Question...

[telophase]

Does anyone here have any recommendations for compact, small cardio exercise equipment? Something that takes up space in use, but which easily folds away, like those treadmills that can fold up, is also an option. (No non-recumbent bikes, plz, those things hurt me!)

I'm just looking at things that take significantly less floorspace than the recumbent bikes. My current bike needs about 6' x 3.5' of space.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

You can get ridiculously small mini-steppers. Also pedal exercisers, which you can plunk in front of a chair for a recumbent bike effect. I suspect they're pretty flimsy, but they're very cheap and take up minimal space.

There are rowing machines that can be folded and stood on one end when you're not using them.

If you have more money and wish to splash out, a Versaclimber has a pretty small footprint.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

None that actually work. :/

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

My step-father got excellent mileage out of a sturdy coffee-table-- step up on it and down and up and down. Cheap and compact and you can find the equivalent wherever you travel.

Dunno about its precise muscle-and-joint benefits, but he definitely got his heart-rate going.

[kintail.livejournal.com]

An anti-recommendation - I got a mini stair-climber machine once that was just the foot part, no handles or display or anything, so it was about 8" high when the "stairs" were at the same height (easy to hide under a chair or side table) and took up about 1' x 1.5' of floor space. It was pneumatic (I think?), so the telescoping pipe thingy between the two foot pads would extend as you stepped down with one foot, and contract as you stepped down with the other foot. However, if you used it for more than about 5 minutes (ie, trying it out in the store), the friction generated heat that made for much less resistance in one direction than the other, so I ended up having to step on the "hard" step with both feet to get it to go down very slowly, and then I could step off it and the other step would come down slowly on its own, or come down very fast (thump!) if I put my weight on it. It became useless very quickly.

I got it on sale, but the original price for it was about $80 about 8-10 years ago, so it wasn't cheap for such a simple machine, either!

Watch out for that kind of mechanism for resistance if you try a similar machine, and try it out for a long time in the store to make sure the resistance continues to affect both sides equally.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

...something to think about as you seek a new home, for sure.

Rowing machine have any appeal to you at all? There are some compact ones.

The setup you propose---bike + WII/step---sounds excellent. You can switch off, even, do 20 minutes on each.

As a source for equipment, Craig's List can be quite good. I got my Lifecycle that way.

[awamiba.livejournal.com]

I was going to say a step, but got beat to it. My second suggestion: a jump rope. Not exactly Low Impact, but I've been doing it a few weeks now and it's not hurting my knees or ankles like I thought it would.

[arcly.livejournal.com]

Swiss ball? Cheap and deflatable and quite fun. Mine came with several cardio workouts (of different lengths and difficulties) on dvd, but google 'swiss ball' and 'cardio' and you get hundreds more. Also, if you're having a migrainey day and can't do much, just sitting on it is good for abs and balance.

[arcly.livejournal.com]

Also: hula hoops. (Why yes, I am 11.)

[tempest-strife.livejournal.com]

DDR mat? Those things got my heart rate up more than anything else I've tried...