Today, we’re answering both of them (and much more).
Walking is a great form of exercise and something we often recommend to folks starting our coaching program. Some have had great success walking, including Megan, who has a daily practice to maintain her weight loss journey.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Without further ado, let’s step right in.
How Many Calories Does Walking Burn? (Calorie Calculator)
In true Nerd Fitness fashion, we scienced the crap out of this, and even created a handy calculator for you – simply put your stats in the calculator here:
A few things to remember about the above equation:
There’s a difference between gross calories (total calories) expended and net calories (additional calories) expended! Your body burns most of its calories every day JUST by existing.
Gross calories: calories burned while walking PLUS the calories burned just existing
Net calories: ADDITIONAL calories you burned thanks to exercise.
Also, our calculation is an ESTIMATE. You’re a unique snowflake, and no box or formula can capture your awesomeness/uniqueness. This equation below is JUST a starting point!
Also, if you don’t feel like playing with our calculator (boo), here’s how many calories you burn walking:
On average, a mile burns about 100 calories when walking.
Another point: ANY exercise pales in comparison to a much more important part of the weight loss equation: nutrition.
In addition to consistent dietary changes, Megan credits her walking habit with helping keep her consistent on her journey to a leveled-up life!
If you’ve come this far, and you want to learn more about why walking is so amazing, continue reading.
And you’re damn right, I’ll show you exactly how to walk to Mordor too.
What Are The Benefits of Walking?
We are designed to walk. It’s in our DNA, and it’s a huge part of our emergence as the dominant species on this planet (along with opposable thumbs, big brains, and Nintendo).
Let’s get the basic stuff out of the way:
Every day, it’s recommended by the CDC that we walk around five miles, or 10,000 steps.[1]
Hence the reason why your Fitbit – which I’ll get to shortly – has that 10k step goal as its default number.
Unfortunately, we Americans tend to average HALF that: 2.5 miles or 5,000 steps.
And I’d imagine that people who work outdoors or have more physically active jobs drag that average wayyyy up.
Which leaves us desk jockeys, who don’t walk nearly enough.
We use our feet to get us from the front door, to our car, to our desk, to our car, to our front door, to our couch… where we put them up while watching four hours of TV before going to bed.
Not walking enough can be a big factor in the creep-up of weight gain over the years.
You might have questions like:
Can I walk more to lose weight?
Is walking REALLY good for me?
Do I need to do more intense exercise?
Long story short:
You should walk more and it can help you lose weight and be healthier.
Short story long…
Here’s why walking is important:
#1) Walking burns calories without exhausting you.If you walk the recommended mileage each day (5 miles instead of just 2.5), it can lead to a tremendous amount of weight loss over time.You’ll burn an extra 100 calories walking just ONE more mile each day than normal: When that’s multiplied out, it’s an extra 700 calories burned per week, which results in approximately a pound of fat lost every five weeks, or 10 pounds in a year. You can scale up your distances to get your desired results!
#2) Walking doesn’t add to training stress. If you are strength training regularly, adding in more weight training or running can lead to burnout, breakdowns, and injuries. If you are trying to look like a super-hero, extra cardio sessions (or long-distance cardio sessions) might kill your gains. But you can just walk. You can walk great distances, provided you’ve built up your body’s physical ability, and not get tired or sore – walking (especially outside while soaking in some sunlight) can make you feel better, not worse.
#3) Walking is low impact. Unlike running, which can wreak havoc on people’s joints if they run improperly or are severely overweight, walking doesn’t have those impact issues. If you go for a walk and your feet or joints hurt, you’re doing it wrong – read the next section!
#4) Walking can burn fat. Because walking is low impact and low intensity, your body doesn’t need to pull much glycogen and glucose stores to fuel itself, which happens when you strength train or push yourself into “aerobic training” with higher intensity cardio. Proponents of intermittent fasting suggest walking in a fasted state in the morning before eating anything in order to help burn extra fat. It’s a little controversial, so this will have to be something you attempt and measure for yourself.
#5) Walking relieves stress. Seriously! Put on your favorite playlist, and go for a pleasant walk around your neighborhood or through the woods as the sun is going down. It’s a recipe to forget the worries of your day.
Bonus points if you can get someone to follow you with a boombox:
#6) Walking improves mental health (especially in older hobbits). Walking can improve mental health, increase brain size, improve memory, and is correlated with improved, longer lifespans.[2]
How Walking Can Change Your Life
If you are severely overweight and can’t run or strength train, walk on.
If you are building muscle and bulking up, walk on.
If you are trying to lose weight, walk on.
If you struggle with following a routine, or have failed in the past with weight loss, walk on.
Why? I’m a HUGE fan of small habit change and tiny victories – walking is the PERFECT habit builder. If you’re brand new and starting out, go for a walk TODAY and begin your journey to Mordor.
This afternoon, go for a five-minute walk. Tomorrow morning before work, before breakfast, as SOON as you wake up, put on your shoes, and go outside for a five-minute walk. No snoozing, no lying in bed, no checking email or Twitter. Put on your headphones, pick your favorite song, go outside, and start walking.
Here’s Why Walking Can Change Your Life:
Walking for just five minutes a day is the start of a new habit.Every morning for a few weeks, you’ll have to force yourself to walk. Initially, it will take effort and willpower to walk instead of snoozing. However, with each passing day of success, you’ll need to use less effort and willpower to get out the door. After all, it’s only five minutes, right? Once it’s something you do automatically without thinking, you can add on to it by increasing your walk time.
Walking briskly outdoors in the fresh morning air can be a great caffeine-free wake up call! If you make walking the FIRST thing you do in the morning, especially if you’re doing it before anybody else is awake, there will be zero distractions and no reason to say “sorry, I didn’t have time.” Of course, we like caffeine too (in moderation).
Walking will give you a chance to gather your thoughts and clear your head before the day begins. We’re constantly distracted at home: TV, iPads, smartphones, etc. Walking is so primal – no gadgets, just walking. Many people cite walking as the impetus for their creative or intelligent breakthroughs.
Walking and successfully building a habit will give you a habit blueprint to follow for anything else you’d like to accomplish: “Hey, I was able to make walking a habit, what else can I tackle in the same way?” Slow and steady wins. One foot in front of the other, my friend.
How to Walk Properly
“Uhhh, Steve, I know how to walk. I do it every day!”
Welp, if you’re starting from only walking from your car to the office, we need to make sure you’re walking the right way for when you push that mileage up.
Let’s start with your feet, provided you’re not gonna glue hair to your feet and go barefoot to become a hobbit.
I recommend walking in shoes that have a wide toe box and minimal drop (height at the heel vs height at the toes), as we discuss in our monster post on healthy feet and footwear:
You might not be used to walking with minimal cushioning under your heels, so walk slowly and land softly. Walking on softer surfaces to start isn’t a bad idea either.
We were designed before the invention of big clunky shoes… thus, we should be able to walk without big clunky shoes.[3] If you are interested in going barefoot as a runner, get started by walking short distances first. Your feet will toughen up (though they probably won’t grow hair quite like Frodo and Sam), your joints and muscles around your feet and ankles will strengthen, and your knees will deal with less stress.
When going for a lazy stroll, focus on landing softly, which is much easier when you don’t have thick-soled shoes to cushion your stride: land softly with your heel barely touching before rolling onto the middle (ball) of your foot, and then push off. You might need to take shorter strides than you’re used to if you were a big heel striker with a long stride.
If you’re aiming to walk quickly and up the intensity, shorten your stride and aim to land in the middle of your foot while pumping your arms. This is more easily done when walking uphill (which is also a great way to burn extra calories).
Is Walking Enough for Weight Loss?
Can walking help you lose weight?
You’re darn right it can!
The above photos are from Don, one of our coaching clients. Don credits his daily walking practice with helping him lose 85 pounds!
He’s not our only example of walking for weight loss:
Megan, who I mentioned earlier, is another client who walks daily to maintain her weight loss.
Case closed?
Of course not!
Both Don and Megan also made adjustments to their nutrition to reach their amazing results.
One of the Rules of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion is that we know “you can’t outrun your fork.” No amount of exercise can counter a bad diet, as your nutrition will be responsible for 90% (not an exaggeration) of your success or failure.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you go for a 5-mile walk, which takes you 90+ minutes.
If you then consume a 20 oz Gatorade and a small bag of Fritos (a typical snack for many here in America), you will have already undone all of the calories burned while walking.
Depending on your nutrition and love/hatred for exercise, this is either great news or bad news!
The BAD news: you can’t eat very badly in mass quantities and then expect to lose weight with a bit of exercise every week, even if it’s strenuous.
The GOOD news: Even if you dislike exercise, you can avoid exercise and still lose weight! Instead, put ALL of your focus instead on fixing your nutrition, and then go for a walk every once in awhile.
I’d also consider reading the following:
Oh, and if you want to see if a Nerd Fitness Coach can build you a program to lose weight while doing movements you enjoy (like walking), click on the button below:
The Best Practices for Walking (Tips and Tricks)
Here’s how to improve your walking technique:
#1) Focus on posture! Head up! Shoulders back! Walk with a confident stroll – practice this one in the morning if you’re not used to walking like this. It’s also a great way to appear instantly more confident; we nerds and hobbits need all the confidence we can get! Look around at your surroundings with your head up, arms swinging in rhythm.
You can also do some well-placed neck swings and jacket removals:
#2) Walk uphill to burn more fat. If you are walking on a treadmill, set it to an incline to increase the intensity and thus increase the amount of fat burned. Just don’t be that person who sets the incline way up, then holds onto both sides and leans their body back to be perpendicular with the incline. Keep good posture, lean forward into the incline, shorten your stride, and pump your legs.
#3) Hiking is a great way to practice walking, enjoy the scenery, and play Lord of the Rings in the woods with plastic swords and capes. Not that you should do that (you totally should). Here’s a beginner’s guide to hiking!
#4) When walking downhill, especially while barefoot (or wearing minimalist shoes), keep that stride short and be careful on how you are walking. Make sure your knee is bent when you land and absorb the impact rather than jamming the impact through your heel, knee, leg, hips, and lower back.
#5) Consider going for “fasted walks” in the morning. When you wake up first thing in the morning, your body has burned through most of the carb-fueled energy stores during the night. This means when you go for a walk first thing in the morning, your body is more likely to have to pull from the only fuel source available to it: fat! This is the entire philosophy behind things like Intermittent Fasting or really low-carb diets like the Ketogenic diet.
#6) Get yourself a sturdy walking stick, if only so you can use it to battle imaginary ogres, goblins, cavetrolls, etc. It can also make you feel far more adventurous than if you’re just walking, and help you get up hills and land softly when going back down.
#7)Try Temptation Bundling. Load up an audiobook or your favorite podcast, and tell yourself that you can ONLY listen to the book or podcast while walking.
Is a Fitbit Helpful for Walking? (Which Fitness Tracker Is Best for Me?)
If you’re somebody who has been interested – or is getting interested – in walking, you’re probably familiar with step-tracking devices:
Personally, I’m a huge fan of fitness wearables, but not for the reasons you’d think.
For starters, you’re wearing a constant reminder that you are prioritizing movement, which can only be positive. You can even trigger it to remind you to get up and move every hour.
It can also allow you to see how many steps you normally take, and thus allow you to prioritize moving MORE.
Although Fitbit has a history of being sued for the inaccurate heart-monitor portion of its devices, I’m less concerned about heart rates and 100% accuracy of step distance, and instead think in terms of personal improvement.
Just like with tracking your bodyfat percentage or your weight, “that which gets measured gets improved,” and that carries over to your total steps. The fact that you’re tracking it means you’re going to be more aware of it, which means you’re going to be more likely to be able to improve it.
And that’s why, in a weird way, I’m not very concerned about the total accuracy of these devices. Even if your scale is off by 5 pounds, or your body fat caliper is inaccurate by 1%, as long as you use the same device and measure in the same way under the same conditions, you can track trends and paint the picture of your health and whether or not it’s improving!
And that’s what these fitness trackers should be used for: a reminder and a trend tracker!
What you SHOULDN’T do: take your fitness tracker as gospel, and use that to calculate down to the calorie and macro how much food exactly you can consume.
What you SHOULD do: track your trend over time, and see if you can improve your average. Use the technology to aid your fitness quest. Use the community portion of the band to compare your stats against friends and get some positive friendly peer pressure to get you off your ass.
Okay, if nerdy fitness technology isn’t nerdy enough for you, let’s go full-nerd.
How to Actually Walk to Mordor
Did you know it’s 1779 miles between Hobbiton to Mount Doom? [4]. We can actually determine how far Sam and Frodo walked, and then set out on the journey ourselves! It’s one thing to go for a stroll around your neighborhood. It’s another to know that, “If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.”
So let’s take a look at how far we need to walk first:
458 miles: Go from Hobbiton to Rivendell.
462 miles: Set out with the Fellowship from Rivendell, through Moria, to Lothlorien.
389 miles: From Lothlorien, down the Anduin, to Rauros Falls.
470 miles: Follow Frodo and Sam on the quest from Rauros to Mt. Doom.
535 miles: From Minas Tirith to Isengard
693 miles: From Isengard to Rivendell.
397 miles: From Rivendell to Bag End.
467 miles: (bonus!) Follow Frodo to the Grey Havens and return home with Sam.
Following this path, you need to walk a total of 1779 miles to get from Hobbiton to Mt. Doom. Then it’s time to destroy the ring and get carried to Minas Tirith by the Great Eagles.
Then you’ll walk 1625 miles back to Bag End (and an additional 467 miles if you’re interested in doing a round trip to the Grey Havens).
Obviously, you don’t need to move at the same speed as the hobbits (18 miles on the first day is no joke! Damn, those hobbits covered some ground!), but it’s still fun to track your walks and your total miles to see where you’d be on your journey.
However, like Frodo and Sam, it starts with the first step.
I’ve created a Google Doc that you can copy for yourself to track your distances to follow Frodo and Sam on your journey to destroy the One Ring.
Here’s how to do it:
Open the document, and then click on “file,” “save a copy,” and then you can edit your own copy of the document.
Track your distances with a pedometer, Fitbit, your iPhone or Android phone.
Input your distances and work towards completing each section of the journey over months. As you input your distances, it will automatically let you know when you reach each destination so you can get you started on the next one. 5 miles a day on average will have you destroying the Ring within one year.
Oh, and if you’re curious, according to my rough gorilla math, Frodo burned at least an additional 61,0000+ calories (100,000+ gross calories) by walking “there and back again” – you’re welcome[5].
What’s that?
You want some help getting out the door?
You got it – but only cause you asked nicely.
Here are three ways to level up alongside Nerd Fitness.
#1) Our Online Coaching Program: a coaching program for busy people to help them make better food choices, stay accountable, and get healthier, permanently.
You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you. Just click on the image below for more details:
#2) If you want an exact roadmap on how to get in shape, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
We even have fun missions that will help you walk more, all while you earn XP! Righteous.
Try your free trial right here:
#3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our Rebel Starter Kit, which includes all of our “work out at home” guides, the Nerd Fitness Diet Cheat Sheet, and much more!
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Alright, your turn:
What questions do you have about walking?
How have you incorporated it into your daily routine?
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Your gym bag is probably packed with some of the best supplements for building muscle, including protein powder, creatine, and pre-workout. Crucial for boosting energy and strength during a gym session and reducing muscle soreness afterward, you wouldn’t dare train without them. But imagine a single supplement that combines the benefits of all three.
Enter XWERKS Motion — an innovative supplement formulated to enhance endurance during intense exercise and support a quick post-workout recovery. Sounds too good to be true? We’ll find out in this XWERKS Motion review.
Our team of personal trainers, CrossFit coaches, nutrition experts, and competitive weightlifters shared their feedback on the formulation, price, taste, and solubility of this one-of-a-kind product. As a registered dietitian nutritionist, I’ll do a deep dive into the ingredients and potential health benefits of XWERKS Motion, so you know if it’s worth adding to your supplement stack.
Medical disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. For health advice, contact a licensed healthcare provider.
Key Takeaways
XWERKS Motion contains 25 grams of cluster dextrin carbohydrates, which can help you exercise for longer before exhaustion.
This formula includes three grams of BCAAs to help promote muscle growth and recovery.
Made with electrolytes, XWERKS Motion can also support fluid balance and proper muscle function.
XWERKS Motion contains a 2:1:1 BCAA ratio, meaning the amount of leucine is double the amount of isoleucine and valine. This ratio is shown to be the most effective for enhanced exercise performance.
This BCAA supplement provides a quick energy source from cluster dextrin carbohydrates, which are easy to digest and absorbed rapidly pre-workout.
Dairy and gluten-free, XWERKS Motion is ideal for those with a sensitive digestive system who want to avoid uncomfortable bloating, gas, and stomach cramps.
XWERKS Motion Cons
One serving contains 110 calories solely from carbs, which isn’t ideal for those already consuming adequate carbs who don’t want to increase their intake.
It includes sucralose, an artificial sweetener that may disrupt healthy gut bacteria and inflammation when consumed on an ongoing basis.
Only one flavor is available (Raspberry Lemonade), which could get old quickly if you’re taking this supplement several days a week.
Our Breaking Muscle product testing team has tried nearly 20 of the best BCAA supplements, gaining a thorough understanding of what meets customer standards and what falls short. Here’s how our expert testers rated the following categories after trying XWERKS Motion themselves.
Factor
Rating (out of 5)
Price per serving
3.5
Formulation
4.
Available flavors
3
Taste
5
Solubility
5
Side effects
4
Third-party testing
1
XWERKS Motion Review
In this XWERKS Motion review, we’ll explore the product’s cost, formula, flavors, taste, and more. We’ll include honest, reliable feedback straight from our Breaking Muscle expert testers, so you’ll know exactly what to expect from this supplement. With transparency in mind, we include the good and not-so-good aspects of XWERKS Motion to give you the full picture.
Price Per Serving
A single bag of XWERKS Motion costs $59 for a one-time purchase. Each bag contains 30 one-scoop servings, and a serving costs $1.96. XWERKS offers the option to subscribe to a 30, 45, or 60-day delivery option for a five percent discount on each bag. With that discount, each order costs $56.05, and the price per serving comes down slightly to $1.87.
In comparison, Transparent Labs BCAA Glutamine costs $1.33 per serving, while Jacked Factory BCAA Powder is available at $0.67 per serving at the time of this writing. XWERKS Motion is on the pricier side, earning this category a 3.5 out of 5, but also contains ingredients not found in most other BCAA supplements.
Formulation
XWERKS Motion is thoughtfully and originally formulated, earning it a 4 out of 5. It is unlike other BCAA supplements in that it contains 25 grams of cluster dextrin carbohydrates, also known as highly branched cyclic dextrin (HBCD). Cluster dextrin passes through the stomach into the intestines rapidly, where it can be absorbed into the bloodstream and taken up into muscle cells to replenish glycogen content and provide a quick energy source. (1)
Breaking Muscle editorial member Kate pouring XWERKS Motion into a shaker bottle
Human studies suggest that when used before or during a workout, cluster dextrin carbs may decrease perceived exertion and enhance endurance when compared to maltodextrin and glucose, especially when prior carb intake is low. (1) However, those who eat plenty of carbs may not experience any added benefits when supplementing cluster dextrin.
In addition to carbs, each serving offers three grams of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). The product contains the BCAA ratio 2:1:1 of leucine, isoleucine, and valine. BCAAs are essential amino acids (EAAs), meaning you must consume them because the body doesn’t synthesize them on its own. Leucine is often thought of as the king of BCAAs because it activates muscle protein synthesis, which is necessary for muscle growth and recovery. (2)
Other active ingredients include calcium, magnesium, and sodium. During exercise, you lose electrolytes through sweat that need to be replenished. The electrolytes in XWERKS Motion help prevent dehydration and maintain proper muscle function during a workout.
Enhanced with natural flavors, sucralose, and citric acid, this product contains ingredients that add sour and sweet notes.
Sucralose is an artificial sweetener considered safe when consumed in moderation. Unlike table sugar, most research shows sucralose has little to no effects on blood sugar levels or insulin. (3) However, some animal studies suggest it could disrupt healthy gut bacteria and increase inflammation when consumed long-term, but more human studies are needed. (4)
Breaking Muscle team member Kate Meier holding a scoop of XWERKS Motion
Available Flavors
You won’t have any difficulty picking a flavor if you choose to try XWERKS Motion, considering there is only one option available — Raspberry Lemonade. Obviously, if you prefer to stick with one flavor on repeat this won’t be a problem. For those who like to switch things up, the lack of variety may leave you feeling bored, hence the middle-of-the-road rating on flavor.
Taste
Luckily, the Raspberry Lemonade flavor delivers. Our expert tester was more than pleased with the taste of the raspberry lemonade supplement, rating it an impressive 5 out of 5. She noticed hints of the tart lemonade with a more robust berry flavor overall. The supplement wasn’t too sweet and had a very refreshing taste to it. Our tester even went as far as to say that she could happily sip on this drink all day.
Solubility
Another winning category of XWERKS Motion is solubility, which our tester rated a perfect 5 out of 5. She didn’t experience any clumping, grittiness, floaties, or difficulty mixing — a feature you’ll want when drinking it at the gym or on the go. Because the cluster dextrin in this product is highly soluble in water, it dissolves easily and forms a smooth, uniform mixture. Several customer reviews on the XWERKS website rave about the product’s superior solubility, mentioning it “blends so smooth” and is “easy to mix.”
Side Effects
Cluster dextrin is believed to be safe for consumption, with no apparent safety concerns. (5) Our product tester didn’t experience any adverse side effects during her use of this product. As for beneficial effects, she didn’t notice any superhuman strength or noticeable bursts of energy, but she did feel good during longer lifting sessions.
Switching gears, BCAAs are considered safe when consumed in appropriate dosages. It’s best to adhere to the suggested dosage instructions on the product label for optimal safety and effectiveness.
Nevertheless, always consult with your healthcare provider before adding a new dietary supplement to your routine, particularly if you have pre-existing medical conditions or are currently taking prescribed medications. This precaution ensures that the supplement aligns with your individual health needs and won’t pose any risks or interactions.
All of the above considered, XWERKS Motion gets a 4 out of 5 rating for the lack of side effects from its formulation.
Third-Party Testing
Unfortunately, there’s no mention of third-party testing on the XWERKS Motion product page, which is why we gave it a 1 out of 5.
We always encourage consumers to consider supplements that are third-party tested, because it serves as a quality control measure, ensuring that products are safe, effective, and meet certain regulatory requirements. Third-party testing enhances transparency and builds consumer trust by verifying that high-quality products contain what’s on the label and don’t include harmful levels of heavy metals or contaminants.
The nutrition facts and potential benefits of XWERKS Motion
XWERKS Motion vs. XTEND Original BCAA Powder
XWERKS Motion and XTEND Original BCAA powder have both commonalities and differences. To start, both products contain BCAAs and electrolytes to enhance muscle recovery, reduce muscle soreness, and maintain hydration.
However, that’s where their similarities end. While XTEND Original BCAA powder doesn’t contain any carbohydrates, XWERKS Motion contains 25 grams of cluster dextrin carbs for extra energy and prolonged endurance.
XTEND Original BCAA powder also has a much higher BCAA content of seven grams, compared to the three grams in XWERKS Motion. The Original BCAA powder even contains a whopping three and a half grams of leucine, exceeding the recommended two to three grams per day to maximize muscle-gaining capabilities. (2) The same can’t be said for the leucine content of XWERKS Motion.
Customers on the XWERKS website give Motion a 4.4 out of 5-star rating. There are only 35 reviews on the product page. Motion is not available on Amazon at the time of writing.
One happy customer says, “Great taste! No issues with digestion, gives you the fuel needed during most intense workouts.” Another customer says, “It mixes well, I like the flavor, and have no digestive or other issues. Performance-wise I feel great. I feel more energetic during my workouts and that I’m getting more out of them.”
Reviews from customers who were less pleased with the product were written over a year ago, and the formulation and flavors may have changed. One customer says, “I’m not sold on this product. I don’t really notice any difference on the days I take this. Also, it takes a blender to get this stuff mixed! That’s a deal breaker for me.” Other customers complain of the grape flavor, which is no longer available.
Final Verdict: Is XWERKS Motion Worth It?
XWERKS Motion provides a synergistic blend of cluster dextrin carbs, BCAAs, and electrolytes to support endurance and recovery during and after a workout. Those who enjoy leisurely activity and consume enough carbs to sustain their energy levels may not benefit from this product.
However, it might be worth it for endurance athletes and bodybuilders with high training loads. Taking XWERKS before, during, or after intense physical activity may reduce perceived effort, extend the time to exhaustion, and decrease muscle soreness.
FAQs
Do you drink BCAA before or after a workout?
You can consume BCAAs pre, post, or intra-workout depending on your fitness goals. Some prefer to take BCAAs before or during a workout to provide their muscles with amino acids to help prevent muscle protein breakdown. Others like to take BCAAs post-workout to support muscle repair and recovery.
Do BCAA supplements work?
If you eat a whole-food diet high in protein, then you likely consume enough amino acids and may not experience further benefits by supplementing them. If you struggle to eat enough protein, BCAAs may support endurance, helping you train at a higher intensity for longer. Additionally, BCAAs may reduce muscle damage and DOMS post-workout.
What are branched-chain amino acids?
BCAAs are a group of three EEAs—leucine, isoleucine, and valine— that must be consumed through the diet. They get their name from their unique molecular structure. While all EAAs are important, BCAAs are thought to play an important role in protein synthesis, muscle recovery, and preventing loss of lean mass.
What are the benefits of BCAA?
BCAAs may provide an extended feeling of energy and delay the onset of muscle fatigue, enabling you to work out longer. Moreover, BCAAs might diminish muscle damage, inflammation, and DOMS post-workout. Lastly, BCAAs may aid in preserving lean muscle mass during periods of fat loss, contributing to weight loss efforts.
How much BCAA should you take?
