So, the bike came! And it wasn’t difficult to put together at all. The directions have those kinds of pictures that show you exactly what to do, and the hardware was all sorted neatly and labeled, and there were only nine steps until we had our own upright fitness bike. Funny how something we almost avoided—working out—was quickly something we wanted to do, both of us wanting to be the first to test out the new bike. Me first! Me first! Like little kids.

It’s perfect. Takes up even less floor space than I imagined, and runs so quietly. I remember the exercise bike my mom had some fifteen years ago, and it made such a racket that you couldn’t hear the TV. Not so with this one. I watch my TV shows, biking, and am surprised how quickly the time goes by.

I haven’t even played with all the settings yet, but it does all those things the one in the gym did, pulse, speed, distance, calories burned, etc. My husband pays good attention to all that, but I just ride. I figure if I feel like I’m getting a good workout, I am.

And, odd coincidence, while watching a morning show, one of the hosts mentioned a new study that shows that people who do cardiovascular workouts, even if they’re a few pounds overweight, live an average of 11 years longer than those who don’t and who are not overweight. That’s an amazing figure. I’d love to know if it’s true. I’ve got a lot of living to do.

I haven’t blogged for a week now, because I haven’t exercised for a week now. Excuses: The Holidays. Shopping. Working extra hours. Snow. Each day I promised myself we would go to the gym, each day, another excuse. I swore that if we didn’t go after a week, I’d order our fitness equipment now, right now, and put it on payments. We’ve saved almost enough. It’s time. And, we didn’t go to the gym yesterday. So, I did it! I ordered an upright exercise bike, not a recumbent. My husband likes the upright better, and he’ll use it more often if it’s something he lkes, and it does take up less floor space. Until we finish the basement and turn it into a proper fitness room, floor space is of importance.

So, it’s to arrive in the next week! I’ll be blogging about a piece of fitness equipment that I own. How cool is that? And my/our plan is to use it for 45 minutes, four times a week, at the least. It will be pretty much in front of the TV, so maybe we’ll workout even more than that. Either way, it’s got to be better than going to the gym—and a lot better than not going to the gym when you ought to be and feeling bad about it.

Here’s to our good health, and yours! .

Alright, I’ve spent some time on the treadmill now and understand its lure. First, it is different than walking. By setting the pace there is a compulsion to keep walking at the speed you’ve set. Sure, you can slow it down, but the idea is to keep at it, right, and the treadmill does that, kind of eggs you on, makes you keep working.

It’s good for my foot, too. Because of my Morton’s Nueroma, I shouldn’t bend my foot so much, where my toes join the ball of my foot, and because I’m not pushing myself off each step, moving myself forward, my foot stays flatter, and I can walk longer on the treadmill than on the track before the neuroma flares up its ugly head, so to speak.

I enjoyed the different settings on the treadmill. The way I could program my walk to simulate going up and down hills, or pace myself as if I were in a marathon. I’d rather be outside on a beautiful day, hiking through the woods and up a hill, but that requires good weather and a forty minute drive there, and back.

Lastly, the treadmill runs so smoothly. The woman on the treadmill next to me was reading a book! I’ll have to try that next time.

It certainly did give me a good workout. Got my pulse up to 110 and kept it there for a while. The treadmills at the gym are all just like the ones at Kingsofcardio, very powerful machines, meant to take the wear and tear of working out on them daily. I can see how getting one would be a good investment.

For my next blog I’m going to try one of the nautilus weight machines. Now I’m getting curious to see what they are all about.

In one of my last entries, I mentioned that I’ve yet to try the new Life Fitness 95T Series treadmills that I have heard rave reviews about and that I was going to test one out the next time I go to the gym. I figured treadmills were too much like walking, and wouldn’t bring anything new to the game and would hurt my knees and lower back. But my husband likes them, and it may well be one of the two exercise machines we end up buying ourselves. After some research, it seems as though there are some pretty sophisticated suspension systems on some of these new Life Fitness treadmills, so I look forward to shopping and testing some new ones.

