The Lemon Fool

Snorvey wrote:I'm toying with getting an exercise machine before winter (there's a pile of Tesco vouchers lying around that need to get spent)

This is because if I'm bone idle in the summertime, I'm positively hibernatory (?) in the winter. Even if it's only 20 minutes of high intensity stuff, it's better than nothing.

So....I quite like the idea of a rowing machine because it seems to work more muscle groups. I have a turbo trainer for the bike, but it's freezing in the shed over wintertime and it's too big for the house. I need to get home from work and then be able to jump straight on it before I get settled down for the night.

So, any thoughts or suggestions? Rowing v exercise bike....or something else.

I think it depends what you are after. I use an exercise bike every other day, in fact in about an hour's time I'll be...

I've used a rowing machine too but I've had an operation on one of my shoulders and although it's now pretty good I've decided that rowing is probably not a good idea.

Which parts of your body do you want to exercise? You are obviously going to exercise more parts of your body with a rowing machine, you don't get much work on your upper body and only a few muscles from riding a bike. But I find the cardio I get from a bike to be good for me and I now have legs like Atlas

RC

Snorvey wrote:I have a turbo trainer for the bike, but it's freezing in the shed over wintertime and it's too big for the house. I need to get home from work and then be able to jump straight on it before I get settled down for the night.

If a bike/turbo setup is too big for the house, how are you going to fit a rowing machine in the house?

Most rowing machines are garbage; using rubbishy equipment soon gets tedious hence difficult to persevere with. The few that aren't garbage are (a) expensive and (b) usually have quite a large footprint.

That's the trouble with with the UK economy, people are always buying things instead of making do. I realise you're in Scotland but no excuse!

20 minutes of intense exercise can be achieved simply by putting your body in an intense position. For example, press-ups on a staircase. (Unless you live in a bungalow.) The snag I find with rowing machine and exercise bike is that it can take a while to get going and after than it gets to be tedious. I can just about manage 10 minutes. As for a rowing machine, I put the setting on 10 (max) and row as fast and smoothly as I can back upright, shoulders relaxed) for 1 minute. But I never start my 20-30 minutes or so gym regime on a rowing machine: that's just for finishing off.

As for exercise bike,how about a cross-trainer machine: the worst (sorry best) of both worlds - some info here: http://www.xc530.com/best-2-in-1-exercise-bike

Snorvey wrote: What about a cross trainer?

Read that after I'd posted. From time to time, I enjoy using a cross-trainer. Especially the reversion action setting. I don't know anything about domestic models: I go to a gym where the machines are heavy-duty and stable. Wouldn't have thought a lightweight machine would have good stability.

Or you could watch this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDQj_vWx77U

You could walk/jog/run up and down stairs for 20 minutes for intensity...

didds

A few years ago I bought a rowing machine and used it daily.

I got much fitter at rowing but found I was worse at other everyday activities. I noticed with a small flight of stairs outside the office, I just didn't have any "explosiveness" any more and couldn't bound up them like I used to.

So I got rid of it and gradually my old bounciness came back.

it is absolutely noteable that many many people on deciding they need to do something about something ,
go out and buy stuff.

often expensive stuff which gets abandoned and occupies space .

i very strongly recommend brisk walking for general health.

JamesMuenchen wrote:A few years ago I bought a rowing machine and used it daily. ...

Daily use is too frequent. You don't build muscle during exercise, you actually build it during the rest days after the exercise. Rowing three times a week or so, on alternate days, would let that happen. More often and you're re-stressing muscles before they have had time to build after the previous session.

If you want to exercise more than three times a week, you need to vary your routine so that you focus on different muscle groups on different days and let the previous day's muscles rest. And even there, every day is still too much; you want at least one day a week of rest.

Providing your technique is right, rowing machines hit pretty much every muscle group, making them an ideal single-session all-over workout. Good for people who only want to exercise three or four days a week then, but tricky to work into a more frequent exercise regime.

jackdaww wrote:it is absolutely noteable that many many people on deciding they need to do something about something ,
go out and buy stuff.

often expensive stuff which gets abandoned and occupies space .

i very strongly recommend brisk walking for general health.