There are no official recommended daily requirements for BCAAs. The suggested sweet spot for leucine intake is often cited as two to three grams per day to optimize muscle building. (2) Avoid exceeding the recommended serving size on the product label. If you take protein powder or eat a high-protein diet, BCAA supplements likely won’t provide added benefits.
Research
Wilburn, D., Machek, S., & Ismaeel, A. (2021). Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin and its Ergogenic Effects in Athletes: A Brief Review. Journal of Exercise and Nutrition, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.53520/jen2021.103100
Plotkin, D. L., Delcastillo, K., Van Every, D. W., Tipton, K. D., Aragon, A. A., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2021). Isolated Leucine and Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplementation for Enhancing Muscular Strength and Hypertrophy: A Narrative Review. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 31(3), 292-301. Retrieved Nov 24, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2020-0356
Ahmad SY, Friel JK, Mackay DS. Effect of sucralose and aspartame on glucose metabolism and gut hormones. Nutr Rev. 2020;78(9):725-746. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuz099
Bian X, Chi L, Gao B, Tu P, Ru H, Lu K. Gut Microbiome Response to Sucralose and Its Potential Role in Inducing Liver Inflammation in Mice. Front Physiol. 2017;8:487. Published 2017 Jul 24. doi:10.3389/fphys.2017.00487
Choi SS, Danielewska-Nikiel B, Ohdan K, Kojima I, Takata H, Kuriki T. Safety evaluation of highly-branched cyclic dextrin and a 1,4-alpha-glucan branching enzyme from Bacillus stearothermophilus. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2009;55(3):281-290. doi:10.1016/j.yrtph.2009.07.011
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Getting in shape and eating healthier tops many people’s New Year resolution lists. Even if you already work out consistently and follow a solid nutrition plan, the new year can be an excellent time to set new fitness goals or try a new program. To help you kickstart your health and wellness journey for 2024, we’ve compiled a list of the best New Year’s fitness sales.
We’ll update this page frequently as we gather more information about New Year’s sales, so be sure to bookmark it and keep checking back so you don’t miss any deals.
Last year, Tonal offered a 90-day free trial with all purchases made through the end of January. If you didn’t like it, you could return it for a full refund.
The new year is a popular time to buy the best cardio machines, as many people are eager to start or re-establish healthy habits. Fortunately, cardio equipment brands make it easier on your wallet by offering significant savings on rowers, ellipticals, treadmills, exercise bikes, and more.
Aviron: Last year, Aviron offered $300 off the Impact and Strong Series rowers for subscribers
CAROL Bike: The CAROL Bike was $250 off for New Year’s last year
Echelon: Last year, Echelon offered up to 20% off all connected and strength training equipment plus free shipping
Horizon Fitness: For New Year’s 2023, Horizon offered massive savings of up to $1,000 off cardio equipment
Hydrow: Through January 9, 2023, rowers and rower packages were up to $300 off, and Hydrow offered free standard delivery
Life Fitness: Strength and cardio equipment were up to 50% off last year
NordicTrack: Last year’s deal was up to $500 off cardio equipment
Schwinn: Last year, buyers could save up to $200 and get free shipping on all exercise bikes
The Breaking Muscle staff loves how many features are available on the NordicTrack X22i Treadmill.
Best New Year’s Sales on Strength Equipment
Excited to lift some heavy weights and set PRs in the new year? Check out the deals below from some of our favorite strength equipment brands.
Bells of Steel: Last year, select items on Bells of Steel’s website were up to 40% off
Force USA: Last year, shoppers could get a free barbell on X-Series models or a free dip handle attachment with any MyRack purchase
Fringe Sport: In 2023, Fringe Sport offered 5% off all purchases from December 26 through January 2 and 10% off all gym packages starting January 2
PRx Performance: The brand offered 10% off orders of $1,750 or more last year
REP Fitness: Last year, REP offered deals on select items, and we’re hoping to see the same this year. Plus, you can always check out our REP Fitness discount code page for additional ways to save.
Rogue Fitness: To ring in 2023, Rogue offered daily deals, HUNDO pricing, free shipping, and more
Titan Fitness: Last year, we saw multiple flash deals, including up to $200 off strength training equipment
We’re big fans of REP Fitness’s weight benches, including the AB-5200 2.0 pictured here.
Best New Year’s Sales on Smart Home Gym Equipment
Smart home gym equipment can be a great solution for those with limited space, as it gives you access to features like auto-adjusting weights in one compact unit. But it can be even more expensive than a top-notch barbell and squat rack combined, so waiting for a good holiday sale is usually worth it.
Tonal: Last year, through January 31, you could try Tonal for free for 90 days. If you weren’t satisfied, you could return it within 90 days of installation and get a full refund.
Best New Year’s Sales on Supplements and Nutrition
A healthy lifestyle doesn’t just require consistent exercise. A proper diet is also essential, whether you want to lose weight or build muscle. Products like protein powder can help with either goal, and we’ve compiled the best New Year’s deals on supplements from the brands we trust the most.
Kaged: Last year, this brand that makes my favorite pre-workout offered 20% off through January 31 with the code NEWME20
Myprotein: Last year, Myprotein offered 50% off hundreds of items and 30% off all others with the code SAVE30
Taking Kaged Pre-Kaged Sport pre-workout before training at the Breaking Muscle testing facility
Best New Year’s Sales on Fitness Apparel
I pretty much live in leggings and workout apparel, so I’m always on the hunt for discounts on gym clothes. We’re still waiting for sales for 2024 to come in, but here are the deals we saw last year on some popular apparel brands.
Adidas: Adidas offered up to 60% off apparel, shoes, and accessories last year
Columbia: Select items were up to 60% off last year
Fabletics: Last year, new VIP members could get 70% off everything
lululemon: This popular men’s and women’s fitness and lifestyle apparel brand offered discounts on shorts, leggings, and much more last year
Nike: Last year, with the code CHEERS, shoppers could get an additional 20% off select sale styles
Reebok: Reebok ran an end-of-year sale last year where you could get an extra 50% off with the code EOSS
How to Find the Best New Year’s Fitness Sales
Consider Your Must-Have Features and Set a Budget
I know from personal experience how easy it is to blow a huge chunk of money on workout equipment. I’d argue that investing in items that can improve your health and wellness is worth it, but I also recognize the importance of saving money.
By doing some research in the weeks leading up to New Year’s Day, you’ll get a good idea of how much various exercise equipment costs and what you get for the price. For example, you can buy a rowing machine with a touchscreen monitor and the ability to stream classes for over $2,000. Or, for less than $500, you can buy a model with a simple screen that tracks a few basic performance metrics.
Once you identify the features that are most important to you, you can decide how much you’re willing to spend to get everything you want in your desired piece of equipment — just make sure you stick to your budget! And if you’re struggling to find equipment in your price range, check out our guide on the best budget home gym equipment.
Check the Pricing History
As someone who loves shopping, I’ve become familiar with the (sometimes shady) selling tactics of various retailers. They’ll jack up the prices of their items right before the holiday season, then offer discounts on the increased price. Unknowing shoppers may not even realize this happens and think they’re getting a good deal. In reality, they’re essentially paying the original price.
I recommend using tools like Karma to look up the pricing history of your desired gym equipment. For products sold on Amazon, Camelcamelcamel is a good resource.
Read Customer Reviews
In addition to checking the pricing history of the equipment you want, I recommend reading reviews — from multiple places, if possible. Some companies hide negative reviews on their websites, so you won’t learn the common complaints about a particular item unless you check various sources.
At Breaking Muscle, it’s our job to review fitness products, and we don’t shy away from pointing out the benefits and drawbacks of the items we test. To help guide you toward making the right decision for your needs, we’ve compiled several guides on the best home gym equipment:
Read the Fine Print
When dropping potentially thousands of dollars on a large piece of gym equipment, you’ll want to ensure your money won’t be wasted if something is wrong with it or you don’t like it. Read up on things like:
The company’s return policy
Whether or not there’s a free trial
How long the warranty lasts and what it covers
Whether or not you can finance the item
FAQs
Do weights go on sale in January?
Weights usually do go on sale in January. In the past, we’ve seen discounts barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, and other weight training equipment from brands like Rogue, REP Fitness, and Titan Fitness.
What fitness equipment goes on sale for New Year’s?
For New Year’s, you can find sales on all kinds of fitness equipment, including dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, squat racks, weight benches, treadmills, exercise bikes, and more. You should also be able to find discounts on smaller items like smartwatches, water bottles, yoga mats, and more.
Is New Year’s a good time to buy fitness equipment?
In our experience, Black Friday (followed by Cyber Monday) is always the best time to buy fitness equipment. But brands also know that many people create fitness resolutions for the new year, and New Year’s can be an ideal time to save money on a treadmill, rowing machine, stationary bike, and other home gym equipment.
“…Tony the Tiger tells us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day! It’s grrrrrreat!”
This adage about breakfast has become commonplace that it’s readily and unquestionably accepted as fact.
Well then, what’s with the growing popularity of Intermittent Fasting and SKIPPING breakfast?
(Tony just audibly gasped.)
In this Ultimate Guide to Intermitting Fasting, I’ll teach you everything about the science of fasting and what results you can expect:
Let’s dig in!
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but rather a dieting pattern:
Intermittent Fasting: making a conscious decision to skip certain meals, or avoid consuming food for a specific time period.
Let’s talk about why it’s become so popular: because it can work incredibly well for weight maintenance!
When you skip meals or only eat during certain hours, you’re more likely to eat fewer calories overall, which can result in a lower number on the scale!
(We dive deeper into the science on this in the next section.)
Let’s now talk about some popular Intermittent Fasting Strategies:
#1) INTERMITTENT FASTING 16/8 PLAN
What it is: Fasting for 16 hours and then eating within a specific 8-hour window. For example, only eating from noon-8 PM, essentially skipping breakfast.
Some people only eat in a 6-hour window, or even a 4-hour window. This is the “feasting” and “fasting” parts of your days and the most common form of Intermittent Fasting. It’s also my preferred method (5 years running).
Two examples: The top means you are skipping breakfast, the bottom means you are skipping dinner each day:
Adjust this window to make it work for your life:
If you start eating at: 7AM, stop eating and start fasting at 3pm.
If you start eating at: 11AM, stop eating and start fasting at 7pm.
If you start eating at: 2PM, stop eating and start fasting at 10pm.
If you start eating at: 6PM, stop eating and start fasting at 2AM.
#2) INTERMITTENT FASTING 24-HOUR PLAN
With this plan, you eat your normal 3 meals per day, and then occasionally pick a day to skip breakfast and lunch the next day.
Eat on a normal schedule (finishing dinner at 8PM) and then don’t eat until 8PM the following day.
If you can only do an 18 hour fast, or a 20 hour fast, or a 22 hour fast – that’s okay! Adjust with different time frames and see how your body responds.
Two examples: skipping breakfast and lunch one day of the week, and then another where you skip lunch and dinner one day, two days in a week.
These are just two popular strategies, though there are many variations of both that you can modify for yourself:
Some people eat in a 4-hour window, others do 6 or 8.
You’ll need to experiment, adjust to work for your lifestyle and goals, and see how your body responds. If there’s one thing we’ve learned after Coaching over 15,000 1-on-1 clients: there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to exercise and nutrition that works for everyone, all of the time.
Let’s first get into the science here behind Intermittent Fasting and if you should consider it!
How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?
Now, you might be thinking: “okay, so by skipping a meal, I will eat less than I normally eat on average (2 meals instead of 3), and thus I will lose weight, right?”
All things being equal, yes.
By cutting out an entire meal each day, you are consuming fewer calories per week – even if your two meals per day are slightly bigger than before. Overall, you’re still consuming fewer calories per day.
In this example, you’re eating LARGER lunches and dinners than you normally do, but by skipping breakfast you’ll consume 500 less calories per day.
And thus, weight loss!
However, that doesn’t mean this works 100% of the time, for everyone. By understanding the underlying mechanism of weight loss (i.e. calorie deficit), we can better understand how our dieting strategy is affecting our behavior. Then we know if this strategy will work for us or not.
In the case of intermittent fasting, by condensing the eating window, many people feel more full and naturally eat less (like in the example above.)
However, it’s also totally possible for somebody to be so hungry as a result of fasting that they overconsume calories during that same period, which would result in weight gain instead of weight loss.
If you were reliant on the idea that “Intermittent Fasting works for weight loss” – full stop – you could be easily discouraged if it didn’t work.
You might think: “Is my metabolism broken?” But because we know that intermittent fasting is one dieting strategy that CAN work for weight loss if it helps you stick to a caloric deficit more easily, you’re empowered to decide if this is a good fit for you. Eureka!
This is highlighted in a recent JAMA study[2] in which both calorie-restricted dieters and intermittent fasters lost similar amounts of weight over a year period.
You might be thinking: “Ok, ok, I get it. Caloric deficit. But what about the timing of meals – can’t that also influence how your body reacts?”
Yes, your body operates differently when “feasting” compared to when “fasting”. But it’s important to understand how this fits into the big picture.
When you eat a meal, your body spends a few hours processing that food, burning what it can from what you just consumed.
Because it has all of this readily available, easy-to-burn energy (thanks to the food you ate), your body will choose to use that as energy rather than the fat you have stored.
During the “fasted state” (the hours in which your body is not consuming or digesting any food) your body doesn’t have a recently consumed meal to use as energy.
Thus, it is more likely to pull from the fat stored in your body as it’s the only energy source readily available.
However, when we compare the differences in energy used from body fat over an entire day, that’s entirely dependent on the total calories consumed. So while your body is more likely to pull energy from a recent meal, and will rely on fat stores once that energy runs out, if you eat the same amount of calories throughout the day, the result is the same amount of energy pulled from fat. It all balances out in the end.
The same goes for working out in a “fasted” state.
Without a ready supply of glucose and glycogen to pull from (which has been depleted throughout your fasted state, and hasn’t yet been replenished with a pre-workout meal), your body is forced to adapt and pull from a source of energy that it does have available: the fat stored in your cells.
While many of us get excited about the idea of being in a “fat-burning mode”, the same principle holds. If we burn an equal amount of calories, whether fasted or not, the result is less total energy stored in our fat cells at the end of the day. (There’s even an argument for athletes whose sports require glycogen to be readily available to meet their energy demands – making sure these stores are never depleted is important so an athlete doesn’t ‘bonk’ in the middle of their competition.)
Hopefully, you can see how easy it is to take a true fact of our biology (we burn more fat from fat stores when in a fasted state) and extrapolate it to seem more than it is. The same goes for six meals a day!
The truth is, there isn’t a magic pill or solution that’s going to overcome the basics. The best reason to do Intermittent Fasting is because you like it and it fits within your lifestyle.
TL/DR: Fasting can help promote weight loss and muscle building when done properly ~ though it isn’t the ONLY method that works.
Should I Eat 6 Small Meals a Day?
There are a few main reasons why diet books recommend six small meals:
1) When you eat a meal, your body does have to burn extra calories [9] just to process that meal. So, the theory is that if you eat all day long with small meals, your body is constantly burning extra calories and your metabolism is firing at optimal capacity, right? Well, that’s not true.
Whether you eat 2000 calories spread out throughout the day, or 2000 calories in a small window, your body will burn the same number of calories processing the food [10].
So, the whole “keep your metabolism firing at optimum capacity by always eating” sounds good in principle, but reality tells a different story.
2) When you eat smaller meals, you might be less likely to overeat during your regular meals. I can definitely see some truth here, especially for people who struggle with portion control or don’t know how much food they should be eating.
However, once you educate yourself and take control of your eating, some might find that eating six times a day is very prohibitive and requires a lot of effort. I know I do.
Also, because you’re eating six small meals, I’d argue that you probably never feel “full,” and you might be MORE likely to eat extra calories during each snack.
This is why personal preference is so important when picking a diet strategy that works for you.
Although grounded in seemingly logical principles, the “six meals a day” doesn’t work for the reason you think it would (#1), and may feel prohibitive to prepare and eat 6 times a day (#2). Other people may find that 6 meals a day fits them perfectly. If you find what works for you, that rules!
If we think back to caveman days, we’d have been in serious trouble as a species if we had to eat every three hours. Do you think Joe Caveman pulled out his pocket sundial six times a day to consume his equally portioned meals?
Hell no! He ate when he could, endured and dealt with long periods of NOT eating (no refrigeration or food storage) and his body adapted to still function optimally enough to still go out and catch new food.
A recent study (written about in the NYT, highlighted by LeanGains) has done a great job of challenging the “six-meals-a-day” technique for weight loss [11]:
There were [no statistical] differences between the low- and high- [meal frequency] groups for adiposity indices, appetite measurements or gut peptides (peptide YY and ghrelin) either before or after the intervention. We conclude that increasing meal frequency does not promote greater body weight loss under the conditions described in the present study.
That’s why we made this:
Should I Try intermittent fasting? (4 Big Benefits)
Now that we’re through a lot of the science stuff, let’s get into the reality of the situation: why should you consider Intermittent Fasting?
When you fast, you are potentially making it easier to restrict your total caloric intake over the course of the week, which can lead to consistent weight loss and maintenance.
#2) Because it simplifies your day. Rather than having to prepare, pack, eat, and time your meals every 2-3 hours, you simply skip a meal or two and only worry about eating food in your eating window.
It’s one less decision you have to make every day.
It could allow you to enjoy bigger portioned meals (thus making your tastebuds and stomach satiated) and STILL eat fewer calories on average.
It’s a point that Coach Matt makes in this video on intermittent fasting:
#3) It requires less time (and potentially less money). Rather than having to prepare or purchase three to six meals a day, you only need to prepare two meals.
Instead of stopping what you’re doing six times a day to eat, you simply only have to stop to eat twice. Rather than having to do the dishes six times, you only have to do them twice.
Rather than having to purchase six meals a day, you only need to purchase two.
#4) Plus, Wolverine does it:
If adamantium-clawed superheroes do Intermittent Fasting, it can probably work for you too, if you can make it work for your particular lifestyle and situation!
What Are the Negative Effects of intermittent fasting?
It’s important to understand Intermittent Fasting is NOT a cure-all panacea.
Let’s talk about some of the potential drawbacks of Intermittent Fasting:
#1) If you skip breakfast, you might be so hungry from this that you OVEREAT your other meals, which can lead to weight gain. The important thing here is that with an intermittent fasting plan, you’re eating fewer calories than normal because you’re skipping a meal every day (if your goal is weight loss.)
In other words, don’t delude yourself into thinking that if you skip breakfast and then eat 4,000 calories of candy bars for lunch and dinner that you will lose weight.
This is simply a math and behavior strategy for giving yourself fewer chances to overeat and put your body into a caloric surplus.
(If you struggle with portion control, figure out your calorie goals and track your calorie intake in your meals to make sure you’re not overeating.)
#2) Skipping meals can result in feelings of lethargy, hunger, and “hangriness”!
If you eat breakfast every morning, your body expects to wake up and eat food.
Once you retrain your body to NOT expect food all day every day (or first thing in the morning), it’s possible that these side effects become less of an issue. In addition, ghrelin (a hormone that makes you hungry [13]), is actually lowest in the mornings and decreases after a few hours of not eating.
#3) Intermittent Fasting can be more complex for people who have issues with blood sugar regulation, suffer from hypoglycemia, have diabetes, etc. If you fit into this category, check with your doctor or dietitian before adjusting your eating schedule.
Can I Build Muscle and Gain Weight While Intermittent Fasting? (Pros and Cons)
It is possible to build muscle and strength while Intermittent Fasting, though it’s not inherently superior to building muscle and strength while following a traditional eating pattern.
Let’s talk first about the nutritional strategy first, and then we’ll get into the exercise portion.
Here’s how I built muscle while simultaneously fasting: In order to gain weight and build muscle, I had to be in a caloric surplus.
And because I was not eating for 16 hours, that meant I was cramming 3000 nutritious calories into an 8 hour window, which often left me feeling bloated and overly full.
11 AM Work out with heavy strength training in a fasted state.
7 PM Consume the second portion of my calories for the day in a big dinner.
8 PM – 12 PM the next day: Fast for 16 hours.
After following this strategy for a number of years,I gave up fasting in 2019, and instead consumed my calories throughout the day.
Here’s a different strategy for Fasted Muscle Building: my friend Nate Green packed on a crazy amount of muscle while fasting for a full 24 hours on Sundays. [15]
Let’s now talk about strength training!
If you want to build muscle while fasting, you need to work out. Specifically, by lifting heavy, so here are a few workout options!
#1) “Build Your Own Workout Routine” and get your hands dirty. Our guide will walk you through building a full-body exercise program in 10 simple steps.
By only eating fat and protein, your body must adapt to run on fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. In the absence of carbs/glucose, your body converts fats to ketones and uses them for fuel.
This process is called “ketosis,” and there are two ways for a body to enter ketosis:
Eating in a way that induces ketosis (very low carb, high fat).
Fasting…Hey, that’s what you’re reading about right now!
We actually have an amazing success story here on Nerd Fitness, Larry, who followed our strategies, went Keto and start intermittent fasting. He ended up losing weight, getting stronger, AND overcame the challenges of rheumatoid arthritis (click on the image for his story)!
Why Keto and Fasting can work: eating Keto can be really challenging. And every time you eat, it’s an opportunity to do it wrong and accidentally eat foods that knock you out of ketosis.
You’re also tempted to overeat.
So, by skipping a meal, you’re eliminating one meal, one decision, one chance to screw up.
Note: if you’re thinking “Steve, am I losing weight because I’m skipping 1/3rd of my meals for the day, AND eliminating an entire macronutrient?”, then you’d be right.
Both Keto and IF have secondary effects that could also be factoring in – physiological benefits which I explain in both articles.
Your value may vary!
You need to decide what works for you.
You probably won’t become “keto-adapted” (your body running on ketones) just skipping breakfast every day – your body will still have enough glucose stored from your carb-focused meals for lunch and dinner the day before.
In order to use fasting to enter ketosis, the fast needs to be long enough to deplete your carb/glucose stores, or you need to severely restrict carbohydrates from your meals in addition to IF in order to enter ketosis.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Experiment and try different strategies that will work for you.
By skipping a meal or minimizing carbohydrate intake, you’re more likely than not to lose weight:
You can do intermittent fasting without eating a Keto Diet and lose weight.
You can do a Keto Diet without intermittent Fasting and lose weight.
Does Intermittent Fasting Have Different Effects on Men and Women?
The quick answer is: “yes, Intermittent Fasting can affect men and women differently.”
Anecdotally, we have many women in our online coaching program that swear by Intermittent Fasting, while others have had adverse effects.
Let’s dig into the science and studies.
A recent PubMed summary concluded that “fasting can be prescribed as a safe medical intervention as well as a lifestyle regimen which can improve women’s health in many folds [18].
Now, in that extract, many of the studies cited are focused on specifically calorie restriction (and not just fasting), and they also say that “future studies should address this gap by designing medically supervised fasting techniques to extract better evidence.”
Digging into the PubMed Archives brought me to the following conclusions [19]:
One small study (with 8 men and 8 women, all non-obese) resulted in the following: “Glucose response to a meal was slightly impaired in women after 3 weeks of treatment, but insulin response was unchanged. Men had no change in glucose response and a significant reduction in insulin response.”[20]
Another small study (8 women) studied the effects on their menstrual cycles after a 72-hour fast – which is significantly longer than any fast recommended in this article: “in spite of profound metabolic changes, a 72-hour fast during the follicular phase does not affect the menstrual cycle of normal cycling women.” [21].
Yet another study tracked 11 women with 72-hour fasts (again, longer than we’d recommend) and it found that “Fasting in women elicited expected metabolic responses – included increased cortisol (a stress hormone) – and apparently advanced the central circadian clock (which can throw off sleeping patterns). [22]
Those studies above, in working with small sample sizes, and different types of fasting than recommended here, would lead me to believe that fasting affects men and women differently, and that many of the weight loss benefits associated with intermittent fasting (that affect insulin and glucose responses) work positively for men and negatively for women.
There are also a series of articles[23] out there that dig into the potential reproductive health issues, stress challenges, induction of early-menopause [24] associated with fasting (and calorie restriction) for women.
Precision Nutrition – a great resource – recommends not attempting Intermittent Fasting as a woman if:
The challenge associated with all of this is that there aren’t enough long-term studies, with large enough sample sizes, specifically targeting female humans, with relation to the different types of Intermittent Fasting.
It does appear that men and women will have different experiences with intermittent fasting; we’re all unique snowflakes (yep, especially you), and your body will be affected by intermittent fasting differently than the person next to you.
There is enough evidence as cited in the articles and studies above that would give me pause to recommend Intermittent Fasting for women, especially if you are considering getting pregnant in the near term.
If you are looking to attempt fasting for weight loss reasons, my research has shown me that Intermittent Fasting could be less effective for women than men with regards to weight loss, and thus you would be wise to keep your efforts elsewhere:
Now, if you’ve read the above warnings, you are still curious about Intermittent Fasting, and you want to give it a try as a female, that is your choice!
You know your body best.
So, get blood work done, speak with your doctor and get a check-up.
Give intermittent fasting a shot, track your results, and see how your body/blood work changes as a result of Intermittent Fasting and decide if it’s right for you.
Your mileage may vary, so speak with a doctor or find a doctor versed in intermittent fasting plans and treat it like an experiment on yourself!
Top 5 Questions about Intermittent Fasting
1) “Won’t I get really hungry if I start skipping meals?”
As explained above, this can be a result of the habits you have built for your body. If you are constantly eating or always eat the same time of day, your body can actually learn to prepare itself for food by beginning the process of insulin production and preparation for food.
After a brief adjustment period, your body can adapt to the fact that it’s only eating a few times a day. The more overweight you are, and the more often you eat, the more of an initial struggle this might be.
Remember, your body’s physical and cognitive abilities most likely won’t be diminished as a result of short-term fasting.[25]
2) “Where will I get my energy for my workouts? Won’t I be exhausted and not be able to complete my workouts if fasting?”
