General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Indoor trainer v Indoor bike, indoor gym ideas Rss Feed  
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2020-12-10 10:03 AM

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Buttercup
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Subject: Indoor trainer v Indoor bike, indoor gym ideas

Hello. I live in Maine where the winters are long and cold, the days are SHORT, and the COVID confinement is really getting to me. My plan to mitigate this is to get my body in motion for the sake of my mental and physical health.

TREADMILL QUESTION

I ran on a Sole F80 and I think I'm ready to purchase this, it felt solid. Has anyone had a Sole that they regretted buying?

INDOOR BIKE QUESTIONS

I am trying to decide between 2 methods for pedaling/burning calories indoors during our long winter months. I would welcome your thoughts and lessons learned from your experience making a similar choice.

Would I be happier on my bike on an indoor trainer or on an exercise bike? My intent is to sit on a bike seat and pedal for an hour or two while I watch something streaming on my tv or perhaps stare out the window at falling snow.

Factors:

  • I have plenty of room for a setup
  • Don't need to purchase a bike as I have one
  • I am not training on an aero bike
  • I am not training for triathlon
  • I do not need bells/whistles like fitness tracking, video, training plans

INDOOR GYM SUGGESTIONS

My gym area is in my finished basement that has a cold floor. It will include bike setup, treadmill, sauna, and yoga space and wall mounted TV. Do any of you use thick floor mats, what kind, where purchased?

Thanks in advance.



2020-12-10 12:37 PM
in reply to: Renee

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1508
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Cypress, Texas
Subject: RE: Indoor trainer v Indoor bike, indoor gym ideas

Originally posted by Renee

INDOOR BIKE QUESTIONS

I am trying to decide between 2 methods for pedaling/burning calories indoors during our long winter months. I would welcome your thoughts and lessons learned from your experience making a similar choice.

Would I be happier on my bike on an indoor trainer or on an exercise bike? My intent is to sit on a bike seat and pedal for an hour or two while I watch something streaming on my tv or perhaps stare out the window at falling snow.

I have used exercise bikes at the gym included a few models of the bikes used for the spin classes and a few models of bikes with power/speed/HR readouts.  I like my own bike on the bike trainer at home better.  That bike was fit to me and it is set up to my exact specifications.

Originally posted by Renee

INDOOR GYM SUGGESTIONS

My gym area is in my finished basement that has a cold floor. It will include bike setup, treadmill, sauna, and yoga space and wall mounted TV. Do any of you use thick floor mats, what kind, where purchased?

Thanks in advance.

I have my bike trainer in the garage.  It is not heated and during the winter when it gets to 45-55 deg F in there are feels great for cycling.  In the summer I have to get a three-foot fan in there to blow while I am cycling and still am a puddle 15 minutes into the ride.  I cleaned out the garage a few weeks ago and pulled out some of the floor rugs from our previous home that haven't been used in 5-6 years and put it under the trainer to make it look nice.  I have a yoga mat that is not one top of the floor rud that used to be all I kept under the bike trainer.  I don't know where my wife picked up the floor rug but I saw an email go out from the gym where I swim stating that any personal Yoga mats the were picked up from there studio by the 18th would be thrown out so I was wondering if I could get some free mats from there to put under the bike.  :-)

I do yoga in my living room or bedroom on the carpet where it is warm and has a soft surface.  I cool cement floor might not be as inviting for Yoga and it is for indoor cycling or a treadmill.  I would think the foam liners that go under carpet with a floor rug or yoga mat on top of it would be ideal for yoga.  I was a wrestler in high school and often thought a wrestling mat to cover the exercise room would be  really nice I think those mats are more than a Persian rug though so I would just get the cheap foam liner for carpet and cover it with a floor mat that looks good.

2020-12-10 3:14 PM
in reply to: 0

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Expert
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Middle River, Maryland
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Subject: RE: Indoor trainer v Indoor bike, indoor gym ideas

No personal experience on the Sole F80 but that's one of the highest independently-rated treadmills out there.  If I were to buy one, either that one or its non-folding equivalent the F77 would be my choice.

We have both an Echelon fitness bike and my Ridley road bike attached to a Kurt Kinetic dumb trainer.  Both work for exercise.  Both can swap out whatever pedals you want, can be adjusted, etc.  I don't think you can go wrong either way, but the dumb trainer way will be much cheaper (the Echelon was about $1400, the KK about $300).

You stated you're not training for anything specific, but I would at least grab a speed sensor and track distance.

On a concrete floor I'd get some indoor/outdoor carpet vs. a mat, or as noted above some old carpet.  My pain cave is already carpeted so that's what we use.  I get it steam cleaned every 2-3 years.  If you're going to add core work, yoga, etc. grab a yoga mat.

Get a fan and make sure your internet works well where you're going to be watching/streaming.



Edited by jmhpsu93 2020-12-10 3:15 PM
2020-12-12 12:18 AM
in reply to: Renee

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Regular
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Wisconsin
Subject: RE: Indoor trainer v Indoor bike, indoor gym ideas
My 2 cents:

Sole 80 - We looked at them, look top notch, I don't think you can go wrong, based on reviews also.

Indoor Bike - We've had both (Indoor Trainer / Spin Bike), we ended up getting rid of the indoor trainer, and buying a Bowflex C6. Good quality, super quiet. A deciding factor for us is that both my wife and I tri and we didn't want to swap out bikes or change out tiers (I'm not super handy), so easier to have a spin station.

Indoor Gym - We bought the jigsaw puzzle looking sections like this link below. Easier to pull apart and clean than 1 big piece.

https://www.rubberflooringinc.com/interlocking-tile/foam/portable-st...

We have elliptical, spin bike, and a treadmill. And since we can't go to the Y, we subscribed to the Peloton App for like $13 a month and stream it through our TV. Great variety of spin, run, yoga, cardio workouts. Well worth it.

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