It's been awhile since I've posted, so I thought I would do a quick entry about how I am getting used to my new elliptical machine. I've had my Nordictrack elliptical for several weeks now, and I am really enjoying it. My muscles are still getting used to the new stance and motion,, but I am now doing 1/2 mile each time I get on it. I am taking several breaks during my half mile, and I'm focusing on taking less breaks right now.
There are two things I've had to adapt for. One of being my right hand on the arm poll, and the other being my left foot on the left foot pedal. The arm polls are at a different angle and are wider apart than my old machine. Because of that, every time I start the pedals and poles moving, my right hand slides awkwardly on the arm poll and it creates a sort of rug burn in between my thumb and forefinger. I have adapted to this by wearing a baseball glove on my right hand. That seems to solve that problem.
The problem with my left foot is that it tends to slide over to the inner side of the pedal and my foot rubs against the side. When I wear my tennis shoes, this isn't really a problem, but I am wearing my Vibram Five Finger shoes (KSO review). These shoes are made out of a very thin fabric, so my foot doesn't have much protection and I end up getting a spot on my foot that gets rubbed funny. To deal with this problem, I put down a folded hand towel under my foot. It took a little while to figure out how to fold the towel and place it so it would not slide out from under my foot as I worked out. I think I have it figured out now though.
I have made it to my first goal of doing 1/2 mile, although I'm still taking breaks like I said before. I plan on updating my mileage progress in a different post, because I have several pictures to upload and share from the virtual walk site.
I am very excited to say that I think wearing my Vibram Five Finger shoes will not be a problem on this machine. On my old machine I think my problem was the stance was too wide and it created excess pressure on my ankle. Because the stance on this machine is narrower, I think there will be less pressure and it won't be a problem. I think I've only worn my tennis shoes for the first two or three workouts. I've worn my Five Fingers the rest of the time. If at any point I do feel discomfort in my feet, I'll go back to wearing my tennis shoes. But for now everything seems to be OK.
I don't want to overload one post with all of my updates. So this post is this going to be about how I've been getting used to my new machine. Stay tuned for more updates soon.
Showing posts with label Vibram Five Fingers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vibram Five Fingers. Show all posts
Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
NordicTrack A.C.T. Features
I am feeling quite sore today after yesterday’s 6:35 minute workout. My legs feel OK, but the muscles in between my shoulder blades are very sore. I haven’t made up my mind as to whether I’ll take today off or not. I might get on and just hold onto the side railings. I think it was the wider arm poles that did my arms in. We’ll see. I’m itching to get back on it though.
As promised, here are a few pictures of some of the features I love about my new elliptical.
Nice looking machine all set up and ready to go. Note the piece of paper hanging on the wall. It’s got mileage information on it so I know how many revolutions is equal to a certain distance. I wrote it in 1/10 mile increments. Good thing too, as I only did .2 of a mile yesterday.
Big logo on the side. Not too “in your face”.
Love the console on the machine. The display color is blue (was very happy about that), and it displays how long you’ve been on (upper left), revolutions (upper right), calories burned (lower left), wattage output (low middle, not sure what it means), and RPMs (revolutions per minute).
On the lower portion of the console is a speaker. You see that black cord hanging down on the left side?
That’s a power cord you plug into your mp3 player or cd player. Pretty nice! I tried it out with my iPod, and the sound quality is excellent. I’ll be using that for sure whenever I’m on it. No more ear buds falling out midway through my workout.
At the very top of the console is the fan. I totally forgot to turn it on during my workout, but I’ll remember next time. I got so used to getting on the elliptical and not turning on the fan, I just spaced it. The fan has two speeds, high and low. There’s a third fan option called “auto fan”, where the fan increases or decreases depending on how fast you’re pedaling. I don’t think I’ll fool around with that, I plan to have it on high the entire time.
In the middle of the console there’s an ifit thing. I’ve never played around with ifit (it was on my old elliptical also), so I’m not sure how it works. I think you need an ifit card of some sort, and you plug that card into the slot and pick a workout that you can download from their website. Not positive, so I may be completely wrong.
