<p>Glad to help, interesteddad. Perhaps I should have mentioned that one is supposed to ride fast rpms in a lower gear. If you’re heaving with all your might and pedaling with all your might, that sounds very hard on the knees.</p>
<p>He can’t do a lower gear on the Airdyne. There is no such thing. It’s hard and harder.</p>
<p>85 rpms is, by far, the fastest I’ve ever pedaled the thing. It’s OK on the knees - it pedals smooth like a big ol’ Cadillac – but 85 rpms is hell on the lungs. Yesterday’s e-mail video blog from the iPod nazi was all about motivation and giving it that last ounce of effort during the workouts, so that’s what I tried to do.</p>
<p>The Airdyne is all wind resistance. You are pedalling a fan. The resistance increases with the speed squared.</p>
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<p>It’s not too bad below 40 rpm. My “talk test pace” is now 50 rpms, which gets my thighs burning just a little bit at first if I don’t give it a bit of arm. Giving it a lot of arm is the key to really getting it going fast. To get it to 85, I was giving it the full rower action with the arms and shoulders while pedalling hard. That’s what sends the heart rate skyrocketing.</p>
<p>I spend a lot of money on my exercise clothes (except for the free stuff Brooks gives me). I like my “stuff”. Just learned that the parent company of Brooks if Fruit of the Loom. Who knew? I’m supposed to appear at a Brooks event in Bowling Green (home office of Fruit of the Loom) which should be fun and I get my choice of shoes and jacket. Obviously they haven’t realized I can barely run a step! 
(part of this deal is service to the running community, which I am still doing at a high level)</p>
<p>I have rollers at home and an old bicycle sitting on them. The bicycle was built with a Reynolds 531 frame with custom components and I put the bicycle together myself. It’s been sitting in the basement for 20 years.</p>
<p>The rollers are cool because you can shift your gears as on a regular bicycle. The back wheels are connected by friction to a set of two small turbines which blow air on you while they are spinning. I think that resistance is closer to linear than using fan blades.</p>
<p>[Bicycle</a> trainer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_trainer]Bicycle”>Bicycle trainer - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>i-dad, Airdyne is OK for the knees? DH needs a stationary bike to rehab his repaired knee, and I was wondering if I should get him your favorite exercise machine. Did you buy it from the manufacturer? I’m sure you already mentioned it, but this thread is so long, it would be hard to locate that post.</p>
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<p>Fruit of the Loom is owned by Berkshire Hathaway I believe.</p>
<p>I read a story of a guy that finished a marathon and was on the plane home and folks didn’t believe that he was a runner because he had so much trouble walking on the plane.</p>
<p>There’s a little dance that some, maybe many, runners go through.</p>
<p>You have an injury. So you keep running until you can barely walk when you’re not running. Then you reluctantly rest it. And the moment it feels a little better, you’re back to running. And you go back and forth until you realize that you really have to take some time off.</p>
<p>Most of the runners I know understand when you have an injury.</p>
<p>I have backed down the ramp onto planes after marathons- particularly Boston which is a net elevation loss and kills your quads. Worse yet is St. George, Utah. No quads means you back down steps and ramps.</p>
<p>idad…I have seen your ipod nazi on youtube videos before. Those routines would just kill my knees! I admire your dedication.</p>
<p>I had 1/2 chicken breast for dinner, then caprese salad…fresh basil, sliced tomatoes, low fat part skim mozzarella…no olive oil. Cherries for dessert. Lots of water today.</p>
<p>Bunsen:</p>
<p>Check with his physical therapist, but I believe the Schwinn Airdyne is widely used for knee rehab. Every NFL team has them on the sidelines during practice and games for injured players to “stay loose”. Here’s a photo of three Miami Dolphins on Airdynes:</p>
<p><a href=“http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2010/0519/nfl_u_marshallb_400.jpg[/url]”>http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2010/0519/nfl_u_marshallb_400.jpg</a></p>
![http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2010/0519/nfl_u_marshallb_400.jpg[/url]](http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2010/0519/nfl_u_marshallb_400.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>Here’s a college athletic department ACL replacement rehab protocol that includes the Airdyne starting 2 weeks after surgery. I think the LEVEL 3 they recommend at the 4 month mark post surgery is my standard 50 rpms pace. That was hard when I first started, but is now pretty much my natural pace unless I’m shot from intervals and cooling down:</p>
<p>[TCU</a> Athletic Training Knee Rehabilitation Programs](<a href=“Home - Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences”>Home - Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences)</p>
<p>It’s kind of the “industry standard” in rehab because it’s been in production since the 1970s and it’s indesctructible. I think every rehab clinic in the country uses them. Good for knee because you can use the good leg and the two arms to apply the force if you are just looking for range of motion on the injured knee. It’s also very smooth and very progressive, i.e. infinite progression of force required as you pedal faster.</p>
<p>The thing is built like a brick outhouse. It’s solid as a rock. </p>
<p>You can buy them assembled from a local dealer. I ordered mine on the internet. UPS driver dropped it off in a big box in the garage. I had it assembled solo in under an hour, although at 80 pounds or so, it would be a little easier with two people. I just propped it up in the box and bolted on the feet and the wheels. At that point, it was easy enough to wheel into the house to add the last bits and pieces. No big deal. Easier than putting together a bar-b-q grill. All the main stuff is already assembled. You are just bolting on the seat, the pedals, the arms, etc.</p>
