upper body exerciser | Arthritis Information

 

I posted this on another thread but thought others might be interested.


Have you ever seen those little portable cycles you can put under your desk and peddle? You can also put them on low table (coffee table) and work your upper body. I have greatly strengthened and improved my muscle tone in my upper body with one. The down side is, they are made cheaply, and don't last long!! I bought the "Stamina InStride cycle" from Amazon.com. There are some more expensive models on the website that I am tempted to try. Anyway, it is great exercise for biceps, triceps, shoulders, and back!my gym has a hand cycle and I've used one several times in PT to rehab my shoulders..

having done as buckeye did in PT.. and following Jodi's suggestion on a muscle atrophy thread I started.. I ordered one... the one mentioned above but the "XL" model.

babs102009-06-14 12:35:35We have a new pro machine at the gym, which I'm trying, but the "pedals" are up high, and I don't think I use my triceps as much. I put the portable one on a low bench and lean forward to turn the handles. This is a better angle I think to work the arms. I am still experimenting with the gym machine. Maybe if I put the seat back further etc.....a pedaler is mainly a shoulder exercise..you will get tricep as you extend the arms so you need to make sure the one at the gym is set at a level you can extend the arms.  You'll work bicep as you pull the arm back but the machine is primarily a shoulder workout with some upper back and upper chestbuckeye2009-06-14 16:20:52That sounds about right Buckeye. I don't know why the thing won't let you adjust for height. But if it mainly for shoulders I guess that's okay. I'll keep using the portable for my batwings!

just thinking...... 

The portable pedaler has a knob for resistance. The knob is just a long screw or something that slows down the pedals. It isn't the greatest of designs- mine squeaks like crazy after 5 minutes, so I use it 5 minutes at a time. The one at my gym has a all kinds of options. You can set it on very firm resistance or none at all. if you are using it at pt they aren't likely to put a lot of resistance on it.  PT uses it for ROM not for strength
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