I don't access to much for exercise equipment. I've been thinking of paying for a
gym membership (24 hour
fitness I think is the name) but I'm not so sure of that yet. I don't live as close to one as I'd like.
What I have:
- Stationary bike (the seat hurts my bum, so it doesn't get used as often as I'd like. A friend just told me I might be able to just replace the seat with something more comfy).
-
Pilates stretch/resistance bands (they look like giant open ended rubber bands and I use them for upper-
body strength training).
- Jump rope (bought this one a few days ago for $2. Best cheap equipment I've ever bought).
- My feet
- A pedometer
I know there are a lot of squat/lunge/push-off movements I can do with the
pilates bands.. however my knees just don't want to play along. I injured one knee fairly badly about 7 years ago and its just never been cooperative since then. Now they both disagree loudly and painfully whenever I do a lot of squatting movements.
I also have a question about different steps while walking. I've noticed that if I take shorter steps like I'm almost marching, but keep the pace up, I can get my
heart rate up fairly well. It also feels like I'm using different muscles than the normal walk. So is there a stride that uses the inner thigh muscles? I feel a good stretch there if I take long strides with a solid push-off, but it doesn't feel like I'm really using them.
I'm open to any ideas!