Also in the middle of the console, you’ll see the start button (it turns on the screen if it’s been idle for 5 minutes, or you can move the pedals to turn it on), the display button (you can pick and choose what you want to see. I plan on showing everything all the time. Time, calories, RPMs, etc.), workouts button (the machine comes with some pre-set workouts), and the enter button with arrows (not sure what they do yet, but I think the left and right arrows are for scrolling through the pre-set programs and the enter button selects a workout).
On either side of the console, there are numbers. On the left you’ll see 1-10 and on the right you’ll see 11-20. Those are the resistance levels. Push a numbered button and after a few seconds, it will change the resistance. Twenty levels of resistance! My old machine only had 10 levels, and I only got up to level 4 when I used the resistance.
I didn’t get a good picture of them, but on the very bottom of the console are the hand grips you hold onto to get your heart rate.
Think that pretty much covers the console.
This is the water bottle holder. I don’t think I’ll use it, because I need to stop and get off entirely to get a drink. I don’t have the balance to take one hand off the pole and grab a bottle and drink. My husband will probably use it though.
The bottle holder is one thing I was sort of worried about. On my other machine my knees kept hitting the water bottle holder, so we had to take it off. I do not hit this one at all, don’t even come close to it.
This is the stride adjuster thing-a-ma-bob. You pull out the knob and move it up or down to the stride you want. You can pick 18’’, 20’’ or 22’’. I like the 20’’ the best. I haven’t tried using the knob myself, but my husband says he needs to grease it because it feels “gummy” when he moves it.
This was a complete surprise to me. What is this you ask? It’s a wall adapter! No more batteries for me! The console runs off of electricity. I was not expecting this at all. I don’t remember the specifications on the Sears site saying anything about this. I am very happy. One of my major complaints with my old machine was the fact that the display screen flickered on and off no matter if it had new batteries or not. The coils in the battery compartment got squished and I basically just gave up on it.
So this was a very unexpected and nice surprise. When it first came, I actually skimmed through the owner’s manual to see what kind of batteries I needed. Didn’t see anything in the book. There was a small box included with all the parts, and it was the wall adapter. Cool beans man (that was for you Monique)!
And finally, this is my mileage chart. I have revolutions from .1 mile all the way to 2 miles (in .1 increments) for all three stride lengths. And the black thing in front of it is one of the arm poles. I couldn’t get a clear shot without getting it in there.
There you have it. The features of my new elliptical. So far, I love it. I can’t think of anything I don’t like about it. I’ve only been on it once, but I am very happy with it.
We’ll see how long it will take me to get up to a mile again. Hopefully it won’t take me too long.
Have a good day and a great weekend!
As promised, here are a few pictures of some of the features I love about my new elliptical.
Nice looking machine all set up and ready to go. Note the piece of paper hanging on the wall. It’s got mileage information on it so I know how many revolutions is equal to a certain distance. I wrote it in 1/10 mile increments. Good thing too, as I only did .2 of a mile yesterday.
Big logo on the side. Not too “in your face”.
Love the console on the machine. The display color is blue (was very happy about that), and it displays how long you’ve been on (upper left), revolutions (upper right), calories burned (lower left), wattage output (low middle, not sure what it means), and RPMs (revolutions per minute).
On the lower portion of the console is a speaker. You see that black cord hanging down on the left side?
That’s a power cord you plug into your mp3 player or cd player. Pretty nice! I tried it out with my iPod, and the sound quality is excellent. I’ll be using that for sure whenever I’m on it. No more ear buds falling out midway through my workout.
At the very top of the console is the fan. I totally forgot to turn it on during my workout, but I’ll remember next time. I got so used to getting on the elliptical and not turning on the fan, I just spaced it. The fan has two speeds, high and low. There’s a third fan option called “auto fan”, where the fan increases or decreases depending on how fast you’re pedaling. I don’t think I’ll fool around with that, I plan to have it on high the entire time.
In the middle of the console there’s an ifit thing. I’ve never played around with ifit (it was on my old elliptical also), so I’m not sure how it works. I think you need an ifit card of some sort, and you plug that card into the slot and pick a workout that you can download from their website. Not positive, so I may be completely wrong.
