My No-Excuse Workout Machine
20 Comments Published by Joel October 17th, 2006 in Fitness, Gadgets. Share This
How’s this for serendipity: I just discovered that the elliptical machine which we bought used for a ridiculously good price can hold this beat up old Thinkpad on its console. The smaller set of handles, keeping it snugly in place, also serve as perfectly-placed hand rests for typing. For an internet addict who works from home, it’s my perfect no-excuse workout machine.
What sort of things do you guys use to keep yourself occupied while slogging through the monotony of aerobic exercise?
20 Responses to “My No-Excuse Workout Machine”
- 1 Trackback on May 19th, 2007 at 9:02 am
iPod.
Its amazing how much time passes by when your listening to good tracks.
The Y I work out at has individual televisions for each eliptical, treadmill, and bike. i usually watch with subtitles and listen to my ipod.
def the tv. espn is always on at our gym and each cardio machine has its own plug in for audio
I bought my video iPod thinking I’d never actually use it for video, but I find that watching a TV show is a great way to make sure you actually stick it out for 30 minutes on the cardio. My iPod has almost a whole season of The Office, a few episodes of Scrubs, and two seasons of The Wire for when I want to put in a whole hour on the bike.
That rocks. I want one.
iPod shuffle with DJ Steveboy’s PodRunner tracks loaded.
I recently bought a bike trainer (basically a roller for riding indoors) that is ultra-quiet. I set up my bike in the living room and crank up the dvd player for 30-60 minute workouts. Having Netflix certainly keeps the indoor rides fresh.
“What sort of things do you guys use to keep yourself occupied while slogging through the monotony of aerobic exercise?”
NOTHING. I focus on what I’m doing when I work out–that’s the ‘work’ part of it. This is exactly the reason you see the same people in the gym day in and day out, using the same machine, for the same weight/duration, and they never lose weight or get in any better shape. This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Ok, jamming out to your music is one thing, it can help you focus or tune out distractions. But I find all the TVs and magazine racks on the cardio machines offensive. You space out and don’t push yourself, and then feel good because you ‘went to the gym’–yeah, and did nothing worthwile. Ugh.
I don’t like elliptacal machines, so I don’t use them. The key is find an exercise or machine that you ENJOY using and you won’t need to ‘trick’ yourself into working out.
I knit socks. Can do this on bike or treadmill. It would get dangerously stabby on the stair machine.
In performing my favored exercise, rock climbing, my mental facilities are as engaged as the physical ones. If I need a distraction from the monotony (highly unlikely as distraction can cause death) and I’m outside I can merely look in the opposite direction of the rock face to remind myself why I’m there.
With other types of exercise I prefer to concentrate on what I am doing and train with nothing but my own council.
yeah, don’t worry, rat bastard, you totally don’t come across as an asshole.
as a 5′10″, 140 lbs guy, i really don’t care what you think of my workout. i watch TV, listen to my iPod, and still go crazy on a eliptical. then, i lift.
Rat bastard makes a point (albeit with harsh delivery)
I too have noticed some folks at the gym who spend more time reading and less time actually working up a sweat on the machines.
Personally, I can’t do the cardio machines without mp3 tunes blaring. I might keep an eye on the TV in front of me, but most of the time I’m staring at the machine’s dashboard watching my numbers and keeping the pace.
And when lifting, the tunes keep the energy level up (for me at least).
I listen to lighter-fare podcasts. I like Leo Laport’s Mac Break and In the ‘Net. I also listen to the CBC Radio 3 podcast for music, and Escape Pod and Pseudopod for fiction.
What I’m sorely tempted to do is start bringing in my Pocket PC for catching up on TV shows … I really only use the thing as a PMP now. I just don’t know how to keep it on the treadmill/elliptical/bike.
With regards to the person who (rather obnoxiously) made the point that distractions make people slack off, that can be true. I find that using a program on my machine (eg “Cardio”, “Intervals” or “Fat Burning”) that uses audio cues makes me kick it into gear.
Ouch Rat Bastard… Did you ever think that maybe listening to music with a high BPM count might actually encourage you to keep pace?
I personally prefer chill out tracks for a workout. I use my heart rate monitor for pace. The two don’t have to be linked. I can do without a TV/DVD, but tunes are vital. No offense, Rat.
Oh my god that laptop is so excellently dorky. I read the WSJ. If you skip the boring parts that make no sense you can get through the whole thing in 30 minutes.
I kind of like getting *out* of the house and *away* from any distractions to exercise. I can’t stand riding my bike on a trainer watching TV when I could be out breathing fresh air and staying alert by dodging cars. You should try it too.
Interval Training Keeps Boredom at Bay
Interval training on an elliptical exercise machine will take you back and forth through moderate to increasingly more difficult levels of exercise intensity over a period of weeks, reprogramming your body to utilize ever larger stores of body fat as fuel, as opposed to dietary calories alone. In fact, this type of high intensity training can increase per minute caloric fat burn from as little as .06 fat calories per minute to as high as 4.8 calories per minute in just six weeks; an increase of almost 700%.
When you subject your body to interval training it’s very difficult to reach a plateau. That’s because your body doesn’t know what’s coming up next and thus cannot adapt. Your personal trainer will make adjustments to your high intensity elliptical program to increase your strength and stamina gradually.
Ask your personal trainer to develop a high intensity elliptical training program tailored to your fitness level. You can keep monotony and boredom at bay with interval training, and you should see positive results by exercising as little as 45 minutes a day.
Keep boredom at bay with interval training! Interval training on an elliptical exercise machine will take you back and forth through moderate to increasingly more difficult levels of exercise intensity over a period of weeks, reprogramming your body to utilize ever larger stores of body fat as fuel, as opposed to dietary calories alone. In fact, this type of high intensity training can increase per minute caloric fat burn from as little as .06 fat calories per minute to as high as 4.8 calories per minute in just six weeks; an increase of almost 700%.
When you subject your body to interval training it’s very difficult to reach a plateau. That’s because your body doesn’t know what’s coming up next and thus cannot adapt. Your personal trainer will make adjustments to your high intensity elliptical program to increase your strength and stamina gradually.
Ask your personal trainer to develop a high intensity elliptical training program tailored to your fitness level. You can keep monotony and boredom at bay with interval training, and you should see positive results by exercising as little as 45 minutes a day.