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FocusOnFitness is a series of basic exercises you can do in your house, in the dorm or during a short break. Using the natural surrounding without having to find the right equipment, the best gym or the perfect time to do a little workout. Focus on Fitness is all about doing it when you can and hey, why not?
Maria Johnson, aka Girl Gone Blind, joins Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio to Focus on Fitness and how you can incorporate little nuggets of exercise without throwing your schedule off and being able to work out within your own time and space.
In this Focus On Fitness episode, Maria and Jeff talk about Spinning and Biking. Yes, this involves a machine or a bike mounted on a stand, however, we want to provide some information to you so you can determine if this form of exercise is for you. We both agree that Spinning is a great calorie burner and most of all, gives them big muscles a good workout.
Interval training is when one does some bursts of speed or resistance to a steady pace. Like standing up and pedaling hard during a commercial as you watch TV while spinning.
Maria and Jeff find a few ways that keeps them focused on fitness and focused on the exercise without getting lost in the show or the music. It is important to keep the focus and get the best out of your hard work.
Check out some more Focus on Fitness episodes and if you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to let us know. You can find Maria on Twitter @Girl_Gone_Blind and follow her blog on the web at GirlGoneBlind.com.. You can find Jeff on Twitter @KnownAsJeff and check out more podcasts with a Blindness perspective on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com.
And remember:
Consult a physician before performing this or any exercise program.
This is especially important if you or your family have a history of high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes.
It is your responsibility to evaluate your own medical and physical condition,
and to determine whether to perform or adapt any of the exercises in this Focus on Fitness episode.
The use of any information provided on this site is solely at your own risk.
If you start to feel any pain or discomfort while exercising, stop immediately and contact your doctor or health care professional.
Thanks for Listening!
Full Transcript Below
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Full Transcript
Pete:
Be sure to consult a physician before performing this or any exercise program. This is especially important if you or your family has a history of high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes. It is your responsibility to evaluate your own medical or physical condition and to determine whether to perform or adapt any of the exercises in this Focus on Fitness episode. The use of any information provided in this Focus on Fitness episode is solely at your own risk. If you start to feel any pain or discomfort while exercising, stop immediately and contact your doctor or health care professional.
Jeff:
Three, two, one.
Maria:
Focus on Fitness. You didn’t even know you had a muscle there. Goals, man, goals. Love it.
Jeff:
15 seconds. You’re doing great. Hold it.
Maria:
A plank. A plank is a full body exercise, and it’s a love-hate exercise, actually.
Jeff:
Five, four, three, two, and rest.
Maria:
It’s worth it.
Jeff:
Hey, Maria, how are you doing?
Maria:
I’m doing great, Jeff. How are you?
Jeff:
I’m doing really good. I’m starting to spin a little bit.
Maria:
Oh, mentally or physically?
Jeff:
Well, we won’t go there, but spinning on a bike, exercising.
Maria:
Oh, nice. You have a spin bike, do you?
Jeff:
I have two versions. I have an exercise bike, and I actually have a mount that I put my real bike into, because I don’t ride it around anymore. So I put it in there and am able to do exercising on it.
Maria:
Oh, that’s awesome. I also have a spin bike. Well, it’s in my garage right now. And I got it a few years ago when I started tandem bike riding. And I wanted to build my endurance and my cardio for biking. And so I would hop on that during the week when I wasn’t on long rides with my tandem captain. And I actually really, really liked it. And there’s so much you can do with the bike that folks probably wouldn’t even think about.
Jeff:
Let’s dive in.
Maria:
Let’s.
Jeff:
I like getting on it and getting on some headphones and listening to a book or listen radio station podcasts, of course. It’s something that you can do, and you can do interval training too. Every once in a while, just get on and go, go, go, and then rest for a while, and then go, go, go. And you mentioned something that was really interesting. If someone’s doing it with the TV on to concentrate when the commercials come on to change it up a little bit.
Maria:
Exactly. That’s what I was doing for a long time, is that my spin bike was in the corner of a front family room. It has wheels on the front part of it, and you can tip it so you can roll it around. And I would drag it into another part of the house where there was a TV. And I would set it up there. And I would have a show that I was going to watch.
Maria:
And I would just peddle at regular tension for me, and just get going on it, just get going. And then when a commercial came, I would tighten up that tension, which basically gives it more resistance, it’s harder to pedal, during each commercial. You dreaded the commercials, but I knew that was my interval. That was my timing. And I couldn’t wait for the show to come back on so I could loosen up the tension and get back into just my regular speed, regular tension work, until the next commercial. And it was only a half hour show, but it inserted those intervals instead of using a timer, which can be really hard for some of us to use.
Jeff:
Just one more reason to hate commercials.
Maria:
Exactly. Exactly. No fast-forwarding through the commercials on that, no cheating.
Jeff:
The important thing for me about spinning or using a bicycle, a stationary bike, I think we used to call them, is that it’s just a personal thing. If I want to get on it for 20 minutes… And that’s all I recommend people to do, is get on it for 20 minutes and see how you like it. Then come back and, as Maria was suggesting, you can increase the tension, the resistance to it. Make it a little tougher to do, and then start increasing your time.
