September 05, 2002

New exercise equipment

I went out tonight and picked up a Concept2 rowing machine. This is an older model – the Model B versus the current Model C – but it’s in great shape, and these things last forever. (At least, that’s what this here internet says!)</p>

I tried a rowing machine a few times when we belonged to a gym and liked it a lot. I liked the treadmill too, but I had to pay attention to what I was doing or I'd fall off or step partially on the side, trip and fall -- I don't have the greatest sense of balance :-) It was fairly simple to pick up and very rhythmic, plus I could drift off and think about whatever for a little while.

We're not joining a gym again for at least a while ($$), winter is coming and I want to take control of where (and in which direction!) my body is going. So I looked around at the usual places for used equipment and had settled on a different model. But then this thing popped up in the unlikliest of places and I drove over to Regent Square, checked it out and bought it.

First impressions: this thing is bigger than I remember. It's also very solid. I need to start slowly since I haven't done any concerted exercise for five months or so. The Concept2 website has a number of pretty cool features, including the ability to keep a log of your times (with a plaintext export feature), rankings and encouragement with features like their Million Meter Club. We'll see how it goes.

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