From the category archives:
Cycling
Thoughts of what may or may not be the best bike trainer may not be high on your priority list, but at some point you may be in search of a bike trainer to help you maintain your hard earned fitness.
We have had the good fortune to find the joys of cycling many years ago and growing up in Maine makes for a fairly short cycling season and a decent sized off season with which you need to work hard to maintain your fitness. We have been able to test and ride just about all of the major brand bike trainers on the market and we have a definite favorite trainer beyond compare.
The best bike trainer that we have found for our needs is the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. This bike trainer is a pretty simple design and doesn’t offer a computerized screen or a rocking chassis or high tech paint job or any of that. What it does offer is a rock solid chassis, superb ride feel and nearly bullet proof internal designs, which are well known in the cycling industry.
What I really like about the Kurt Kinetic Bike Trainers is the way they feel when you are riding them. Some trainers are really erratic and do not provide a ride quality that is anything similar to a real road ride feel. The Kinetic trainer is a fluid design that uses a very unique technology that will provide an excellent ride quality feel yet has virtually eliminated any of the leaking problems that fluid trainers are known to develop over time.
So while you may not be looking for a high quality bike trainer right now, the cold days of winter will be upon us very soon and it’s only a matter of time. Some of the best times to buy an expensive item is when nobody is looking to buy. You can find some excellent summer time deals on bike trainers because there aren’t very many buyers in the market.
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Anyone can offer simple weight loss tips, and if you are currently trying to lose weight, you will find that you will have better success if you try to fit in regular exercise on a daily basis if possible. If you have not been exercising, you may want to go for a medical first and discuss the type of exercise program you will embark on with your doctor.
A good workout program will build muscle, stamina and help you drop off those excess pounds as well. A good, well balanced exercise plan will exercise all of your muscles, it will not only focus on one or two.
If there is a gym near your house or your work area, you may want to go ahead and join it and learn how to lose weight fast with exercise. Not only will you be able to avail yourself of their exercise equipment, but they also often have personal trainers on hand who can give you tips on how to exercise.
Some people do not like working out in a gym, at least not all the time. If you are like that there are plenty of other exercise options available for you to try.
Riding a Bicycle: Biking is a great exercise, one where you can pace yourself from the beginning and start off slowly if you are a bit out of shape. It is also fantastic for helping you lose weight fast and for toning your muscles. To begin with, ride for short distances on level surfaces. As you progress you can begin to go for longer rides, and try riding up hill. If you choose to bike, make sure you wear a helmet and the proper riding gear.
Swimming: Swimming is said to be one of the best all-round exercises that you can do. It exercises many different muscles in your body and you feel little resistance when exercising due to the properties of water and the weightless feeling you have when immersed in it. If you are not a very good swimmer you may find that it is safest to swim in a public pool where there is a lifeguard. You are never too old to learn to swim either. Even if you can swim a little, taking lessons and learning different strokes is very beneficial.
Running: Not everyone enjoys running. If you do, though, you will find that it is a very good way to get in shape and to shed those extra pounds. It is quite a bit harder on your knees and joints than either swimming or biking. As with biking, you should start off by running around a track and not pushing yourself too much to begin with. The more you practice, the further you will be able to run, and eventually you will even be able to run up hills.
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Many runners or fitness advocates seek to purchase a heart rate monitor as a tool for analysis and guidance on the road to achieving maximum fitness. For those who don’t want to spend a fortune, a basic heart rate monitor offering considerable performance and reliability as well as essential features for sport and fitness is the Polar RS100 Heart Rate Monitor Watch.
A heart rate monitoring device comprises of a strap that wraps around your chest. The special strap has sensors that measure how fast your heart is beating during exercise – a measurement that is usually expressed in beats per minute (BPM). Almost all heart rate monitor watches feature the ability to set a target heart beat minute – or more specifically a lower and upper range. This heart rate “band” serves as a guide for the exercise intensity you desire in your workout. The popular term for this feature is a target heart rate zone. Watches will also alert you with an audible or visual indicator when your heart rate falls outside of this zone. Running watches like the RS100 Polar will also tally up the amount of time over a training session that you spend within a zone.
On top of this, the RS100 Polar Watch features a basic stopwatch with 99 lap and split times over an exercise session making it ideal for timing the types of repetition workouts that are popular among runners, cyclists and triathletes throughout endurance communities worldwide. The Polar RS100 watch can also measure your average heart rate on a per lap and a per session basis and can record the approximate number of calories burnt.
