What's your favourite cardio machine?

Right now: treadmill and stationary bike. I have also used elliptical a lot in the past.

In general, In general, I think it's best to mix it up.

I loath indoor cardio machines and would much prefer to be on my road bike or mountain bike. It's winter right now so that makes things more difficult as it is dark in the morning and evening when I have available time, so I take a spin class once per week and use the spin bikes at the gym to do some moderate indoor cycling on another night. On weekends I like to get outside and ride if it's nice enough (usually is). I prefer the spin bikes to the usual indoor bikes.

I am not a big fan of indoor cardio. If I absolutely can't run or cycle outside I will run on the dreadmill or go to spin class.

Outdoor bicycles for preference, indoor bikes for training and avoiding poor weather conditions.

I can't say I like my rowing machine, but it helps keep me in adequate shape to row my rowing shell, once the river thaws out (then it sits idle all summer ). Spinning is fun, too, when stuck indoors.

You're right, the rowing machine uses lots of muscle groups. A thing to be aware of, though, if you do a lot of it, is that it's unbalanced: All lower body push, upper body pull. It's a good plan to add other exercise to balance out the muscle groups. Doing more with upper body push, particularly around the shoulders (for rotator cuff benefits), is especially important for injury avoidance long-term.

My road bike!

My bicycle. Outside.

My feet.

Stairmaster. nothing else gets my heart rate up so quickly. try walking quickly up a long flight of stairs and see how winded you get.

my 20 year old spin bike. (it sat lonely for 16 years)

In winter my bike goes on the trainer so I guess that's a "cardio machine", a close second in my C2 rower.

LvlUpStr wrote: »

What's your favourite cardio machine?

For me, I would have to say the rowing machine as it is low impact but it also recruits both upper and lower body muscles.

Minimal on the lower body though. And the lower body has the largest muscles to recruit.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff wrote: »

LvlUpStr wrote: »

What's your favourite cardio machine?

For me, I would have to say the rowing machine as it is low impact but it also recruits both upper and lower body muscles.

Minimal on the lower body though. And the lower body has the largest muscles to recruit.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I hate to disagree with a trainer, but this time I do.

Properly done, it's predominantly leg strength that powers the stroke.

Certainly, it's not anywhere near as efficient or progressive as weight training, for building leg strength. I'd never argue that.

But 1000+ reps of bodyweight** leg press, done routinely, does not achieve "minimal" leg benefit.

Optimally, bodyweight is not fully on the seat: That's doing it wrong. And it's what most people at gyms do, among other sub-ideal details.

** Bodyweight + share of boat weight/water-friction, on water

I like rowing machine and stationary bike. I also like fast walking on the treadmill (I can't run..)