This was a major concern of mine as well, but the research shows this might not be the case: “Training with limited carbohydrate availability can stimulate adaptations in muscle cells to facilitate energy production via fat oxidation.”[26]
In other words, when you train in a fasted state, your body can get better at burning fat for energy when there are no carbs to pull from!
The caveat to this is that pulling energy from fat oxidation is a slower process than breaking down carbohydrates. If your workout is super intense (high-intensity interval training, MMA, even bodybuilding) – you’ll likely benefit from having more readily available energy to fuel your workouts for better performance.
3) “I like the idea of fasted training, but I work a regular 9-5 or a night shift and can’t train at 11AM as you do. What am I supposed to do?”
Depending on your training schedule, lifestyle, and goals, go back to the portion above where I talk about the 16/8 protocol and simply adjust your hours of fasting and feasting.
Don’t overthink this. If you can’t train until 5pm, that’s okay. Consume a small meal for lunch, or shift your Intermittent Fasting window to eat all of your meals in the 8 hours post-workout. Better to do that than abandon it as a lost cause and have 0% compliance.
If you are an elite athlete, speak with a coach or nutritionist about your specific concerns and expectations. Otherwise, make intermittent fasting work for you Consider trying the 24-hour protocol below instead of the 16/8 protocol.
If you train later in the day (say, 7pm) but break your fast before training (aka Lunch), make it a smaller meal focused around fats and protein – which should be a solid goal even if you aren’t Intermittent Fasting! Try to time your carb and big meal consumption to happen AFTER your workout.
If you exercise BEFORE work, but then don’t eat until lunchtime: consider a protein supplement immediately after your workout, or simply wait until lunch to start eating. See how your body responds and adjust accordingly.
Do what you can, and don’t psyche yourself out! Get started and adjust along the way.
4) Will Intermittent Fasting cause muscle loss?
Good news: Our bodies are quite adept at preserving muscle even when fasting [27], and it turns out that protein absorption by our body can take place over many many many hours.
If your goal is weight loss, you still need to consume fewer calories than you burn every day to lose weight, full stop. If your goal is bulking up, you’ll need to consume more calories than you burn every day. Intermittent Fasting isn’t a cure-all, it’s a PART of the puzzle.
To start, begin intermittent fasting and eat your normal-sized meals and track your weight and performance. If you are losing weight and happy with the progress, keep doing what you’re doing! If you are NOT losing weight, you could be eating too much. It’s a message I really strike home in our guide “Why Can’t I Lose Weight?”
#1) Don’t freak out! Stop wondering: “can I fast 15 hours instead of 16?” or “what if I eat an apple during my fasted period, will that ruin everything?” Relax. Your body is a complex piece of machinery and learns to adapt. Everything is not as cut and dry as you think.
If you want to eat breakfast one day but not another, that’s okay. If you are going for optimal aesthetic or athletic performance, I can see the need to be more rigid in your discipline, but otherwise…freaking chill out and don’t stress over minutiae!
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good when it comes to your intermittent fasting plan. It’s just one tool in your toolkit.
#2) Listen to your body during your strength training workouts. If you get lightheaded, make sure you are consuming enough water.
If you notice a significant drop in performance, make sure you are eating enough calories (especially fats and protein) during your feasting window.
And if you feel severely “off,” pause your workout. Give yourself permission to EASE into intermittent fasting and fasted workouts. This is especially true if you are an endurance athlete.
#3) Stay busy. If you are just sitting around thinking about how hungry you are, you’ll be more likely to struggle with this. For that reason, I time my fasting periods for maximum efficiency and minimal discomfort:
My first few hours of fasting come after consuming a MONSTER dinner, where the last thing I want to think about is eating.
When I’m sleeping: 8 of my 16 hours are occupied by sleeping. Tough to feel hungry when I’m dreaming about becoming a Jedi.
When I’m busy: After waking up, 12 hours of my fasting is already done. I spend three hours doing my best work (while drinking a cup of black coffee), and then comes my final hour of fasting: training.
#4) Zero-calorie beverages are okay. I drink green tea in the morning for my caffeine kick while writing. If you want to drink water, black coffee, or tea during your fasted period, that’s okay. Remember, don’t overthink it – keep things simple! Although be aware that Dr. Rhonda Patrick over at FoundMyFitness believes that a fast should stop at the first consumption of anything other than water, so experiment yourself and see how your body responds.
If you want to put milk in your coffee, or drink diet soda occasionally while fasting, I’m not going to stop you. Remember, we’re going for consistency and habit-building here – if milk or cream in your coffee makes life worth living, don’t deprive yourself.
There are MUCH bigger fish to fry with regards to getting healthy than a few calories here and there during a fast.
80% adherence that you stick with for a year is better than 100% adherence that you abandon after a month because it was too restrictive.
If you’re trying to get to a minimum bodyfat percentage, you’ll need to be more strict with overall calories – until then, however, do what allows you to stay compliant!
Track your calories, and see how your body changes when eating the same amount of food, but condensed into a certain window.
#6) Don’t expect miracles. Yes, Intermittent Fasting can potentially help you lose weight, increase insulin sensitivity and growth hormone secretion (all good things), but it is only ONE factor in hundreds that will determine your body composition and overall health. Don’t expect to drop to 8% body fat and get ripped just by skipping breakfast.
This is just one tool that can contribute to your success.
Getting Started with Intermittent Fasting: Next Steps
Intermittent fasting can potentially have some very positive benefits for somebody trying to lose weight or gain lean body mass.
Men and women will tend to have different results, just like each individual person will have different results. The ONLY way to find out is through a conversation with your doctor and self-experimentation.
There are multiple ways to “do” an Intermittent Fasting Plan:
Fast and feast regularly: Fast for a certain number of hours, then consume all calories within a certain number of hours.
Eat normally, then fast 1-2x a week: Consume your normal meals every day, then pick one or two days a week where you fast for 24 hours. Eat your last meal Sunday night, and then don’t eat again until dinner the following day.
Fast occasionally: probably the easiest method for the person who wants to do the least amount of work. Simply skip a meal whenever it’s convenient. On the road? Skip breakfast. Busy day at work? Skip lunch. Eat poorly all day Saturday? Make your first meal of the day dinner on Sunday.
After that, get started! Take photos, step on the scale, and track your progress for the next month.
See how your body responds.
See how your physique changes. See how your workouts change.
And then decide if it’s something you want to keep doing!
4 years later, I have no plans on going back to eating breakfast. Sorry General Mills and Dr. Kellogg!
Thanks for reading, and I hope we gave you ALL the information you wanted about Intermittent Fasting, it’s underlying mechanisms for success, and reasons it may (or may not) work for you!
-Steve
PS: Before you take off, grab our Intermittent Fasting Worksheet to help you start your fasting practice:
Download a free intermittent fasting guide and worksheet!
Complete outline of the Intermittent Fasting Protocol
Worksheets for tracking when you eat and how long you fasted
PPS: Make sure you check out the rest of our guides on losing weight:
Looking to run your first 5K? You’ve come to the right place.
In today’s guide, we’ll cover common questions – and 5 mistakes – about running your first 5k, and avoiding all the mistakes most people make:
What is Couch to 5K? Why is the Couch to 5K Plan so popular?
5K is short for 5 kilometers, or 5,000 meters or 3.1 miles.
Running 5Ks exploded in popularity thanks to “Couch to 5K,” a free program that takes people from their couch to running a 5K race in 9 weeks.
This running program was invented by Josh Clark of CoolRunning WAY back in the day.
It has since been co-opted and copied by every running blog out there, so we’re going to be referring to a generic “5K Training” program when we talk about it.
(When people ask the question “How long does it take to complete Couch to 5K,” it really depends on which program they pick.
It might be 6 weeks, or 12 weeks, or 9 weeks. The original Couch to 5K plan created by Cooling Running took 9 weeks).
Here’s a 5K Training plan a nutshell:
Most programs utilize an uber-popular concept called interval training – moving at different speeds throughout a running session – and lays out exactly what to do every day for 6-12 weeks after starting.
Varying your pace this way does a few things:
Helps push you outside your comfort zone. You’re able to push harder for short ‘sprints’ within an interval training workout, which allows you to work at a higher level of relative intensity.
Keeps workouts short and sweet. Because we are operating at a higher intensity level, interval workouts tend to be shorter than their steady-state cardio counterpart.
Teaches you what it feels like to run at different paces and speeds. Could you train at different paces and speeds using steady-state cardio? Sure. However, the variance in speeds with interval training tends to help beginners experience different pacing structures.
Improves your general conditioning and endurance. Your heart and lungs have to adapt to the various levels of strenuous activity (and get stronger/healthier as a consequence.)
Introduces a bit of novelty into your training – which can help you stick to it. When people first start a program, often the most important factor is sticking with it consistently to see results. Intervals introduce a bit of novelty that many people find helpful in keeping the program interesting long enough to complete!
Over the weeks, 5K Programs slowly ramp up the amount of time you spend running and cuts back the time you spend walking until you’re at the point where you can actually run a 5K without stopping.
“Steve, I’m intrigued. Why are 5K and 5K training plans SO DANG POPULAR?”
#1) They’re simple and clear.
Print out a PDF or download an iPhone app and for the next 9 weeks you simply do what it tells you:
Today, do this.
Tomorrow, do that.
Repeat.
We’re all busy. Most of us lead hectic lives. And programs that tell us EXACTLY what to do allow us to follow instructions without needing to figure it out ourselves.
If you’re brand new to health and fitness, and you’re trying to lose weight, you’re most likely overwhelmed by what you should start with and how you should train.
As much as I would WISH that was the answer (it’s probably the fastest path to changing one’s physique), it’s often a bridge too far for many folks.
So a majority of newbies equate running with weight loss (which MIGHT be true, but MIGHT not, I’ll explain here), and decide to start with a jog around the block.
#3) These 5K Programs feel approachable.
It’s a free program (or an inexpensive app), and it’s very approachable.
Programs like P90X and Insanity are designed to appeal to people who consider themselves hardcore (whatever the hell that means).
Couch to 5K appeals to people who are overwhelmed at the idea of doing P90X or Insanity or mustering up the courage to go to Crossfit.
Couch to 5K makes you think “maybe I can actually do this…” which is the most important part of any fitness journey: starting.
#4) Everybody wants to “have run a 5K.”
If you’re new to health and fitness and working on setting a good obtainable goal, “run a 5K this year” is a great place to start.
It’s a short enough distance that with some training you can pull it off, even if you have to walk some or all of it.
There are 5Ks practically every weekend, many of which raise money for charity or are themed in a fun way,
So in completing a 5K, you train and get to see yourself progress weekly, you get to finish a race and feel a sense of accomplishment, and you go home with a medal you can hang on your wall reminding you of the proud moment.
Plus, it might get you in shape!
Maybe…we’ll explore it in just a moment.
If you are trying to get in shape, I’ll mention our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program. I know of no better way to transform yourself than through the help of an expert who knows exactly what to do. We’ve helped hundreds of people run their first 5K and helped others train for triathlons!
Does Couch to 5K actually work? Will I lose weight Doing Couch to 5K?
“Steve that’s all fine and good. But what do you REALLY think about running 5Ks and Couch to 5K?”
Okay, you got me. I got thoughts. I also got jokes (they’re bad).
RANT INCOMING!
Will the Couch to 5K program help you run a 5k? YES! If you actually stick with it for the entirety of the training program.
Will the Couch to 5K program help you lose weight? MAYBE.
Is Couch to 5K a program that will get you healthy permanently? MAYBE.
Will Couch to 5K make me sexy and look damn good in a bathing suit? MAYBE, but probably not.
Here’s the truth about Couch to 5K: It’s the same truth with popular programs like P90X or Insanity or any other structured workout program:
It totally works and will help you lose weight if you do two things:
MISTAKE #1: Couch to 5K totally doesn’t work and won’t help you lose weight if you do two things:
You complete the program, BUT
You don’t address your diet.
As sexy as it is to think that just going for a run will help you lose weight, the data doesn’t back it up. In fact, as Time Magazine rightly pointed out years ago and got yelled at for telling the truth, exercise alone won’t make you lose weight.
In fact, many people gain weight after starting an exercise routine and get completely demoralized.
This is Common Mistake #1: not addressing your nutrition if you’re running for weight loss!
If this were a movie, nutrition would be Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible and exercise is that funny sidekick who helps Tom. Let’s be real here, Tom is doing all of the heavy lifting to make that movie what it is.
Couch to 5K helps people run a 5K. And by doing so, improves your cardiovascular conditioning.
That’s it!
(Of course, building cardiovascular health is pretty awesome)
Couch to 5K is NOT designed to help you lose weight or build muscle. It’s a temporary program that lasts a certain number of weeks until you run your 5K. That’s it!
For Couch to 5K to be successful for you long term, and for it to help you lose weight, it needs to be the catalyst that causes you to build a consistent long-term habit of exercise and changes how you think about food.
Remember:you never get to be “done”, so you need to enjoy the journey and look forward to exercising daily.
You also need to train the right way to build the type of body you want! And eat the right way.
That’s priority numero uno.
I know nutrition is a really challenging, complex, controversial topic (Keto? Paleo? Ah!), which is why we make it stupidly simple for smart, good looking, modest people like yourself.
In addition to our online coaching program that guides you on making healthier food choices, we also created a free 10-level NF Diet blueprint you can hang on your fridge next to your Couch to 5K PDF.
Print it out, hang it on your fridge, and follow the instructions to level up every 2 weeks! You can get yours free when you sign up in the box below:
Now that we have the “will I lose weight?” stuff out of the way, I have two BIG questions to ask you:
Do you like running?
Are you healthy enough to run?
Do I Even Like Running?
Bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman said it best:
“Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, don’t nobody wanna lift no heavy ass weight.”
In other words: “Everybody wants to be in shape, and look great, but nobody wants to put the work in to actually GET in shape and look great.”
And yup, getting in shape is tough; if it were easy we’d all look like Captain America and Wonder Woman.
This brings me back to the most crucial question of this entire 5K process:
Do you LIKE running?
The world is split into three groups:
People that like running and want to run.
People that don’t like running but eventually learn to love it.
People that don’t like running and will never like running.
Here’s that Ronnie Coleman quote, slightly adapted: “Everybody wants to have run a 5K, but many people don’t actually enjoy running.”
Running a 5K is a great achievement and a worthwhile fun goal, but it’s only one way of thousands to “get in shape.”
Many people feel like Andy Dwyer in Parks and Rec when they go running.
Some people love that feeling of pushing beyond the limits, and that’s awesome!
But for everybody else, they make Mistake #2: they force themselves to run even though they don’t like it!
So before you start Couch to 5K, think of it as a science experiment:
“I hypothesize that following Couch to 5K will help me run a 5K. I also hypothesize I’ll enjoy the process, enjoy how I feel after a run, enjoy running a 5k, and/or enjoy the achievement of having run a 5k.”
And that’s all this is: an experiment to see if running is the type of exercise you want to continue doing consistently for the next few years.
If 2 weeks into Couch to 5K you’re miserable and hate it: fantastic!
You just discovered that you hate running and are now free to NEVER RUN EVER AGAIN FOREVER.
It means your science experiment produced a result that you can now use to inform future exercise decisions.
It doesn’t make you a failure.
It just means you found a type of exercise that doesn’t work for you.
If you discover you LOVE running and how it makes you feel: fantastic! You can now make running part of your regular exercise routine. You’ve found something you can do for the rest of your life.
If you are running to prove something to yourself, because a friend is doing it, because you’re raising money for charity, or anything else: fantastic! Do Couch to 5K and then decide if this is the strategy that you enjoy and want to stick with permanently.
Don’t make Mistake #2: If you’re ONLY doing this to lose weight and it’s making you miserable, quit. Don’t run. Ever.
Instead, pick an exercise you actually enjoy. Not because the exercise is going to help you lose weight – because doing an exercise you love is a constant reminder of “I’m making healthier choices, and thus I should probably eat healthier!”
If weight loss above all else is your goal, start with our “Beginner’s Guide to Healthy Eating.” I can promise that if you read those strategies and start to implement them in your life, you’ll see results without ever having to set foot on a treadmill.
Phew! Okay, that covers “do you actually LIKE running?”
There’s another massive question you should be asking yourself before you start…
Are You Healthy Enough to Run a 5K?
Just because you WANT to run doesn’t mean you SHOULD necessarily start running just yet.
It could be a fast track to injury, disappointment, and misery!
Those are literally three of my least favorite things. The fourth being mosquitos.
Back to your health: are you physically ready to run?
If you’re at or close to your goal weight, then starting a running program is a good idea.
If you are obese or very overweight, (power) WALKING a 5K is a great goal for the immediate future.
However, I think Mistake #3 would be running a 5K before properly preparing your body for it!In fact, running prematurely without addressing your weight might cause damage to your joints and ligaments and cause you to backslide a whole bunch.
This will build you a solid foundation of strength, core strength, and endurance.
Here’s why you should focus on strength and nutrition before pounding the pavement with hours of running:
As you begin to drop weight, a lot of the stress on your joints, organs, bones, etc. will start to decrease.
As you strength train, the ligaments that hold your body together will become stronger and more adequately prepared for the rigors of running.
As you refine your running form to minimize resistance and jarring shocks throughout your body, your body will learn to become more efficient.
When you start to approach your goal weight, you can start to increase your speed from power walking to jogging – with correct running technique (see below) – and staying healthy.
“STEVE, I was all excited to run a 5k, and now you have me demoralized. I’m overweight but I still want to run!”
Okay okay okay, fine! I don’t want to keep you from exercising, I want to help you build momentum and make you antifragile.
You’re an adult! If running is what you want to do, go for it!
“Steve I’m in. I read all of that jazz above and I am ready to get started. Whether I’m walking or running, I want to start Couch to 5K!”
If you’re ready to do the Couch to 5K program, you can download the following which I believe is the Original Couch to 5K Program (they’ve made it quite tough to find!).
The reason it’s tough to find is they’re pushing people towards the official Couch to 5K App.
Here’s the walking 5k Nerd Fitness official template as well. You can grab all of our templates for free, from walking to running a 5k, when you sign up for our newsletter. The goal is to do each workout listed 3x/week.
What I would do next after downloading the program? Do the first day of training!
I would also recommend finding a race that’s 2-3 months from now, and sign up for it even if you’re not ready.
Recruit a friend or two to join you in training and the race!
HOW TO FIND A 5K IN YOUR TOWN: Let me google that for you. Type “5K + [your town]”, and I bet there’s a 5k every weekend for the rest of the year coming up. The Couch to 5K app also lists local races for you.
Here’s how you can get started:
Pick a race that looks fun that raises money for a good cause
Recruit a friend or two
Go for your first day of running!
It’s gonna suck, and you’re going to be fine. You’ll get better!
This is exactly what I did years ago when I dressed up like a Caveman with 20 of my friends and raised thousands of dollars for kids with cancer to go to summer camp!
How to Not Get Injured Training For a 5K
If you don’t learn how to run correctly, you’re doomed to develop an overuse injury and that’s going to negate the whole reason you started running in the first place!
This is Mistake #4: Crappy running form!
When you run, you’re putting hundreds of pounds of pressure on your joints and ligaments with each bounding step down the road.
This is then repeated thousands of times over the course of training and a race.
No wonder nearly every runner has stories of injuries they’ve had to deal with. It can be a brutal activity that can wreak havoc even with good running mechanics.
With poor running mechanics, the results are compounded.
And not the GOOD kind of “compounded” like compound interest like you learned in 2nd grade with the story about starting with 1 penny a day and doubling it every day for 30 days.
The BAD kind of “compounded” like plantar fasciitis and stress fractures and sore IT bands and torn ligaments and crazy soreness all the time.
We don’t want that.
I’m going to get super granular into proper running technique in this section, so if you already have perfect running form, you can skip this section. But I’d still read it.
Yeah, you should probably read it.
Here are the “5 Steps to Not Sucking at Running a 5K,” thanks to my friend Jason Fitzgerald of Strength Running:
1) Lean From Your Ankles
Lean from your ankles, and keep a straight line from your ankle, through your butt, and up to your head.
If you’re standing still with this slight forward lean, you should feel like you’re about to fall forward.
When you start running, gravity will help keep you progressing forward. A proper lean from the ankles keeps your body in alignment and loads your muscles properly and efficiently.
2) Increase Your Cadence
Cadence is your stride rate, or the number of steps you take per minute. It will probably seem weird at first, but you’re putting less stress on your legs with shorter foot strikes.
Your cadence should be at least 170-190 steps per minute when you’re running at an easy, conversational pace. It will probably increase once you start running faster—that’s normal.
“Steve, what the hell do I do with “170-190 steps per minute?”
Great question. Go to Spotify and look for 170-190BPM playlists, like these which I found here:
Not on Spotify? Cool. (But like, why?) To get a cadence, try running to Outkast’s “Hey Ya” and time your strides to match the beat. That’s the cadence you’re looking for:
Research has shown[2] that increasing your cadence and taking more steps (around 180 per minute) provides many of the same benefits of barefoot running: less impact shock that goes up your legs, improved running economy (or your efficiency, which means you’ll run faster with less effort!), and a reduced chance of injury.
You’ll feel like you’re taking way more steps than normal – that means you probably had poor form before and now you’re fixing it!
If your legs get to the point where they’re going this fast, let me know:
3) Foot Strike at the Right Time
When your foot comes down and makes contact with the ground, it should be underneath your body, not in front of it.
Combined with a quick cadence and a slight forward lean from your ankles, you’ll be distributing impact shock evenly—and efficiently.
This aspect of running form is often skipped over by beginning runners.
Instead of focusing on where the foot is landing in relation to the rest of the body, they focus too much on running on their forefoot. If you don’t first land in the right place, a midfoot or forefoot strike will only do more damage.
As you’re running, a good mental cue is to think that you’re just “putting your foot down” in a straight line underneath your body.
There’s no reaching or stretching your leg out in front of you. Practicing this mental cue will have your leg touching down almost exactly underneath your center of mass, distributing your weight evenly and safely.
4) Land on Your Mid-Foot
While not as important as landing underneath your center of mass, becoming a mid-foot striker has a host of benefits.
It can help you avoid a lot of injuries by absorbing impact shock and preventing a severe heel-striking running stride.
Heel-striking can’t be entirely blamed for injuries and labeled “bad.”
Even elite athletes heel strike when they run races! It’s not entirely bad— especially if you’re putting weight down on your foot just after you heel strike, instead of directly on the heel.[3]
What you should focus on is having a higher cadence, landing underneath your body, and not aggressively heel striking.
Try to land with your foot flat on the ground, instead of with your toes angled upwards.[4]
5) Symmetrical Arm Swing
Nobody wants to look at you running if you’re flailing your arms wildly all over the place like Elaine dancing from Seinfeld.
An ideal arm swing has your arm bent at about 90 degrees and a front-to-back swing (not side-to-side).
Imagine a pretend line that goes down your mid-line or center of your body. When you run, your hands should not cross over this imaginary line.
Cup your hands loosely together (no clenched fists!) and if you want to use your arms for momentum, pump your elbows, not your hands.
Once you incorporate these changes into your running form, you’ll feel a lot more comfortable and your injury risk is going to plummet.
For extra credit, learn to run softly and quietly. Foot stomping isn’t allowed and gets increasingly more difficult as you approach 180 steps per minute.
A few other things you want to keep in mind:
Keep a tall back, chest up. No slouching.
Look 30-50 meters in front of you – not head down looking at your toes.
Both are easy cues to keep an athletic posture and good running form.
Go back through and read this section a few more times. We know it’s a LOT to think about while running, but it is incredibly important. If you get a chance, have somebody film you running, and then watch your tape back to see how you’re doing.
10 Tips and Tricks for Training for Your 5K
Although the Couch to 5K Program covers specifically how you should be training, it still leaves out quite a few important things (like technique, which I covered above!).
Once you’ve picked your 5K training program, here’s how to get yourself to ACTUALLY follow through on your training!
#1) Recruit an accountability partner. Have somebody that trains with you (or at least somebody you tell about your training), so that each day you can check in with each other.
Wanna be diabolical?
Give somebody else $100 of your money. And tell them you’ll check in with them after your training every day – if you don’t do your run, they’ll donate $50 of that money to a political cause you HATE.
While you’re building the habit of running, you need to make the pain of skipping your run greater than the pain of doing the run.
Do this enough times until you build up enough momentum and get hooked on that runners high so that you actually look forward to training.
#2) Warm-up before, stretch after. Don’t do static stretches before your runs. It’s not doing what you think it is[5]. Instead, you’re going to warm up your muscles through active movement.
Do a dynamic warm-up before you run. Continue this by going for a light jog, high knees, and warming up your muscles through movement.
#3) Make it the first thing you do each day. Build the habit of doing your run first thing in the morning when life hasn’t had a chance to get in the way.
Sleep in your running clothes.
Put your alarm clock/phone across the room. Put your running shoes by the door. By hacking your Batcave, you’ll minimize the steps between you and the new habit you’re trying to build.
#4) Strength training makes running easier. Doing 1-2 sessions of strength training per week (on days you’re not running) will help you burn fat, build muscle, and stay injury-free.
#5) Don’t worry about your shoes when you start. Wear whatever shoes you have so that you can just get started building the habit immediately. If you START to love running, read our article on proper footwear and get yourself some better kicks.
The same is true for “running clothes.” Don’t let this be a barrier to entry.
Start running first and make sure you like it before you go spending any hard-earned cash on stuff you’re not gonna use.
Oh, and as Coach Jim mentions in the video below, DON’T RUN IN BRAND NEW SHOES!
Trust us on this one.
#6) Sign up for your race as far in advance as possible. Use 20 seconds of courage if you need to, but commit to the race.
If you don’t sign up, you’re going to be much more likely to back out when life gets busy.
