Praise for Pedaling

Back when my roommate bought the pedal exerciser, he read some reviews about it. Most of the reviews talked about how stationary pedaling isn't that good of a workout. It doesn't burn the calories that biking does, not even stationary bikes. At the time, I found this to be a bit discouraging, though I'm not sure why that mattered as I only tried to do the pedaling a few times before deciding it was too unstable for me.

However, as I am more mature now (or maybe just more practical), I've been using the pedaler almost every day. It's something that I'm trying to just make a regular part of my life and routine. And given that, I want to take some issue with the reviews that say pedal exercisers aren't that great. As far as I am concerned, they serve someone like me in many ways.

To begin with, a stationary pedaler is very small. It's basically just a stand with two pedals on it. No wheels. No seat. It can sit very comfortably in a small corner of your room, which is such a rare and wonderful thing for workout equipment. I don't have to devote a third of a room just to keep it around. No one runs into it when they walk by. It's not a bitch to move whenever the floor is vacuumed. And even if a cat pukes on it, it's fairly easy to clean. However, cats rarely HAVE puked on it because there is really no where for them to stand or lay on it.

Secondly, I like it because it's an indoor thing. I think a lot of professional health people underestimate the importance of being able to be indoors when you workout, especially if you're starting from a place of being very out of shape. On days when it is too hot and certainly this winter when it's too cold or slick, I can use the stationary pedals to accomplish the moment I need to accomplish. Now understand, back when I just walked, do you know what I would do instead of walking if it was too hot/rainy/slick/wet/whathaveyou and I couldn't go outside? Nothing. Nothing at all. I would just skip that day and have no extra movement. Now, I can pedal and still get some workout accomplished.

This brings me to what I believe is the most vital point about this piece of equipment. While people who may be in wonderful physical health might not see much in the way of results from the pedaler, for someone like me, who weighs in the 400s, pedaling IS a very good workout. I may not burn the level of calories on it that I would burn on a bike (stationary or otherwise), but I also cannot GET on a bike (stationary or otherwise). There is so much exercise equipment that is not designed for people past a certain weight and even what few bits are, often are good difficult for them to manage. A pedaler, on the other hand, is easy to manage and easy to deal with. No, you may not be burning massive amounts of calories, but you ARE burning calories. SOME is better than none at all.

There needs to be so much change in the way that we approach exercise and people who are out of shape/overweight. It seems like the dialogue has always been "here is this hard and painful stuff you can do that is also really boring and humiliating. Do that or you'll never be healthy." That is honestly such bullshit. If you're starting from ground zero in your workout routine, don't go to the gym and try to do All the Things. Walk out your door and to the end of your driveway. If that is too hard, just walk around your house until you can do more. Find some small things you CAN accomplish and focus on making them an everyday part of your life. More movement is better than no movement. Overtime, you may be able to add to it. If not, at least you have that small bit. You might even want to look into a stationary pedaler. They're not that expensive.