Nah. A stationary bike and/or a treadmill are not comparable to actually going out there and doing real road work.
Useless. Real bike outside on hilly terrain = good Cycle spin classes at a gym = good Stationary bike = Fat people who don't want to do much to break a sweat
nope its not nearly as good but it really depends on how hard you go. I like to use it sometimes and I'll do 5 minutes on it, do some weighted pullups and dips, 5 more mins, weighted pulls + dips, 5 mins, and so on for about 40 minutes and I can work up a decent sweat since I usually go 120rpm minimum and I use the 'power tower' they have there which has a pullup bar and dip station all as 1 piece of equipment so I can go from one to the other really quick so I dont really have a break in there at all.
Have you ever done an intense interval spinning class? It's much harder than going out and running 4 or 5 miles.
As long as you keep your heart rate high enough, any cardio exercise is fine. But nothing comes close to the real thing (running outside, outdoor cycling), it's more fun too.
Besides being more fun it also has the potential to train other things besides cardiovascular endurance. If you run on a trail for example, agility will come into play. Same thing if you don't just plain run, but move sideways and backwards as well, mobility will improve.
I prefer the airstrider and elipticle machine for my road work. running in the middle of winter in Nebraska when it's 20 below zero sucks. But these two machines will help keep you going on road work and it'll give your legs a heck of a work out.
I use the stationary bike for 5 minutes everytime to warm up before the rest of my workout. I used to do a half hour on it at the other gym but the ones at my gym now have crappy seats and it makes my ass sore so I use the treadmill. My knees are still not exactly right so the bikes at the other gym was nice to use.
I used to think the ellipticals were for pussies who couldnt jog as its usually girls using them... until I tried one to warm up once and that thing kicked my ass It could certainly give me a good cardio workout for my fitness level, but I still rather jog or treadmill as it seems more exciting/interesting to me.