But if you pay for it ahead of time, and get other people to run with you, you’re going to be using positive peer pressure to follow through on your commitments.
#7) Your race time doesn’t matter! Who cares if you’re the last person to finish? Like the Rock taught us, it doesn’t matter.
What’s important is that you finish something that you started. That’s a huge accomplishment in itself.
#8) Start a running club or join one at work – the more people you surround yourself with that are doing the things you want to do, the better. Hang out with runners that are faster than you.
You’re the average of the 5 people you associate most with, so you might as well start associating with faster, healthy runners.
#9) Don’t have an in-person running community? That’s cool! Join our private Facebook group – the Nerd Fitness Rebellion – and you can find other Nerds who are on a similar path to you!
It’s the section of our community that does running, biking, swimming, and other distance-based activities!
#10) Hire a coach. Outside of having a group of friends or co-workers keeping you accountable, a coach who routinely checks in with you and your progress can be a godsend. We’ve helped tons of people build the habit of running!
What Do I do After the Couch to 5k?
You made it through the training, and you ran/walked your first 5K! I’m so proud of you.
Gold star.
A+.
So after successfully completing your first 5K, you may be wondering what you should do next. To run again or not…
Many new runners absolutely love the atmosphere at a race; the number pick- up, pre-race motivational speech, cheering crowds, and crossing that finish line.
Oh, and the post-race beer and meal is the best food and drink you’ve ever tasted.
So after the excitement settles down, you need to ask what you want to do next.
Your three options:
Run Faster: Sign up for another 5K, keep training, and try to beat your previous race time.
Run longer: Maybe you want to run a longer race like a 5 miler, a 10k, or go slay a bigger dragon, like half-marathons or marathons.
Pick a different activity: Going from Couch to 5K to Couch doesn’t help you at all. Temporary changes create temporary results.
Notice there wasn’t a 4th option, the option that usually everybody picks:
“Go back to sitting on the couch”
That’s Mistake #5: not having a plan to CONTINUE exercising after Couch to 5K!
As we say at Nerd Fitness: “Temporary changes create temporary results.”
So you have to do SOMETHING next, otherwise all that hard work and training will have been for naught!
Check out these other sweet running resources:
To recap our guide on the Couch the 5K plan, these are the 5 Mistakes to avoid:
Running a 5K might be a good way to lose weight. It is entirely dependent on your nutrition. The same is true of literally ANY workout program. (Mistake #1: Not changing your nutrition)
Couch to 5K may or may not be a great program for you. It depends on how much you enjoy running, and what you are hoping to get out of the program. (Mistake #2: not actually enjoying running)
Make sure you are fit enough to endure the rigors of running! If you’re severely overweight, let’s get you in shape FIRST before we put stress on your knees and joints for thousands of running steps. (Mistake #3: Running before you’re ready)
Make sure your running technique is solid. It’ll save you years of pain and injury. (Mistake #4: Running with improper form)
Once you finish the race, decide if you want to keep running or if you are going to pick a different activity. (Mistake #5: Not having another goal after completing your 5K)
And our two bonus tips:
Recruit a friend or find a way to stay accountable so you actually do the race!
Who cares about your race time! Just completing the race should be your goal.
Okay, it’s your turn to get out there and get moving! I hope this guide helped give you a head start and can’t wait to here about your journey.
We receive free products and receive commissions through our links. See disclosures page.
The Assault Bike ProX is one of the best cardio machines currently offered, as it provides a full-body, low-impact workout that can still be high-intensity. Popular in the CrossFit community, this fan bike consists of a belt-driven system and a heavy-duty steel frame, making it a great tool to build both endurance and strength.
Here at Breaking Muscle, our experts include athletes, strength and conditioning coaches, and certified personal trainers who are intimately familiar with this fan bike. We put it through hours of strenuous cardio workouts to see if it could take on the challenge. In this Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X review, we’ll highlight our results, how well the bike ranked in testing, and how it compares to other fan bikes.
Key Takeaways
The Assault Bike ProX is a great choice of cardio equipment for those who want a total-body workout. This fan bike, also termed an air bike, requires you to engage in full-body exercise using both the handlebars and bike pedals to generate movement through a belt-driven system.
The LCD monitor tracks stats such as calories, distance, speed, watts, and RPM, all of which can help you understand energy output.
The Assault Fitness App, which you can access through your phone and connect to the bike’s Bluetooth-enabled console, allows you to take part in virtual and instructor-led programming.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Pros
The AssaultBike Pro X features a smooth belt-driven system to keep the workout efficient and quieter than chain-driven fan bikes. This makes it a great piece of equipment for a home gym, where limiting noise can ensure your workouts aren’t a nuisance to your roommates or family members.
With 11 height settings and six front-to-back settings for adjustments, the seat can move upward, downward, forward, and backward to help accommodate your body proportions.
Made of a heavy-duty steel frame that makes it pretty stable for exercise, the AssaultBike ProX has a weight capacity of 330 pounds, so even heavier athletes can safely use it.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Cons
Running at $899 at the time of this writing, it’s relatively expensive and may be out of reach for those with tight budgets. In comparison, the AssaultBike Classic and the Titan Fan Bike are both around $699.
The Assault Fitness App, although interactive and a step up from other brands, has been termed “glitchy” through the many reviews at the Apple store. As such, it only has a a 2.1 out of 5 star rating.
The ProX has a large footprint, especially compared to the AssaultBike Elite. The ProX is 51.73 inches long, 24.52 inches wide, and 52.51 inches high, while the Elite is 50.95 inches long, 23.34 inches wide, and 50 inches high. Depending on your home gym setup, the Pro X may take up too much room and prevent you from doing workouts off the bike safely.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Rating
At Breaking Muscle, we know exercise equipment. We have a product testing team that has put hundreds of machines through the wringer, using them for everything from gentle warm-ups to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. Many of our staff members are home gym owners themselves and use these products nearly every day.
With the knowledge we’ve gained over the years, we created a proprietary scoring system that we used to rank the AssaultBike ProX in various categories. Not only did we evaluate how the bike performed on its own, but we also compared it with nearly 30 other exercise bikes to see how it stacked up against the competition.
Factor
Rating (out of 5)
Price
4
Materials, build, and construction
5
Delivery and asssembly
5
Performance
4
Included workouts
3
Heart rate monitor
4
Display and stats tracking
5
Conveniences
4
Workout app and subscriptions
4
Bluetooth connectivity
5
Noise level
4
Portability
4
Warranty
5
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Overview
From the founders of the AssaultRunner (one of the best treadmills to train with), the Assault Bike ProX is made with a heavy-duty steel frame finished in a black powder coat that helps keep it corrosion-resistant and capable of standing the test of time. It is a top-tier fan bike that can provide a brutal workout for any athlete.
The AssaultBike Pro X at the Breaking Muscle testing facility
In addition to its tough and durable frame, it incorporates a belt-driven system for a quiet, smooth training experience. It also requires less upkeep than chain-driven systems, which should come as a relief to busy individuals who can’t be bothered with complicated maintenance protocols.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX In-Depth Review
Price
At the time of writing, the Assault Bike ProX costs $899. Fortunately, there is also an option to finance it at around $82 a month through Affirm. For comparison, the Assault Bike ProX is more expensive than the AssaultBike Classic at $699 but cheaper than the Concept2 BikeErg, which costs around $1,100.
The Assault Bike ProX also provides free shipping, which is a big deal for equipment this size. Buying an air bike from another brand could set you back another $100 in shipping costs.
All of the above considered, we’ve rated this bike 4 out of 5 stars for its shipping rate, finance options, and value.
Materials, Build, and Construction Quality
The Assault Bike ProX weighs 125 pounds, has a max user weight of 330 pounds, and boasts a heavy-duty steel frame with a corrosion-resistant black powder coating finish. We love this type of frame and finish because it means less maintenance over time.
It’s also similar to what you would see with the Rogue Echo Bike, which has a black powder coating and almost looks like it was built from scraps of a heavy-duty squat rack! But the Assault Bike ProX isn’t as bulky as the Rogue Echo Bike, making it more compatible with small spaces, which our product testers enjoyed. For comparison, the ProX is 51.73 inches long, 24.52 inches wide, and 52.51 inches high, while the Echo Bike is 55 inches long, 29.5 inches wide, and 52.25 inches high.
The Assault Bike ProX provides a wide padded seat that can adjust to 11 different heights and six different directions either forward or backward. These adjustments were the same on the Assault Bike Pro, which the ProX replaces. The rubber handles on the ProX help you maintain your grip and keep your hands comfortable throughout the workout as well.
This fan bike also comes with footpegs at the base of the handlebars for you to place your feet. This gives you the option to do an upper body-only workout, which is great for injury recovery or arm day.
Based on the quality and construction of the Assault Bike ProX, we rated it 5 out of 5 stars.
The AssaultBike Pro X comes with foot pegs where you can rest your feet if you only want to use the handlebars.
Delivery and Assembly
We gave the AssaultBike Pro X 5 out of 5 stars for delivery and assembly because of how straightforward it was to build. The bikes arrived at our testing facility 75 percent built, so all we had to do was attach the LCD console, pedals, handlebars, seat post, and saddle. Assault Fitness provides all the tools needed to build your air bike, and it should take roughly 35 to 45 minutes.
Performance
When testing the Assault Bike ProX, we noticed a smoother and quieter ride than what we’ve experienced with other air bikes, like the Titan Fan Bike or the AssaultBike Classic. This is predominantly thanks to the belt-driven system. A belt-driven system requires less maintenance than a chain-driven system, but it is also harder to use. When you pedal, the steel fan wheel generates resistance based on your effort. The harder you pedal, the more resistance is applied.
Working out on the AssaultBike Pro X
However, once you stop pedaling, the fan wheel will stop moving, requiring more effort to get it started again. This might be tough if you’re not prepared for a high-intensity workout. Due to this, we gave the Assault Bike ProX a 4 out of 5-star rating for performance.
Included Workouts
The Assault Bike ProX’s LCD monitor provides seven built-in training programs and a competition mode for those ready to take on the challenge. Through the Assault Fitness App, which we’ll review below, there is also an option to follow instructor-led programs or create customized workouts.
All in all, we give it a 3 out of 5 star rating in this category. The included workouts aren’t as robust as what you’d see in a more interactive bike like the Peloton. However, we do appreciate having them and think they can be valuable for people who may not know where to start.
Heart Rate Monitoring
While the AssaultBike Classic was only compatible with the Polar T34 heart rate chest strap, the Assault Bike ProX is compatible with other brands, like Garmin. You can link a heart rate monitor through the bike’s Bluetooth features. However, you need to purchase a compatible one separately, which is why we only rated it 4 out of 5 stars here (though to be fair, this is common for most exercise bikes).
Display and Stat Tracking
The Assault Bike ProX comes with a five-inch by eight-inch monitor, which is a common size amongst other fan bikes. This high-quality LCD monitor is powered by four AA batteries, which Assault includes with your purchase. The console is great for tracking stats such as calories, distance, heart rate, speed, watts, and RPM. It also connects to the Assault Fitness App.
An over-the-shoulder look at the console on the AssaultBike ProX
Our product testers loved that it could track power output in addition to distance and speed, which is a great measure of energy expenditure to quantify workout intensity. The Rogue Echo Bike monitor doesn’t provide feedback such as watts and RPM on its monitor, which gives the Assault Bike ProX the edge.
All things considered, we’ve given this bike 5 out of 5 stars for its display and tracking capabilities.
Conveniences
When testing the Assault Bike ProX, we noticed a ton of conveniences. First, the air bike requires no electric outlet, and we loved being able to use it anywhere. This feature is also a welcome benefit for commercial CrossFit gym owners, as you don’t have to worry about your members tripping over power cords.
Other conveniences include a device holder and a water bottle holder. Some fan bikes like the Titan Fan Bike also include these conveniences. Others, like the Rogue Echo Bike, don’t (though they are available to purchase separately). We always appreciate it when a brand throws in little extras like this. They allow you to have all your workout essentials within reach. Plus, you don’t have to worry about potentially placing multiple orders or paying extra shipping fees to get them.
Overall, our product testers rated the conveniences 4 out of 5 stars. The only reason we docked a point is that we wish the bike came with a wind guard to prevent cold air from blowing in our faces when training in a cold garage. There is one available on the Assault Fitness website, but you have to buy it separately for an additional $39.
Workout Apps and Subscription Options
The Assault Bike ProX is a part of the Assault Fitness line of exercise machines that operate using the Assault Fitness app. The app was one of our product testers’ favorite features.
Free to download from the App Store and Google Play, the Assault Fitness App provides you with a multitude of instructor-driven workouts. You can do these workouts on your own or compete against other athletes virtually. Many of the workouts also integrate other types of equipment, such as dumbbells and kettlebells, to help you get more well-rounded programming.
While we enjoyed the app, we only gave it 4 out of 5 stars. As of this writing, it’s not available on the most recent version of Android. Athletes with newer Android phones may not be able to use it.
Bluetooth Connectivity
The Assault Bike ProX is Bluetooth-enabled. We don’t necessarily consider Bluetooth connectivity a standout feature, as dozens of cardio machines we’ve tested now come with it. But we’ve also tried inexpensive cardio equipment that doesn’t have this feature, and even Assault Fitness’s classic AssaultBike lacks Bluetooth capabilities. As such, we rated the ProX 5 out of 5 stars here.
Noise Level
When comparing other fan bikes we tested, the Assault Bike ProX generated less noise due to its belt-driven system. The belt-driven system operates more smoothly than chain-drive systems such as those on the Schwinn Airdyne. A noisier system can make it tough to perform workouts at home, especially if you train early in the morning or late at night when others are sleeping.
That said, no fan bike will be completely silent, so you should still expect some noise as air travels through the flywheel. Due to this, we give the noise level of the Assault Bike ProX 4 out of 5 stars.
Portability
The Assault Bike ProX offers some portability, thanks to two small transport wheels at the front. To move it, all you need to do is tilt it onto its wheels to help glide it across the floor. However, although it might be easy for some athletes to move this fan bike, others might struggle to relocate it because it weighs 125 pounds. Based on these findings, we give the portability of the Assault Bike ProX 4 out of 5 stars.
Warranty
The Assault Bike ProX has a three-year non-wear parts warranty and a seven-year frame warranty. The three-year non-wear parts warranty doesn’t cover normal wear and tear on parts like the seat, pedals, and handle grips. This may seem like a drawback, but in our experience, this is common in warranties on other brands’ fan bikes. But the length of Assault’s warranty is longer compared to Rogue, who only offers a two-year warranty on their Echo Bike, and Titan, who only offers a one-year warranty on their fan bike. We gave the warranty of the Assault Bike ProX 5 out of 5 stars for this reason.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Specs
Overall Dimensions
The Assault Bike ProX is 51.73 inches long, 24.52 inches wide, and 52.51 inches high. Compared to the classic AssaultBike, these dimensions are one to two inches bigger in each category. If you’re between the two, we definitely recommend measuring carefully to ensure you choose the one that will best fit your space.
Resistance
The Assault Bike ProX is a fan bike, meaning it builds resistance based on how much air you recruit in the fan wheel as you work. The harder you pedal, the more air resistance is applied, making your workout more challenging.
In addition to air resistance, the ProX uses a belt-driven system, meaning it only operates when you begin to pedal. If you stop pedaling, the machine stops moving. This makes it harder to operate compared to a chair-driven system, like what you’d see with the AssaultBike Classic.
Weight Capacity
The weight capacity of the Assault Bike ProX is 330 pounds. This is more than the Classic bike, which holds 300 pounds, but less than the Elite, which holds up to 350 pounds.
Seat and Handlebar Adjustments
The Assault Bike ProX can accommodate most body sizes with 11 different height settings and six front-to-back settings. These adjustment levels are relatively standard based on what we’ve seen on other fan bikes. However, some competitors like the Rogue Echo Bike only have five front-to-back seat settings.
Adjusting the seat on the AssaultBike Pro X
Electrical Requirements
Because the Assault Bike ProX does not require an electrical outlet, you can transport it wherever you want to go —outdoors or indoors. The monitor, however, does require AA batteries to operate.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX vs. Echo Bike
At first glance, it seems the Assault Bike ProX and Rogue Echo Bike have many similarities. When you analyze them more closely, you’ll find that there are several key differences between the two.
Below are the dimensions of both fan bikes:
Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X
Rogue Echo Bike
Length
51.73 inches
55 inches
Width
24.52 inches
29.5 inches
Height
52.52 inches
52.25 inches
Weight
125 pounds
123 pounds
Materials
Black powder-coated, heavy-duty steel
Textured black powder coat, 2×3″, 1.2 x 3″, and 1.625 x 3.125″ steel
Even though the Rogue Echo Bike is bulkier in material and dimensions, it has the same 330-pound weight capacity as the AssaultBike ProX. Both of these fan bikes are also powered by movement, so no electrical outlet is needed. Further, weighing in at 123 and 125 pounds, respectively, the Rogue Echo Bike and the Assault Bike ProX are equally portable, especially given they both have wheels.
Finally, both products use belt-driven mechanics, providing a smooth and quiet riding experience. But the Assault Bike ProX gives more metrics on the monitor, such as watts and RPM. This feature alone could make or break your decision, depending on how important tracking is to your training.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Customer Reviews
The Assault Bike ProX comes in with a strong 4.6 out of 5-star rating on the Assault Fitness website. Many users claim that it is super easy to set up, requires low maintenance, and is a favorite piece of equipment in their home gyms. Customers also praise its sturdiness and its ability to handle a tough workout.
One user mentioned that the left peg became loose during their workout. Another buyer mentioned that the Assault Bike ProX was very noisy and didn’t think it was as stable as other reviews might suggest — note, however, that complaints like this are in the minority.
Final Verdict: Is the Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Worth It?
After extensive research and testing of the Assault Bike ProX, we can say that this air bike is worth it. Made with a heavy-duty steel frame finished in a black powder coat, it can take on the toughest workouts. It’s ideal for anyone looking for a full-body, high-intensity interval training machine for improving both endurance and strength.
The smoother and quieter experience you get with the Assault Bike ProX is thanks to the belt-driven system integrated into the design. Although this system might require more effort to operate, this bike can still be a great purchase for everyone from CrossFitters to health and fitness enthusiasts.
FAQs
Is the AssaultBike a good workout?
The Assault Bike provides a great workout, combining air resistance and a belt-driven system for a tough cardio and muscular endurance workout. You can use both the foot pedals and the arm handles to get a full-body workout. Or you can just use the arm handles to work out your upper body exclusively.
Is the AssaultBike Pro X belt driven?
The Assault Bike Pro X is a belt-driven system. The fan bike only works when you operate the pedals and/or handlebars. The belt-driven system also offers a smoother and quieter workout.
Is the AssaultBike good for fat loss?
The AssaultBike alone may not aid fat loss if you’re eating too many calories. However, it can provide a strong enough stimulus for an intense enough workout to help you burn more calories and hit multiple health and fitness goals.
Is the AssaultBike good for muscle building?
Because the AssaultBike Pro X requires a full-body effort and utilizes a belt-driven system, you could potentially build a small amount of muscle by using it consistently. However, resistance training with implements like dumbbells or barbells (and following a diet that supports muscle growth) will be your best bet if you want to pack on as much muscle as possible.
We receive free products and receive commissions through our links. See disclosures page.
As a home gym owner with a keen eye for budget-friendly strength equipment, getting great value is one of the most important factors when deciding whether to pull the trigger on a potential purchase. However, when it comes to the uber-competitive adjustable bench market, it’s tough to contend against Rogue and REP Fitness — companies known for producing highly-rated options like the Adjustable Bench 3.0 and the AB-5200. Yet despite being better known for their power racks than their weight benches, Titan raised their standards and finally delivered a fully adjustable version that can more than hold its own against the giants of the industry.
In this Titan Series Adjustable Bench review, we’ll dive deep into what makes this newly released model arguably the best value in the industry. From its attractive price point to its sleek appearance to its wide range of adjustable positions, this well-designed Titan bench can handle all your heavy bench presses and other lifts without taking a huge bite out of your garage gym budget.
Key Takeaways
The Titan Series Adjustable Bench costs $449.99, making it one of the best budget-friendly options if you’re looking for a high-quality adjustable bench that won’t break the bank.
This newly released bench features nine back pad positions and three seat pad positions, giving you 27 custom configurations to perform a variety of free-weight exercises.
Tipping the scales at 120 pounds, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench has a 1,000-pound weight capacity for the flat position and a 600-pound max for the incline position.
Made with 11-gauge steel, this heavy-duty adjustable bench is incredibly sturdy. Titan took the stability factor to the max by welding the entire frame together (other than the back foot), leaving essentially zero wriggle room and creating ultra-tight tolerances.
Titan’s HeftyGrip Vinyl compares favorably to the material used on more expensive weight benches like the REP Fitness BlackWing. Thick and durable, it provides an extra grippy surface for you to perform your lifts so you don’t have to worry about sliding around or feeling unsafe.
With a $450 price tag that includes free shipping, this Titan bench provides excellent bang for your buck. You can use those extra savings to invest in better bumper plates, an Olympic barbell for CrossFit-style workouts, or other strength equipment to round out your home gym.
Titan Series Adjustable Bench Cons
Despite a solid overall design, this adjustable weight bench isn’t quite as comfortable as some of its competitors when used in a flat position due to the 1.5-inch gap between the seat pad and back pad. The hinge that moves both pads can dig into your back if you’re positioned lower on the bench.
Unlike the BlackWing model from REP Fitness, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench does not accommodate attachments like a leg roller. This limits your ability to use the bench to perform accessory exercises such as sit-ups, crunches, and Nordic curls.
Titan only offers a one-year warranty period for all products. On the other end of the spectrum, Rogue includes a limited lifetime warranty on all frames and a three-year warranty on sewn items.
Titan Series Adjustable Bench Rating
From price to padding to portability, our Breaking Muscle Team assesses weight benches using a propriety scoring system we developed from testing dozens of different benches to perform a variety of free-weight exercises. We look for critical factors that lead to a positive purchasing experience, including how well the bench is made, how easy it is to use, and how many adjustable positions you have at your disposal.
Here’s how the Titan Series Adjustable Bench fared across each category:
Factor
Rating (out of 5)
Price and Value
5
Construction Quality
5
Delivery and Assembly
5
Dimensions
4
Padding
5
Footprint and Portability
4
Performance and Ease of Use
4.5
Incline Levels
4
Warranty
2
Titan Series Adjustable Bench In-Depth Review
It’s never too late to change your reputation. While Titan hasn’t earned a ton of praise for their benches before, that will surely change once more lifters get a chance to try out their newest creation. Safe, sturdy, and supportive, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench seems more than capable of serving as the only bench in your home gym for years to come.
Not only does it give you the versatility to adjust the seat pad and back pad, but it’s also designed to store vertically — a neat feature that cuts down on the bench’s footprint. Most importantly, though, Titan’s latest release comes in at a price point that makes it the best value, even in a crowded market full of high-quality adjustable bench options.
Price and Value
It almost seems too good to be true for an adjustable bench built to International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) standards to be available for well under $500. Yet thanks to Titan, you can enjoy the benefits of having a flat, upright, and incline bench all in one for the tidy price of $449.99. Plus, you don’t have to leave any room in your budget for freight costs, as Titan offers free shipping on all orders.
Compared to other similar adjustable benches, the Titan Series comes at a more affordable price point. For example, although REP marked its popular AB-5200 model down to $449.99 as part of a Black Friday sale, it typically costs about $500. Meanwhile, the Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0 normally costs $50 more than its current sale price of $545.
Considering you get two more back pad adjustment choices with the Titan Series for less money, it’s hard to put the AB-5200 above its competitor from a value standpoint. Plus, Titan offers two- and three-year protection plans for $54.99 and $64.99, respectively, along with flexible payment options.
Overall, Titan deserves a tip of the cap for pricing their top-end bench at a budget-friendly rate. We rated it 5 out of 5 stars for price and value.
Construction Quality
The aptly named Titan Series certainly meets the mark from a quality standpoint. Despite being priced rather aggressively, Titan didn’t go the cheap route with the materials on what should become their signature bench.
Built with 11-gauge steel that’s known for holding up well over time, it epitomizes the word “sturdy.” Actually, our team found the Titan Series Adjustable Bench to outrank the Rogue AB 3.0 from that perspective, highlighting that the bench did not budge an inch during testing. That type of stability speaks volumes about Titan’s innovative engineering, as the decision to weld the base into one solid piece contributes to the bench’s sturdiness.
Titan also went the extra mile in other areas. A knurled handle in a powder-coated black finish on the front post plate feels rock-solid and makes maneuvering the bench much easier. Meanwhile, a plate with UHMD plastic on the top of the back pad allows you to store the bench upright securely.
Finally, the HeftyGrip vinyl that covers the durable padding made our team feel right at home. With ample support from the steel frame, thick padding, and extra-grippy vinyl, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench scored 5 out of 5 stars for construction quality.
Delivery and Assembly
Titan takes some of the financial burden off your shoulders by offering free shipping on all orders. Eager to try out the brand’s newest foray into the adjustable bench world, our team did not encounter any issues during the delivery process. Sent to our Springfield, MO, headquarters via UPS/FedEx in one box that was sturdy but still easily movable, it didn’t take long for our testers to have the Titan Series Adjustable Bench up and running.
In fact, the assembly process proved far easier (and quicker) than past experiences with other benches that require multiple tools and a ton of patience. Because the base is all in one piece, you only need to attach the pads and wheels on the back.
That smart design choice by Titan — which also likely reduced the manufacturing and shipping costs — helped this bench score 5 out of 5 stars for delivery and assembly.
Dimensions
At 17 inches tall, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench meets the IPF standard for height. A 40-inch-long back pad and a 12-inch long seat pad make it one of the longer benches in its category. With a total length of 56.5 inches, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench measures 4.5 inches longer than the REP AB-5200. However, it actually weighs five pounds less (120) than one of REP’s most popular models.