Also in the middle of the console, you’ll see the start button (it turns on the screen if it’s been idle for 5 minutes, or you can move the pedals to turn it on), the display button (you can pick and choose what you want to see. I plan on showing everything all the time. Time, calories, RPMs, etc.), workouts button (the machine comes with some pre-set workouts), and the enter button with arrows (not sure what they do yet, but I think the left and right arrows are for scrolling through the pre-set programs and the enter button selects a workout).
On either side of the console, there are numbers. On the left you’ll see 1-10 and on the right you’ll see 11-20. Those are the resistance levels. Push a numbered button and after a few seconds, it will change the resistance. Twenty levels of resistance! My old machine only had 10 levels, and I only got up to level 4 when I used the resistance.
I didn’t get a good picture of them, but on the very bottom of the console are the hand grips you hold onto to get your heart rate.
Think that pretty much covers the console.
These are the foot pedals. Nice and narrow stance. No more awkward wide legged stance. I’m hoping that the narrower stance will make it easier to use my Vibram Five Fingers. I think the wide stance of the old machine caused my ankle issue a year ago. We’ll have to see. I might get less blisters too. I need to pay attention when I get on next time to see if I’m pushing with my whole foot now or if I’m still pushing with the insides on my feet.
This is the water bottle holder. I don’t think I’ll use it, because I need to stop and get off entirely to get a drink. I don’t have the balance to take one hand off the pole and grab a bottle and drink. My husband will probably use it though.
The bottle holder is one thing I was sort of worried about. On my other machine my knees kept hitting the water bottle holder, so we had to take it off. I do not hit this one at all, don’t even come close to it.
This is the stride adjuster thing-a-ma-bob. You pull out the knob and move it up or down to the stride you want. You can pick 18’’, 20’’ or 22’’. I like the 20’’ the best. I haven’t tried using the knob myself, but my husband says he needs to grease it because it feels “gummy” when he moves it.
This was a complete surprise to me. What is this you ask? It’s a wall adapter! No more batteries for me! The console runs off of electricity. I was not expecting this at all. I don’t remember the specifications on the Sears site saying anything about this. I am very happy. One of my major complaints with my old machine was the fact that the display screen flickered on and off no matter if it had new batteries or not. The coils in the battery compartment got squished and I basically just gave up on it.
So this was a very unexpected and nice surprise. When it first came, I actually skimmed through the owner’s manual to see what kind of batteries I needed. Didn’t see anything in the book. There was a small box included with all the parts, and it was the wall adapter. Cool beans man (that was for you Monique)!
And finally, this is my mileage chart. I have revolutions from .1 mile all the way to 2 miles (in .1 increments) for all three stride lengths. And the black thing in front of it is one of the arm poles. I couldn’t get a clear shot without getting it in there.
There you have it. The features of my new elliptical. So far, I love it. I can’t think of anything I don’t like about it. I’ve only been on it once, but I am very happy with it.
We’ll see how long it will take me to get up to a mile again. Hopefully it won’t take me too long.
Have a good day and a great weekend!
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Big 200 Mile Mark
Well, after two weeks of not exercising, I am back on it. I did do my strength training the first week I was off, but I took last week off from everything. Sunday I decided to get on the elliptical, as I did not feel any pain in my foot on Saturday. Everything went well, and I went .6 mile. The only real issue I had was the folded towel kept slipping around underneath my foot. So I decided to not use it today.
Like I said, yesterday I went .6 mile, and here is the picture for that day from the virtual walk site.
And today, I did one full mile. Actually I can't say I did a mile, as I don't know exactly how far I went. The display screen on the elliptical decided to restart about seven times at least in the first 20 minutes. I was using my egg timer as a backup like I usually do, and I'm glad I did. I told myself that I was going to do 1 mile or 35 minutes, whichever came first. And since the screen decided to reset in the first 2 minutes, the decision was made. It was annoying to keep having to stop so I can turn the fan back on, and after the seventh time I decided to just go without a fan. About 2 minutes later, I had to turn it on again.
