[Sportsandrec] A couple cardio things watery and non

Fri Mar 13 20:56:52 UTC 2009

Danielle,

I have not seen that machine but it sounds challenging and something I'd try 
if I encountered it.  What sort of gym do you go to?  Some are small and 
others are large corporate gyms.  How much vision do you have?  You say you 
ran around the indoor track.  That's cool.  Many gyms don't have indoor 
tracks.  If I upgraded my membership to go to other locations, there are 
gyms with tracks.  But how would I be able to run around them?  I guess I'd 
need a guide and I don't know whether I would be able to bring a person to 
the gym to help me that is not a member of the health club.  I hagve tunnel 
vision and I can see the track lanes, but I'd be afraid I'd run into someone 
as i would not see them.  I do not have peripheral vision.
It would be neat to run a bit so I bet you enjoyed it.  It gives you lots of 
endorphins.  I cannot run long because its high intensity and I'd be out of 
breath.  I can run enough though to get that high feeling.
I do not have guides.  My sources of cardio are machines I can workout alone 
on such as the treadmill.

Are you in college?  How did you end up having a blind roommate?  That's 
rare.

As to your roomate, you should try and be supportive for a bit.  If she 
continues to have excuses, she is not ready.  But maybe she had some 
experiences or concerns that make her resistent to going to a gym to 
workout.

Ask her why she won't go to a gym to workout?  Its not the easiest thing to 
do being blind.  Transportation may be an issue; even if you have public 
transit, it may only run during peak hours.  Next, gyms cost money and 
perhaps she cannot afford it.  Third, most cardio machines are flat screens, 
requiring you to touch them to set up.
This flat visual display renders them inaccessible to a blind person.  You 
can ask to mark the pannel I suppose; but other people use it and this may 
or may not work.  For instance at my health club, the treadmills have almost 
flat screens and so do the bikes.  There are just small bumps were the 
buttons are.  I can see the green go button on the treadmills.  On some 
machines I get assistance to start out.  Also gyms have many visual fun 
dance classes that I see no way to follow.  So if a blind person joins a gym 
you are paying for activities you cannot do.  There are cool dance classes 
at my health club; one named zumba looks real fun cause you're dancing to 
upbeat latin music.
Finally, some people, blind and sighted, just don't like the idea of 
exercising in gyms with strangers.  These are just some ideas why one may be 
resistent to going to the gym:
transportation, money, inaccessible features such as touch screens, and 
personal preference.
Maybe if someone went with her to show her around she would do it.

Do encourage exercise.  Diet without exercise is worthless like Nick said. 
But you don't have to workout at a gym to begin.  If she can find a guide 
outside activities are a good place to start.  Where do you live?  In many 
areas of the country its getting springtime.
Cardio activities like biking, walking, and running can be done outside 
assuming you have open surface with a guide.  This costs nothing.  Have any 
parks or trails nearby?  How about hikes?  She can do some things alone too 
in the home and doesn't require much space.
Has she learned to jump rope?  That's a good activity.  Also jumping jacks 
and running in place are cardio activities and will burn calories.
If you have access to a pool, indoor or outdoor, that's another source of 
exercise.

So Danielle, try to get her to a gym, but if she won't go, give her those 
suggestions I had.  Outdoor activities have other benefits other than 
getting in cardio.
Let her know that to keep weight off it needs to be gradual.  A pound or two 
a week is a good amount to lose.  There are 3500 calories per pound so you 
need to take in negative 500 calories a day for seven days to lose a pound a 
week.  Finally, has she told you how overweight she is?  Depending on how 
bad it is, she may want to clear it with a doctor before exercising.
Wether she has doctors permission or not, remember she should start slow 
since she is not in shape.  Its easy to push someone into it and they 
overdue it.  Starting with 20 or 30 minutes of cardio activity three times a 
week is good.

HTH,
Ashley

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Danielle Nicole Larsen" <larsen75 at students.rowan.edu>
To: "'Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List'" 
<sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Sportsandrec] A couple cardio things watery and non

> That cardio machine you've described sounds AWESOME! I have never in my
> existence encountered one, but I hope sometime I do. It sounds incredibly
> challenging (and consequently, quite thrilling). Currently one of my mains
> sources of cardio is this machine.. it's called the Precor, for those who
> don't know it's like an elliptical treadmill combination (sort of). It has
> this AWESOME 3x cross training program. So I throw the resistance level at
> 11 - 13 for 35 minutes. Then I run around the indoor track some. I haven't
> been able to run for quite a while so it's nice to be able to do some of
> that again...
>
> Sort of on sort of off topic. My roommate is totally blind, and she's not 
> a
> big fan of the gym and working out.
> Okay I'll be honest... she despises it. But she really wants to lose some
> weight and she's been on diets forever. She knows she needs to sort of 
> step
> it up and change something. Has anyone ever had someone like that in their
> lives? Is there a way to try and get her to go? I don't want to seem mean 
> or
> harsh... she really knows she needs to . She just has no desire to go. She
> feels like it's never worth her time. Thoughts?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Joe Shaw
> Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 9:01 PM
> To: Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List
> Subject: [Sportsandrec] A couple cardio things watery and non
>
> Hey kids,
> So, I went to swim Monday and the lanes were full of sighted fokes, so
> instead of sharing a lane I lifted. What do yous do in this situation, I
> knew none of the lane occupiers as it was not my "regular" time.
> Today I swam like three hundred fifty and then got out to attack this new
> whale of a machine we have at our Y since the new year. Are you cats
> familiar with this stair climber that pretends it is an escalator. The 
> thing
> has like three steps that move the whole time you do. It is truely like
> running on a higher between steps escalator. That thing is a dog! I did 
> what
> it said was sixty five steps per minute for thirty five minutes. I thought
> my cavs were going to explode. Between y'all and me, the masochist in me 
> dug
> this machine a little and it is a real challenged to stay on. I'll ride 
> this
> one for a bit.
> "You call me a dog" "Well that's fair enough" "cause it ain't no use to
> pretend you're wrong"  "You call me out I can't hide anymore" "I have no
> disguise you can't see through" "Well you say it's bad luck to have fallen
> for me" "Well what can I say to make it better for you" "You wore me out
> like an old winter coat trying to be safe from the cold" Call Me a Dog
> Temple of the Dog
> JSNM
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