Unfortunately, one dimension-related flaw stood out for our testing team: the 1.5-inch pad gap. Having that space between the back and seat pads can cause discomfort, especially because the hinge that moves both pads sits fairly high and digs into your back. If you don’t want to deal with a seat gap at all, the REP BlackWing or the AB-5000 are excellent options that still give you plenty of adjustable positions.
All in all, this bench scored 4 out of 5 stars for dimensions, as the potential discomfort from the hinge inside the pad gap knocks the rating down a notch.
Padding
If sturdiness matters most in a bench, then comfortability doesn’t fall far behind. While budget-friendly benches on Amazon often come with cheaper, thinner padding, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench features the exact opposite.
Measuring 2.5 inches thick, both the seat pad and the back pad provided plenty of support for our testers as they performed rows and the flat bench press. Plus, lifters with broader frames won’t have to worry about pad width problems, as the back pad is a great size at 12 inches. As someone with a wide upper body, I can appreciate Titan’s decision to use a wide enough back pad that allows you to bench without having your shoulders roll off.
Part of that also has to do with the extra-grippy HeftyGrip Vinyl that envelops the thick padding. Our testers said it felt similar to the vinyl REP uses on their benches, which shows Titan is serious about contending with the big-time bench manufacturers. From a padding perspective, we gave the Titan Series Adjustable Bench 5 out of 5 stars.
Footprint and Portability
Based on its dimensions, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench has a footprint of 9.71 feet. As one of the longer adjustable benches on the market, it has a more sizable footprint than the REP AB-5200, which checks in at just 8.25 square feet. On the other hand, the REP BlackWing has a far larger footprint than the Titan Bench at 10.7 square feet.
Tipping the scales at 120 pounds, this well-built bench surprisingly wasn’t too difficult to maneuver. Our testing team took advantage of the knurled handle in the front and the oversized rear wheels in the back to move the bench around and store it upright using the rubber stopper on the back. Titan’s space-saving design allows you to reduce the overall footprint from 9.71 to just 2.92 square feet, making it a great fit if you have a smaller home gym.
Despite being a longer bench, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench should still fit well into your space, and having the ability to store it vertically can save you valuable room. Plus, Titan smartly used an enclosed ladder system to prevent the adjustment arm from sliding out of place when the bench is stored upright. We scored it 4 out of 5 stars for footprint and portability.
Performance and Ease of Use
Although our team has been left disappointed in the past by some Titan benches, this model made them reconsider their stance. They were already impressed by its rugged look before using it for a single lift. The Titan Series Adjustable Bench backed up its impressive appearance with a flawless performance.
Utilized for both single-arm dumbbell rows and dumbbell bench presses, our testers had no trouble using the ladder-style adjustment system to go from a flat position to an upright angle. The inclusion of red anodized knobs also made it simple to go from one position to the next. Our team also enjoyed being able to anchor their feet securely thanks to the inclusion of a single front post plate that’s fairly narrow. Meanwhile, the bench’s rubber feet keep it firmly anchored to the floor.
However, Titan did drop the ball a bit by using a metal joint between the back and seat pads that comes up a little too high. If you are too low on the bench, the hinge can cause discomfort in your back and create an unnecessary distraction that could affect your performance.
Overall, though, this straightforward, no-nonsense bench was easy to use and seems more than capable of being the only bench in your home gym. The Titan Series Adjustable Bench received 4.5 out of 5 stars for its impressive performance and ease of use.
Incline Levels
Because it’s not an FID bench, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench does have some limitations. Still, it’s tough to complain about a sub-$500 bench that gives you nine back pad positions (0, 15, 30, 38, 45, 55, 60, 70, and 85 degrees) from which to choose. Plus, seat angles of 0, 15, and 30 degrees open the door to 27 configurations for your home workouts.
The ladder-style adjustment system on this bench will look familiar if you’ve ever used a Rogue bench. Nearly identical in design, it features a bolt wrapped in heavy-duty UHMW plastic that made a pleasing clicking sound when our testers changed the position of the bench. The laser-cut numbers on the seat and back pads also made it simple for our team to identify the angle they wanted to set the bench.
By comparison, the Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0 provides slightly more flexibility with your angle options, as it has 10 back pad positions. Meanwhile, the REP Fitness AB-5200 only offers seven, along with the same three seat pad angles.
Overall, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench has enough options to get the job done and utilizes a user-friendly ladder system that feels secure. Although it would be great to have decline position options, we still gave this bench 4 out of 5 stars for incline levels.
Warranty
Titan Fitness falls short of the competition with their warranty policy. The company only offers a one-year limited warranty with all of their products, including the Titan Series Adjustable Bench. According to Titan’s website, the warranty coverage only includes defects in material or workmanship and excludes accidents, damage, negligence, improper assembly and maintenance, abnormal operating conditions, and alterations.
On the other hand, REP Fitness includes a 10-year warranty on bench frames, plus a one-year warranty on sewn items. Rogue takes customer service even further with a limited lifetime warranty on frames that voids if a product has been damaged due to negligent or faulty use, alteration, maintenance, storage, or handling by the user. In addition, Rogue covers sewn items for up to three years.
Finally, Force USA backs up its benches with a lifetime warranty for frames, a 10-year warranty on moving parts, and one year of coverage for upholstery and attachments. This applies to equipment used exclusively in private indoor home settings, such as basements and garages.
Ultimately, Titan doesn’t come close to other bench manufacturers from a coverage perspective. Since you only get a one-year warranty protecting your $450 investment, we scored the Titan Series Adjustable Bench 2 out of 5 stars in this category.
Not only did Titan produce a bench that meets International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) standards, but they did so at an excellent price point. Built to handle all your lifts without busting your home gym budget, this adjustable bench looks, feels, and performs like one that should be more expensive. From its pad dimensions to its weight capacity, here are the full specs for the Titan Series Adjustable Bench.
Dimensions
The Titan Series Adjustable Bench measures 56.5 inches long, 24.75 inches wide, and 17 inches tall for a total footprint of 9.71 square feet. This 120-pound heavy-duty bench has a back pad that’s 40 inches long and 12 inches wide.
Meanwhile, the seat pad measures 12 inches long and 12 inches wide. There’s also a 1.5-inch gap between the back and seat pads.
Materials
Titan built its newest adjustable bench with high-quality materials, including 11-gauge steel for the frame — the same material used in REP’s AB-5200 and BlackWing models and the Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0. This helps give the bench its sturdy feel and 1,000-pound weight capacity, with the powder-coated black finish providing a badass overall look.
For the padding, Titan used their HeftyGrip polyurethane vinyl, which our testers found to be extra grippy and comfortable. Red anodized knobs add a nice visual and tactile touch to the design. Plus, a knurled stainless steel handle makes transporting the bench a breeze.
Pad Thickness
Titan Fitness didn’t skimp on the padding, as both the back pad and seat pad measure 2.5 inches thick. This makes for a comfortable lifting experience, as you feel fully supported from end to end.
Weight Capacity
The Titan Series Adjustable Bench has a max weight capacity of 1,000 pounds in the flat position. This puts it right on par with the BlackWing and the AB-5200 models from REP Fitness. In addition, the Titan Series has an angled weight capacity of 600 pounds, which is just 100 pounds shy of how much the REP AB-4100 can support in a flat position.
Titan Series Adjustable Bench vs. Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0
Ironically, the Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0 seems to be one of the sources of inspiration behind the design of Titan’s newest adjustable bench. Built to nearly the same specifications using almost the same exact materials, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench compares favorably to one of Rogue’s most popular models.
Still, there are some important differences to note between the two models. First, the Titan Series costs significantly less, checking in at $450. On the other hand, the Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0 requires a more substantial investment of $595. Plus, upgrading to a stainless steel frame increases the total cost to nearly $700.
Second, the Titan Series doesn’t offer the same flexibility when it comes to adjustments and finish options. While having 27 configurations should be enough for most home gym owners, Rogue’s model provides 30 thanks to 10 incline positions ranging from 0 to 85 degrees and three seat positions (0, 15, and 30 degrees). In addition, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench only comes in a powder-coated black finish, whereas the Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.0 is available in 10 colors: black, gun metal, blue, bright green, red, white, dark red, burnt orange, dark blue, and satin clear.
Finally, consider where your bench comes from. If you prefer USA-made fitness products, Rogue is the way to go. If you’re comfortable investing in a bench that’s made overseas, there’s certainly nothing wrong with opting for the more affordable Titan Series Adjustable Bench.
Because it’s a new release, there are currently no reviews available for the Titan Series Adjustable Bench. However, given its impressive spec list, high-quality build materials, and ability to be used in 27 configurable positions, we expect it to earn high marks from customers who get a chance to explore all of its capabilities.
Final Verdict: Is the Titan Series Adjustable Bench Worth It?
Even though Titan benches typically fall short of expectations, that’s simply not the case with their newest model. The design team deserves major props for putting together a true FID weight bench that provides 27 possible configurations in a well-priced package. Built from high-quality materials that should prove durable over time, this bench packs a serious punch, especially considering how cheap it is compared to similar offerings from REP and Rogue.
While the seat gap issue shouldn’t be overlooked, it’s difficult to find any other obvious flaws with what should become the company’s flagship bench. If you’re looking to preserve some of your home gym budget, the Titan Series Adjustable Bench is an ideal solution that will allow you to still have the financial flexibility to purchase other fitness products and strength equipment accessories.
FAQs
What are the different types of adjustable benches?
Not all adjustable weight benches are made the same. Some, like the Titan Series Adjustable Bench, only allow you to go from a flat position to different incline positions. However, a true FID (flat, incline decline) bench gives you the most flexibility, as you’re able to perform exercises from just about any angle. An example of a high-quality FID bench would be the REP Fitness BlackWing, which has 72 possible adjustment combinations and the company’s patented zero-gap seat technology.
Is it worth getting an adjustable bench?
An adjustable bench is a worthwhile investment if you perform a variety of dumbbell and barbell-based exercises. Having the ability to quickly go from doing a flat bench press to incline chest flyes can save you valuable time for the rest of your workout. Plus, having a bench that allows you to train muscles at specific angles can help you make better progress with your strength- and muscle-building goals.
“Can I get rid of my man boobs quickly and naturally?”
Awkward phrase? Sure.
But that’s not gonna get us to shy away from the topic here on Nerd Fitness.
We work on solutions to questions just like this with our Online Coaching Clients:awkward questions and challenging situations that are tough to talk about, but can be helped!
This is what we do, and we’re really good at it.
Today, let’s tackle the “moobs” situation head-on by covering all of the following in this MASSIVE guide:
Okie dokie, let’s jump in!
What are “Man Boobs”?
Let’s chat about some medical definitions, because it’ll help us put “man boobs” in some proper context.
Gynecomastia is defined as the benign growth of the male breast glandular tissue. The National Institute of Health states it’s usually caused by “increased estrogen activity, decreased testosterone activity, or the use of numerous medications.”[1]
Pseudogynecomastiais when male breasts are enlarged by fat deposits, due to an increase in body fat which distributes itself on one’s body according to genetics.
Most men who struggle with “man boobs” or “moobs” are in this second category, and the “pseudo” means they don’t really have the condition “gynecomastia.”
There is no hormonal imbalance.
Instead, the body is just storing extra fat in the chest area.
I’ll mostly be talking about shedding body fat and building muscle to lose “moobs,” but I will also talk about gynecomastia and medical conditions later.
Next up!
Can You Get Rid of Man Boobs?
Why do some men store fat in their chest?
We all process and store calories differently in our bodies.
And how our body stores excess calories is a critical concept for our discussion on “man boobs.”
If you eat more calories than you burn, day after day, month after month, year after year, your body has to do something with all that extra energy.
If we’re sedentary, more often than not, the body will choose to store that energy as fat to be used for later.
Depending on our genetics, our body might choose to store that fat in our butt, gut, thighs, or chest.
Probably a combination of all those things.
And for some of us, a large portion of that body fat deposits itself in our chest area.
And thus, man boobs.
So, in order to start reversing the process, we need to have a two-pronged approach to tackling the “moobs” problem naturally and safely:
Exercise and nutrition.
Specifically, strength training and calorie restriction.
If you are somebody that wants EXACT instruction and a nutritional plan that is designed to help you reduce your man boobs, check out Nerd Fitness Coaching. We’ve helped people just like you do this the right way.
Can Exercises Target Chest Fat?
Fat and muscle are two different ‘systems’ in our body.
Fat sits on top of the muscle, like oil on water.
When we target a specific area for weight loss, like with a Thighmaster, all we’re really doing is exercising the muscle underneath the fat on our thighs.
And don’t get me wrong – this is GREAT (the muscle, not the Thighmaster).
Strength train so more calories are diverted to rebuilding our muscle mass rather than getting stored as fat.
Strength train (again) to build up the muscle under the fat. Muscular pecs with a low body fat percentage look dramatically different than man boobs.
Here’s why: strength training preserves the muscles we have (and can help build pectoral muscles).
Our body also has to rebuild the muscle that breaks down while we exercise, so it uses any extra calories we have to do that rather than storing it as fat!
Think of it kind of like the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter (come on, this is Nerd Fitness after all).
When we strength train, our body will act like The Sorting Hat and divert calories coming into House “Rebuild Muscle” and away from House “Store As Fat.”
It’s a message we really strike home in our video for Body Recomposition:
With a strategy of slight caloric restriction combined with enough protein and heavy strength training, we’re decreasing the body fat on top of our muscle, while also building up that same muscle underneath.
This results in tighter skin, with less padding (fat), stretched over firmer muscles.
Build up oour pectoral muscles (chest muscles under your “man boobs.”)
Same with broadening our shoulders.
We can also improve our posture to make sure we stand tall and proud, puffing our chest out and pulling our shoulder blades back.
In order to accomplish each of these goals, we’re gonna focus on building up strength in our PUSH muscles and our PULL muscles.
Our first stop will be push-ups, a foundational exercise for developing upper body strength.
We show the correct way to do one right here:
I don’t care if you need to do them from your knees or doing an elevated push-up:
KNEE PUSH-UP
ELEVATED PUSH-UP
We all start somewhere, and the name of the game is progressive overload – getting stronger with each workout!
In addition to the push-up, let’s consider the following as the best 5 Advanced Chest Exercises.
These are the types of exercises we build into the workout programs for our Coaching Clients looking to reduce chest fat and build up muscle in that area:
#1) Bench press (barbell or dumbbell).
If one piece of equipment is visually associated with a fitness gym, it would be a bench press. If you’ve never used one before, check out our guide on using a bench press safely right here.
#2) Incline bench press.
We can also work on an incline bench press to develop a more rounded-pectoral muscle that targets your upper chest.
Not only can our pectoral muscles help push forward, they also get worked out when we do an overhead press (though much less so than the bench press variations.)
Varying chest exercises is a good way to help attack all different sides and parts of our chest and build well-rounded pectorals.
Here’s a dumbbell variation if you can’t train with a barbell yet:
The dumbbell fly is another great exercise that targets the chest. This is one you want to make sure you do with good form. Lie on a bench like you are about to do a dumbbell bench press (but you’ll want to use MUCH lighter weights to start.) Keep your elbows slightly bent and your chest puffed up. Reach to the sides until you feel a great stretch RIGHT in the chest muscle, and then come back to the starting position.
As we cover in our “how to build your own workout” guide, make sure to do a push exercise in every workout to start building up pectoral muscles.
Again, start with push-ups.
Start doing them today.
Again, if you can’t do a regular push-up, a knee push-up is totally fine.
Just do them.
After you get cozy with push-ups, move onto the above advanced moves or follow some of the following workouts:
I asked the male members of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion about man boobs, and many have reported improving their appearance with these pectoral exercises.
Outside of improving man boobs, strength training will make every other aspect of your life better.
Bringing groceries in from the car, doing that thing that consenting adults do, and defending yourself against ninjas will all be much easier after strength training.
Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include two other exercises that can change your life:
Show me somebody who is super strong at those four movements, and I’ll show you somebody who has a great physique.
Seriously, don’t neglect those PULL muscles!
This exercise might seem counterintuitive: why work on your back muscles if we’re trying to build up the muscle in our pecs?
Balance and posture.
By building strength in our PULL muscles, we strengthen and tighten our back muscles. This will naturally cause us to pull our shoulder blades back and down into proper position, and give us a better posture.
If we ONLY do chest exercises, we’re more likely to get out of balance, which leads to contracted chest muscles, hunched shoulders, and poor posture.
Here are some options for building up our back muscles and improving our posture:
And if you can’t do a pull-up yet, here’s a great pull-up progression that will show you how to do assisted pull-ups to build up strength, like so:
Too long didn’t read:get strong, and your life will get better.
Build muscle in the right places, and it can help you reduce “man boob” problems.
Now, if you’re all:
“Steve this sounds awesome. I want to strength train, but damn man. I’m already self-conscious enough about my man boobs.
How the hell do I get enough confidence to go into a gym when I don’t know what I’m doing!”
Great question.
If you want expert guidance, form checks, and a custom build workout (and nutritional guidance) to help you transform your physique, we have a private, 1-on-1 coaching program that spurs nerds into action.
After all, temporary changes create temporary results.
And we want to get rid of man boobs permanently.
So, in order for us to lose body fat, we need to expend more calories than our body consumes, consistently.
Let’s put some numbers to this: 3,500 calories equals roughly one pound of fat.
So if we do the math here:
There are seven days in a week.
If we want to lose one pound of body fat in a week (a worthy, sustainable goal for some), we need to create a caloric deficit of 500 calories a day.
We can do this by consuming 500 fewer calories, burning 500 more calories, or a combination of the two.
Remember this: a daily 500-calorie deficit compared to how we normally eat to lose a pound a week.
(Note: in our coaching program, we’ve found clients have the most success targeting 0.5%-0.75% of their body weight per week as a fat loss goal. This is fast enough to see consistent results and stay motivated, while not SO restrictive that it’s completely unsustainable.)
What does 500 calories look like?
Here are two examples:
The number of calories found in a Big Gulp of Mountain Dew.
Hopefully, those two dots above made your head explode.
“Steve, you’re saying that in order for me to counteract just sipping on a Mountain Dew while owning noobs in Fortnite, I’d need to run 5 miles?
I haven’t run a mile since gym class. And that was 15 years ago.”
Yup.
Nutrition is 90% of the equation when it comes to weight loss.
NINETY. PERCENT.
Okay, I don’t actually know the exact percentage, but 90% is dramatic enough.
I hope to get you to realize that changing your nutrition is the most important thing you can do to reduce “man boobs.”
Sure, exercise is important.
However, when it comes to creating a caloric deficit, it’s much easier to decrease calories consumed vs. increase “calories burned.”
Put a different way: would you rather pour out that Mountain Dew, or run five miles?
Let’s tie together our discussion on “man boobs” with our philosophy on fitness: we’re eating too much, and our body is choosing to store these calories wherever it sees fit.
Unfortunately in this situation, it’s choosing to store them in our chest area.
We can’t change the past.
But we can change your future…and you won’t even need a wacky scientist.
This is why we’re gonna reverse the trend: eat a caloric deficit, consistently, until we reach our goal. Then learn how to eat AT our caloric needs to sustain it for the long run.
Over time, our body will respond by burning fat from certain areas, in a certain order (again, this is out of our control).
As our body fat percentage drops far enough, it should start to remove the body fat from your pectoral area.
We have two paths forward.
PATH ONE: Count calories. If you’ve never done this before and are interested in trying, we recommend recording every meal and morsel for 3-5 days to start. (We can use a food journal, a calorie-counting app like MyFitnessPal, etc.
It’ll teach you a lot about the food you eat, and yourself. From there, calorie counting can be a viable strategy for SOME to continue to monitor and dial in their caloric intake. For about 25% of our coaching clients, this is the process that works for them.
PATH TWO: follow our “simple plate” approach from our Healthy Eating Guide. Learn portions sizes, and start making slightly better choices. Focus on getting enough protein and veggies and cut back on liquid calories. Over 60% of our coaching clients find this method to be more sustainable and successful for them in the long-run.
I know that overhauling one’s diet is easier said than done.
But it’s time to take a proactive approach to nutrition.
You’re reading this article because man boobs are a real problem for you – educate yourself on what you’re eating and work on cutting back on the calories!
And that’s what we’ll cover in the next section: what foods to eat that will help you reduce your calories without you being miserable.
What should I be eating to lose “moobs”?
The Nerd Fitness philosophy on what constitutes a ‘healthy food’ can be written like this:
“Foods I can eat frequently that give me enough fuel to get through the day AND don’t make me miserable.”.
Protein like poultry, meat, low-fat dairy, and legumes.
Fruits and vegetables.
Healthy carbohydrates like rice and quinoa.
Healthy fats like almonds and olive oil.
Occasional full-fat cheese and dairy.
These are the types of foods that form the foundation of a well-balanced diet.
Do you know WHY these types of foods help with weight loss?
Because if we stick mostly to this list, we’ll likely create a caloric deficit naturally.
But why tho?
The fine folks at WiseGEEK did an awesome post where they took pictures of what 200 calories of a certain food look like.
200 calories of broccoli gets you enough broccoli to fill up an entire plate:
Or half a Snickers bar:
Yeah. And who eats half a Snickers and says “I’ll save the other half for later?”
Literally nobody.
If we want to create a caloric deficit consistently, focusing on foods that give you a ton of bang-for-your-buck from a nutrients vs calories standpoint is the answer.
Of course, I know a Snickers bar is way more delicious than broccoli – it was designed in a lab by scientists to be AMAZING!
And I’m not gonna tell you to never eat a Snickers ever again either.
Instead, we need to start being proactive about our food choices. If we’re gonna eat a Snickers, we better damn well be planning for that by reducing our calorie intake elsewhere.
And if the scale isn’t budging, and our man boobs aren’t getting smaller – we’re still eating too much!
They all follow the same premise: by changing the foods we eat, we’re more likely than not to eat a caloric deficit. Certain people respond better to certain diets than others.
Minimize and plan for processed food – they’re designed for us to overeat them. Take a look again at that Snickers bar. Do you really think you’d only eat half of one to stick to 200 calories? Of course not.
Eat veggies.Vegetables are nutrient-dense and light on calories. Because of all the fiber, they are also tough to overeat. Imagine eating all that broccoli. Are you going for seconds? Probably not. So eat your veggies to help keep you full. Here’s how to make vegetables taste good.
Avoid liquid calories. Cut back dramatically on soda, juices, smoothies, and any beverage with calories. Even most coffee orders (with sugar, cream, etc.) have a ton of hidden calories. Stick to water, and unsweetened tea or black coffee. Here are our thoughts on diet soda.
Prioritize protein.Our body uses protein as the building block of muscle rebuilding. Outside of repairing our body, protein will also work to keep us full and satiated: 400 calories of chicken will leave us wayyy more full than 400 calories worth of Gatorade.[3] If you prioritize protein on your plate, you’ll be doing a lot of the heavy lifting on proper nutrition. Some great sources of protein include chicken, eggs, beef, pork, fish, nuts, legumes, quinoa, and most dairy products. Check out our Guide to Protein to measure how much protein you need every day.
These four points will help you on your journey to create a caloric deficit.
I know this is much easier said than done. After all, everybody knows they should eat more vegetables, and yet 70% of the country is overweight.
Clearly, there’s more happening here than just “I need willpower and I need to try harder!”
If you’re struggling with portion control and challenges, jump fully into the NF community.
We cover human behavior and psychology to help you:
We’ve helped thousands of people like you here at NF, and we really focus on nutrition.
As we said, it’s 90% of the battle!
It’s why we created our 10-level nutritional system. Each level gets a bit more challenging and healthier, but you can progress at your own speed to make your changes stick!
You don’t have to search far on the internet for the advice “avoid soy because it causes man boobs.”
It’s repeated so much, it’s assumed to be fact.
Is it?
The definition of gynecomastia (medical condition of man boobs) mentions “increased estrogen activity” as a major cause.
So when people say stay clear of soy, they’re worried about its impact on hormones like testosterone and estrogen.
Why the concern?
It comes down to a compound found in soy called “isoflavones.” Isoflavones are a type of phytoestrogen, which acts a little like estrogen, the central female hormone.
“Phyto” is derived from Greek and means “plant.” “Estrogen” is estrogen. So phytoestrogen more or less means plant-derived estrogen.
The fear of isoflavone rests with our bodies using this plant-like estrogen as actual estrogen. A report from Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology found that this is potentially possible.[4]
I should now note, we are about to wade into a controversial subject.
We’ll be careful and rely on good old-fashioned science and studies for guidance.
However, sometimes science can point us in a couple of different and contradictory directions. When this happens, it’s important to acknowledge the uncertainty.
Compounds in soy may act like estrogen in the body. Does this apply to men though? And do they cause “man boobs?”
A 2005 study out of The Journal of Nutrition did find a relationship between soy intake and hormone levels in men.[5] However, they concluded these to be “minor.”
In 2010, Fertility and Sterility tackled the question on whether soy had “feminizing effects on men.”
Neither isoflavone supplements nor isoflavone-rich soy affect total or free testosterone levels.
The journal concluded:
There is essentially no evidence from the nine identified clinical studies that isoflavone exposure affects circulating estrogen levels in men.
Case closed?
Probably, but I’d be remiss not to mention the following:
There is one documented case published in Endocrine Practice, where a man may have given himself gynecomastia by drinking three quarts of soy milk a day.[7]
His gynecomastia went away when he stopped. Granted, this is anecdotal evidence, which is far from proof.
However, it is interesting and worth noting to round out this discussion. And as mentioned earlier, the ability for phytoestrogen to act as actual estrogen does seem possible…
“Steve, Just tell me: Should I ditch soy to ditch my man boobs?”
Well, as with anything, quantity and context matters. Virginia Miller, an estrogen researcher at the Mayo Clinic, told a Vice journalist:[8]
The amount of phytoestrogens in various soy products varies by process method.
