The Sportsart 805p.
It was a difficult journey to get to this point. A few weeks ago, I went running on the treadmill, and was dismayed to find that before the end of the first mile, I felt that my abdomen was going to split in half. I walked at an incline for five minutes, and then attempted mile number two. I made it through it, but only through harnessing all of the mental energy that was required to get me through the last few miles of my twenty mile training run last fall. It was excruciating, and as I walked another five minutes on an incline, I decided that I had two options:
1. Give in and use pregnancy as an excuse to get soft, doughy, and just be determined to train harder this summer to get my PR at the Kansas City Half, or
2. Get an elliptical.
I have a very strong, loving relationship with the elliptical. It was my machine of choice for the longest time at the gym, and my parents purchased one immediately prior to me returning home for my last summer before getting married. I could spend hours on the thing (and often did when I was eating disordered). No matter what injury I may have been nursing at the time, the elliptical consistently let me work out without hurting myself further.
So it was my answer.
I told the husband, got approval, and then immediately began perusing Craigslist. I wanted something inexpensive, but I also wanted something that wouldn't squeak. I knew I'd be using it while the chitluns napped, so those were really my two considerations. After looking for a while, though, I got frustrated, as many of the reviews of the machines I'd found in my self-determined price range had a common complaint: They were noisy.
Ugh.
I vented my frustration to my husband, who adores online shopping, and he committed to finding the elliptical. We researched stride lengths and what would be ideal for our height ranges, and he went out from there.
Then I got the phone call.
"Hey, I want you to look at this one."
I got on to look, and was shocked. Yes, it looked great. It was a great deal for what the machine retails for. But it still cost twice what I was considering for another one, one that I thought was insanely expensive itself, and felt selfish for even considering spending the money on something for me.
My husband went through the logic with me.
- It's something I'll use every day while pregnant, and every other day when I'm not (going to be a good girl with cross training this time to avoid injury)
- If we get something cheap, we won't want to bother moving it in a couple years when the husband finishes his master's and we move elsewhere for his PhD, and at that point we really won't be in a position to purchase a new machine
- The cheaper ones on Craigslist weren't that much cheaper than what you'd pay for them new, and even new they're a mediocre machine. This one is a great machine (per reviews), can handle a lot of use, and is a great deal for what retail is for it.
Best. Decision. Ever.
The machine is super quiet. Our house is small, with the two bedrooms adjacent to the living area, and the machine sits in the living room on our cement floor. When I got on to workout while the husband put the 1 year old down for a nap, he came out and was surprised I had already started-- he couldn't hear a peep from the other room.
I didn't even consider this when getting the machine, but having the motor in the back as opposed to the front is ideal for having small children. The kids see it as playground equipment and want to climb on it, and if the temptation proves to strong while I'm exercising, I can see them by the moving parts in the front and prevent injury from occurring, and there are no exposed moving parts in the back where I wouldn't have seen them before. I never even thought of that when I was looking at machines, and I'm so grateful to realize after the fact that I made a good choice!
The workout programs are great. It syncs with a heart rate strap, so I can do the heart rate workouts and set it so I don't over exert myself in my preggo state without having to even pay attention to what the resistance level is throughout the workout. Delightful.
Most of all, my emotional health is already improving. I am in that awkward place where I'm too pregnant to do the workouts I was doing before pregnancy, but too fit to feel many benefits from pregnancy workout videos. A lot of days I couldn't get motivated to carve out time to "exercise" when I didn't feel I was getting anything from it. This gives me my "me-time" that feels productive, gives me my endorphin fix, and helps me feel like I'm maintaining some fitness so I won't be starting from scratch after baby #3 arrives.
It was an expensive toy. But with all the benefits I feel like I'm getting from it already, I know wholeheartedly that it will be worth it.
In related news, when we ask the 1 year old if he's exercising, he immediately starts doing squats. Love. That. Boy.
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