I did get a little tired the last ten minutes of my workout, but I think that was because I kept stopping and starting to turn the fan on. I can't turn the fan on as I'm using the elliptical. It works the muscles in my thighs to start and stop the pedals, so they got an extra workout. Needless to say, I obviously need to replace the batteries again. It seemed like I just changed them three weeks ago, and I was off for two. I should buy stock in Duracell. I go through a ton of D cell batteries.
I am back to wearing my tennis shoes also, and my next issue I foresee is blisters. Yippee. With the Vibram Five Fingers, the calluses I had developed got softer and ended up falling off (just on my right foot, not the left, weird). So now that I'm back to the tennis shoes, those calluses are going to need to build up. So, my right foot on the inside of the foot up by my big toe is sore. I'll need to buy stock in Band-Aid also, as I'll be the Band-Aid Queen for a while.
But, all in all, my elliptical workout went very well. I needed to get back on it in a big way, as my balance was starting to go bye bye. Saturday my husband and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One, and my balance and walking were really bad. It wasn't pretty. Not sure what the deal was, but I think part of it was my back was out of alignment. That night, my husband gave me a big bear hug (in an attempt to pop my back), and I heard about 12 pops, from my mid back to upper back. Ahhh...better. I miss my chiropractor in WA State.
So, I'm back to normal, and hopefully won't have another forced time off for a long time. No sign of muscle knots yet, but I expect to get them by the end of next week, at least a little bit.
And hey, I made the big 200 mile mark on the virtual walk today! Took me over two years, but I did it. Still in Virginia, and I have a long way to go still in that state. Here are the stats and the picture from today from the virtual walk site. I'm leaving out the elliptical stats for today since they're not accurate. I went 35 minutes, and I'm guessing I went one mile. At least I seem to be over my obsession problem about mileage.
1 mile today
200 miles since 4/28/08
.72 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County
The Big 200 Mile Mark
Well, after two weeks of not exercising, I am back on it. I did do my strength training the first week I was off, but I took last week off from everything. Sunday I decided to get on the elliptical, as I did not feel any pain in my foot on Saturday. Everything went well, and I went .6 mile. The only real issue I had was the folded towel kept slipping around underneath my foot. So I decided to not use it today.
Like I said, yesterday I went .6 mile, and here is the picture for that day from the virtual walk site.
And today, I did one full mile. Actually I can't say I did a mile, as I don't know exactly how far I went. The display screen on the elliptical decided to restart about seven times at least in the first 20 minutes. I was using my egg timer as a backup like I usually do, and I'm glad I did. I told myself that I was going to do 1 mile or 35 minutes, whichever came first. And since the screen decided to reset in the first 2 minutes, the decision was made. It was annoying to keep having to stop so I can turn the fan back on, and after the seventh time I decided to just go without a fan. About 2 minutes later, I had to turn it on again.
I did get a little tired the last ten minutes of my workout, but I think that was because I kept stopping and starting to turn the fan on. I can't turn the fan on as I'm using the elliptical. It works the muscles in my thighs to start and stop the pedals, so they got an extra workout. Needless to say, I obviously need to replace the batteries again. It seemed like I just changed them three weeks ago, and I was off for two. I should buy stock in Duracell. I go through a ton of D cell batteries.
I am back to wearing my tennis shoes also, and my next issue I foresee is blisters. Yippee. With the Vibram Five Fingers, the calluses I had developed got softer and ended up falling off (just on my right foot, not the left, weird). So now that I'm back to the tennis shoes, those calluses are going to need to build up. So, my right foot on the inside of the foot up by my big toe is sore. I'll need to buy stock in Band-Aid also, as I'll be the Band-Aid Queen for a while.
But, all in all, my elliptical workout went very well. I needed to get back on it in a big way, as my balance was starting to go bye bye. Saturday my husband and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One, and my balance and walking were really bad. It wasn't pretty. Not sure what the deal was, but I think part of it was my back was out of alignment. That night, my husband gave me a big bear hug (in an attempt to pop my back), and I heard about 12 pops, from my mid back to upper back. Ahhh...better. I miss my chiropractor in WA State.