Dr. Miller didn’t think it was too problematic to eat soy, specifically mentioning that:
Eating tofu is probably OK.
Interestingly, Miller suggested that BPA found in plastic is more harmful to our endocrine (hormone) system than eating or drinking soy.[9]
Confusing stuff.
In general, the consensus seems to be that as long as you don’t binge soy products, the amount of phytoestrogens found in a normal diet is fine.
If you have the actual condition of gynecomastia, soy is unlikely to be the root cause.
As more and more research is being done on this subject, this answer could change.
My opinion: this is a tiny piece of the puzzle…
…not the whole picture.
If we’re overeating food every day, worrying about the soy we consume is missing the forest for the trees.
That’d be like…putting on a long sleeve shirt instead of a t-shirt for added protection, before driving 50 miles an hour into a brick wall.
Instead, maybe focus on wearing a seat belt, or better yet – not driving into the wall in the first place!
I swear that analogy made sense in my head before I typed it out.
Anyways – back to real specifics.
Here is the Nerd Fitness philosophy on soy: focus on total calories consumed and get that dialed in for consistent caloric deficit.
Only THEN, as our body fat starts to decrease, and we’re analyzing how our body responds to any and ALL types of food, see how our body responds to removing soy from our diet.
Want to have an expert guide you on this process? A fitness partner to help guide you on nutrition, including eliminating and then re-introducing certain foods? You can by checking out Nerd Fitness Coaching.
Do I actually have gynecomastia?
The only way to really know if you have gynecomastia is to go to a doctor.
They’ll be able to tell you (often with an ultrasound) if it’s a glandular breast enlargement or just fatty tissue.
They might also do some blood tests to check testosterone levels and female sex hormones like estrogen.
If you have an imbalance, gynecomastia could be a side effect. They’ll know for sure and can prescribe a treatment.
Also, they can verify that something very serious isn’t going on. In very rare cases, male breast enlargement can be a sign of cancer. Yes, men can get breast cancer.[10]
It should be noted: obesity itself is tied to increasing the development of real gynecomastia.
Excessive fat stimulates the body’s production of estrogen, spurring the growth of actual breast tissue.[11]
Said another way:
Pseudogynecomastia can turn into actual gynecomastia.
If you are diagnosed with gynecomastia, it’ll be between you and your doctor as to the next steps. I’ve seen men take one of three paths, as I’ve read anecdotes from our private support community for Nerd Fitness:
Men who had elective surgery (liposuction in some instances and skin tucks) to remove the fat due to gynecomastia. They are thankful for no longer being self-conscious about their chest areas. This is not an option for everybody for various reasons.
Others have worked hard to reduce their man boob size through exercise and nutrition.
Some have elected to not treat gynecomastia, or are working to reduce the fat around their pecs through diet and exercise before deciding what to do next.
If you’re concerned with “man boobs,” weight management is the path of action we’d recommend, whether you’re facing either gynecomastia or pseudogynecomastia.
One important note here. Your unique situation is just that: unique.
I know many men who have treated pseudogynecomastia with diet and exercise, and I know others who are VERY thankful they had surgery to treat the symptom and are much happier as a result.
No judgment here. You do you, brother.
At this point, I bet you have an additional question:“Can hormone balance be affected in the opposite direction? By increasing testosterone?”
Is there a way to boost my testosterone naturally?
If you do suspect you have a hormonal imbalance, speak with your doctor. They can run tests and tell you exactly what is going on, why, and how to treat it.
I will not be digging into medically supervised testosterone therapy (which is above my pay grade, and between you and your doctor), but here’s our guidance on naturally boosting your testosterone levels:
However, if you are looking for a natural way to boost testosterone, strength training would be a good way to go about it.
One 2017 study found, that although temporary, testosterone levels were shown to: “acutely rise immediately following an acute resistance exercise bout.”[12]
Because of the short-term increase, consistency is key with resistance training and testosterone levels. That’s likely why “regular exercise” has been linked with increased testosterone overal.l[13]
#2) Stress.Cortisol is a hormone that is promoted by stress and reduces free testosterone levels (in addition to signaling for your body to store fat).[14]
The more stressed out we are, the lower our testosterone will be. What’s a cure? Being mindful.
Meditation practices have been shown to help control cortisol levels.[15] Want to start a mindfulness practice? Scope out our Nerd’s Guide to Mindfulness to get going.
Do you know what else is connected with higher cortisol levels and increased stress? Lack of sleep! If this is you, shut off Netflix and get to bed sooner.
#3) Overtraining.There can be too much of a good thing. Studies have found that both professional basketball and soccer players drop their testosterone levels by the end of a season.[16]
Which makes sense.
Tons of activity in a short amount of time gives no time to repair and heal. The same phenomenon has been found in ultra-marathoners.[17][[17]]That study on ultra-marathoners is right here.[[17]. Make sure you get plenty of sleep and schedule rest days.
#4) Eat red meat.Red meat is a great source of the amino acid carnitine, which has been linked to improved fertility.[18] Plus, it’s a good source of zinc, which has also been shown to help regulate testosterone.[19]
#5) Your results may vary. My friend Brett over at Art of Manliness did a 90-day experiment in which he doubled his testosterone levels through diet and strength training.
To be honest with you, even if you don’t have low testosterone levels, you should strength train, be mindful, and prioritize rest.
And maybe even eat a little red meat.
And yes, I read that study that says red meat will kill you. I don’t agree with the fear-mongering.[20]
If you want help with strength training, nutrition, or even starting a mindfulness practice, check out Nerd Fitness Coaching! We help men (and women) level up their lives by providing actionable goals and accountability.
How to Start Reducing Man Boobs
So you have pseudogynecomastia.
And you’re interested in trying to do this the old-fashioned way before going down the route of surgery.
This would be my recommended path to everybody, though remember I’m not a doctor and I would recommend working with your doctor to put a plan in place together.
OUR NON-DOCTOR ADVICE FOR A DUDE TRYING TO GET RID OF MAN BOOBS NATURALLY:
Take front and side photos without a shirt on today. This will help give you a frame of reference as you move forward with your changes. Pictures will round out your story.
Consider a tape measure and take weekly chest measurements too. Just be consistent with how you take the measurements and look for overall trends! Here’s our Guide on Tracking Fitness Progress.
Follow the above nutritional guidance and workout routine for the next month. Remember, I gave you four tips for healthy eating. If you requested our 10-Level Nutrition Guide, it’ll help make those suggestions permanent. Plus, I want you to start doing push-ups (on your knees is a great start). Do it immediately. It’ll help prep you for those Advanced Chest Exercises I talked to you about.
If the scale is dropping, and your photos are showing “moob” improvement, keep it up! As I said earlier, consistency is the name of the game here at Nerd Fitness. “Slow and steady” beats “fast and quitting” every time.
If you want to talk to a doctor to see if anything can or should be done about it, go for it! Medical advice is generally good advice. Bonus points if you find a doctor who strength-trains and seeks to treat through nutrition and exercise first!
I do want to stress, that many male members of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion have reported improving their “man boobs” through the strategies listed in this article.
We are dealt a certain hand from the genetic lottery: whether we gain muscle quickly or slowly, whether we lose our hair or not, and whether we store fat in our legs or in our chest.
We can get mad about it, or we can play the hand we are dealt.
Until somebody develops robot legs, I’m not growing any taller.
However, let’s not justify our internal excuses, or throw ourselves too big of a pity party.
What we do with our genetic fate, is completely up to us. And we have hundreds of thousands of people in the Nerd Fitness Rebellion who have overcome shitty genetics to transform themselves dramatically.
If you want 1-on-1 help to transform yourself, we got you!
We come in all shapes and sizes: you do you.
The goal of this post is educational. To teach us how our body stores fat, and what can or cannot be done about it.
It’s more than okay to love yourself and also want to improve your physique.
Body positivity and wanting to look better are not mutually exclusive.
We’re all works in progress, and that’s great.
If you want to use this post to spur you to change, like cleaning up your diet or lifting some weights, awesome!
I’m glad Nerd Fitness can help lead you into action:
Reduce your body fat percentage through nutritional changes (which includes eating a caloric deficit).
Strength train to increase the amount of muscle you have, increase the “calories burned” portion of the weight-loss equation, and increase your testosterone.
Work with your doctor if you are reducing your body fat but not seeing any changes in your chest area – you might actually have a medical condition called gynecomastia.
Want help knowing exactly how to progress from here?
I have MULTIPLE options for you. Pick the path below that best aligns with your goals and timeline:
1) If you want step-by-step guidance on how to lose weight, eat better, and get stronger, check out our killer 1-on-1 coaching program:
2) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign in the box below and not only will you receive our free weight loss guide, but our step-by-step plan for starting a Strength Training practice:
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
I know it’s easier said than done to say “f*** the haters,” but seriously, f*** the haters.
Take your shirt off at the beach: you deserve to enjoy the sun and sea like everybody else.
We’re all a work in progress, and I hope this post helps you continue to work on yours!
-Steve
PS: No seriously, f*** the haters:
###
All photo sources can be found in this footnote right here [21]
And yet, we can’t get ourselves to stick with ANY of these things for longer than a few weeks.
Why?
Simple: Building new healthy habits is tough, our lizard brains crave instant gratification, we don’t fully understand how habits are built, life gets busy, and our default behavior is often as unhealthy as it is easy.
As a result, we don’t put the right systems in place in order to make changes stick.
If you’re somebody that eats a typically poor diet, never runs, and hasn’t set foot in a gym since grade-school dodgeball with Mr. Wazowski, changing alllll of these at once is almost a surefire way to succeed at precisely NONE of them.
We’re conditioned these days to expect and receive instant gratification. If we want food we can get it from a drive-through, stick a frozen meal in a microwave, or sit down at a restaurant that’s open 24 hours. If we want a game we can download it to our computers/phones/PS5s within a matter of seconds. If we want to watch a TV show, it’s a few clicks away.
Hell, Netflix even starts the next episode for you without any action required!
We expect getting in shape to go the same way.
And this is why we suck at building healthy habits that stick.
We tell ourselves “Hey, I’ve been dedicated for a whole two weeks, why don’t I look like Ryan Reynolds yet?”, not remembering that it took us decades of unhealthy living to get where we are, which means it’s going to take more than a few weeks to reverse the trend.
And then we miss a workout because life was busy or our kid got sick. And we get disheartened that exercise or giving up candy is not nearly as fun as Netflix and video games and Peanut M&M’s.
This is where everybody gives up:
They try to change too many habits too soon
They get impatient the results don’t come more quickly
We’ll cover the specific healthy habits and resolutions you SHOULD be picking later in this article, but I have a big damn question to ask you first:
“But why though?”
The First Step of Building Healthy Habits (Know Your “Big Why”)
Before we do ANYTHING with actually building habits, it can help to have a good reason as to why you want to build them in the first place or the changes will never stick.
This whole “change who I am” stuff can be really powerful for keeping us focused when life starts to get busy.
If you’re here because you decided you “should” get in shape, you’re going to fail the second life gets busy.
If you are dragging yourself to the gym because you think you “should” run on a treadmill five days a week even though you hate it, you’re screwed!
As you’re determining the habits or resolutions you’re trying to set, make the habit part of a bigger cause that’s worth the struggle.
You’re not just going to the gym, you’re building a new body that you’re not ashamed of so you can start dating again.
You’re not just learning to like vegetables, you’re getting fit so you can feel great while on vacation this summer.
You’re not just dragging yourself out of bed early, you’re getting up earlier so you can work on your side business before your kids get up so you can set money aside for their college education.
Tie your journey to a greater cause and you’re more likely to push through the muck and mire to get it done.
So dig 3 levels deep and ask “why” until you get to the root cause of WHY you want to build a new healthy habit or change a bad one. Write it down. And hang it up somewhere you can see it every day.
Got your reason? Great.
Now let’s get into the science of habits.
How to Build Healthy Habits (The Three Parts)
As Charles Duhigg points out in The Power of Habit (a must-read for anybody interested in behavior change), there are three parts to a habit:
#1) Cue (what triggers the action): It can be a feeling: I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m bored, I’m sad. Or it can be a time of day: it’s Monday at 9am, work is done, etc.
#2) Routine (the action itself): This can either be a negative action you want to cut back: I drink soda, I eat cake, I snack, I drink alcohol, I smoke cigarettes, I watch TV – or a positive one: I go to the gym, I go for a run, I do push-ups, I read a book.
#3) Reward (the positive result because of the action): I’m now awake. I am temporarily happy. My hands/mind are occupied. I can forget the bad day I had. I feel energized. I feel good about myself.
Depending on your routine/action above, habits can either be empowering and amazing, or part of a negative downward spiral. Your body isn’t smart enough to KNOW what it needs to do: it just wants to fix the pain or chase the pleasure of the cue, and whichever way you choose to respond will become the habit when it’s done enough times.
Factor in genius marketing, behavioral psychology, and an environment set up for us to fail – and bad habits rule us.
It’s why we crave certain foods, why we can’t help but check our phone every time it vibrates, and why we can’t keep ourselves from watching one more episode or grinding one more level in World of Warcraft.
Duhigg lays things out very clearly:
“There is nothing programmed into our brains that makes us see a box of doughnuts and automatically want a sugary treat.
But once our brain learns that a doughnut box contains yummy sugar and other carbohydrates, it will start anticipating the sugar high. Our brains will push us toward the box. Then, if we don’t eat the doughnut, we’ll feel disappointed.”
Picture this:
We have trained your brain to take a cue (you see a doughnut), anticipate a reward (a sugar high), and make the behavior automatic (nom nom that donut).
Compare that to a cue (you see your running shoes), anticipate a reward (a runner’s high), and make the behavior automatic (go for a run!).
The Dark Knight himself said it best: “It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.”
Let’s take a look at each part of the habit-building process and start to hack the sh** out of it!
Learn Your Cues: Recognize the triggers.
Whether you are trying to change an old habit, stop an unhealthy habit, or begin a healthy habit, it starts with the first step in the process:
“The Cue.”
If you want to stop drinking soda, but feel like you need it every afternoon to get through work, your brain has been wired to think SODA after the cue:
Cue: I’m tired, thirsty, and have no energy.
Routine: I drink a soda around 3pm.
Reward: Weeeeee caffeine! Sugar! Happy! My life has meaning!
When identifying bad habits to avoid, it starts by becoming aware of the cue that sets the habit in motion. Simply being aware of the cue is a great start to breaking the cycle:
When I get bored (cue), I eat snacks (routine), and it fills the void with a happy stomach (reward).
When I come home from work (cue), I plop down on the couch and play video games (routine), and it helps me forget about work (reward).
When I get nervous (cue), I start to bite my nails (routine), to take my mind off the awkwardness (reward).
So if you are looking to break a bad habit, it begins by identifying what the cues are that make you take the action that you’re trying to stop.
At the same time, you can mentally train yourself, just like Pavlov’s dog, to build a new healthy habit by identifying the habit you want to build and the cue you want to use to proceed it:
When I wake up (cue), I will go for a walk (routine), and reward myself with an audiobook on the walk (reward).
When I get tired (cue), I will drink black coffee instead of soda (routine), and along with the caffeine boost. (reward), I’ll get new running shoes after 30 soda-free days (reward), and satisfaction from the weight loss thanks to fewer calories (reward).
When I come home from work (cue), I will walk straight to my computer to work on my novel for 30 minutes (routine), and reward myself with Netflix after I have written 500 words (reward).
So, whether you’re breaking a bad habit or starting a new one, it begins by recognizing the cue that triggers the habit.
Once you recognize or pick the cue, you can start working on fixing the routine (action).
The Key to Sustainable Healthy Habits: Use Systems
“Steve, I get it, but I still struggle with the ‘building the routine’ part…for some reason I just can’t bring myself to do it.”
Yup – welcome to the toughest part of a habit:
The Routine (the action itself!).
This is where we’re going to start thinking and acting like nerds and scientists.
Whether we’re trying to stop a negative routine (stop drinking soda) or start doing a healthy routine (start running), both need to be addressed with a different plan of attack.
For starters, we’re going to stop relying on two things:
Willpower: if you have to get yourself to exercise, you’ll give up when you get too busy or it’s too cold.
Motivation: if you need to be motivated, you’re going to give up and then beat yourself up for not being more motivated!
Both motivation and willpower are finite and fickle resources that will abandon you when you need them most. Most people hope and pray that they have enough motivation and willpower to build a habit.
Not us though!
We’re going to remove both from the equation and use systems and outside forces to make the routine even easier to build (or tougher to build if it’s a bad habit you’re trying to swap!).
This can be done in a few ways:
Environmental hacks: making the routine easier by removing steps needed to complete it, or adding steps between you and a bad habit.
Programming hacks: add your habit to your daily calendar, track your progress daily with a journal, and make it part of your day.
We are products of our environment. We can use this information to our advantage and make the process of building a new habit or changing a bad habit easier by modifying our environment. I dig into this more fully in our article: “Build your Batcave for Habit Change,” but I’ll cover the basics here.
Look at the places you spend your time. Reduce the steps between you and a good habit, and increase the steps between you and a bad habit. You’ll be less reliant on willpower and motivation and more likely to do the healthy habit or skip the bad habit.
Here are five examples of environmental hacks you can use:
RUN EVERY MORNING: Go to sleep with your running shoes at the foot of your bed, with your running uniform laid out already. Hell, you can sleep in your running/workout clothes. Put your alarm clock on the other side of the room so you HAVE to get out of bed to turn it off.
GO TO THE GYM AFTER WORK: Pack your gym bag BEFORE going to sleep the night before. That way, every morning you already have a bag to throw in your car or bring with you. As soon as 5pm hits, you are in your car on your way to the gym. (Don’t want to head to the gym? Here’s how to build a gym in your home).
EAT HEALTHIER: Don’t give yourself the option of not eating healthy – throw out the junk food in your house and start preparing meals the night before. Put a lock on your web browser from ordering pizza online (yes, you can do that now), and don’t drive down the street full of fast food places.
WATCH LESS TV/PLAY FEWER GAMES: Use your laziness in your favor. Unplug the TV/system. Increase the steps between you and watching the TV. Put parental controls on your own system and have your friend set the time limit and the password. I knew somebody who put his TV in his closet and cut his TV viewing by close to 100%. Don’t rely on willpower – make it more difficult!
CHECK YOUR PHONE LESS: Turn off your notifications and uninstall the apps that waste your time. Put your phone in Do Not Disturb mode when you are at work, and put it in your desk drawer. Don’t rely on willpower to get yourself to not check your phone when it buzzes – get rid of the buzz.
You can also use programming hacks to help build NEW healthy habits:
EXERCISE: If you want to exercise more, set calendar alerts at the beginning of your week so that every day at 8AM you receive a cue (ding! on your phone) and a reminder to do the activity. You’re much more likely to stay on target when the activity has been scheduled ahead of time.
HEALTHY EATING: Consider batch cooking! If cooking healthy meals every night sounds like way too much work (I hear you on that), consider doing it all on ONE day – it’s a significant time-saver, and it also will reduce the steps between you and healthy eating because the meal is already cooked and in the fridge!
WRITING: If you want to write a book, tell yourself you have to write 500 crappy words every day. This is how I wrote Level Up Your Life. Buy a calendar, and draw a big red X on every day you complete your task. Make your singular focus every day continuing the streak[1].
Make the Reward Momentum-Building
And we are finally at the third part of the habit:
“The Reward.”
When looking to replace bad habits, do some reward analysis on your bad habits:
Soda gives you a caffeine kick and a burst of energy in the afternoon when you’re tired.
Can you replicate that energy boost for your body in a healthier way? Perhaps you can switch to black coffee and go for an afternoon walk.
Here’s another example:
You find you spend too much time watching TV because you love escaping into worlds, and it’s affecting your health.
Can you listen to your favorite audiobook only when you walk?
This step will require some analysis, by digging into the reward you’re trying to recreate, without the negative action. This can lead your brain to some tough places, but it’s healthy to dig into it.
For example, if you want to start drinking less (or give up completely), you might discover that the reward you’re chasing is actually “escape from a job I hate” and “avoiding social anxiety.”
Dig into your reward and what your brain is craving, and then see if you can reverse engineer a healthier routine with the same reward.
And then use outright bribery to get yourself to actually do the new healthier and choose the better action/routine.
What works for science and physics also holds true to building habits: inertia and momentum will work against you when it comes to building habits…until it starts to work for you as the habit becomes automatic.
We can fix the third part of the habit-building loop, the reward, with momentum-building prizes or results to bribe ourselves to continue. With each healthy and positive reward, with each completed routine, we make the habit sliiiiightly more likely to become more automatic the next time.
In other words, create rewards that reward you back!
DO reward your routine (running for 5 minutes every day for 30 days straight) with a reward that makes you want to keep running (a snazzy new pair of running shoes).
Our new app, Nerd Fitness Journey, specifically follows this “cue, routine, and reward” format to help build new habits. In the app, we “reward” you with cool loot and XP, so you can level up (literally) while you getting lean and strong.
If you’re interested, you can try it for free right here:
5 Hacks for Effortless Healthy Habit building
Your life will get busy.
There will be days when you don’t want to do your new habit. Or you want to backslide and go back to old habits. Actually, that will pretty much be every day, especially early on.
So don’t leave it up to yourself!!!
Stop relying on yourself and start relying on outside forces. Here are the best tips you can use to get yourself to actually follow through with a habit:
1) RECRUIT ALLIES: find a friend or group of friends to build the habits with you. A recent study [2] showed that:
Among the weight loss patients recruited alone and given behavioral therapy, 24% maintained their weight loss in full from Months 4 to 10.
Among those recruited with friends and given therapy plus social support, 95% completed treatment and 66% maintained their weight loss in full.
You do not have to go on this habit-building journey alone. Building a guild or recruiting a group of people to support you and help you and make you better could be the difference-maker in building habits!
When your friend is already at the gym waiting for you, you HAVE to go. If it was up to you, skipping out and watching Netflix has no negative consequences. Recruit friends and allies!
Remember, those first few weeks are the toughest, which means they’ll require the most effort to get started.
2) CULTIVATE DISCIPLINE WITH ACCOUNTABILITY: When you can’t get yourself to follow through on a new healthy habit you’re desperately trying to build, make the pain of skipping the habit more severe than the satisfaction you get from skipping it.
Allow me to introduce some comical consequences:
Every time I skip ______________ this month, I will pay $50 to my wife/husband/friend who will donate my money to a cause I HATE.
Every time I decide not to _______________ this month, I have to run around my house naked.
Every time I do ____________ when I shouldn’t, I will let my three-year-old do my makeup before work.
Do any of these results sound like fun? If you can’t afford to pay your friend $50, if running naked around your house might get you arrested, and if you’ll get fired looking like a drunk clown thanks to your kid’s makeup skills…maybe you just do what you know you need to do. The more painful it is to skip something, the more likely you’ll be to actually suck it up and do it.
3) NEVER MISS TWO IN A ROW. What happens if you miss a day? Who cares! One day won’t ruin you – but two days will, because 2 missed days can become a month or a year in the blink of an eye.
It’s something I bring up in this video over on our YouTube Channel:
As pointed out in a research summary:
“Missing the occasional opportunity to perform the behavior did not seriously impair the habit formation process: automaticity gains soon resumed after one missed performance.[3]
4) DON’T PICK HABITS YOU HATE: “Steve, I know I should run so I’m trying to build a running habit even though I hate running.” Stop.
Can you get the same results with a different habit, like rock climbing or hiking or swing dancing? Pick a habit that isn’t miserable and you’re more likely to follow through on it.
At the same time, we have tons of success stories of people who went from hating exercise to loving how it feels.
It’s because they made the habit part of a bigger picture: “I am working out because I am building a kickass body so I can start dating again!”
Or even if they don’t LOVE strength training, they love feeling strong and confident and powerful, so they build the habit and make it a priority.
It’s because they had a BIG enough why to overcome their initial dislike of exercise until they learned to love how exercise made them feel.
5) TRY TEMPTATION BUNDLING: Consider combining a habit you dislike with something you LOVE, and you’ll be more likely to build the habit.
If you hate cleaning your apartment, only allow yourself to listen to your favorite podcast when you are cleaning or doing the dishes.
Want to go to the gym more? Allow yourself an hour of watching Netflix, but ONLY while you’re on the elliptical.
The Secret to Fulfilling Your Resolution (Do Less)
Now that you’re educated like a boss on the different parts of a habit, it’s time to build one!
I’ll leave you with a final bit of advice: if you decide that you want to run a marathon or save the world or lose hundreds of pounds, you’re going to screw up unless you internalize the following information:
DO WAY LESS.
Or in the immortal words of Kunu from Forgetting Sarah Marshall: “The less you do, the more you do”:
Pick ONE habit, make it small, and make it binary.Something that at the end of every day you can say “yes I did it” or “no I didn’t.”
Habits that are nebulous like “I am going to exercise more” or “I’m going to start eating better” are more useless than a Soulcycle membership for Jabba the Hutt.
Here are big examples. Be specific. Be small. And track it:
Want to start exercising more? Awesome. For that first week, ONLY go for a walk for just 5 minutes every morning. Literally 5 minutes.
Want to start cooking your own healthy meals? Just aim for one meal per day or one meal per week. Whatever works for you and your schedule.
Want to stop drinking a 2 liter of Mountain Dew every day? Scale it back to 1.9 liters a day for a week. Then 1.8 for a week. Then 1.7…
Want to get out of debt and build the habit of frugality? Start by saving an extra five bucks a day, or finding a way to earn an extra 5 bucks a day.
Want to learn a new language? Speak your new language out loud for 10 minutes per day. That’s it!
Keep your goals SMALL and simple. The smaller and simpler they are, the more likely you are to keep them. And the habit itself pales in comparison to the momentum you build from actually creating a new habit.
I don’t care how many calories you burn in a 5-minute walk, just that you can prove to the new YOU that you can build the habit of walking, and only then can you up the difficulty.