Jeff:
But go through these, what I call, interval training, which is doing two types of exercises in one. In this situation, it’s the intensity that you’re going to do the routine. So if you’re just going along, warming up, and then after five minutes of warmup, just stand up on it and just go, go, go for 20 seconds, 30 seconds, and then sit back down. But then start increasing these intervals, where you burst into either faster or more resistance. And just keep tabs on that. And slowly, after a few weeks, you’ll be increasing that time and maybe take in a whole big show or a whole podcast or something.
Maria:
Right. Exactly. And the key is you want to get that heart rate up. You want to get that sweat going, so the bigger calorie burn. If you’re going to be on it, you might as well burn some calories. Now, another thing you can do, Jeff, you mentioned standing up. How about peddling backwards, completely reversing the motion of your legs?
Maria:
So you do forward, just keeping regular tension and regular pace, and then that commercial or the timer goes off and you just whoa, whoa, whoa, put on the brakes, start pedaling backwards. Again, it could be at the same resistance, but you’re completely changing the motion of your legs. The other thing we should point out here is form. You can get so lost into a podcast or a book or a good Netflix show, and all of a sudden you find yourself you’re slumping on the bike, right?
Maria:
Your back may start to hurt. Your shoulders may start to hurt. It’s really, really important to stay cognizant of your form and to keep your body strong. And if you feel like you need to regroup, what I would suggest, and Jeff, you and I have talked about this is what we do when we’re on our bikes, is you sit up. Get off of those handlebars, sit straight up, roll your shoulders back, roll them forward, shake out your arms, shake out your wrists, that kind of thing. And once you feel a little bit looser, get back down on those handlebars, but stay strong. Keep those shoulders up, back straight. Keep pumping those legs.
Jeff:
Yeah, I think the most important thing is be cognizant of what you’re doing on the bike, heels down. And you don’t want to put all your weight on the handlebars. You just want that for a nice resting, stationary position. And that’s where you’re probably going to keep some water. Remember to hydrate during this.
Jeff:
You can enjoy the podcast or the movie or whatever you’re listening to while you’re biking and all that, but I would say you still got to keep 60% of your thinking going on what you’re doing on the bike. Otherwise, you will start sagging, sloping, and a bad position. And it just doesn’t feel good after a while, and it might deter you from getting back on it again. If you can keep a good posture, a good form, keep that chest up, the chin up, and stay aware of your body position, you’ll have a lot more success and a lot more enjoyment.
Maria:
Oh, 100%. One other great thing I want to mention about the bike, Jeff, that I used it for a couple of years ago, was for rehabilitation on my knee. I had knee surgery, and I had to stop tandem biking for a while. And getting on the bike, which was recommended by my physical therapist, and at the lightest tension, just moving that knee down and up. So it was not all the way straight, but it would get it to bend and straighten and bend and straighten with no tension at all. It actually helped get my knee moving along a lot faster than just doing typical PT therapy. So I do credit the bike to helping me recover from knee surgery as well. So if anyone has any knee injuries of sorts, and you’re just trying to do anything that is low, low, low impact, the bike is another great thing to think about.
Jeff:
Yeah. Talk to your doctor. They might suggest something for you, a certain routine to do. One last thing is these muscles that you’re exercising, these are the biggest muscles you got. It’s a good opportunity to burn some calories, if that’s what you want to do. It’s just getting on that bike and making it work, making it spin, is going to do a lot for you.
Maria:
Absolutely. And remember set small goals first.
Jeff:
Small goals.
Maria:
Don’t go too big.
Jeff:
Mm-mm (negative).
Maria:
You don’t want to set yourself up for failure. You want to set yourself up for success.
Jeff:
Success.
Maria:
Success.
Jeff:
That’s what it’s all about, success. So give it a shot. Get on that bike and ride and do it to it.
Maria:
Work it.
Jeff:
Work it, work it. Well, Maria, why don’t you tell the listeners where they can find Maria Johnson, AKA Girl Gone Blind, on social network.
Maria:
I do write a blog, and my blog is called Girl Gone Blind. And you can find it at girlgoneblind.com. You can find me on Facebook at Girl Gone Blind, and on Twitter at girl_gone_blind.
Speaker 1:
Be sure to consult a physician before performing this or any exercise program. This is especially important if you or your family has a history of high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes. It is your responsibility to evaluate your own medical or physical condition and to determine whether to perform or adapt any of the exercises in this Focus on Fitness episode.
Speaker 1:
The use of any information provided in this Focus on Fitness episode is solely at your own risk. If you start to feel any pain or discomfort while exercising, stop immediately and contact your doctor or health care professional.
Jeff:
Stay tuned for more episodes of Focus on Fitness right here on Blind Abilities. And remember to enable the Blind Abilities skill on your Amazon device, just by saying, “Enable Blind Abilities.” And most importantly, thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed. And until next time, bye- bye.
Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.
Jeff:
For more podcasts with the blindness perspective:
Check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com On Twitter @BlindAbilities
Download our app from the App store:
‘Blind Abilities’; that’s two words.
Or send us an e-mail at:
info@blindabilities.com
send us an email at info@blindabilities.com.
Thanks for listening.