There is a good reason why I didn’t follow up on this until now. Fall has begun here in Cleveland, OH, which means it’s getting cold out, and the gym is filling up with people I haven’t seen there before. (We joined in early summer.) They’re coming inside in droves, from their jogging and walking outside, inside where there’s no cold rain or snow. (Yes, we had snow just a few days ago.) Sure, there are still people who exercise outside no matter the weather, but there are a lot who will now be showing up at the gym, at the same time that my husband and I go, after work. And the treadmills are the most popular item there. They were all occupied! I couldn’t even try one!

So, I went to the least popular piece of fitness equipment there (beside the broken Rower, which I blogged about before.) The StairMaster. Whoa, is that a monster! Talk about a workout! My heart was pounding almost immediately. The guy next to me was doing just fine though. And he was a fine specimen of the human race, probably because he uses this thing. He says he likes the StairMaster best because it makes him work so hard. Maybe so, but I’m going to put it on the line here: it may not be for beginners. This machine is for those who need the next level up. It makes for a serious workout, and I feel proud I managed ten minutes.

Back to the treadmill. I’ll have to hope it’s available next time. Maybe I’ll have to go on a sunny day. Maybe even if I like it, I won’t be able to use it often at the gym. And if my husband loses his treadmill time to the people who manage to get there a few minutes before us, then we’ll have to own one, won’t we?

I just had this great idea! It’s coming up to the holidays and I’ve had family members ask me for a list of gifts I’d like. You know, those holiday exchanges where you get the third Snuggly in the same amount of years from your aunt or cousin. You’d love money, but you’re really not supposed to ask for that. They always put some limit on these gifts–$30 or something. And if you have a large family, you do that exchanging names thing where you end up getting picked by your cousin’s new wife who doesn’t know you from the family cat. So do this. Put one item on your list. A piggybank of their choice, but a cheap one—not a $30 piggy bank! Put the rest of the cash inside. Suggest that they write something personal on the piggy’s chest, such as: From my heart to yours. (Explain that you are saving for fitness equipment so you can stay strong and healthy in the years to come, so you can keep coming back to this yearly family gathering.)

This idea works, too, for your kids who love you but may not love shopping. Oh, maybe one of your kids likes to hit the stores during the holidays, but I’m betting they all don’t. And since they love you, they want to keep you healthy, so I bet they’ll like this idea. And, after the holidays, you can make this suggestion for birthdays and anniversaries and retirement parties, etc. In a year you can add these gifts to the money you yourself have saved, and there you go, you’ve got your new treadmill. And a very cool collection of piggybanks, with notes written on them from people who care about you.

It occurs to me that I tend toward the exercise equipment that allows me to sit down, such as the recumbent bike, the recumbent cross trainer, and recumbent elliptical, and when I started thinking about this, I realized why. One of my jobs—I have three jobs—requires me to be on my feet six hours a day. I work at a bookstore, part-time, and I shelve books, climb ladders, make displays, help customers, all on my feet, never sitting down. Even when I teach (I teach writing) I stand in front of a classroom.

So, it makes sense that I like sitting-down kind of fitness equipment, and I’ve been testing them out for over a month now, trying to decide which one to buy, blogging about the ins and outs of different kinds of equipment. And I‘m close to a decision, almost there, but then I remembered the reason that my husband and I started out on this quest for good health and fitness—because of him, his heart surgery, and I haven’t been paying attention to what he likes best. Which is the treadmill. I haven’t even tried the treadmill, but he works out on it for a half hour before going to the stationary bike. He has a sit down job, Being up on his feet is important.

I can’t by ourselves something without considering what he wants. Which means that we may need two pieces of equipment. Which also means we need to save more, somehow, to afford both, without compromising on quality. So I’m going to blog about how I save money, too. Every bit counts. It’s become totally obvious to me that having this fitness equipment at home is a necessity. Probably for anyone who has had heart surgery, and anyone who wants to be able to hike through woods and streams well into their old age, which is a necessity for me and my husband. Going to the gym is fine, if you actually go, and one is near enough, but I’m embarrassed to tell you how many times I haven’t gone, because friends were in town, or something came up. The only answer is to save and own our own.