We’re thinking in terms of years and decades here! So think small.
My real-life example: I wanted to build the habit of learning the violin at age 31, but couldn’t get myself to do it because I told myself I was too busy, which is a lie (“I only have 25 minutes; I need 30 minutes to practice…might as well not practice at all”), and thus I never played!
Once I lowered the threshold to “I have to only play for 5 minutes per day,” it gave me permission to pick it up here and there – and I ended up practicing WAY more frequently, and got better much faster.
I still suck, mind you, but I’m lightyears ahead of where I was before!
And please: DON’T BUILD ALL THE HABITS AT THE SAME TIME.
If you’re new to building habits, or you have never stuck with anything long enough to make it automatic, it’s because you did too much. Habits are compound interest.
As you build a new habit, it bleeds over to other parts of your life and makes future habits easier to build too – momentum!
“Willpower is like a muscle. It can be exercised and practiced and built up. It can also be forgotten, weakened and atrophied.
Just like going to the gym and building up strength and endurance, you can build up your discipline and willpower over a long period of time by setting and accomplishing a series of tasks on a consistent basis.”
You’ve probably tried the whole “build all the habits at once” and it doesn’t work. So try building ONE habit for 30 days. And then pick a habit that stacks on top of that one and helps you build more and more progress and more and more momentum.
Start today: Pick Your Habit and Go
I’ll leave you with a final quote from Duhigg’s The Power of Habit:
“If you believe you can change – if you make it a habit – the change becomes real. This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you chose them to be. Once that choice occurs – and becomes automatic – it’s not only real, it starts to seem inevitable, the thing…that bears us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be.”
You’ll need more brainpower initially, until your default behavior becomes the automatic habit-building you’re chasing.
With each day of you building your new habit, you’re overcoming any self-limiting belief, building momentum, and becoming a habit-building badass! And then those habits become automatic. Then, we rejoice:
So today, I want you to look at just ONE habit you want to change:
Identify the cue that spurs it on – Is it the time of day? Boredom? Hunger? After work? Stress?
Identify the potential rewards – Happiness? Energy? Satisfaction?
Identify a new routine you’d like to establish that results in the same “reward” from the negative behavior…but in a more productive and healthy way.
Want more help?
I write the best newsletter in the galaxy – it’s two short emails a week, directly from my brain to your inbox, and I promise to make you laugh and live a bit better!
Want expert guidance on your healthy habit building in 2024? Sign up for a free call with our coaching team in the box below to learn more about the program and see if it’s the right fit:
I want you to leave a comment below: pick ONE habit that you’re going to build this month and identify the three portions of the habit you’re looking to build.
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Out of all the cardio machines on the market, exercise bikes offer the best calorie burn in the smallest space possible. Certain bikes can work your entire body, some are low-impact, and others add a major dose of FUN to your training.
Despite packing an efficient punch, the best exercise bikes cost similar to rowing machines — as little as $300 to well over $2,500. Imagine the horror of spending thousands of dollars just to find out you don’t love your shiny new cardio equipment?!
Lucky for you, I’ve done the research for you and gathered a list of the 13 best exercise bikes, so you can pick the right one for you.
How We Chose the Best Exercise Bikes
The Breaking Muscle team comprises a passionate squad of fitness aficionados, including conditioning coaches, spin instructors, competitive triathletes, and home gym owners. Altogether, our team has tested and reviewed 50+ exercise bikes — from the cheapest to the most expensive — putting them through rigorous a 13-point protocol.
From there, we chose the best exercise bikes by category rating each from 1 to 5 based on criteria like:
Adjustability: Are the handlebars and the seat adjustable to fit various body sizes?
Customization: Can you swap in your own pedals, saddle, and handlebars for a more custom riding experience?
Tech capabilities: What interactive tech is available, if any? Is there Bluetooth or ANT+ connectivity available?
We have lots to cover… so gear up and let’s dive in!
Our Top Picks for the Best Exercise Bikes
Best Exercise Bike Overall: NordicTrack S22i Studio Bike
Pros
Excellent classes and courses with iFIT
Smooth resistance with impressive incline/decline
Multiple convenient accessories
One-year iFIT membership included
Bluetooth connectivity
Cons
Slightly cumbersome to move
Limited workouts without iFIT subscription
Higher-priced exercise bike
The NordicTrack S22i is hands-down the best exercise bike overall. We had three product testers take this bike for a ride to tell us why it won our top pick.
Working out on the NordicTrack S22i Studio Bike
This NordicTrack bike’s programming, screen, and connectivity are excellent. Our product testers love the complimentary one-year iFIT membership because you can do live coach-led workouts, on-demand studio classes, and outdoor courses.
Plus, the 22-inch touchscreen is high-definition, so it looks like you’re riding through a trail in Hawaii or taking a spin class in person. It also swivels, so you can do other iFIT workouts off the bike without needing to see the screen from the rest of your home gym.
With 24 smooth-adjusting, magnetic resistance levels, our Breaking Muscle staff members found the riding experience on the S22i impressive.
They were pleasantly surprised that this bike inclines up to 20 percent grade and declines down to -10 percent, which is rare for a spin bike — the angle can even be auto-adjusted during your workouts by your iFIT coaches. The resistance and incline levels adjust digitally, which feels higher-end than push buttons.
NordicTrack included a series of convenient accessories on the S22i. For starters, our product testers like the dual water bottle holders and the built-in fan to keep you hydrated and comfortable during your rides. Plus, the media shelf helps hold your smartphone, and there’s even an easy-access storage tray for the two (complimentary) three-pound dumbbells.
When it comes to mobility, the S22i is more cumbersome than you’d expect. Our product testers found the front wheels helped it move, but there’s no handle at the back, so you have to awkwardly lift it from the rear stabilizer beam for the wheels to kick in. They also noticed you need to be careful with the big screen knocking into things as you reposition it. Combined with its 205-pound in-box weight, a second person can be helpful when moving the bike.
Unfortunately, the S22i’s programming is limited if you don’t have an iFIT membership. Without it, you essentially just have the machine in manual mode. There are a few free bike workouts in iFIT that you can access without the recurring subscription, but even the live chat agent couldn’t confirm this and suggested we call their Customer Service team.
With the impressive build quality and tech of this NordicTrack Studio Bike, it’s no surprise that it commands a higher price. At the time of publishing, it retails at $1,999 — making it comparable to the Peloton Bike+. Remember, you’ll also need an ongoing iFIT subscription to use the bike to its full potential. That said, I think it’s well worth the cost, considering the bike’s features and the value of the iFIT membership.
All the above considered, we rank this 4.5 out of 5 stars for its excellent classes and courses with iFIT, smooth resistance with incline/decline capability, and convenient accessories.
Best Air Bike: Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X
Pros
Rugged, beefy design
Excellent console capability
Impressive frame and parts warranty
Extreme calorie burn
Cons
Repairs can be challenging
Large and cumbersome to move
Fan-based style is loud
The Pro X is a beast of an air bike. Our product tester loved its belt drive because it’s smoother than their more affordable Assault Bike Classic and the previous model (the Assault Bike Pro), both of which have chain drives.
Working out on the Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X
At first use, its 125-pound weight stood out, as it’s incredibly sturdy even when pedaling and pushing as hard as possible. Almost everything on this unit is metal; a full-metal construction means it’s seriously rugged and should last years, even when used by heavier and stronger athletes.
Assault Fitness uses the same “Elite” monitor on all their air bikes, and after testing 10+ air bikes, it’s become our product tester’s favorite. The physical buttons are easy to touch and colored, which is an underrated feature you’ll appreciate if you’ve done a HIIT workout on an air bike. The console’s high-contrast LCD screen also displays all the essential metrics: heart rate, calories, distance, RPM, and more. The included programming intervals and Bluetooth connectivity are a great benefit as well.
Highlighting the stats displayed on the AssaultBike Pro X’s monitor
Having reviewed dozens of cardio equipment pieces over the past three years, I’m personally impressed by Assault’s warranty on their Pro X. The frame is covered by a seven-year warranty, with a three-year warranty on moving parts.
Many companies try to pass the majority of frustrating part repairs on to their customers by only covering “non-wear and tear” parts. However, Assault breaks the mold by explicitly covering “moving” parts for the first three years. Knowing you can put the Pro X through brutal workouts day after day while being covered on parts delivers serious peace of mind.
One of our Breaking Muscle staff members has extensive experience repairing air bikes and says swapping a belt or changing internal components can be a nightmare. Bike repairs often need special parts and are best done by a certified technician, so expect any significant repairs to take multiple hours, with most of your help coming from how-to/troubleshooting videos. To be fair, this applies to air bikes bought from any company — not just Assault Fitness.
Because the Pro X is large, it can be cumbersome to move. One of our product testers found the easiest way to transport it is to lift it from the rear stabilizer until the wheels contact the floor. Still, the 125-pound weight with its 52-inch x 24.5-inch footprint makes this air bike challenging to move compared to the Concept2 BikeErg, and it might be too much for some users.
In general, fan bikes might not be the best choice for home gyms that have to be careful of noise levels. As a fan-based bike, the Assault Bike Pro X is loud.
That said, the fan-blade system of the Pro X appears to be a regular bike hub with fan blades welded to it — making it much smaller than what you’d find on the Rogue Echo bike. This smaller size means less air displacement, and some Breaking Muscle team members were surprised by how quiet it was in comparison.
All the above considered, we rank this 4.4 out of 5 stars for its rugged design, excellent console capabilities, and impressive warranty.
Best Exercise Bike With Classes: Echelon EX-8s
Pros
Amazing 24-inch HD touchscreen
Huge class selection with Echelor Premier
More affordable Fit Pass is also available
Designed and engineered in the USA
Sleek bike design
Cons
Subscription quality is lacking
High price for bike specs
The one-year warranty is disappointing
One of our product testers took the Echelon Connect bike for a ride and was immediately impressed.
It features an oversized 24-inch curved touchscreen, which feels enormous but immersive when working out. Combine that with the high-definition quality and LED lights that sync to your workout metrics, and it feels like you’re cycling in a live studio class — which is super motivating. The dual-facing speakers offer great sound, and the screen flips 180 degrees, so you can easily view it for Echelon Premier workouts.
By joining their Echelon Premier Membership at $39.99 monthly, you unlock daily live classes and over 15,000 various, on-demand classes. Premier members receive exclusive discounts, a more comprehensive range of class difficulties, and up to five user profiles. With this membership, you can also view a leaderboard and compete against others, see when your friends are online, and check other users’ stats worldwide. Finally, the Echelon app syncs your console with your Strava, Zwift, Apple Health, FitBit, and Spotify profiles and data.
Alternatively, Echelon offers a more affordable “Fit Pass” at $11.99 monthly. This plan is best if you want to work out anywhere, anytime, without needing any equipment. Fit Pass includes 60+ instructors, 40+ daily live classes, challenges, and more. I like their range of workouts; they have everything from cardio and core training to meditation and barre. They even have a travel-the-world-fitness class option, which reminds our product tester of JRNY and iFIT.
Despite the massive class selection, our product tester finds the quality could be better for the monthly price, even if you sign up for a two-year plan ($29.16 monthly). She notes that the price seems high for what it is because it isn’t as produced as Peloton’s live and on-demand classes, but it isn’t bad — the production quality just isn’t quite there yet.
The EX-8S retails for $3,079.50, but it’s on sale for $1,699.99 at the time of publishing. The sale price is way more reasonable, but the original cost seems expensive for the actual specs of the bike. Considering the Peloton Bike+ is more affordable and offers a better warranty, I wouldn’t be surprised if more customers jump ship.
Echelon’s warranty on the Connect EX-8S is flat-out disappointing at just one year. Their 30-day return policy and financing option are typical, but our product tester couldn’t believe the warranty is only one year, especially for such a steep retail price. If you’re an active Echelon Premier member, you can enjoy the benefit of full warranty coverage for up to five years. However, this requires an ongoing monthly membership for 60 months, costing you a whopping $1,700 over those five years in subscription fees.
All the above considered, we rank this 3.8 out of 5 stars for the outstanding 24” HD touchscreen, along with the workout subscription options offered through Echelon Premier and the more affordable Fit Pass.
Best Exercise Bike for Seniors: Horizon 5.0R Recumbent Bike
Pros
Mobility-friendly access
Sturdy and stable design
Simple and intuitive controls
Lighter flywheel is easy on joints
Smooth magnetic resistance
Cons
The bike requires some assembly
123-pound weight might be too hard to move
Touchscreen console requires basic tech skills
The Horizon 5.0R is excellent for seniors due to its mobility-friendly design. For example, the low, step-through frame helps you access the seated position even if you struggle with mobility or leg strength. Once you’re ready to sit down into the seat, there are front handlebars that you can hold for support as you sit down — they also make it easier to stand up after your workout.
I’m impressed by the sturdiness of the 5.0R, which is a blessing because most seniors have trouble with their balance.
The large 66-inch by 25.2-inch footprint and lower seat position result in a more stable machine. The flywheel, however, weighs just 15.4 pounds, which makes it easy to pedal at first and is gentler on your joints. That said, 100 magnetic resistance levels are available, so you can still get a smooth but seriously intense workout.
I’m also glad to see toe clips on the pedals; they help keep your feet from slipping out, which is more likely on a recumbent bike due to the reclined angle of your feet. The extra-large, adjustable seat includes a backrest and handlebars along the sides. Even though you have a near-zero chance of slipping out of the seat during your workout, holding the handlebars for extra support and peace of mind is nice.
Finally, I’m pleased with this exercise bike’s simple controls and convenient features. For one, the screen and control buttons are easy to see and reach while seated. Further, a built-in fan and an included water bottle holder keep you comfortable and hydrated during your rides. All of these features add a nice touch for older populations.
Unfortunately, the bike does require some assembly. There’s a helpful assembly video, but according to Horizon, lifting the main frame out of the box requires two people. Because of the box size, weight, and assembly, this might be too much work, depending on your strength and mobility.
Horizon does have an in-room delivery option for an extra $199 if you’re experienced with basic tools and would prefer to assemble it yourself but want the large box brought in by another person. Alternatively, they offer white glove delivery and assembly for $239, including room-of-choice delivery, complete setup and assembly, and packaging removal.
At 123 pounds, this exercise bike might be too heavy for a senior to move. There is a carrying handle at the bottom rear of the machine, and once you lift it from the handle, you can wheel it to another location. Indeed, you’re not lifting the entire bike — some of the bike’s weight will be resting on the wheels — but combined with its large footprint, you might find it unmoveable without some help.
Finally, the touchscreen console requires basic tech skills. You’ll be okay with the console if you can operate a smartphone or tablet. That said, some seniors rely only on analog (push) buttons and might find the touchscreen and controls too confusing to use if they’re not tech-savvy.
All the above considered, we rank this 4 out of 5 stars for its mobility-friendly access, sturdy and stable design, and simple yet intuitive controls.
Best Spin Exercise Bike: Diamondback 1260sc
Pros
Spin-studio-quality bike
Lots of adjustments to fit many riders
The console connects to many apps
Many convenient add-on features
Cons
Awkwardly placed water bottle holder
Adjusting levers is difficult
No programming included
The Diamondback Fitness 1260sc is a fantastic spin-studio-quality bike. The rear-mounted 31-pound flywheel gives it extra smoothness, similar to riding a bike outside. Even better, Diamondback Fitness uses a belt to drive the flywheel — making it significantly smoother and quieter than a chain-driven system. Although our product tester didn’t think she’d like the magnetic resistance lever, she grew to love its premium-like clicking sound. All these finer touches make the 1260 comparable to an exercise bike from a commercial gym studio.
Riding the Diamondback 1260Sc bike at our testing facility
To add to the studio feel, the 1260 is highly adjustable. The handlebars are two-way adjustable (up, down, forward, and back) and have plenty of grips, so you can find a comfortable hand position whether riding in or out of the saddle. The two-sided pedals have toe clips for maximum safety and cycling efficiency, while the other is a classic flat pedal. Thanks to the two-way adjusting seat and the variety of available heights, our five-foot, four-inch tall product tester fit perfectly with a couple of inches to spare.
This Diamondback Fitness bike connects to many ANT+ apps and wearables so that you can pair it with Garmin and Wahoo products. Our product tester enjoys the vast range of apps connecting via Bluetooth FTMS (Fitness Machine Service protocol). This latest tech lets you connect your fitness equipment to popular apps like Zwift, Rouvy, Myzone, SPIVI, and others — tracking your watts, time, distance, rpm, heart rate, and more.
Our product tester doesn’t love where they put the water bottle holder and vertical adjustment levers on this bike. Since the water bottle holder is mounted in front of the post, she has to awkwardly lean forward and reach around the front post to grab water while riding. The adjustment levers also don’t open easily, so they require a lot of force to pry them open. Once opened, adjustments are no problem — but the initial sticking point of the levers is no joke.
The console on the 1260 is as simple as you can get, and it lacks any interactive features you’d see on a Peloton+. The console doesn’t provide any programming, so you must do your workouts manually, pair the console with an app, find free online classes, or join a subscription service like iFIT.
The monitor on the Diamondback 1260Sc is pretty basic.
All the above considered, we rank this 3.9 out of 5 stars for its spin-studio quality, impressive adjustability, and wide range of console connectivity.
The BikeErg is extremely easy to move, making it the best portable exercise bike due mainly to its materials and construction. Built mostly from aluminum, it’s lightweight and compact (48 inches long by 24 inches wide), which minimizes excess weight while retaining durability. It also weighs only 68 pounds when fully assembled, making it lighter than most exercise bikes and a little over half the weight of the Horizon 5.0R Recumbent Bike.
The C2 BikeErg includes caster wheels that make moving it a breeze. Once the machine tips up for the wheels to kick in, you can roll it smoothly to wherever you want it to go. You can fit it into most vehicles by removing the seat and handlebar posts, making it easier to haul to another CrossFit box or gym.
Its high portability is heightened further by its adjustability, customizability, and versatility. The handlebars can be adjusted up, down, forward, and back. Similarly, you can raise or lower the seat and tilt it to +/-15-degrees. I’m impressed the BikeErg is compatible with most cycling parts — letting you change the saddle, handlebars, and pedals as you see fit.
One of our Breaking Muscle staff members has used the Concept2 BikeErg extensively and is continually impressed by its versatility. They enjoy it for long endurance rides and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Unlike an air bike like the AssaultBike Pro X, the Concept2 is a jack-of-all-trades.
There are a few downsides to the Concept2 BikeErg. First, it’s rather noisy. Like the other Concept2 cardio machines, the BikeErg is also fan-based, so a loud whooshing sound is made when you pedal. Compared to a quiet electromagnetic bike like the BLANK, I could see some users being annoyed by the noise from the fan. The higher damper settings restrict airflow, reducing the loudness, but you might still need headphones or earplugs if it bothers you.
If you enjoy using interactive consoles, you might be slightly disappointed by Concept2’s Performance Monitor (PM5). It lacks the engaging and interactive aspects of the NordicTrack S22i’s iFIT membership console. The screen is small and lacks speakers. Plus, it doesn’t offer live or on-demand workout classes — you must pay for a separate subscription service.
Finally, the BikeErg isn’t cheap by any means. It’s a quality spin bike (technically fan-based, but it doesn’t count as an air bike due to the lack of moveable handlebars), so you can expect it to cost a pretty penny. You’ll save some money going with a more economical brand, but whether you’re willing to sacrifice on performance and the power of the PM5 is up to you.
All the above considered, we rank this 3.9 out of 5 stars for its easy portability, highly adjustable components, impressive customizability, and versatility.
When you lead a busy life, keeping a regular exercise habit is easier said than done if it takes 30 minutes to an hour — enter the CAROL.
Quick note: our product testers trialed the original CAROL bike, but this review is based on the 2.0 version of the CAROL. We’ll note any updated features of the 2.0 version below.
A Breaking Muscle team member working out on the CAROL Bike
This bike is the best for weight loss because it gives you an effective workout in just five minutes, so you can easily fit it into your busy schedule. There’s no excuse with the CAROL because your workout takes just five minutes. This means you can do it any time during your day, making it much more likely that you’ll stick with your new exercise habit.
The CAROL is also ideal for weight loss because the workouts use an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to calculate your optimal resistance. Simply choose one of 18 different workouts and fitness tests; the upgraded console 2.0 will walk you through it without any confusion, making it suitable for any age and fitness level. You even get access for up to eight riders with the home membership, so you can help others in their quest to live healthier, too.
Selecting a workout on the CAROL Bike’s monitor
This bike also supports weight loss through data-driven results. The first model of the CAROL had heart rate monitors built into the handlebars, whereas the 2.0 model includes a chest-strap heart rate monitor to track your training. Each workout refines what it’s learned to tailor workouts to your fitness level, then shows your progress using precise data like your overall fitness score, heart rate metrics, peak power, energy output, and global and local leaderboard stats. Seeing your fitness improve with nearly every workout will entice you to return.
Unfortunately, you’re locked into paying for the ongoing $15 monthly membership if you want a fully functioning bike. Without the membership, you can still do a manual ride, but the resistance will stay at the starting resistance and never change — making it practically useless for a real workout. For this reason, changing the intensity and using the bike to its maximum potential requires a recurring membership.
Next, the CAROL is relatively expensive. Based on the bike specs alone, it doesn’t live up to the price because it costs more than the Peloton Bike+ and doesn’t include live or on-demand classes like iFIT. Further, it’s roughly ten times the price of our most affordable exercise bike, the Yosuda Indoor Cycling Bike. Remember, though, this bike isn’t made for interactive fitness classes or enjoyable rides — it’s for people who want the best results from the shortest workout possible.
Sadly, the warranty falls short based on its $2,500 price tag. Like the Echelon EX-8s, it only has a one-year warranty, leaving much to be desired. Our product tester doesn’t think you’ll have any issues with the bike breaking down. and there’s a 100-day home trial if you change your mind. Still, she wishes the warranty was much longer, and I couldn’t agree more.
All the above considered, we rank this 4.1 out of 5 stars for its AI-controlled motorized resistance, detailed and data-driven console, and beautifully sleek design.
The Bowflex VeloCore has a sleek and modern look, and our product tester was impressed with its high-quality build, finding it fun and easy to use. She appreciates the smooth-feeling 33-pound flywheel with 100 levels of magnetic resistance for quiet but intense workouts. This bike’s belt drive requires minimal maintenance and delivers a consistent performance. It has an adjustable seat, two-way adjusting handlebars, and dual-sided pedals that accommodate regular or SPD shoes — essential features for optimal comfort, especially if you’re a triathlete.
The bike comes with a choice of two screen sizes, 16-inch or 22-inch, and each is an HD, responsive touchscreen that connects to the JRNY app for live and on-demand workouts. Based on your level, an initial fitness assessment determines what classes JRNY recommends for you to try. There are also options to “explore the world” by biking around different destinations. The JRNY subscription even lets you stream entertainment like Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, and Disney+.
The bike’s most distinctive feature is the ability to lean from side to side, creating a more dynamic and engaging riding experience. The leaning feature claims to activate muscles, burn more calories, and improve balance and coordination. The bike also has a stabilizer bar that can lock the bike in place for a more traditional ride. The leaning feature works with the JRNY app, which offers scenic rides and interactive games that challenge you to lean and steer along the route.
One downside to the VeloCore is the price, ranging from $1,799 to $2,199 based on the screen size chosen. Going off the price alone, the Diamondback 1260sc is a better choice if you’re not interested in being able to lean as part of your workouts.
The bike also requires a monthly subscription to the JRNY app, which costs $11.99 monthly or $99 per year. However, the bike’s functionality is severely limited without the subscription because you can only use the manual mode, and you can’t stream anything.
The bike’s leaning feature is the main selling point of the bike, but it may not be as beneficial or enjoyable as it sounds. It claims to activate more muscles, burn more calories, and improve balance and coordination, yet no scientific evidence on the product page supports these claims. Plus, more moving parts and sensors than a regular bike make it more prone to wear and tear. It might not be worth the extra cost and hassle for users who prefer a more stable and less gimmicky ride.
All the above considered, we rank this 4.2 out of 5 stars for its excellent spin bike design, highly adjustable components, and innovative bike-leaning feature.
Best Affordable Exercise Bike: Yosuda Indoor Cycling Bike
Pros
Affordable and highly-praised
Excellent value for the money
Highly adjustable like other spin bikes
Convenient features included
Amazon’s 90-day return policy
One-year warranty on parts
Cons
Limited console capability
Accessory parts are flimsy
Durability concerns
The YOSUDA Indoor Cycling Bike is a highly affordable exercise bike, on sale for $249.99 at the time of writing. Compared to many other bikes in this article, it’s the most budget-friendly option. Despite its economical price, I’m pleasantly surprised by its great reviews on Amazon: 4.⅘ stars based on feedback from 21,788 customers.
Our product reviewer is impressed with several features of this bike typically found on spin-studio-quality bikes. First, the flywheel is 35 pounds for a smooth riding experience that rivals cycling outdoors, and the steel frame feels heavy-duty for peace of mind while riding. The belt-driven system also minimizes noise and, combined with the mechanical (friction) resistance, is quiet enough to operate without disturbing sleeping kids or neighbors.
Like the NordicTrack S22i Studio Bike, the Yosuda also offers two-way adjustable handlebars and a four-way adjustable seat to ensure it fits as many cyclists of different sizes as possible. The built-in transportation wheels make moving it around easier, and the bike includes a device and water bottle holder.
However, the YOSUDA bike has some drawbacks that may make you think twice before buying it. The bike’s console has no programming, so you’re on your own for making or sourcing structured workouts. It also lacks Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity, so you can’t sync it with cycling apps like Zwift or fitness devices like a heart rate monitor. Further, our Breaking Muscle team member’s LCD monitor was wobbly and seemed like it was about to fall off. It appears that Yosuda invested in some quality parts but cut corners on the rest.