So, I'm back to normal, and hopefully won't have another forced time off for a long time. No sign of muscle knots yet, but I expect to get them by the end of next week, at least a little bit.
And hey, I made the big 200 mile mark on the virtual walk today! Took me over two years, but I did it. Still in Virginia, and I have a long way to go still in that state. Here are the stats and the picture from today from the virtual walk site. I'm leaving out the elliptical stats for today since they're not accurate. I went 35 minutes, and I'm guessing I went one mile. At least I seem to be over my obsession problem about mileage.
1 mile today
200 miles since 4/28/08
.72 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County
Like I said, yesterday I went .6 mile, and here is the picture for that day from the virtual walk site.
Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab
And today, I did one full mile. Actually I can't say I did a mile, as I don't know exactly how far I went. The display screen on the elliptical decided to restart about seven times at least in the first 20 minutes. I was using my egg timer as a backup like I usually do, and I'm glad I did. I told myself that I was going to do 1 mile or 35 minutes, whichever came first. And since the screen decided to reset in the first 2 minutes, the decision was made. It was annoying to keep having to stop so I can turn the fan back on, and after the seventh time I decided to just go without a fan. About 2 minutes later, I had to turn it on again.
I did get a little tired the last ten minutes of my workout, but I think that was because I kept stopping and starting to turn the fan on. I can't turn the fan on as I'm using the elliptical. It works the muscles in my thighs to start and stop the pedals, so they got an extra workout. Needless to say, I obviously need to replace the batteries again. It seemed like I just changed them three weeks ago, and I was off for two. I should buy stock in Duracell. I go through a ton of D cell batteries.
I am back to wearing my tennis shoes also, and my next issue I foresee is blisters. Yippee. With the Vibram Five Fingers, the calluses I had developed got softer and ended up falling off (just on my right foot, not the left, weird). So now that I'm back to the tennis shoes, those calluses are going to need to build up. So, my right foot on the inside of the foot up by my big toe is sore. I'll need to buy stock in Band-Aid also, as I'll be the Band-Aid Queen for a while.
But, all in all, my elliptical workout went very well. I needed to get back on it in a big way, as my balance was starting to go bye bye. Saturday my husband and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One, and my balance and walking were really bad. It wasn't pretty. Not sure what the deal was, but I think part of it was my back was out of alignment. That night, my husband gave me a big bear hug (in an attempt to pop my back), and I heard about 12 pops, from my mid back to upper back. Ahhh...better. I miss my chiropractor in WA State.
So, I'm back to normal, and hopefully won't have another forced time off for a long time. No sign of muscle knots yet, but I expect to get them by the end of next week, at least a little bit.
And hey, I made the big 200 mile mark on the virtual walk today! Took me over two years, but I did it. Still in Virginia, and I have a long way to go still in that state. Here are the stats and the picture from today from the virtual walk site. I'm leaving out the elliptical stats for today since they're not accurate. I went 35 minutes, and I'm guessing I went one mile. At least I seem to be over my obsession problem about mileage.
1 mile today
200 miles since 4/28/08
.72 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County
Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab
Friday, October 15, 2010
The Big Shoe Debate
Got my workout in today. I did about 35 minutes of strength training, and 45 minutes on the elliptical. I'm glad it's Friday, because my arms feel like Jell-O. I have Saturday and Sunday off from strength training, but I intend to do my elliptical on those days. I took yesterday off since my body felt tired from Wednesday's mile. I was still a bit tired today on the elliptical, but I finished the 45 minutes. It was a slow 1.3 miles, but I finished it.
The Big Shoe Dilemma
I was wearing my Vibram Five Fingers shoes to exercise in, but for the last month I've switched back to my tennis shoes. For now anyway. Back in the beginning of August, I experienced severe ankle pain. I'm not sure if that was from the Five Fingers shoes, or if it was because I was on my elliptical for one hour. My ankle was very swollen for about a week, and it hurt like a son of a gun to walk on it. I did not go to the doctor, as I knew I'd just be told to stay off it and take a pill. So I stayed off it, iced it, and took Aleve every day. Eventually it got better. I was tempted to see a doctor after a week and a half, and almost made an appointment, but the swelling went down finally, and it got a bit better to walk on. Just need to be patient.