Every day I’m going to think of some way to save another dollar or two. It took me less than five minutes to plan out my errands for the day, in the order that will cost me the least in gas. And when at CVS, I will bypass the candy bars and lipsticks. I’m a sucker for a new lipstick—and worse when it comes to Reese Peanut Butter Cups. Between the candy bar, the lipstick and the and the gas, I should be saving at least five dollars, which I will put into my new savings box with a picture of a treadmill, (for him) and maybe a stationary bike (for me). (I’ll share, and I know he will too.) And then, I’ll go take a hike on a treadmill.

There are all sorts of things to think about when trying to select the right exercise equipment to use. With the multitude of arguments claiming one workout plan is more effective than the next, individuals such as myself need to
determine what specific areas we have to focus on the most. Personally, I have to consider my foot. I have a Morton’s Neuroma in my left foot. It’s a swelling, tumor-like, of a nerve between my second-to-last toe and my middle toe, and when I bend my foot back and forth, it irritates the Neuroma, and causes great pain. If you have one, you know what I mean. It’s like my toes are broken. I have special shoes with special lifts to separate my toes. My shoes don’t bend as easily as other people’s workout shoes, but they still do bend and it’s best to keep my foot flat. I’m finding this is going to make a difference in my choice of fitness equipment.

As much as I like the elliptical machines at the gym, cross-trainers force my foot to bend at the toes when peddling, and after fifteen minutes, my foot is on fire. So now I’m testing the machines to see which one keeps my foot in place. And I think the Stationary Bike is the best bet. Once I place my foot in the strap, my foot doesn’t move, only my calf and legs. I exercised twenty minutes without a problem. And that’s about when I realized that twenty minutes on the stationary bike seemed to give me a solid workout that left me feeling like I accomplished something. After all, our physical condition is dependent on what me accomplish, not what we dream of accomplishing. Maybe because I went faster—could go faster, because my foot was more comfortable. Maybe because I’m sitting so upright that I’m working harder. Whatever, I burned more calories and felt the burn in my legs—the good burn, much quicker, so I had time to go over to the weights and exercise my arms for ten minutes. Seemed a fair trade-off.

So what I’m wondering now is about my butt. Do they make comfortable seat covers for stationary bikes? Someone said I needed padded biker’s pants, that they will do the trick. So, I’m going to ask them here at Kings of Cardio for some advice, and either they, or I, will get back to you on that.

Years ago, after having my first child, I bought a rowing machine and woke up early every morning, hoping out of bed and straight onto the rower. I needed to lose weight and tone up, but oddly what I found I liked best about rowing is that Zen like state you get from the motions, which is unlike any other exercise machine. It takes a few minutes, but when it comes, you know it. You’re rowing, your whole body undulating, and with my eyes closed, I could see the river ahead I was traveling on, the imaginary river of my own making—sometimes a slim, peaceful waterway, sometimes a wide more vigorous river like the Mississippi, or maybe even across a lake somewhere. But I also could imagine myself rowing through my day, my path in life—waking my baby, making breakfast, reading him books, playing This-Little-Piggy with his toes, even changing his diapers. This was my peaceful time alone when I could imagine the perfect day. Then when things went astray, I was okay. I was peaceful enough to handle them.

I suppose other people can find this Zen like place with cross-country machines, or exercise bikes, imagining themselves bicycling along a road or cross-country skiing in the snow, but there is something about a rower that does this so perfectly.

In my quest to buy my husband and myself an exercise machine (the rower long gone), I’ve been trying out a machine each trip to the gym we joined for his rehab from open heart surgery. I didn’t go directly to the rower, thinking that I knew I liked it already, and I was so new to a gym environment that I never thought I’d be able to close my eyes there, with so many people around. But I started noticing that no one was using the two rowers they have there, and I wondered if I liked it just because it was the easiest to use, or because it’s what I did those early mornings at home. So I went over to it, got myself adjusted, and found out why no one was using it. It’s broken! Both of them! The digital stuff doesn’t work, so you can’t see what calories you burn, etc, which anyone going to a gym will want. Still, it is a great machine, and I worked out fifteen minutes, finding that zone again, feeling all the muscles in my body working out, getting that burn. But closing my eyes in the gym is still too awkward.

