The secret to finding happiness.........at the gym.

I don't work for my gym, but I'll put in a plug for the one I go to. Anytime Fitness. First, it's open 24/7. Even when the staff isn't there, you can get in with your electronic key.

But as relates to this thread, they have these really cool bikes called Expresso bikes. Check them out on Expresso.net or Expresso.com. They also sell them on Amazon, but they have a high ticket price, so out of most people's budgets ($6,000-$7,000). Anyway, as you are riding them, they have a huge computer screen in front of you where you choose the course you want to ride. Anything between 1 mile and no hills to 20 miles and huge hills. As you ride, it is like a 3-D video game, and you see other bikers (computer controlled) going along with you at different speeds. When there is a twist or turn in the course, you actually have to steer your bike with the handlebars to follow the road or trail. If you start going up a hill, you see other bikers slow down, and depending on the percentage grade, the bike automatically adds more resistance. For the uphills, you either have to pedal harder, or you can adjust the gear to a lower gear (which makes you go slower, but easier to pedal to keep up your RPMs). There are about 25 different courses programmed in for you to find the one you like, and they all have a theme. There is one that is in a Jurrasic Park setting with pterodactyls and T-Rex and mammoths going around. There is one over a mountain pass with intimidating yetis along the road. There is one where you are riding on a road in the middle of deep space, a Chinese theme with dragons flying around, one that goes through a labyrinth with minotaurs, and a number of them that simply meander along the ocean or through the redwood forest.

I can hop on and ride for 45 minutes or an hour, and time flies because it keeps your mind off of the boring stationary pedaling that traditional stationary bikes offer. And it's all connected to the internet, so I can hop on the computer and see number of miles, feet climbed, average heartrate, average watts divided by heartrate, etc. My gym even has a monthly competition on them that tracks either miles or elevation or calories or whatever and awards the top 3 people with Trader Joe's gift certificates.

I love it, love it, love it. Before I joined this gym though, I had my bicycle up on rollers (mag trainer) in my basement. I would set up my computer in front of the bike and play youtube videos that I found when searching "indoor cycling videos". Various videos people took on scenic bike rides in Spain, Germany, Brazil, etc. and if you use a bit of imagination, it took your mind off the pedaling and almost made you feel that you were on a bike tour of some country overseas.

I wish there were screens on the machines at my gym! I would be able to go for ages! Sadly I'm at a budget gym and I can't afford a tablet.
I am quite good at getting lost in my thoughts, imaging myself in a bikini surrounded by hot guys handing me ciders usually works a treat, but after a while I remember where I am and want to get off the machine.

And 1.5 hours is more than I currently do, but doesn't sound too extreme. I'm just doing cardio now, and only spend about 40-60 minutes at the gym each time, but in a few months I'm going to add strength training, so will be having longer workouts with that added on

I'm not a big gym user (I normally go for walks outside etc), but when I was traveling in the US, I was hitting up a lot of the hotel gyms... Most treadmills I used now have racks for tablets/magazines etc, some have screens in them, and one memorable one allowed you to plug your tablet into it, and it would play the movie on the treadmill screen. Certainly very different from when I used to regularly go to the gym a few years ago!

I generally download podcasts to listen to while I'm working out (and for when I'm driving long distances), keep me interested instead of looking at the clock. Favs are This American Life, Stuff You Should Know and Stuff You Missed in History Class

1.5 hours each day???


Why?

Heisenberg.. is that you?

I watch Netflix on my iPhone unless Full House is on, then I watch that on the tvs my gym provides for each cardio machine. Perhaps I should start bringing my iPad though, bigger screen, woohoo! I find that watching something helps keep me occupied and focused on what I'm doing ( ADD much??) I do at least 60 min of cardio a week plus every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I do weight training on my arms (my legs don't need any more muscle on them if I can help it thanks for the tips!