<p>My health club has some Woodways (not the Curve though), they are strange to walk on. They make a lot of noise because of the track-tread design.</p>
<p>For your average NFL lineman they are pretty much the only option because they can handle something like 400-pound people.</p>
<p>The treadmill doctor website has a huge review section if you are looking for a new one, they focus on reliability and repair history. I used them a lot when I got mine a while ago.</p>
<p>I got a Pacemaster Gold (waited for a nice sale), which was a very highly rated, no-frills treadmill at the time. Huge deck. We don’t run on it, but I am pretty large so it gets stressed when I walk on it. It’s 5 or 6 years old now, never had a problem.</p>
<p>I’m reasonably handy with the business end of a screwdriver, so I would buy a new belt and take a shot at replacing it myself.</p>
<p>i like Treadmill Doctor. Believe they are in Tennessee. They told me to get a new one.</p>
<p>The Nordic Track Elite lasted nine years for us. Four big people used it. Two ran on it. We all thought it was just fine. But I’m hearing the Nordic Track treadmills are lower quality now. I’m hearing (Amazon reviews) that Sole is better at that price point.</p>
<p>MOWC, no one in my genetic family is the sort of athlete you are . . . we don’t need that type of machine. :)</p>
<p>And yes, i could order the belt and replace it myself. I’m an engineer in my former life. But I’m leery. The chances for serious injury are significant, I think, if I get it wrong.</p>
<p>We are walking outside although it’s hot out there. I love that. I’d walk outside no matter the weather . . .</p>
<p>Did my Friday NROL4LIFE workout this afternoon. Switched it up so I’m doing the explosive push ups in this workout (which doesn’t have push ups in the strength exercises). Doh. Still not very explosive, but I did two sets of 10.</p>
<p>Went up to 40 lbs on the single leg dead lift. That was pretty tough for 15 reps per leg, but OK. Couldn’t get to 15 reps per arm on the alternating DB bench press without feeling like I was in danger of dropping the 30 lb DBs on my head, so I quit at 12 per side in one set and 13 per side in the other. Inverted rows on the Jungle Gym straps were good. Goblet squats with 30 lbs were good. Probably need to go up to 35 pounds on that. Interesting, I do 6 to 8 rep sets with 60 lbs, but fifteen reps is a completely different kettle of fish.</p>
<p>We’ve talked about getting an indoor exercise bike but hesitate because, if we do, we want to be sure it gets used. I guess finding one we’d really like is key. Probably wouldn’t make as good a clothing rack as a treadmill. ;-)</p>
<p>I’ve never regretted my exercise bike purchase for a minute. Well, that’s not true… I regret it every time I climb on the thing! It’s been a huge part of my fitness program and I expect that it will continue to be for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>I bought it about a month into my fitness kick after realizing that I was going to hurt myself on the rickety old $10 yard sale exercise bike my wife had bought. 2.5 years later, I would buy exactly the same thing again before I considered any other piece of home conditioning/cardio equipment.</p>
<p>Why not get a road bicycle and a trainer stand or rollers for indoor use? The pluses are that you can take the bicycle off the trainer stand or rollers and ride outside, and the bicycle and trainer stand or rollers are much lighter and easier to move around the house than a dedicated exercise bicycle.</p>
<p>A road bicycle + trainer takes up more space and you have to do something to deal with the grease that comes off the chainwheel/chain and the rear cluster. BTW, I have one of these in the basement. I haven’t used it in at least a decade. The bicycles in the gym are far more convenient with digital information displays and the relative ease of being able to read something or watch a tv show while working out.</p>
<p>Center of gravity on the road bike is a lot higher too.</p>
<p>The cadence and distance sensor I have on the Airdyne is actually designed to go on a road bike. It would give you all the data from a road bike on a stand, fed to a Garmin watch: pedal cadence (from the sensor on the pedal crank) and speed/distance (from the sensor on the rear spokes).</p>
<p>How would it account for the level of resistance? Trainers have different approaches to simulate resistance and resistance levels are necessarily linear - it certainly isn’t on mine.</p>
<p>Didn’t do anything yesterday but got a lot of sleep Friday and Saturday. Apparently there’s a flu going around in NY and MA and it got passed around our house. It seems to be a fairly short flu with not much in the way of respiratory symptoms.</p>
<p>Tennis this afternoon in low-80s temperature on clay courts.</p>
<p>Did weights & core yesterday. I don’t feel like I get enough of a workout with the NROL, so I decided to modify it a bit. I’m taking some of his exercises and adding them to my old ones. I may go back to it after my calf heals, there’s too many things I can’t do until then.</p>
<p>I’m finding that phase I is, overall, less of a workout than I’ve been used to. However, I also know from his previous programs that it will probably get tougher as the number of sets increases. So, I’m looking at it as a little bit of a change of pace. I think it’s pretty common for people to jump into the intro phase of these programs and think they aren’t hard enough.</p>
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<p>The Versa Climber looks brutal. I bet that will have you panting like a dog in no time flat! Airdynes are a good craigslist candidate. Parts for the old ones are readily available. I have an old-school Schwinn dealer near me who refurbs old ones. Very cool – although his prices for them are ridiculous. Plus, to be honest, having UPS drop the thing at your front door beats trying to wrestle it home in the car.</p>
<p>I would like a VersaClimber in our facilities. But even refurbished they are cost-prohibitive. You’re talking about $4k used I think is what I had read. Our company is in the process of replacing most of our ellipticals. The ones we have are 8-14 years old! They have served us well, but now it is time to move on. We typically buy our cardio equipment used, but we are buying brand new ellipticals for less than what we had found refurbished ones for last year. We’ve bought two already and are getting ready to order two more next month I think.</p>
<p>Ugh! VersaClimber – great machine, but PTSD flashbacks on this one! This is one where it seems like you have to have some one make you do it or you are training for something specific.</p>
<p>“I think I will do a quick VersaClimber interval session”, said no one, ever.</p>
<p>Except for iDad, most people are not disciplined enough to stick with a machine as difficult as Airdyne. Most fitness machines wind up sitting unused. Best bets are elliptical or treadmill.</p>
<p>We went to the huge Kenny Chesney-Tim McGraw stadium concert last night. The first hour or so was brutally hot with son on us (didn’t go until 6:30 for that reason and missed first 2 acts). We tried to stay hydrated, but both H and I were dragging on our outings this morning (4.4 miles for me and 30 on the bike for him). I may be too old for stadium concerts unless someone gives me club level or box seats!</p>
<p>WildChild did the Philly Triathlon today and entered as Amatuer Elite instead of age group. The competition was intense, but he did well. He said he was running 5:30 pace and a guy blew by him. He hit some driftwood in the swim but did OK. Bike was hard and hot. His transitions need work, he said. He couldn’t get his feet in his bike shoes while on the bike and had to stop and put them on! He also is at a huge equipment disadvantage since he doesn’t have $3000 wheels. Glad I only have 1 sport…</p>
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It’s been a huge part of my fitness program and I expect that it will continue to be for the rest of my life.</p>