So for now I'm using my tennis shoes on the elliptical. The problem I have with tennis shoes is that I end up with muscle knots in the lower portion of the right leg. Very large muscle knots that go all the way from my ankle to my knee on the outer portion of my leg.
I intend to get to one hour with my tennis shoes, and see if I have any problems with my ankle. If I don't have any issues, I will try my of Five Fingers shoes again. An additional problem I had with the Five Fingers shoes is that my toes on my left foot felt like they were cramping up after 20 minutes. I think that's because I put too much pressure on my toes when I push, as well as the shoes don't have much cushion. So I will have to experiment.
Here are today's elliptical stats.
Distance-1.3 miles
Revolutions-2288
Resistance level-1
Endurance-Good
Injury-Muscle knots in my lower right leg.
Time-45:12
1 mile time-34:22
Virtual walk website stats.
1.3 miles today
186.2 miles since April 28, 2008
1.74 miles to Charlottesville, VA, Charlottesville City county
Here is the picture for today.
I'm seeing a lot more activity on the road the closer I get to Charlottesville. More cars and buildings on the side of the road. I will most likely get into Charlottesville on Sunday. Until then, have a good day and keep moving.
The Big Shoe Dilemma
I was wearing my Vibram Five Fingers shoes to exercise in, but for the last month I've switched back to my tennis shoes. For now anyway. Back in the beginning of August, I experienced severe ankle pain. I'm not sure if that was from the Five Fingers shoes, or if it was because I was on my elliptical for one hour. My ankle was very swollen for about a week, and it hurt like a son of a gun to walk on it. I did not go to the doctor, as I knew I'd just be told to stay off it and take a pill. So I stayed off it, iced it, and took Aleve every day. Eventually it got better. I was tempted to see a doctor after a week and a half, and almost made an appointment, but the swelling went down finally, and it got a bit better to walk on. Just need to be patient.
So for now I'm using my tennis shoes on the elliptical. The problem I have with tennis shoes is that I end up with muscle knots in the lower portion of the right leg. Very large muscle knots that go all the way from my ankle to my knee on the outer portion of my leg.
I intend to get to one hour with my tennis shoes, and see if I have any problems with my ankle. If I don't have any issues, I will try my of Five Fingers shoes again. An additional problem I had with the Five Fingers shoes is that my toes on my left foot felt like they were cramping up after 20 minutes. I think that's because I put too much pressure on my toes when I push, as well as the shoes don't have much cushion. So I will have to experiment.
Here are today's elliptical stats.
Distance-1.3 miles
Revolutions-2288
Resistance level-1
Endurance-Good
Injury-Muscle knots in my lower right leg.
Time-45:12
1 mile time-34:22
Virtual walk website stats.
1.3 miles today
186.2 miles since April 28, 2008
1.74 miles to Charlottesville, VA, Charlottesville City county
Here is the picture for today.
I'm seeing a lot more activity on the road the closer I get to Charlottesville. More cars and buildings on the side of the road. I will most likely get into Charlottesville on Sunday. Until then, have a good day and keep moving.
The Big Shoe Debate
Got my workout in today. I did about 35 minutes of strength training, and 45 minutes on the elliptical. I'm glad it's Friday, because my arms feel like Jell-O. I have Saturday and Sunday off from strength training, but I intend to do my elliptical on those days. I took yesterday off since my body felt tired from Wednesday's mile. I was still a bit tired today on the elliptical, but I finished the 45 minutes. It was a slow 1.3 miles, but I finished it.
The Big Shoe Dilemma
I was wearing my Vibram Five Fingers shoes to exercise in, but for the last month I've switched back to my tennis shoes. For now anyway. Back in the beginning of August, I experienced severe ankle pain. I'm not sure if that was from the Five Fingers shoes, or if it was because I was on my elliptical for one hour. My ankle was very swollen for about a week, and it hurt like a son of a gun to walk on it. I did not go to the doctor, as I knew I'd just be told to stay off it and take a pill. So I stayed off it, iced it, and took Aleve every day. Eventually it got better. I was tempted to see a doctor after a week and a half, and almost made an appointment, but the swelling went down finally, and it got a bit better to walk on. Just need to be patient.