So, there is a very good reason to have this piece of equipment at home, or any other cardiovascular fitness equipment at home, because you can close your eyes! Go for the Zen moment. And exercise equipment at a gym is not always working, or up to date, or clean, and the good ones are often being used. Why wait in line to exercise? That doesn’t make a bit of sense, does it? And why have to look at all the other people, when you can exercise and know you are either all alone, or your baby is peacefully asleep in the next room.

Some of us exercise to lose weight, some for the good energy it brings, some to tone up after childbirth, some for medical reasons like heart problems and diabetes, some to become stronger, build muscles, impress ourselves and other, some for a combination of any of these reasons, or other reasons I haven’t mentioned. I want to tone up, but I also need to strengthen my stomach muscles so my back doesn’t keep going out. They say my bad back is because of weak core muscles. But the problem is that I have to be very careful what kind of equipment I can use. The weight machines need to be adjusted each time I use them at the gym, and I need to understand what each does, and how best to do reps, etc. I’m always embarrassed when I have to take the pin out, and leave it out.

What I’m really looking for is a fitness machine that does more than one thing, but doesn’t strain anything in my back. As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, I like the elliptical and the stationary bike and the recumbent elliptical, but I’m still trying them out—and I think I may have found the perfect machine, the recumbent cross trainer.

I like the seats on the recumbent. I don’t get sore or slide off, and there’s less stress to my back, and yet I do need to hold in my stomach muscles—my core—to use them. And the recumbent cross trainer has handles that I can pull and push, so I can strengthen my arms at the same time as I work my legs. It’s easy to adjust the seat so it fits my small frame, and to adjust the workout I get. And it is a workout, even though as I watched someone else use it, it looks awfully easy. My legs disagreed with that assessment after my first five minutes, but still I could keep up with the pace after ten minutes. I was able to keep going on the recumbent cross trainer for a full thirty minutes without feeling as if my butt had gone numb.

It’s amazingly quiet, too, quieter than a stationary bike, though those don’t make a lot of noise. I think it’s the quietest machine I’ve used so far. The test will be trying it when my back is bad, which is unfortunately, this week. I just turned around to get something from the back seat of my car and ding, there it went. You may know exactly what I mean. Or you may have a strong core already. But I aim to strengthen my core so this never happens again, which means I have to work out even when I’m aching. So I’m off to test the recumbent cross trainer again. I’ll let you know.

Do you want to lose weight fast? Would you like to know the exercise routines that burn the most calories? If your answer is yes, then you have taken the first step towards getting healthy. Those who do not understand the consequences of their obesity and unhealthiness, have psychological hurdles they must leap over, in order to even find the path towards weight loss and muscle development. An overweight, out of shape man, who fails to recognize his the harm he is doing to his body, is synonymous, with an alcoholic, who denies having a drinking problem. However, if you are reading this article, odds are, that you are not one of the imperceptive, aforementioned people and not only do you realize the true significance of being fit, but you are seeking out ways to optimize your fitness routine.

Now that we have established that you are a reasonable person and you understand that inactivity and obesity are no laughing matter, it is time for you to take the next step and make sure you participate actively in a comprehensive fitness routine, that includes aerobic and strength training. If you want some great advice on how you can enjoy working out more and ensure that you exercise more frequently, listen up, what you need to do is get AT LEAST 1 partner for exercising. Motivation is essential towards any and all fitness programs. People are often motivated to exercise by their yearning for aesthetic perfection. Some people have to train daily as a result of their job. The vast majority of gym members and home fitness equipment buyers exercise because they consciously and sub-consciously understand humans fundamental need for exercise.