yesterday's accomplishment

[piranha]

new acquisition.

not my photo, but it'll take the place of the daily since none of mine came out well enough (it's too bloody dark in here during the time i am awake). the actual bike we bought is all black.

a few days ago while shopping at the wholesale store, we happened by the exercise section and they had a recumbent bike there. i'd never seen one of those before (for exercising), and thought "hm". sat down on it to try it out, and it was comfortable; an immediate plus. i can't stand the upright bikes; if i am to put pressure on my RSI-plagued wrists, it better pay off by getting me to cover some distance in beautiful surroundings, like a real bike does.

did a little research at home and talking it over with the paramour, and we decided that we might actually use something like that if we put it in our living room so both of us have access to it at all times. even if we just had idle time for a few minutes and pedalled while reading that would still be better than sitting on our duffs. we didn't want to spend a lot of money, and it'd have to be quiet so it wouldn't disturb the other while working or sleeping.

we found just the thing at canadian tire, and it was 40% off to boot, so it cost us C$240. it is very quiet, it has adjustable tension from the control monitor, it is amazingly comfortable, both seat and back support, it is extremely sturdy (we both weigh around 110 kg, and it doesn't wobble the slightest bit even when pedalling as vigorously as we are capable). it shows time, speed, distance covered, calories burned, and heart rate. i like it more than i ever thought i could like a piece of exercise equipment. and i don't have to force myself to use it to get a "proper workout"; if i just feel like pedalling for 5 min while my breakfast cooks, i do that. i did do a proper workout yesterday and today though, huffing and puffing away.

it sits right in front of the otherwise mostly unused TV, so we can watch anime or shows while exercising, or pipe something across from our computers, or listen to music. if not pedalling vigorously one can read. so it shouldn't get boring (one of those things that kills most exercise for me).

we hope that if we keep this up, it'll get us in considerably better shape by the time better weather rolls around for us to take our actual bikes out.

my doctor will be pleased.

Comments

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

I have one (with a more desk-chair-like seat) that I've used as my computer chair for well over a decade. It's comfortable and very sturdy (when my children were smaller I could have both on my lap without it getting tippy or anything), but not only does it totally slip my mind for months at a time that it has pedals, I usually have stuff piled next to it that would block the pedals anyway. The pedals are under the desktop, so it's easier than you might think to forget they are there. Anyway, enjoy yours and get strong legs and all that!

exercise bike

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i was actually thinking that if we take to it, that it might be a good idea to buy a second one and use that as my desk chair -- and not to block the pedals, so i can actually use it while vegetating in front of my computer. of which i do a lot, so that'd be handy.

i suspect the only way i'd actually keep that up is if i made the computer powered by the pedalling.

Re: exercise bike

[lynn-massa.livejournal.com]

i suspect the only way i'd actually keep that up is if i made the computer powered by the pedalling.

that would be awesome.

Re: exercise bike

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i suspect somebody has done it already -- there are enough high-tech savvy people who're also environmentally concerned that there's bound to be individual solutions for this.

once my OLPC XO gets here, i'll look into crank power for it; i think it'd be cool to have a setup like that, and _that_ machine is made to run energy-efficiently.

egads, now i feel all privileged. it's sorta perverted to talk about how "cool" it'd be to manually power a laptop made for kids in developing nations.

[dr-brat.livejournal.com]

my doctor will be pleased.

I suspect that you'll be pleased too. Nothing like a little sweat to lift ones spirits a little, IME. The trouble for me is always making the effort to sweat in the first place, but I always feel better after.

I had a recumbent bike for years and used it in spurts. We finally freecycled it during one of my off spurts. I've been trying to walk instead, as that makes my weight work for me (instead of plunking it on the seat), but in the absence of two large dogs to motivate the walk, I found the bike to be just the thing. Hope you do, too!

exercise

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i will be pleased if i continue to use it and it helps make me healthier. i generally hate exercise for exercise's sake, and neither does the sweat anything for me, nor do i get the famed endorphin high that makes other people feel better; i feel worse afterwards, tired and hungry. this is why i've never been able to keep up with an exercise regimen; what i get out of it is purely intellectual -- i know it's supposed to be good for me, i just don't feel it. and it's very hard to keep up with something long-term that i dislike.

a dog, now, that would please me. :) i like walking with dogs.

[ckd]

I need to dig ours out from the pile of crap and try to get back into the habit of using it.

[huashan.livejournal.com]

The best help for depression, tension, or bad moods I've ever found is exercise. Even a little helps a ton for me. Happily I have martial arts, when I can go, and that not only makes me happier but makes my body and mind work significantly hard.

The second year I was at the UofI I took a flight of stairs going to class and my heart went nuts and I was out of breath for a couple of minutes and my legs hurt. I panicked. Even though I couldn't afford it at all, I went that weekend and bought the cheapest exercise bike that I could ride and installed it in the basement and road it every morning for the next year or so. 20 minutes a day and it radically changed my life.

Now, however...I bought a new exercise bike to ride when I can't use my achilles tendon. I hate it. It's incredibly uncomfortable. So it's part of my new attempt at fixing myself to get it out and set it back up and ride it any night I can't go to class and exercise there.

I hope it works for you the same way it worked for me the first time.

exercise

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i'm glad that works for you, because hey, that's a cheap anti-depressant and it's good for the rest of your body. but it has never worked for me. i don't get an endorphin high, and exercise for exercise's sake makes me just tired (and hungry). it doesn't lift my depression; if anything it makes it slightly worse.

that's why i've never been able to keep up with a regimen for the long term. i have to do it despite it making me feel worse and i just fall off the wagon sooner or later (usually sooner). the most i can do is to make it easily accessible at any time. walking works for me because i like the outdoors here, and it doesn't feel like exercise, but i don't do it in bad weather, and i don't do it fast enough either to keep my heart rate up, so it tends not to be good enough.

at least the bike will be accessible at all times, so we'll see how i do. last night i rode it for 30 minutes (not hard) while watching cowboy bebop, even though i had already done my workout. yay; that's good.

Re: exercise

[huashan.livejournal.com]

Man I just love the music on Cowboy BeBop. You're definitely more comfortable on your bike than I am on mine. Sweet!

Re: exercise

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

what about yours makes it so uncomfortable? is it something inherent to you, or that bike? if the latter, maybe trading the bike in for a more comfy one would help. i know i am just too damn lazy/wimpy to bother with things that make me seriously uncomfortable. that's why "comfort" was a major consideration for buying this thing.

after 30 min on it my butt falls asleep. i guess that'll be a natural limit to the workout length.

Re: exercise

[huashan.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, the problem is that sitting on a bike seat and pedaling focuses all of my gigantic bulk onto a few square inches of my body which then oscillate back and forth as a I pedal. I generally get off of the thing feeling like someone tried to split my body in half by making me sit on a telephone pole and putting weights on my feet. It's really not that bad, I think I just need to get used to it. And at least it's very very quiet.

[(Anonymous)]

Enjoy! I've always wished I could find a real bike with a seat that wouldn't bifurcate me (and somewhere down on the flats to keep it...)

I've been trying to do a similar thing with our elliptical -- not letting a "real" workout be the enemy of the exerciseI actually get around to -- but it makes way too good a clothes station.

clothes station

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

*heh*. oh man, yeah. we immediately instituted a rule that nothing may be parked on that bike but our own butts.

so far the cats have not taken to it, which i was worried about.

[prairierabbit.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a good plan, and I've pondered a (moving) recumbent bike for warmer weather. Depending on other needs, I may look into it more seriously this spring.