+1

Now in my 60s I find that walking the dog for an hour or two every day fulfils my exercise needs quite adequately. The walk incorporates a climb of at least 20 storeys worth of steps up the local hills and if I feel my arms need a work out then press ups are included when I get home, together with a plank for a minute of two for the core. No equipment needed (except a dog which I guess is optional but adds immensely to the enjoyment)

John

jackdaww wrote:it is absolutely noteable that many many people on deciding they need to do something about something, go out and buy stuff.

...and then proceed to misuse it, see disappointing results, and give up.

Rather than buy stuff it is better to join a local gym or 'leisure centre'. Ideally, one run by your local authority rather than a spa/boutique type. Not only do you then not have to make space for the exercise equipment, but you get professional guidance on how to use it correctly and effectively, a range of items to use, and if you are lucky a swimming pool and sauna thrown in.

The one I use is worth every penny of its monthly subscription. I'm fortunate that it is a 20min walk from my home, so that's an added bonus to the workout.

TedSwippet wrote: You don't build muscle during exercise, you actually build it during the rest days after the exercise..

what if you don't want to build muscle?

didds

didds wrote:what if you don't want to build muscle?

We lose muscle naturally as we age. This means you need to build muscle to counteract that loss. Not so much increasing as retaining, then.

Snorvey wrote:

.....And isn't exercise a wonderful thing for improving your general demeanour?

Snorvey

=================================

this is well documented - something to do with endomorphines i believe .

jackdaww wrote:

Snorvey wrote:

.....And isn't exercise a wonderful thing for improving your general demeanour?

Snorvey

=================================

this is well documented - something to do with endomorphines i believe .

Are endomorphines the same thing as endorphins?

Snorvey wrote:I need to get home from work and then be able to jump straight on it before I get settled down for the night.

How far is home from work? Unless it's just a short walk, a bike will give you useful exercise en route. Even if you have something difficult (like a downhill stretch on dark, unlit road), you'll soon get used to it.

For an exercise machine, I think the key is not getting bored. I have a treadmill desk at home, and because I can work (or do other things like post to lemonfool) at it, I can use it without instant boredom. I wouldn't give houseroom to an exercise machine that took my whole attention.

how about a plastic stepper and some weights to wave around whilst stepping to the beat music?

Any formal machine is I am quite certain a total waste of money. Joining a fitness centre is even worse. Do people not know that most of their money comes from people throwing money at them and not turning up ever at the centre?

A brisk walk of at least an hour on alternative days is perfectly adequate.

Dod






Dad

I can't speak for others, but I know myself well enough to accept that spending a couple of hundred quid on a shiny new keep-fit machine is more likely to get me fit than having a gym membership card in my back pocket. Well, for six months perhaps.

Maybe it's a generational thing, but I still find gyms rather intimidating places - the smell of stale sweat, the compulsory skateboarding/bodypopping videos on the walls, and the whole macho-posing gym bunny scene. I hated school sports, and suddenly I remember why.

BJ

I have an exercise bike. Which I use as an alternative to my daily walk when the weather is rather inclement. I'm not a natural exerciser, but since the mild heart attack I am trying to do some daily walking exercise, but I draw the line at getting wet or frozen, hence the exercise bike being used as an indoor alternative.

Actually, there is an advantage in that I can read whilst pedalling away!

ten0rman

Snorvey wrote:The people that frequent gyms don't tend to be the people that actually need to go to gyms. In other words, it's a posing palace for athletic people ...

The extent to which this is true is probably a function of the 'trendiness' of the gym and the time of day involved.

My 'gym' is actually a portion of a council/private joint venture leisure centre. I would say that overall the majority of people I encounter there are either somewhat or significantly below average fitness, range equally in age from teens to seventies, and are definitely attending to get fitter rather than simply to be seen. Cost is below £30/month, the piped music is not completely to my taste but is at least both inoffensive and very much background quiet. The staff are super-friendly and helpful. And the only video playing is BBC News24 on silent.

Snorvey wrote:... - the worst of whom are those that walk around the changing rooms naked with their junk swinging all over the place.

That, though. And arguably worse still when the owner is significantly below average fitness and/or well overweight!