Keep on Pedaling
I admit that I’m not a fan of the bike and I prefer sports like tae bo or rolling, but when I don’t have time for that I have to mount my bike and start pedaling. For me the inconveniences of cycling are:
- The pain - my back hearts really quickly;
- I get bored - it’s not fun to stare at the wall for 30 minutes;
- I have a very busy schedule - I work 12 hours a day;
- I always ask myself: why today? - maybe I’ll skip today and work double time tomorrow.
Avoiding injuries
Before you start cycling, you have to do 5-10 minutes of stretching and warm up. This will prevent the injuries and also reduce the DOMS effect (delayed onset muscle soreness) which is the pain or discomfort often felt 24 to 72 hours after exercising and subsides generally within 2 to 3 days.
If you do get injured you can use the recumbent exercise bike which is the kind found in a lot of health clubs. It has a large, bucket seat and you sit back and low to the ground. It is perfect for people beginning a new exercise routine. It’s also very good for back problems as it forces you to keep good posture. It puts no pressure on your joints and you can keep working out even if you have minor injuries.
Overcoming boredom
Did you get bored the last time you tried to workout on a regular basis? If you did, you are likely to get bored again. With exercise bikes, the solution is usually a bike with several different levels and riding programs. This means that when it becomes too easy for you to pedal, you simply move up to the next level instead of having to ride longer. You can also get different programs. Programs give you variety and goals, they make you pedal harder, simulate conquering hills and even sprinting for short periods.
Riding programs might not be enough for you. You might need a bike that you can put in front of the TV so you could “take a ride through a park”.
The coolest thing for game addicts who get bored is an interactive bike that plugs into a Playstation
Don’t prepare for The Tour of France
People beginning exercise programs are sometimes too ambitious. It’s good to be excited, but you have to remain realistic. If your last exercise program failed because it was just too much work, don’t make the same mistake again. Fight the urge to overdo your first workouts. If you go from no exercise at all to 5 to 10 minutes of pedaling with little resistance, you are much more likely to avoid injury and early feelings of defeat.
The perfect bikes for people who get a bit over-excited are exercise bikes with built-in riding programs. You simply start out at the lowest level and the bike determines your workout. You set a small goal (10 minutes or 50 calories) and, when you reach that goal, your workout is over.
Finding the time
You do have time to burn fat and calories on an exercise bike. No matter how intense your schedule is, there are people busier than you who find time to make an exercise routine work. They are not better than you. They don’t have more than 24 hours in a day, they simply figured out how to make it work. You can do it too.
There is scientific evidence that morning people and “night owls” are physically different. Different people have different energy distribution over time. Think about when you work best. If you wake up without an alarm clock ready to go, you should exercise first thing in the morning. The counterpart - as a night owl, consider exercising at night.
You can do this!
Losing weight is not a punishment. Don’t get caught up in the which-bike-burns-more-calories dilemma. Find a bike you will enjoy riding. Figure out the time of day that’s best for you to exercise. Make it like getting dressed or bathing - it’s just something you do every day. You just have to get on and do something every day. Ten minutes a day it’s all you need!
RSS Trackback URL 19. February 2007 (17:13)
Filed under: Exercise, Weight loss