Matters of the heart - getting fit

One thing about me and Suzi-k is that when it comes to being impulsive, we are probably at the front of the queue. After scorning all forms of exercise all our lives we have suddenly got on to the get fit kick - well my heart attack and by-pass probably had something to do with it.

Now six months since my operation, I have maintained my version of a heart friendly diet, which is somewhat radical, but have not been that succesful with my exercising. Though I did climb a mountain and have some good walks in Lesotho, without any negative effects.
On Saturday morning we decided we needed an exercise bike or an eliptical trainer. I was sold on the idea of getting an eliptical trainer that gets some good publicity on the infomercials. That idea was scrapped after I found a site on the net that reviews exercise equipment and which gave it a poor rating.

What I did discover was that there were cheapies advertised at various sites on the net, but the those advocated by the "experts" cost an arm and a leg. The idea was becoming less attractive, the more research I did. Who can exercise on one of these, if you are missing an arm and a leg.

I carefully planned the route, so we could visit all the shops selling exercise equipment. Our first stop was the exercise equipment shop I had dismissed a few weeks back, when driving past. "Who buys that stuff", I had scornfully said. We ended up with this "baby".



The salesman was very knowledgable, convincing and enthusiastic about the equipment. The eliptical trainer was about four times the price I wanted to pay and too big for our home. The exercise bike was nice, but cost a lot more than I wanted to spend. I was ready to walk out and continue the search, but the salesman gave us a price we could have refused, but didn't. It was a good price - expensive, but good.

A programmable magnetic cycle. I was almost intimidated by it - you need a pliots licence to drive it, or should I say pedal it.



It has 12 different programmes; you can increase the resistance as you pedal and burn up more energy; it takes your pulse, so that you do not over-exert yourself. It two of the programmes where you set your age and get a good cardio-vascular workout - it also reduces the resistance as soon as your pulse rate gets too high. It measures the calories burnt while cycling; it tells you your speed or rpm; and it has a clock, a timer and an alarm.
With what I have spent on this baby, I intend getting my money's worth, so will use it regularly. I must say I have been enjoying it and feel that I have exercised well after having been on it for 15 minutes.



It has some big advanatges over a normal bicycle. You don't have to worry about the rain, or being knocked over by a car, or being chased by a dog, or having some mugger part you from its saddle. And we have positioned it so that if we get bored, we can watch TV - that is if we choose to cycle when there is a good show on.

I intend to be well on the way to a new level of fitness at the end of a month.

And Tom, no cycling shorts and other fancy attire is needed.