Did you get your peloton? Do you like it??

Still waiting. I think I initially told you June 24, but it is actually July 24.

But . . . You have to start paying right away. So I made my first payment the other day!

The wait is killing me. My gym reopened, but no way am I going there. My Achilles tendinitis is still too bad for running. So all I have is my boot camp, which is not enough.

League tennis is resuming. Normally, a team match would be three courts of doubles and two singles, played indoors.

The new league will be two doubles and one singles. Outdoors, in the heat and humidity, rain delays, thunderstorm cancellations. Each player has to bring her own can of balls, and no one can touch another players balls.

Normally, there might be 8 or 9 teams. There is so little interest given these restrictions that only 2 teams have signed up. My team was interested, but I wasn’t willing to play (see Achilles’ tendon), and I don’t want to captain if I’m not playing.

The league laid off its support staff, too. They are asking for donations.

I’m not sure how things will ever improve. The fall season is entirely indoors. Even I am not willing to play indoors . . .

quote:

Still waiting.

Oh no!! For some reason I thought you were expecting it sooner, phooey! I'm sorry you have to wait even longer than you expected!

Does the achilles tendon problem impact stepping-type activities? Can you do stepping while you wait?

I have been doing my version of fake Zumba, which is sometimes just marching around with music playing. Basically my main goal is continuous movement of arms and legs, and mostly I succeed at that.

But after whenever your last thread where you mentioned that you used to like stepping, I poked around and found the step platform I had. It's probably 6 inches tall (it has two risers so I just leave it on the tallest one). And then I also have these concrete slabs that Mr. SK bought for something, they are maybe more like 3 inches? Anyway, after you reminded me of stepping, I now have added that to my activities. I step to music, and if I'm feeling tired or my knees feel creaky, I use lower blocks and it's still a pretty good workout.

Although, I don't really have any business giving you exercise suggestions, since I'm pretty sure you know a lot more about all of these things than I do!

Anyway, I hope your achilles tendon is ok and that your peloton comes earlier than the new date!

Also, I'm sorry to hear about all the problems with your tennis league.

quote:

no one can touch another players balls....

Of course not! It's a public tennis court!


Yes, I am that juvenile.....

Stepping is a great idea--I'm going to find something around here that I can use.

There's a high curb near my house. When I go for a run or walk, I try to finish there and do 50 step ups on each leg. I already have my music, so I just find the right song and have at it. I'm glad stepping is working for you, SK.

Peleton has non-bike classes, but I haven't tried them yet. I need to find some time to scroll through and find an instructor who works for me. Can't have anyone who is too chipper.

One thing I already like is this: You get to pick the style of music you like! As best I can tell, you pick something (I picked R&B), and then I picked an instructor and type/length of workout. The instructor appeared on my TV, and . . . R&B music was playing! I don't know if that means that they just overlay the chosen music over the workout (so if I picked Steve for arms with R&B, someone else might do the same workout with Steve for arms with rock).

Either way, I was absolutely delighted to see that I could work out to R&B music I have heard of (it started with Chaka Khan). I live in a community where my kind of music is in the minority, so many workout classes have music that doesn't do much for me. If Peloton can fix that problem, we're going to get along really well.

I’m getting a treadmill next week. I need to vary my exercise routines and the gym is no go.

Bonus for Mary Anna ... it has cultural and historical walks on the screen (Dubrovnik, Easter Island, Scotland, etc.), narrated by the instructor, and some National Park hikes.

To exercise here I must get up and out at 5am.
Otherwise it becomes too hot early.
When I get up I want coffee and news.
It has been a few days since I have done an early walk.

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
One thing I already like is this: You get to pick the style of music you like! As best I can tell, you pick something (I picked R&B), and then I picked an instructor and type/length of workout. The instructor appeared on my TV, and . . . R&B music was playing! I don't know if that means that they just overlay the chosen music over the workout (so if I picked Steve for arms with R&B, someone else might do the same workout with Steve for arms with rock).

Either way, I was absolutely delighted to see that I could work out to R&B music I have heard of (it started with Chaka Khan). I live in a community where my kind of music is in the minority, so many workout classes have music that doesn't do much for me. If Peloton can fix that problem, we're going to get along really well.

Quirt has mentioned our Mirror-thingamajig that projects exercise videos. The soundtrack and the instructor are different, because you can control the sound on both, which is helpful, since some music makes it hard to hear the instructor more than other music at the same volume. I mostly do yoga, so I just leave the ethereal default background sounds on.

Nina, here's the same kind of step platform as I have, except the max height on mine is 8 inches, not 6:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...24-9f5d-b31d6b1bfbee

Here is the kind of concrete blocks we have, two is enough. Note that this one is 4 inches high:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Cap-C...-x-15-625-in/3608974

What I do, which I suspect is the basic step, is step up onto the platform (count one, two), step down (three, four), and then for the next count (one) take an extra step on the floor before going back up again (two). (I think that's why I do, kinda hard to tell actually, sitting here at my desk...)

Anyway, the point is that you're switching back and forth between right and left leg for the step up. Then I alternate between pumping my arms like I'm running and pumping straight up.

I do my fake-Zumba/stepping in our basement so it's much cooler and I don't have worry about stomping around.

Quirt, can I ask what kind you're getting?

Re music, these days I pull up YouTube videos, but I may eventually go back to Zumba videos or something. I found that with the Zumba videos, I was trying to learn and follow the steps/moves and that slowed me down. But now that I have a few basic things down, I end up getting a better workout if I just dance and do my own thing (it helps that I'm doing this by myself so I don't mind that I surely look incredibly dorky). But that's why I keep calling it fake Zumba.

Right now my playlist includes: I Gotta Feeling and Boom Boom Pow (Black Eyed Peas), Despacito, Shape of You, Uptown Funk, Lady Gaga, that sort of thing... I also sometimes pull up a list of "music to walk to" that has the beats per minute and will try to find a new song to add.

Cindy what other music (besides Chaka Khan) do you like for exercising?

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

Quirt, can I ask what kind you're getting?

It's a NordicTrack, and the program it comes with is a NordicTrack-branded thing called iFit, which is free for the first year. Here's a list of all their walks and cultural walks. Looks interesting, although most of the time I'll just watch a show or listen to music.

https://www.ifit.com/blog/treadmill-program-links

The whole thing is spendy, but I've gotta do something if I cannot go to the gym.

Nice! I would love to have one some day, but we have some projects around here we need to take care of first.

That and I should probably wait to see if I'm going to get furloughed or laid off before I buy any additional discretionary items.

Oh gosh. My tastes are not mainstream. I cover 70s R and B all the way up to Beyoncé, JZ, Kanye, KPop, Taylor swift, Pitbull. And Chance the rapper, of course.

I have A Spotify playlist and I turn it on and go.

Ok, I recognize all of those names, but know music by only about half of them (including KPop, which I shouldn't bc I only know older Kpop at this point...)

I googled all the bests per minute to the music I'm using now, and I start out in the 90 bpm range and speed up to about 130 bpm.

What's a good way to find new music? (because I think I'm getting kind of bored with my selection at this point)

Oops, I see you mention spotify, is it free or do you have a paid subscription?