When my daughter came home to live for a short while after graduating college, she decided it was time for me to get in better shape.
I think the truth of the matter is she saw how the females in our family tended to gain "midsection" weight and figured if she could get her mother to break that pattern, then her chances to avoid that would improve.
It was her quest to improve her aging odds that introduced me to the funny looking exercise equipment called Schwinn recumbent bikes.
So what happened after joining this gym was focusing on weight resistance machines like that horrible abs machine.
I saw these funny looking bikes, but pretty much ignored them.
When my back was bothering me one day, someone suggested I try these bikes.
At the time I had no idea that they were called recumbent bikes, but I loved the workout much better than the treadmills.
Recently due to a pile of reasons, my husband and I decided to possibly purchase an exercise machine to use at home.
In my research I was amazed to find that these funny looking recumbent bikes had good, valid even scientific reasons for why I liked them.

1. I learned that recumbent means reclined and this reclined position is called ergonomically correct, where your body is set to be the most productive without overly fatiguing any one muscle group.
   And here I thought it was just a machine for people who could not handle the treadmills.
   
2. I learned that the reclined position relaxes the abdominal muscles thus letting you breath deeper and while exercising.
   It is the reason you do not get a red faced and out of breath.
   And here I thought it was mainly a machine to exercise the legs, giving the rest of the body a break.
   
3. I learned the large comfortable seat not only helps prevent buttocks soreness common in a regular bike, but it helps exercise the gluteals.
   And here I thought you had to "squeeze.
   "
4. One thing I already knew was you could choose different distance/time, difficulty and resistance settings, watching the progress on an LCD monitor just like with the elliptical machines and treadmills.
   I found myself using two or three options the most, building time and difficulty as I progressed.
   

After researching exercise bikes and reacquainting myself with these funny looking bikes, it was natural to gravitate to our childhood favorite and check out the models of Schwinn recumbent bikes.
Schwinn has been in the bike business for over a hundred years and so it was natural for them to gravitate to exercise equipment in addition to their road and racing bikes.
So my husband and I are going to have to make a final decision, on where we can store this thing and how we can finance it.
Then we will be able to benefit from the workout whenever we want and challenge each other at the same time.