I’ve been giving the stair-mill at my gym the ol’ college try. I read somewhere that they’re good for improving your posture and frankly, I’ve got a slouch that could earn me a place in the bell tower at Notre Dame.
Apparently the stair-mills are better than a standard stepper or stair-master because they require a wider range of motion and the controlled height keeps you from cheating and taking smaller steps.
I believe it.
It’s deceptively easy looking, but after less than five minutes on Satan’s escalator my heart was pounding and I was sweating like a thief in church. It’s a great way to get your heart rate up fast but it’s going to take me a while to work up to any respectable duration. Which is fair, it takes a bit of adjusting to get up to speed on any new activity.
Speaking of new activity, I found this photo I’d forgotten about (below). I took it way back when Brian and I were at Wizard World Toronto. We didn’t have a coffee vendor so I badgered my way into the other convention hall to get some. Canada Blooms was the show on in there. Landscape design displays, garden fountains and water falls, floral arrangement contests, vendors for everything from saunas and hot tubs to garden gnomes and imported tulip bulbs. It was a very sharp contrast to our show which featured bare cement floors, wall to wall comic books, toys and incredible racket from the video game booths and the terrible metal music some genius who hates ears had piped in. So I took a few moments to wander around and found this display for the Ball-Bike!
I actually keep a big Swiss ball at my desk. I prefer it to a chair because it keeps me from slouching and getting stiff shoulders. But this just made me laugh. I’m all for trying new things, but sometimes a gimmick is pretty easy to spot (hint – It’s enormous and yellow) .