So for now I'm using my tennis shoes on the elliptical. The problem I have with tennis shoes is that I end up with muscle knots in the lower portion of the right leg. Very large muscle knots that go all the way from my ankle to my knee on the outer portion of my leg.
I intend to get to one hour with my tennis shoes, and see if I have any problems with my ankle. If I don't have any issues, I will try my of Five Fingers shoes again. An additional problem I had with the Five Fingers shoes is that my toes on my left foot felt like they were cramping up after 20 minutes. I think that's because I put too much pressure on my toes when I push, as well as the shoes don't have much cushion. So I will have to experiment.
Here are today's elliptical stats.
Distance-1.3 miles
Revolutions-2288
Resistance level-1
Endurance-Good
Injury-Muscle knots in my lower right leg.
Time-45:12
1 mile time-34:22
Virtual walk website stats.
1.3 miles today
186.2 miles since April 28, 2008
1.74 miles to Charlottesville, VA, Charlottesville City county
Here is the picture for today.
I'm seeing a lot more activity on the road the closer I get to Charlottesville. More cars and buildings on the side of the road. I will most likely get into Charlottesville on Sunday. Until then, have a good day and keep moving.
The Big Shoe Dilemma
I was wearing my Vibram Five Fingers shoes to exercise in, but for the last month I've switched back to my tennis shoes. For now anyway. Back in the beginning of August, I experienced severe ankle pain. I'm not sure if that was from the Five Fingers shoes, or if it was because I was on my elliptical for one hour. My ankle was very swollen for about a week, and it hurt like a son of a gun to walk on it. I did not go to the doctor, as I knew I'd just be told to stay off it and take a pill. So I stayed off it, iced it, and took Aleve every day. Eventually it got better. I was tempted to see a doctor after a week and a half, and almost made an appointment, but the swelling went down finally, and it got a bit better to walk on. Just need to be patient.
So for now I'm using my tennis shoes on the elliptical. The problem I have with tennis shoes is that I end up with muscle knots in the lower portion of the right leg. Very large muscle knots that go all the way from my ankle to my knee on the outer portion of my leg.
I intend to get to one hour with my tennis shoes, and see if I have any problems with my ankle. If I don't have any issues, I will try my of Five Fingers shoes again. An additional problem I had with the Five Fingers shoes is that my toes on my left foot felt like they were cramping up after 20 minutes. I think that's because I put too much pressure on my toes when I push, as well as the shoes don't have much cushion. So I will have to experiment.
Here are today's elliptical stats.
Distance-1.3 miles
Revolutions-2288
Resistance level-1
Endurance-Good
Injury-Muscle knots in my lower right leg.
Time-45:12
1 mile time-34:22
Virtual walk website stats.
1.3 miles today
186.2 miles since April 28, 2008
1.74 miles to Charlottesville, VA, Charlottesville City county
Here is the picture for today.
I'm seeing a lot more activity on the road the closer I get to Charlottesville. More cars and buildings on the side of the road. I will most likely get into Charlottesville on Sunday. Until then, have a good day and keep moving.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Vibram Five Fingers Review (KSO)
About a month ago, I bought some new shoes. These shoes are interesting to say the least. They're called Vibram Five Fingers, and if you love walking barefoot, and only put regular shoes on for protection, these shoes are for you. I have a couple of videos I found on YouTube that explain what these shoes are and how they work, but let me just say, I love them. I wanted to wait a while before I wrote a review, but I have found nothing at all to complain about.
As I've said, I've had these shoes (I have the KSO version) for about a month, and so far, I've worn them everywhere. I wore them on our trip to Las Vegas, I've worn them around town, and I've worn them while exercising. The only place I didn't wear them was to the Grand Canyon. Two reasons for that. One, my calves and lower legs were really sore, and two, the ground was very rocky and unstable. My husband has the same shoes, and he did wear them to the Grand Canyon. He said the ground didn't hurt at all. He felt some pressure from the rocky terrain, but it didn't hurt.
