Exercise bikes -- often referred to as stationary bikes -- are essentially bicycles encased in a stationary frame so users can obtain the workout of a bike ride without having to brave the elements. Exercise bikes feature seats, handle bars and pedals and in many cases extensive control panels for monitoring and controlling your exercise routine.

While exercise bicycles often don't actually feature wheels, you can adapt a real bike to an exercise bike by setting it on a trainer or upon rollers.

Exercise bicycles include upright exercise bikes and recumbent exercise bikes. I'll discuss the benefits of both in this hub.

To understand how valuable an exercise bike can be to your life, you have to sit back and appreciate just how difficult it can be to integrate effective workouts into your life.

While it is generally accepted that most people should spend a at least a half an hour each day exercising, longer workouts actually benefit your body more. Our biology increases the number of calories we burn during longer workouts. For example, exercising for twenty minutes burns more than twice as many calories as exercising for ten minutes.

Unfortunately, many people find it difficult to squeeze a longer workout into their busy lives. And even if they can squeeze that time in, they're reluctant to regularly go through the routine necessary to get to the gym on a consistent basis.

Two factors which frequently lead to procrastination are the commute to the gym and the quality of weather. An exercise bike is an excellent solution to dissolve both these excuses. You can operate it in any weather and you can keep it right there in your home.

A little humility can go a long way in conquering one's procrastination. For example, let's be honest here: gym equipment frequently intimidates people just trying to get started.  Even a simple elliptical machine can baffle perfectly intelligent people new to the gym.

Some people literally feel baffled about how a machine works; other people either use it improperly leading to ineffective workouts or just avoid certain useful equipment just because they're afraid they'll not use it properly and thus not get a quality workout.

A stationary exercise bike is probably the most simple and safe pieces of gym equipment in the facility. All gyms feature exercise bikes and the bicycles themselves provide a wide variety of workouts depending on your condition and your purpose.

Additionally, modern exercise bikes are growing more and more compact, making them easy to squeeze into even the smallest of homes.

The varying resistance of exercise bike pedals enable you to switch from muscle workouts to endurance workouts (cardio exercise biking), sometimes in the same session.

And exercise bikes are easy on the joints. In fact, physicians often recommend exercise bikes for people recovering from various knee surgeries. The smooth, low impact motion and easy-to-adjust resistance makes it great exercise for all ages.

Another wonderful feature of exercise bikes is that you can get your workout in without having to miss the news or your favorite television shows. You can listen to music, watch tv, watch a movies or even read while using a stationary exercise bike.

So you can enjoy multiple stationary activities all while squeezing your workout into your tight time schedule.

Sometimes people feel uncomfortable sitting up on an exercise bike.  Problems which make sitting in this position can include prostate problems, hemorrhoid troubles and sometimes just a sore lower back.

Thankfully, all these individuals and more can still get their workout in using a recumbent exercise bike.

Recumbent exercise bikes allow you to lean back in more of a bucket seat rather than sit up on a traditional bike seat.  On a quality recumbent bike, it sometimes can feel like your lounging.  You might almost convince yourself you're not even exercising.

Recumbents are great for people with back trouble, so if you suffer any kind of sore back but still want to get your cardio in, you should consider a recombent exercise bike.

This is the traditional exercise bike that most people visualize when discussing this kind of exercise equipment.  Stationary exercise bikes provide a low impact and safe way to obtain your cardiovascular workout. 

Stationary exercise bikes help you burn fat and strengthen your heart while simultaneously working out your glutes, hips, thighs and legs.

You'll discover so many exercise bikes on the market now that it is easy to find one for almost every budget.

I hope this helps you appreciate the value and flexibility of the classic exercise bike.  Remember that any kind of exercise is better than none, and there is no easier way to squeeze a workout into your day than with a classic stationary exercise bike.