I'm sneaky

[gategrrl]

 A couple of days ago, I went to Target, after much hemming and hawing and finally bought a mini-stairstepper.  Mostly, I bought at first for me to use, when I'm watching TV, or to use in the morning after taking the kids to school: I've been finding lots of reasons not to go to the YMCA lately (bad bad me).

What *happened* is, while the kids are in front of the TV, one of them is almost always on it now, stepping away! Heh. 



This resembles the model I bought.  Even the Guy hopped on it a few times last night. He was surprised that it gave him as much of a workout as it did - it was working muscles of his he hadn't used in a long time!

Now, if only I can get a turn on the silly thing!

Comments

[happybydefault.livejournal.com]

Ooh, nice! We bought one of the 'sit and walk' ones for my elderly aunt last Christmas and she loves it. I was wondering if the stand and step were as sturdy/stable. I'm guessing it doesn't feel like you're going to fall off or anything, right?

I love that the kids are using it! Always good to find ways to introduce fun ways to exercise when they're young.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

The one I have is pretty stable. I have lousy balance, but once you start moving on it and keep your back straight and your center of balance over your feet, you're fine. I do use it next to the fireplace, though, so I can hold onto the lintel (just in case) for balance.

The Guy used it this afternoon while he watched his Space: 1999 DVDs on the computer! Awesome.

[agentotter.livejournal.com]

What a cool idea! I've never seen these before, but now I'm thinking about getting one... I always live in such small spaces (like the travel trailer/RV thing I live in right now) that there's not even room to stretch out on the floor and do my yoga, much less have any sort of exercise machine in. And the area I live in is so horrible weather-wise and scary resident-wise that exercising outdoors often isn't an option, either. I just might get one of these so I can work out while watching TV or whatnot, too! Was the one you got at Target about the same price as this one on Amazon?

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Hey there!

The model I bought at Target was ~$62.00 (not including tax), so I thought it was pretty reasonably priced.

I went on it last night for about 8 minutes and started sweating 3 minutes into it, burning about 80 calories, or 10 per minute. It's great for small spaces.

You might want to invest in one of those giant rubber things with handles on them, so you can have resistence for your arms, too: I have one, but have to figure out how to use it with the stepper. They aren't expensive. There are ministepper models that have arm resistence bands integrated with the stepper, but they're usually about $20 more.

[agentotter.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. They do have those at my Target here -- also $62.00 -- but I didn't have the money to spare this month so I didn't get one. I do want to get something like that eventually, though, I think it'd really help me with my getting-in-shape goals, especially since, as much as I'd like to buy a bike instead, the weather and the geography out here making good bike-riding days about as rare as good horse-working days. :D Much better to have something indoors that I can get used to using every single day, especially if it's something I can be actively using while I'm watching telly.

I did see another kind at Walmart that was like a stationary bike without the bike part... just sort of stationary pedals. ;D I'm betting the stairstepper is easier, but because part of what I'm working on in a huge way is my balance, I'm wondering if I ought to go for the pedal thing. Have you ever used one of those?