna need a citation on that. I've never heard a single other person define workout that way in any country I've ever been to

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Whereas you can get the same or better cardio while lifting weights that also builds your muscles

    This is just blatantly false - same or better cardio from lifting weights? You'd have to be pedaling extremely lightly for this to be true.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Right, so I do a 5/3/1 with a circuit of assistance work with essentially no downtime apart from switching out the weights. It's challenging, and it builds my strength, but I don't think anyone with any serious amount of experience doing cardio-focused exercise could with a straight face say that they are comparable. High zone 2/low zone 3 maybe, but not comparable in volume to a long run/ride nor comparable to HIIT sessions either.

    If lifting weights is seriously that taxing for you cardio-wise, you may need to get out and actually stress your cardiovascular system

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  • [+] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    There's way too much gatekeeping going on here. Your light bike workout on a bad day is as much of a workout as a high intensity treadmill run on a good day. Both are very much proper usages of gym equipment. Doing something suboptimal is always better than doing nothing.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    people suck

    you can absolutely get a great workout in on the bike while not having to go through the effort and tax of moving equipment, racking/unracking etc

    just have a seat and go as hard or as light as you want, with the ability to instantly change intensity in response to how you feel. no need to think - just sit there with your head down and pedal hard

    It's almost like people intentionally misunderstand things. that, or they simply don't have the experience and so weigh in on things that they don't know about

    however that person's comment that indoor biking isn't much of a workout is just blatantly false. It's as much of a workout as you want it to be. People just don't know what it feels like to be holding hundreds of watts for a long time, and that that's what's required for a solid workout

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    I think another part people are missing is that going to the gym is a social event. You see people there regularly, talk to friends, and do an activity together. It's extremely healthy to have a group of people that you spend time with outside of the home and work.

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  • [–] 68 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Another thing people seem to forget is that with an exercise bike you can stop whenever you want and be in a place of safety. Knee pain in the middle of the road? Yeah, no thanks.

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  • [–] 53 points 1 year ago

    What fascinating about exercise bike is it train you indoor so you can take on outdoor long distance cycling. It doesn't have to be mutually exclusive and i hate conversation like this.

    Also bike isn't only meant for exercise, you can go to the store or run errands with it if distance allow.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    My bike route is down canals and the river to the local nature reserve and then back again.

    Fuck riding on the roads, I've seen how these pricks drive. They barely look out for other cars.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Six months of every year being -40°C is a pretty compelling reason to want to be inside.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I live in the greatest state in America, New Jersey. We can hit 36+ in the summer with 100% humidity -16+(-?) in the winters, and this is exclusioning wet stuff. We can dislike the car machine without hating on gyms. And I don't like gyms either, but c'mon.

    I translated the temps into world, so bear with me folks.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    I live in the greatest state in America, New Jersey.

    Agreed

    We can hit 36+ in the summer with 100% humidity -16+(-?) in the winters….

    Hey! Ho! You don’t live in New Jersey using that unit of measurement.

    I translated the temps into world, so bear with me folks.

    Still sus on where you live. Let everyone else do their own conversions; this is New Jersey. Taylor Ham.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    And AC. It was 105 heat index out the other day here. I biked outside but it was awful and dangerous.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago*

    Yeah going try ride my bike to work tomorrow. Only six minute by bike vs 3 by car. Trying to save on gas, but will miss the AC it freaking hot here. Luckily have AC at work. But it's starting to cool down here, but not by much.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    I mean for me it's comfort, I don't want to bike in the rain, or high heat, or snow... If you do then awesome that's great. So instead i just reduced my car footprint. Drive a smart fortwo which is one of the least polluting cars on the road and you can fit 2-3 into a standard parking spot (depending on orientation)

    i know I'm in the wrong place for this but I wish people would focus on just trying to make people realize that they don't need so much car instead of fuck car entirely. It is much more likely to be a successful message in the long run and still beneficial

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    I will give you high heat sucks, though 110 heat index isnt terrible when youre moving fast, but it takes 30 seconds to throw on some rain gear, Ive even seen people do it at a stoplight.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    What exactly is the point in covering the front of the bikes there? Some of those look dangerously close to getting caught on their tires.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Keeps your legs dry at speed and protects if the bike next to you splashes.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Honestly these are the kind of things we need to share more: tips for dealing with common problems that make biking inconvenient. Seeing how other people handle rainy weather is a great example.

    Those look to be motorbikes so I’m not sure it 100% transfers, but… where does one get such a thing?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    IDK. A nice one with good material and a window for the headlight is ~4USD on at a random store or on shop.ee. The ones I see on Amazon are much more expensive.

    Personally I use a normal split raincoat, because I can use it off the bike too, and use it on bicycles too.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Putting on raingear, while less miserable than not being in rain gear. Does not entirely save one from the annoyance and wetness of the rain. I did a LOT of biking in my teens in all conditions... I'm familiar with it lol

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  • Exactly this. It's 10km to my gym, it's two towns over. But there is no designated bike path so I'd have to drive on the road, getting passed by cars going 100kmh. The roads here are already lined with crosses for people who died there, I'd rather not have my family have to add one for me.

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