The company recommends that you wear these shoes for about an hour or two a day the first few weeks you have them. Well, I ignored that advice, and that's why my calves were sore after the first day or two of our Vegas trip. You need to ease into them and not go all out like I did. I'm all rested from the trip and am having no problems at all with soreness in my legs due to the shoes.
Now, growing up with cerebral palsy, I always figured I needed shoes with “extra support”. I thought that way up until a month ago. Think about this. Thousands of years ago, people walked around barefoot all the time. Shoes were made (even way back then) to protect the feet from harmful objects. As shoes developed over the years, they've been made to squish your toes at the very front of the shoe. Your toes are what stabilize you. They're what give you balance. When they're squished all together, they don't stabilize you as they should.
These shoes bring back the natural state that your feet should be in. As for me and my balance, I feel a huge difference. I'm much more stable in these shoes than I am when I wear “supportive” tennis shoes. I really don't think I'll go back to wearing normal shoes again. These Five Finger shoes have a sole that grips the ground so you have traction when you need it.
She mentions it being a bit difficult to get your toes into the right slots. I definitely agree with that statement. When I first got my shoes, I had a very difficult time getting them on. My pinky toes did not want to separate for the longest time. After a few weeks, they start to conform to your feet and toes. Now, they take me very little time to put on. They're machine washable, and washing them doesn't make them any harder to put on.
I'm not saying these shoes are for everyone, but I would definitely recommend them to people who prefer to be barefoot. Try them on and see what you think.
Vibram Five Fingers Review (KSO)
About a month ago, I bought some new shoes. These shoes are interesting to say the least. They're called Vibram Five Fingers, and if you love walking barefoot, and only put regular shoes on for protection, these shoes are for you. I have a couple of videos I found on YouTube that explain what these shoes are and how they work, but let me just say, I love them. I wanted to wait a while before I wrote a review, but I have found nothing at all to complain about.
As I've said, I've had these shoes (I have the KSO version) for about a month, and so far, I've worn them everywhere. I wore them on our trip to Las Vegas, I've worn them around town, and I've worn them while exercising. The only place I didn't wear them was to the Grand Canyon. Two reasons for that. One, my calves and lower legs were really sore, and two, the ground was very rocky and unstable. My husband has the same shoes, and he did wear them to the Grand Canyon. He said the ground didn't hurt at all. He felt some pressure from the rocky terrain, but it didn't hurt.
The company recommends that you wear these shoes for about an hour or two a day the first few weeks you have them. Well, I ignored that advice, and that's why my calves were sore after the first day or two of our Vegas trip. You need to ease into them and not go all out like I did. I'm all rested from the trip and am having no problems at all with soreness in my legs due to the shoes.
Now, growing up with cerebral palsy, I always figured I needed shoes with “extra support”. I thought that way up until a month ago. Think about this. Thousands of years ago, people walked around barefoot all the time. Shoes were made (even way back then) to protect the feet from harmful objects. As shoes developed over the years, they've been made to squish your toes at the very front of the shoe. Your toes are what stabilize you. They're what give you balance. When they're squished all together, they don't stabilize you as they should.
These shoes bring back the natural state that your feet should be in. As for me and my balance, I feel a huge difference. I'm much more stable in these shoes than I am when I wear “supportive” tennis shoes. I really don't think I'll go back to wearing normal shoes again. These Five Finger shoes have a sole that grips the ground so you have traction when you need it.
She mentions it being a bit difficult to get your toes into the right slots. I definitely agree with that statement. When I first got my shoes, I had a very difficult time getting them on. My pinky toes did not want to separate for the longest time. After a few weeks, they start to conform to your feet and toes. Now, they take me very little time to put on. They're machine washable, and washing them doesn't make them any harder to put on.
I'm not saying these shoes are for everyone, but I would definitely recommend them to people who prefer to be barefoot. Try them on and see what you think.
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