Saturday, August 26, 2006

An Exercise Machine!

I have been looking for a used elyptical machine since our trip to Puerto Rico. While hubby and I were there we used the fitness room in the hotel everyday. Usually, my favorite exercise is walking, but I thought something for inclement weather would be useful—and also so I can eat an extra muffin. I found the treadmill and the stationary bicycle boring. The weight machines were tedious, although hubby—the engineer—seemed to enjoy counting repetitiously—I suppose because he has a mathematical mind.

With the elyptical machine, I felt I got a good workout—all over. For the past few weeks, I’ve been searching eBay and the local newspaper and I finally got lucky. Last night I bought one. Hubby and I brought the machine home and for now it is in the garage. I intend to put it in the basement eventually, but I have to clean out a corner. (That will not be fun.) The machine has a screen which can tell me how many steps I’ve gone, how many calories I’ve burned, how many minutes I’ve been working out and it can check my pulse. If I want to, I can make it harder by increasing the resistance—but I think I’ll have to get in shape for that first.

The best feature—for me at least—is that fact that is has a little shelf for a book so I can read while I’m exercising. I tried a paperback but with my aging eyesight and the poor light in our garage, it was too difficult for me to see—and rough to turn pages as well. However, I found I could use my Rocket e-book reader on it. I already have it set at a 16-point font, and it has a backlight. All I had to do was change the page orientation so I could slide the thinner end of the reader into the book holder. Then it is a whole lot easier to turn pages because I just have to push the button. Awesome.

I’m looking forward to exercising and catching up on my reading.

For those of you interested in owning an e-book reader, ebookwise has one that is a newer version of the original Rocket. You can find one at:

http://www.ebookwise.com/ebookwise1150.htm

1 comment:

K. said...

What a great idea! I never saw much use for those e-readers but it sounds like it is working perfect for you...