Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => Further and Faster => Topic started by: mrcharly-YHT on 23 November, 2018, 10:30:44 am
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My cardio fitness isn't very high atm (I'm not getting out kayaking at all and no other exercise). Just started going to gym twice a week and they have a new machine, hand-pedal machine.
Sit down and pedal with your hands - you can set goals such as an rpm for a set time, an effort level etc. Favourite so far is rpm for set period - it varies the effort level so that my required wattage goes from 50 up to 300 to maintain the rpm (I choose 90). 300W from arms-only kills me, I can only sustain it for a 30s or so. 100W is sustainable.
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How are the cranks arranged? Together or one up - one down?
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one up one down like a standard set of foot cranks (not like a hand crank cycle)
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I did a couple of laps of a not-quite-flat car park on a (gaspipe) handcycle once. It was surprisingly hard work, and my shoulders were unimpressed afterwards. Huge respect for anyone who covers real distances on those things.
I suppose if you're not trying to steer anything with it, the opposite cranks arrangement is much easier to make a smooth effort with.
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These have been around for a while - though perhaps because the gym I used to frequent is at Stoke Mandeville there's a good reason behind that!
They're hard work, good for cardio, and give your shoulders a good workout too, so perfect for a kayaker I'd say.
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We used to have one in the old office gym. It was described as a kayak machine and hard work.