For example, during testing, our product reviewer’s Yosuda had some pieces breaking off, such as the pedal strap. The bike seat was comfortable only for the first few minutes and already started to experience small tears, and the water bottle holder felt flimsy. Many reviews claim it’s a common experience for many parts to wear out or break off after a few months of use.
Finally, he provided some clear guidance on its durability. At around $300, it’s a great price but not a durable bike — it will likely need replacing in about two years. The Yosuda is fine if you’re looking for a quick short-term fix, but it’s not a forever bike.
Suppose you prefer to make your exercise bike investment once. In that case, you may want to save for a more expensive and reliable bike that offers a better value and riding experience, like the Diamondback 1260sc.
All the above considered, we rank this 3.8 out of 5 stars for its affordability, value, adjustability, and high praise on Amazon.
Best Recumbent Exercise Bike: Schwinn 290 Recumbent Bike
Pros
Compatible with JRNY® + ZWIFT apps
Bluetooth speakers and connectivity
Convenient accessories included
Cons
Pedals aren’t easy to adjust
The step-thru area is a tripping hazard
90-day labor warranty is lacking
I’m pleasantly surprised with the Schwinn 290’s console and connectivity. You can use the JRNY® app on the 7″ LCD screen to access 200+ virtual courses that automatically adjust your bike’s resistance to the course’s terrain.
Alternatively, there are trainer-led classes for a workout with a more human touch. There are many workout durations and class types, so you’ll most certainly find an intensity and trainer matching your preferences. Best of all, you get a two-month free trial to JRNY® when you buy the 290 Recumbent Bike.
If you’re a ZWIFT fan, the console is compatible with that platform, so you can virtually interact, train, and compete against others worldwide. The speakers and console even have Bluetooth capability to connect to your smartphone or tablet easily. If you prefer to play your own music playlist or sync your heart rate monitor, both are possible on the 290.
While almost twice as expensive as our choice for the best affordable exercise bike (Yosuda Indoor Cycling Bike), the Schwinn 290 packs impressive features to make this an excellent value exercise bike.
The console includes a media shelf and USB charging port to rest your smartphone or tablet on within view for a hands-free workout without worrying about battery life. It also features a water bottle holder attached to the side of the backrest for easy hydration access, whether you like water or the best electrolyte powders during your rides. Due to its 107.6-pound weight, the transport wheels are super convenient for moving, especially if you plan on storing it away between workouts.
Regarding downsides, I don’t like how the foot pedals adjust. You can tighten and loosen them quickly, but you must push the selector tab into your desired strap notch to lock a size in place. Securing the tab is shockingly tricky, even more so if you have big feet or struggle with mobility.
You’re better off getting a rough estimate of the notch you need, dismounting the bike, and adjusting them with both hands. Based on my experience with these, I feel like a classic cinching strap of the Concept2 BikeErg or a plain velcro strap would be more user-friendly.
Further, the step-through area is just too cramped for my liking. It’s so small that you must angle your foot to pass it through the step-through area. As a result, I could see this being a tripping hazard for anyone with mobility or weight challenges. I’m surprised to see this area redesigned because the Schwinn 270 Recumbent — the model that the 290 has replaced — featured a much larger area for you to step through. Because of this safety oversight, I’d recommend the Horizon 5.0R over this recumbent for seniors.
Sadly, you won’t get a great labor warranty with the 290. The parts are free if anything breaks on this exercise bike within the first two years. However, the labor warranty is only 90 days — ridiculously short. This means you’ll have to figure out how to replace the part(s) yourself or pay a technician out-of-pocket to repair your bike.
All the above considered, we rank this 3.5 out of 5 stars for its JRNY® + ZWIFT apps, Bluetooth speakers and connectivity, and convenient accessories.
Best Folding Exercise Bike: Marcy Foldable Upright Exercise Bike
Pros
Folds away to save space
Relatively portable, if required
Multiple surprising features
Two-year warranty
Cons
Console is basic
No programming or connectivity
This foldable upright bike collapses inward to a compact 21.5-inch depth, and the backrest folds down, so the height is only 47 inches. This means it can easily be tucked away in a closet when not in use. Although it didn’t make our top choice list, a Marcy upright bike can fold. While snagging the best upright exercise bike overall spot is unlikely, the folding feature is underrated if you work out in a small space.
Marcy’s folding bike is relatively portable. It features transport wheels, making it easy to move from one corner to another without lifting and carrying the entire bike. Depending on your strength, you could carry it up or down a flight of stairs if needed because it only weighs 37 pounds — making it one of the lightest exercise bikes featured in this article.
The features of this folding exercise bike surprised me. It boasts a 250-pound weight capacity, which is great for its lightweight frame. When folded out, the 14-gauge steel feels sturdy, so I’m confident it’ll hold up to its listed weight limit. The pedals have foot straps like the Horizon 5.0R Recumbent Bike, and they’re also weighted, which makes getting your feet inserted much easier. The two-year warranty was higher than expected for a budget-friendly folding bike like this.
One downside is that the Marcy foldable bike’s console is pretty barebones, displaying only the distance, time, speed, odometer, and burned calories. It has no built-in programming, meaning you’re stuck with the manual mode and might need a subscription to vary your workout. Unsurprisingly, the console also lacks Bluetooth or ANT+ connectivity, so no apps or fitness devices will pair or sync with it. If tracking your workout data is crucial, find an alternative method or bike.
All the above considered, we rank this 3.5 out of 5 stars for its folding feature to save space, portability, and multiple surprising features like sturdiness, pedals, and warranty.
The Cubii Move has six adjustable resistance levels using the knob in the center of the machine, so you can customize your workout intensity and challenge yourself as you progress.
The LCD screen displays the metric you’ve selected, and this under-desk exercise bike can track a surprising number of metrics, from stride count and mileage to duration and calories burned. The reset button is large enough to press it with your toe without bending down and using your finger.
This under-desk machine is free and compatible with the Cubii app, which lets you manually add your data, join challenges, and access 300+ expert-guided workout classes. Through it, you can connect with other Cubii users and share your achievements and goals.
The Cubii is lightweight and portable, weighing only 18 pounds. Thanks to its glass-filled nylon construction, you can quickly move it from room to room. This means it’s not difficult to bring it home from your office, so you can continue to use it while watching TV after your workday — storing it under your bed or in a closet when not in use.
This under-desk elliptical isn’t suitable if you’re looking for a high-intensity or full-body workout. It only targets your lower body muscles: quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. However, the range of motion is significantly smaller compared to a recumbent exercise bike. It also doesn’t provide much cardiovascular or calorie-burning benefits compared to other exercise machines.
The Cubii may not work well on thick carpets as the rubber feet might sink, causing the unit to wobble and shift out of place. Also, it might not fit under some desks or chairs, depending on the height and clearance. You may need to adjust your chair or desk height to avoid hitting your knees on the underside of your desk. Lastly, you may also need to wear comfortable shoes or socks to prevent blisters or discomfort on your feet.
All the above considered, we rank this 3.5 out of 5 stars for its low impact, good metrics, free app, and portable build.
The screen on the Peloton Bike+ is amazing. It is a 23.8-inch HD (1080p) touchscreen that rotates 360 degrees, so you can easily switch between your cycling workouts and exercising off the bike. The screen also has a high-fidelity sound system, a front-facing camera, and a microphone so that you can interact with other riders and instructors with crystal-clear quality. The camera even has a privacy cover, which many camera-shy people can appreciate.
I like the screen’s responsiveness and how easy it is to navigate. It displays all the metrics you need to track your performance, like cadence, resistance, output, heart rate, and calories burned. It even features a reduced-reflective and anti-smudge coating, so your fingerprints won’t end up all over the touchscreen.
Peloton offers various live and on-demand classes to suit your preferences and goals. I love the availability of classes and the huge selection of music choices like pop, hip hop, rock, R&B, the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and Broadway. The classes range from five to 75 minutes, though from what I’ve seen, most classes fall in the 20- to 30-minute range. Sometimes, if I’m in the mood for a longer workout but can’t find a 45-minute class that interests me, I’ll “stack” two shorter classes together.
I particularly enjoy the Power Zone classes, where different parts focus on staying within a certain heart rate zone, and the climb or HIIT rides, where the intensity is slightly higher than regular classes. There are also many beginner classes, and even though I consider myself more advanced in fitness, I enjoy the beginner classes occasionally for active recovery.
Unfortunately, the bike is expensive. The Peloton Bike+ costs $2,495, a lot of money for an exercise bike.
You also have to pay for the accessories, such as the shoes, the mat, the weights, and the heart rate monitor, which can add up to another few hundred dollars. The bike also requires a monthly subscription of $39 to access the classes and features, another recurring cost you must factor in. If you are on a tight budget, the Peloton Bike+ might not be your best option.
The Peloton Bike+ only works with the Peloton app and the Apple Watch, which means you cannot use it with other fitness apps or devices you might already have or prefer.
For example, you can’t use the bike with Zwift, Strava, Garmin, Fitbit, or any other third-party app or device. You also can’t export your workout data to other platforms unless you use a workaround involving screenshots or third-party apps. This can be frustrating if you want to integrate your Peloton workouts with your other fitness activities or track your progress on other platforms.
It’s also important to realize that you won’t jive with every instructor. As you ride the bike more and familiarize yourself with their personalities and styles, you learn who you connect best with.
For example, I’m not a big fan of over-the-top cheerleading or motivational talk when exercising, so I avoid the instructors who tend to lean that way during their classes. Several instructors were once competitive cyclists or Ironman/triathlon athletes. They provide a lot of insight into the mindset of an athlete, which I like a lot better, so I take their classes more often. The key is to test out many instructors and stick with who you enjoy most.
All the above considered, we rank this 4.25 out of 5 stars for its outstanding quality console, high-tech screen, and massive range of classes and music.
What Are the Benefits of Exercise Bikes?
Low-Impact Training
Unlike running or jumping, cycling places less stress on your joints, bones, and muscles. This reduces injury risk and makes exercise bike training suitable for all ages and fitness levels, especially seniors and those struggling with excessive weight.
Improved Cardiovascular Conditioning
Cycling increases your heart rate and blood circulation, strengthening your heart, lungs, and blood vessels over time. This allows them to handle higher cardio demands than they could have previously tolerated. Additionally, improved cardiovascular conditioning can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Can Support Weight Loss Goals
Depending on the intensity and duration of your workout, you can burn anywhere from a couple hundred to nearly a thousand calories per hour on an exercise bike. This can help you create a calorie deficit essential for losing weight.
Reduced Stress
Using an exercise bike can help you reduce stress and anxiety, as it releases endorphins and serotonin, which are natural chemicals that make you feel happier and more relaxed.
Lower Body Strengthening
Exercise bikes work out your lower body muscles, such as your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves. This can improve your muscle strength and endurance, as well as your balance and coordination. Stronger lower body muscles can also prevent or alleviate lower back pain, knee pain, and other common ailments.
What to Consider When Buying an Exercise Bike
Exercise Bike Type
There are four exercise bike types: upright, recumbent, spin, and air.
Upright: An upright bike allows you to sit upright with the pedals directly below you. The handles are elevated and are closer to you than on a spin bike, and the seat is usually wider and more comfortable. This conventional riding position is great if you like longer rides that focus on your legs, but it’s less effective for high-intensity training than an air bike.
Recumbent: This style of bike has a seat with a back pad to support your middle and lower back, placing you in a reclined riding position. Unlike other styles, the pedals are at the front on a recumbent bike. The recumbent style distributes your weight evenly between the seat and the back pad, making it excellent for longer rides. Since you can relax your upper body more than an upright bike, it’s great for riders with back and joint issues. This style is also lower to the ground, so getting on and off the bike is easier — a major selling point if you struggle with mobility.
Spin: A spin bike, also known as an indoor cycling bike, is the closest style to outdoor cycling. The narrower seat and lower bring your upper body forward, giving your upper body a workout instead of just your legs. This style is less comfortable than an upright and recumbent bike but offers better performance, which is vital for those wanting to train at higher intensities.
Air bike: This fan-based bike style is sometimes called “dual-action.” Air bikes feature moving handlebars that you can operate separately or simultaneously with the pedals and provide resistance by the fan blades displacing air. The seat tends to be broader, and the pedals are below it, like on an upright bike. An air bike isn’t the best for long rides because it’s harder to maintain consistent resistance, but this style is unmatched for high intensity.
The Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X is an example of an air bike.
Cost
Exercise bikes can range from hundreds to a few thousand dollars. Generally, the higher-priced bikes include more features like high-tech consoles, more resistance levels, and better build quality. If you go too cheap, you can miss out on key features that prevent an enjoyable and safe cycling experience.
Dimensions
You want to ensure the bike fits comfortably in your room and doesn’t obstruct your movement or other furniture. You also want to check the weight and portability of the bike in case you need to move it around or store it away.
Remember, you’ll likely need one to two feet of open space on either side of your bike to get on and off and not feel cramped while riding.
Transport wheels, like the ones on the Diamondback 1260Sc, make an exercise bike easier to move around your gym.
Build Quality
The overall build quality of an exercise bike should be top of mind when shopping. Look for a steel frame over aluminum — it’ll be more robust and sturdier. High-quality exercise bikes often feature a higher weight capacity, so you can usually use the bike’s total capacity as a proxy for its build quality.
Noise
If you’ll be using your exercise bike at home, you’ll want to be mindful of how noisy the bike will be, especially if you’ll be working out when kids or neighbors might be sleeping. Noise level depends mainly on the resistance type of the bike.
Air bikes are by far the loudest because they’re fan-based, followed by mechanical-tension bikes since they apply resistance using friction pads. The quietest exercise bikes will be those that use electromagnetic resistance due to magnets applying tension to the flywheel.
You’ll also want to consider whether you’ll be watching live exercise classes or follow-along workouts on your console. These will project sound with speakers, but you can usually use headphones or earbuds to minimize the noise from any tech you use.
Seat and Handlebar Adjustability
The adjustability of your seat and handlebars is paramount to avoid injury, even more so if you’re taller or shorter than average.
Typically, you’ll want a bike that lets you adjust the seat in four ways: up, down, forward, and back. Seats with upward and downward angling are also beneficial for a more customized fit. Look for two-point adjustability at a minimum for the handlebars, which means they can be adjustable forward and back.
Adjusting the seat height on the NordicTrack Studio S22i
Console
Like all of the best cardio machines, exercise bikes vary widely in design, so it’s no surprise that consoles can be ultra-basic, high-tech, or even lacking altogether. Although rare, some exercise bikes don’t have a console.
The key is that not every console will show your revolutions per minute (rpm), distance traveled, heart rate, or calories burned — all of which aren’t mandatory for a workout but can be highly motivating for your long-term adherence and progress. Just remember that more detailed displays tend to come with a higher price.
Pedals
Typically, you’ll find three main types of pedals on exercise bikes: flat, cage, and clip-in.
Flat: This is your classic type of pedal, also known as the “platform” pedal in the cycling world. Flat pedals are precisely as they sound — flat. You just put your feet against them and pedal, making them incredibly easy to use. Unfortunately, they’re harder to control on the ascent of each revolution when you’re pedaling fast, and if your feet slip, you can bang your ankles or scrape your shins against the pedals.
Cage: This type of pedal is a flat pedal with toe clips attached to the front, which are flexible “cages” that slide over the toe box of your shoes. Toe clips hold your feet in place and make biking more efficient because you can apply force upwards without having your foot come off the pedal — allowing you to transfer that force back into the downward stroke. Since you can pull up on the pedal and push down, you can work your legs more to burn more calories.
Clip-in: Lastly, there are clip-in pedals. Exercise bikes built for serious cyclists will tend to feature clip-in pedals connecting to cyclists’ special shoes. Not to worry though, you can upgrade the pedals of most bikes to clip-in pedals if you like the bike itself, but they only have flat or cage pedals.
Available Programming
Exercise bikes with consoles can have all kinds of built-in workouts. The most popular are hill climbing, cardio, fat burning, and strength training.
Some bikes don’t include programming, like the Diamondback 1260sc. If you’re using your smartphone or tablet, a console lacking programming might be fine. If not, make sure the bike has Bluetooth connectivity at a minimum.
Bluetooth connectivity is the most popular connectivity method, allowing you to use apps like Peloton and Zwift. AMP+ is another type of connectivity, but it’s mostly limited to heart rate monitors, so I’d recommend using Bluetooth instead. It’s a bit more money upfront but opens up the available connections for apps, workouts, and more.
Available Conveniences
Exercise bikes can come with several convenient accessories to make your workouts more comfortable and enjoyable. Not all bikes include these, but you can often buy them separately to customize your exercise bike later.
Phone/tablet holder: If you have an exercise bike with a console lacking in streaming service and classes, then a media shelf is a convenient plus. A media shelf is just a hard plastic ridge that sticks out from the console to lay your device without it falling off. Without one, you’ll have to hold your device for the duration of your workout.
Water bottle holder: Having a water bottle holder is seriously underrated whether you’ll be doing shorter HIIT classes or longer endurance rides. The last thing you want is to interrupt your workout just because your water bottle isn’t within reach. One of our Breaking Muscle staff members runs into this problem every workout — they have an upright bike without a water bottle holder. While it’s possible to buy the holder separately, its absence from the stock version of the bike is an annoying omission by the manufacturer.
Built-in fans: Built-in fans are more common on the best treadmills than on exercise bikes, but some bikes, like the NordicTrack S22i Studio Bike, include them. If you sweat heavily, live in a hot or humid climate, or enjoy the added comfort of built-in airflow, it can be a convenient add-on for your bike. Remember, if your bike doesn’t include this feature, you can buy and mount a mini fan separately.
Weight rack: Some riders like combining bike rides with weight lifting using the best dumbbells. Similar to the water bottle holder, having a small weight rack to keep them within reach will save you from getting off your bike whenever you need to use them.
Wheels: If you’ll be moving your bike often, having wheels built into the bike is a nice feature. It means you don’t have to drag your bike and risk ruining your floor, making it easier to transport bikes over 100 pounds.
Heart rate handles: Most bikes are compatible with heart rate monitors, but it’s even more convenient to have handles with heart rate reading capability. Unfortunately, you’ll tend only to see these on upright or recumbent bikes in the premium price range.
Resistance Types
There are three types of resistance for exercise bikes: fan-based, electromagnetic, and mechanical.
Fan-based: An air bike is fan-based and creates resistance by the fan blades displacing air. This style offers a (theoretically) unlimited amount of resistance because the harder you pedal and push, the more air the blades will displace, causing greater resistance.
Electromagnetic: These bikes work with magnets on either side of the flywheel. As the magnets get closer to the flywheel, they apply more resistance. Because they use magnets, these bikes are smoother, quieter, have lower maintenance, and are easier to select during workouts but more expensive.
Mechanical: This style uses mechanical resistance in the form of friction pads made from wool or rubber. Most are designed so that you physically twist the resistance knob to add or remove the tension placed on the flywheel. Because of the friction, these bikes are noisier and often need more maintenance as pads wear out and become misaligned with heavy use — however, they are cheaper as a result.
Drive Type
When you turn the pedals on an exercise bike, the “drive” is connected to the flywheel; when that moves, you’ll feel resistance. There are two types of drives: chain and belt.
A chain-driven exercise bike will be more durable because the chain is metal, which makes maintenance cheaper in the long run. Unfortunately, it requires regular lubrication to ensure metal parts glide smoothly along each other. Also, chains are noisier than belts and feel rougher, so they’re often in fan-based and mechanical bikes.
Belt drives are quieter and smoother, so they’re usually in magnetic resistance bikes. The downside to a belt-drive bike is that the belt can loosen over time with heavy use and won’t last nearly as long as a chain — costing you more over time.
Resistance Levels
Exercise bikes have a vast range of resistance levels. Because there are also different types of resistance, there’s no universal standard or comparison method.
While knowing how many resistance levels there are on the exercise bike is helpful, the best way to see whether it offers the rate resistance range is to test it in person.
Once you have an exercise bike in mind, look for a local store where you can test it out in their showroom. Remember to bring your athletic attire and cycling shoes if you have them.
Warranties
There’s a massive range of warranties for exercise bikes, from as little as 30 days to as long as 15 years. I wouldn’t recommend settling with any less than a one-year warranty.
Based on the exercise bikes included in this article, ten years on the frame, three years on parts, and one year on labor is a solid warranty to look for if you value peace of mind from your purchase.
Weight Capacity
Weight capacity is an essential factor that affects the safety and durability of the bike because it reflects the craftsmanship and quality of the materials and parts used to build it. Choosing a bike with a higher weight capacity usually means getting a more robust frame and more durable parts like the pedals and flywheel.
Exercise bike weight capacities range from 200 pounds to over 400 pounds.
If you’re a heavier user, I’d recommend choosing a bike with a weight limit of at least 125 percent of your body weight. The closer you are to the bike’s weight capacity, the higher the risk of damaging it or injuring yourself. The bike can also become unstable, noisy, or shaky, reducing the quality of your workout.
Flywheel Weight
If you’re investing in the best exercise bike overall, flywheel weight should be one of the top things you consider. The flywheel is the heavy wheel at the front or back of the bike that spins when you pedal to create momentum. It’s linked to the pedals by a chain or a belt, similar to one in your car’s engine.
Flywheel weights can vary widely, from as little as six pounds to as much as 50 pounds. Most people will have a better biking experience with a heavier flywheel because it closely simulates riding a bike outside. I recommend looking for a flywheel between 14 and 20 kilograms (about 30 to 44 pounds). Typically, a heavier flywheel offers a smoother ride.
Suppose you’re working with a tight budget. In that case, I encourage you to sacrifice some bells and whistles like a sleek built-in tablet or a monthly class subscription because the flywheel weight is crucial for an enjoyable riding experience.
As a caveat, one Breaking Muscle staff member has used the Keiser M3i Bike extensively, with a flywheel weight of just eight pounds. It’s positioned at the bike’s rear to provide a different feel, but it can still offer an intense workout.
Final Thoughts
Exercise bikes have transformed home fitness, offering amazing exercise variety and adjustability in a small space.
The best exercise bikes combine interactive tech and powerful metric tracking without going overboard on the price.
At the end of the day, the best exercise bike for you depends on your budget, the size of your workout space, and the exercise bike features you value most.
Best Exercise Bikes: Side-by-Side Comparison
Best Exercise Bike Overall
Description:
Dimensions: 60″ L x 22″ W x 63″ H
Resistance levels: 24
Available programming: Yes (requires iFIT subscription)
Weight capacity: 350 pounds
Type: Spin
Best Air Bike
Description:
Overall dimensions: 51.73” L x 24.52” W x 52.51” H
Weight: 125 pounds
Weight capacity: 330 pounds
Display: High-contrast LCD screen
Best Exercise Bike With Classes
Description:
Dimensions: 59″ L x 23″ W x 65″ H
Resistance levels: 32
Available programming: Yes
Weight capacity: 300 pounds
Type: Spin
Best Exercise Bike for Seniors
Description:
Dimensions: 66″ L x 25.2″ W x 52.2″ H
Resistance levels: 100
Available programming: Yes
Weight capacity: 300 pounds
Type: Recumbent
Best Spin Exercise Bike
Description:
Overall dimensions: 59” L x 23” W x 50” H
Weight: 130 pounds
Weight capacity: 300 pounds
Display: LCD monitor to track workout metrics
Best Portable Exercise Bike
Description:
Overall dimensions: 48” L x 24” W; seat to pedal height ranges from 31″ to 40.5″
Weight: 68 pounds
Weight capacity: 350 pounds
Display: PM5 monitor
Best Exercise Bike for Weight Loss
Description:
Dimensions: 45.5″ L x 22″ W
Resistance levels: Not listed
Available programming: Yes
Weight capacity: 330 pounds
Type: Spin
Best Magnetic Exercise Bike
Description:
Dimensions: 59.8″ L x 24.1″ W x 55.3″ H
Resistance levels: 100
Available programming: Yes
Weight capacity: 325 pounds
Type: Spin
Best Affordable Exercise Bike
Description:
Dimensions: 40.16″ L x 21.65″ W x 46.06″ H
Resistance levels: 100
Available programming: No
Weight capacity: 270 pounds
Type: Spin
Best Recumbent Exercise Bike
Description:
Dimensions: 66.4″ L x 28″ W x 47″ H
Resistance levels: 25
Available programming: Yes
Weight capacity: 330 pounds
Type: Recumbent
Best Folding Exercise Bike
Description:
Dimensions: 39″ L x 22″ W x 48.5″ H
Resistance levels: Seven
Available programming: No
Weight capacity: 250 pounds
Type: Recumbent (foldable)
Best Exercise Bike for Small Spaces
Description:
Dimensions: 21.7″ L x 19.7″ W x 9.7″ H
Resistance levels: Eight
Available programming: No
Weight capacity: Not listed
Type: Under desk
Best Exercise Bike With a Screen
Description:
Dimensions: 59″ L x 22″ W x 59″ H
Resistance levels: 100
Available programming: Yes
Weight capacity: 297 pounds
Type: Spin
FAQs
What is the best exercise bike for home use?
The best exercise bike for home use is the NordicTrack S22i Studio Bike due to its excellent iFIT classes, smooth flywheel with incline/decline capability, and convenient add-ons.
How do I choose a good exercise bike?
To choose a good exercise bike, consider the type of bike, flywheel weight, adjustability, display, and convenient features. You also need to compare different models based on your budget, space, fitness goals, and personal preferences.
How long should you ride a stationary bike to get a good workout?
To get a good workout on a stationary bike, you should ride for 10 to 60 minutes. The exact duration depends on your goals, your fitness level, and the intensity of your ride.
How much does the best exercise bike cost?
The best exercise bike cost depends on what you consider to be the “best.” The best affordable exercise bike costs about $300, whereas the best exercise bike with a screen is roughly $2,500.
What are the best exercises for a stationary bike?
The best exercises for a stationary bike are light dumbbell-based exercises because they can fit on your exercise bike’s storage tray and be within reach without you needing to get off the bike.