The watch is designed to be simple and intuitive to use with a large face and layout with three data lines, one of which is customizable. The layout comprises of big digits that are easily viewable in the middle of an intense workout and a lap-counter that lets you view the current lap number in your session.
One of the best places to purchase the Polar RS100 online is the Amazon website. Not only is Amazon one of the cheapest places to buy sports watches – (you might even find a Polar RS100 Sale item in one of their numerous sales events at a heavily discounted price), but you can also learn a lot about products you wish to purchase by reading the customer reviews. A Polar RS100 review will reveal what customers who have actually used the watch actually think of it in terms of how it performs in the real world rather than what is claimed in the sales copy.
Incidentally, the Polar RS100 is a top-rated item on Amazon with over four stars, making it a strong choice for anyone seeking a decent quality heart rate monitor watch that can be used on runs, rides or in the gym.
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Bicycling is an excellent way to exercise 20 to 60 minutes a day, three to five days a week for achieving good health and fitness. Cycling is as effective as walking and running for toning large muscles of the lower body. It provides the needed aerobic activity to stimulate the cardiovascular system but with less stress on your joints. Indeed, cycling is one of the best activities for improving cardiovascular fitness.
Aerobic exercise researchers say that cycling is as good as running and swimming for attaining fitness. Sports medicine specialist prescribes it because it causes less wear and tear on the joints and muscles than jogging. Older adults in people with joint problems are often advised to two cycling as their primary exercise for all of the above reasons.
Cycling is also an excellent way to burn fat and increase lean weight. When combined with a healthy diet can be both enjoyable and effective as a weight reduction strategy. It has the added benefit of enhancing endurance and strength of the lower body.
In order to benefit from the many advantage the cycling, is not necessary to be a professional road biker. A regular routine which includes biking can be very effective in your efforts to improve your physical fitness.
One of the strengths of a cycling regimen is that it can be done alone, with a companion, or with a group, for any length of time, at almost any time, and by any reasonably fit person-regardless of age. You can also take your bicycle out on the road, or into the mountains, use one of the many stationary cycle found in health clubs gyms participating in indoor cycling or Spinning� classes using your own stationary bike at home.
Cycling is also attractive because it provides a mode of transportation that can help to justify the time spent engaging in the activity. Instead of driving to the local store you can ride your bike, and save gas, wherein tear in your car, and get your work out in all in the same process. You can also get out and enjoy the scenery as you derive the benefits of engaging in physical activity.
Cycling is often combined with other fitness activities like swimming, strength training, running, and other similar activities. Cycling can also be a great way to meet people who have similar interests to you.
To get the most out of your cycling workouts, try the following training tips:
Warm-up. Your cycling sessions should always start with a proper warm-up. A warm-up not only prepares your body for exercise, but also improves performance and reduces the risk of injury. Start your warm-up with rhythmic movements that are a slower or lower intensity version of the activity to come.
The aim is to raise your heart rate and the core temperature of your muscles. Climbing a few flights of stairs at a slow pace, walking or jogging on the spot or starting out with some easy cycling are good ways of warming up for this activity. Your warm-up should end with some stretch exercises for all the major muscle groups, but especially the legs and lower back.
Seat Height. Adjust the seat height so that your knee has only a slight bend, approximately 10 to 20 degrees, when your foot is at the bottom of a pedal swing.
Shoes. Stiff-soled shoes are the best for cycling. A soft-soled shoe, such as the ones often used for aerobics or running, absorbs too much of the pedal force and makes your pedaling inefficient. A soft-soled shoe will also bend over the pedal when you cycle uphill and may make your feet feel uncomfortable or numb.
Your shoelaces should also be tucked in to prevent them from tangling with the pedals.
Cleats. If you are using clip pedals always check the cleat tension on the pedals and make sure that their cleats are aligned properly on your shoes. Improper cleat alignment may cause muscle and tendon strain and lead to injury over time.
Water Bottle. Proper hydration is essential for a pleasant and safe ride. Replenish your fluids often by drinking water before, during and after your ride. It is important to drink enough water to prevent heat exhaustion and dehydration and to recover more quickly.
Cool-down. Heart attacks and other cardiac problems most often occur at the end or after an intense exercise session. To reduce the risk of this ever happening to you, you must always warm-down at the end of your ride.
The warm-down is basically a reversed version of the warm-up in which your movements should become slower and the range of motion smaller.
After cardio respiratory activity your blood is pooled in the arms and legs and your heart rate is very high. The purpose of the warm-down is to bring the heart rate down to almost normal and to get the blood circulating freely back to the heart and the other vital organs.
If you stop cycling suddenly you may faint, become dizzy or place undue stress on your heart.