Archive for the ‘Exercise’ Category
My Review: The Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike
Saturday, September 13th, 2008
THE DECISION TO BUY A BIKE
I discovered the joys of riding a recumbent bike when I had my gym membership. I know there’s a lot of naysayers out there who insist you can’t get a real workout on one, but as far as I’m concerned, they’re full of crap. In terms of cardio, as long as you get the heart pumpin’ and you’re workin’ up a sweat, what’s the difference if you’re standing up or sitting down?
A recumbent bike had been on my wish list for quite some time, even before I made the decision not to renew my gym membership. The first thing I did was to look up info on my favorite bike at the gym, the Nautilus NR3000 Vertical Commercial Recumbent Bike, but for the Amazon sale price of $1849, it was a bit out of my price range. So I shopped and read reviews of other brands, non of which compared to the features of the NR3000, that was until… I stumbled upon the Schwinn 230 at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Buddy’s Contest: Grand Prize Drawing
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
Finally! It’s a week late, but tending to my blog hasn’t exactly been a priority lately between work, building my gym equipment, and hockey tryouts.
Here’s how the final drawing was determined: 1) it was open to Entrecard members only, since the prizes are ec’s, 2) each qualifying commentator from each of the 4 weeks was entered - so in other words, people who participated all 4 weeks were entered into the final drawing 4 times, 3) the randomizer was used to select the winners.
The contestants in the order they entered were:
1. Sassy Mama Bear
2. Fitness Diva
3. milet
4. Blue Workhorse
5. Purrprints
6. Workout Mommy
7. Michael Aulia
8. Julia
9. Sherry
10. Sassy Mama Bear
11. Sherry
12. Sassy Mama Bear
13. Greener Pastures
14. Viveca
15. Julia
16. lvs
17. Blue Workhorse
18. Get a Grip, Mom
19. Margaret
20. Sassy Mama Bear
And the winners are… drum roll, please…
17. Blue Workhorse - 1000 ec’s
15. Julia - 450 ec’s
16. lvs - 325 ec’s
12. Sassy Mama Bear - 225 ec’s
I want to thank everyone who walked with me and Buddy for the month of August, and I want to encourage everyone to keep it going (so long as weather permits).
Buddy’s Contest: 4th (and final) WEEK - win ec’s and a t-shirt
Sunday, August 31st, 2008This will be the final regular contest for the month of August. All contestants from this week and the previous weeks will be entered into a final Grand Prize drawing on Wednesday.
I will be taking a couple weeks off from this contest as hockey season is starting up and work is still busy.
THE CONTEST:
Just leave a comment in the comment section of this post about how many miles (or minutes) you (and/or your doggie) walked this past week, and your in. If you’re not a walker, but you spend time on a bike, or in the gym on an elliptical, bike, or treadmill - those entries count as well. NO SPAMMENTS, PLEASE. Comments must be received by 10pm EST Tuesday night. The winners will be chosen by The Randomizer.
The purpose of this contest is to bring a little awareness to how much (or how little) cardiovascular exercise each of us gets. I’m just trying to encourage people to get moving to improve heart health. With our filled up busy schedules, and our modern conveniences, we tend to neglect our body’s basic needs of good nutrition and exercise. Adult humans should get a minimum of 30 minutes to 10,000 steps a day to maintain good health. This translates to be approximately 1 to 4 miles a day. Doggies needs vary by size and breed, but believe it or not, even smaller toy breeds are supposed to get about 2 miles per day!
THE PRIZES:
The prize amounts will remain the same this week as last week. First place will receive a “Heart Healthy Hounds and Humans” t-shirt as well as 100 Entrecard credits, 2nd will get 200 ec’s, 3rd - 125 ec’s, and 4th - 75 ec’s.
Also, all qualifying (non-spamment) participants will be added to Buddy’s Monthly Mile Challenge Club blogroll in the right sidebar.
LAST WEEKS RESULTS:
here is the screenshot from the randomizer:
Our four winners were: 1st Prize - BlueWorkhorse, 2nd - Sherry, 3rd - lvs, and 4th - Sassy Mama Bear. Thanks to all who participated.
Photos Of The New Fitness Equipment
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Buddy proudly showing off his new toys
Petunia likes how the paint job on the home gym matches her eye color
Moses demonstrates how the recumbent bike makes a great cat perch even while it’s still in the box!
My New Fitness Equipment Has Arrived
Saturday, August 30th, 2008Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know… just when I just got done writing a post where I whined about all the equipment and memberships I got sucked in to buying, what do I do? I go out and buy more fitness equipment! What can I say?
I’ve decided to simulate my gym experience at home by buying a recumbent bike and a home gym. Since working a full time job which requires longish hours on my feet combined with other physically demanding activity has put a crimp in my previously lackadaisical lifestyle, my days of fitting a gym membership into my schedule are gone. 1. I am not a morning person, 2. I refuse to leave the house without showering, 3. I require about two hours recovery time after work, and 4. I just don’t feel like spending all of my money filling up my gas tank. Most importantly, let’s face it - I grew up in a fast food drive thru window world, so convenience is the determining factor for anything I do these days, including exercise!
Of course, my mom will probably sh*t herself when she reads this. She knows about the recumbent bike, but I neglected to share with her my other impulse purchase of the home gym. I had made mention to her that, like an idiot, I gave away my weight bench and free weights a few years back - so I was in the market for a replacement of those items. And actually, I was shopping around for something within a reasonable dollar amount when that pretty machine caught my eye. Okie dokie!
I bought the home gym last weekend, it sat in my van in huge boxes for a couple days, then I finally had to open the boxes in the van and carry the components in the house. A couple of the parts were a two person job. The only place it’ll fit is the middle of my living room. It’s not like I have friends or entertain guests, so who cares! (Well, I do have friends, but they’re not the type who judge me for my interior decorating style or the fact that I run a full time petting zoo in my house!)
The recumbent bike just arrived yesterday. I had ordered it online, and it came with silver service delivery - in other words - a couple big burly guys carried the humungo box into the house, up the stairs, and into the room of my choice.
Sooooo - looks like my holiday weekend will be spent assembling! I will share photos and reviews of my new toys in later posts.