<p>I couldn’t be happier with the purchase. I can’t imagine a more solid home exercise machine. This thing will be still be going long after I’m gone. I like it because it’s got that classic old-school vibe, like a Harley. It’s nice because it’s suitable for 80 year old heart attack patients and 20 year old NFL players and everyone in between. Because it’s so universal, most of the academic research on interval training (like the infamous Tabata protocol research – Google it) has been done using the Air Dyne. It’s a heart rate monster because it gets the arms and legs working.</p>
<p>I bet that your husband could check one out at his physical therapy clinic. They all have them. I think most fitness gyms have them, too, but they aren’t “sexy” like the bikes with all the electronic gadgets. They have a display for rpms, watts, miles, and so forth, but none of that is necessary for them to work.</p>
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<p>It’s been good for my knees, but I’ve had to build up very slowly on the squat presses and lunge walks. I basically couldn’t do a lunge when I first started. Over time, my thighs have gotten stronger and that’s given me more stability to do the lunges. I don’t try to go real deep. I’m not trying to set any records. I’m working on the second “month” of the program after five months of exercising three times a week. I take each phase and see what I need to do to build up to doing the full workout at full iPod pace. For example, I can now do all the Phase II exercises pretty well and am doing two sets at full iPod pace. I’ll go for the full three sets next week and probably repeat those weeks a couple of times. I’m not in any hurry.</p>
<p>I like that it’s given me more functional fitness. Things like kneeling down to look at the bottom shelf of the fridge or climbing up on a stool to get something down no longer bother my knees.</p>
<p>What is “Lucy” workout wear? I’m not familiar with it.</p>
<p>Anyone wear LuluLemon? That’s nice stuff!!</p>
<p>Almost got up to running 5 miles yesterday afternoon. Felt good to almost be back. I had about 2,200 calories which is more than usual lately. Some of it was from snacks from the kitchen (new pretzel M&Ms) and the rest was from a larger dinner than usual (fish, rice, pesto pasta, broccoli, egg sandwich). I woke up and felt sluggish so I did some stretching, situps and barbell exercises. I dropped the barbells down to 55 pounds because of my arm injury. It all felt quite good and I feel a lot better now. I’ve been holding off on weights because of the arm problem but I guess I’ll wear the cuff and try doing them.</p>
<p>My regular tennis person is busy with training this week which is just as well. Hopefully we can hit next week.</p>
<p>I haven’t been “cleared” for squats or lunges. sigh…</p>
<p>Changed my routine today. 50 minutes on bike doing some hard intervals and 50 minutes on dreadmill. WIll see what the scale shows tomorrow.</p>
<p>lululemon.com</p>
<p>$48 for a plain black men’s t-shirt? Alas, one the customer reviewers says they don’t stock it in the Beverly Hills store! Darn.</p>
<p>I’m now loaded up on a selection of long sleve t-shirts (with iPod pocket) for fall walking, thanks to sales and overstock colors at LLBean and Lands End. Their cotton t’s and mock turtlenecks are really nice. </p>
<p>And, miracle of miracles, a cool front came through and we have a crisp NW breeze, low humidity, and a brilliant blue sky. Supposed to be high in the mid 80s. Now that’s the payoff for New England winters! Walking day…</p>
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<p>That’s fantastic, BC. Today is calling out to me!</p>
<p>It was wonderful last night. Opened the windows around midnight and it was raining outside. Fairly cool this morning but highs will still get into the upper 80s. The forecast has upper 80s during the day and low 70s at night which is great for sleeping. My wife gets up early in the morning for her long walks to take advantage of cooler temps and a weaker sun.</p>
<p>T-shirts do come in different quality materials. There are some very nice weaves that cost more than your real cheap stuff that I like. I have a bunch of corporate T-shirts like this which are of very light and soft material. I think that you can generally get these for about $20 retail though.</p>
<p>$48 is way over the top. Of course if someone wants to spend their money on it, perhaps for better customer service, shopping ambiance, etc., I’m not going to complain. I have my weaknesses too.</p>
<p>i-dad: many, many thanks! DH’s “physical therapy and rehab” consists of his surgeon giving him a piece of paper that spells out what DH can and cannot do, no real PT referrals “unless you are really clueless and need help” :eek: So I have to do my own research here, and it looks like Airdyne would be OK. DH would be thrilled to get anything that needs to be assembled!</p>
<p>Lululemon… I get most of my exercise clothes at the local Brooks outlet, but there is one particular item I on which I will spend major $$$ - my exercise bras. Nothing beats Lululemon or Shock Absorber bras for me. Guys, be thankful that you don’t need the extra scaffolding like we ladies do.</p>
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[lucy</a> activewear | women’s yoga clothes, running clothes & workout clothes](<a href=“http://www.lucy.com/]lucy”>http://www.lucy.com/)</p>
<p>There’s a store about 20 minutes from me. Unfortunately, that same shopping center also has a White House/Black Market, Banana Republic, Crate and Barrel, Williams-Sonoma and Brighton (I’ve never bought anything from them, but during my last trip down there, they had a sale starting the next day and I found a really cute red purse and pair of red sandals that were going to be 30% off, so I left them my credit card information and they rang it up for me the next day).</p>
<p>I bought two of these tops at Lucy: [women’s</a> Mesh It Up Tank | lucy activewear](<a href=“http://www.lucy.com/Mesh%20It%20Up%20Tank/211809,default,pd.html?cgid=Tops_Tanks%20%26%20Camis&dwvar_211809_color=GREY%20HEATHER]women’s”>http://www.lucy.com/Mesh%20It%20Up%20Tank/211809,default,pd.html?cgid=Tops_Tanks%20%26%20Camis&dwvar_211809_color=GREY%20HEATHER)</p>
<p>one in the gray and one in a teal. They come down longer than my UA tops and are incredibly comfortable. They are also reversible. Also bought a pair of compression shorts, but don’t feel they’re quite as comfortable as the UAs I bought, but I do wear them.</p>