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From: Jim Plaia <jimplaia_at_sisna.com>
subject: [Paddlewise] paddle trainer
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 20:57:42 -0700
Does anyone have any experience with paddle trainers?  I've seen websites for
two of them; one link follows:
http://www.pogies.com/speedstroke/html/index.htm

The question I'm hoping to answer is how well these allow you to simulate a
real paddle stroke.  For some very long winded reasons, my wife needs to find
a good way to get an aerobic workout without needing to flex her knees
continuously.  She's also in good enough shape that she needs more muscle
groups working than just her arms to get a good workout.  We've talked about
using kayaking as a workout but for several months of the year finding open
water that hasn't frozen is a bit difficult.  The trainer looks like you can
get some rotation from the hip up but I'm not sure if the foot tie-downs are
enough or if we'd need to assemble some sort of thigh straps to get good
rotation and engage the thighs.
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From: Gary J. MacDonald <garyj_at_rogers.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] paddle trainer
Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 12:50:33 -0500
Jim Plaia wrote:
> Does anyone have any experience with paddle trainers?  I've seen websites for
> two of them; one link follows:
> http://www.pogies.com/speedstroke/html/index.htm
> 
> The question I'm hoping to answer is how well these allow you to simulate a
> real paddle stroke.  For some very long winded reasons, my wife needs to find
> a good way to get an aerobic workout without needing to flex her knees
> continuously.  She's also in good enough shape that she needs more muscle
> groups working than just her arms to get a good workout.  We've talked about
> using kayaking as a workout but for several months of the year finding open
> water that hasn't frozen is a bit difficult.  The trainer looks like you can
> get some rotation from the hip up but I'm not sure if the foot tie-downs are
> enough or if we'd need to assemble some sort of thigh straps to get good
> rotation and engage the thighs.

1.	No indication of size.  It appears to need a space about 8 x 5 feet, maybe 
oval with those as maximums, but non-trivial overall.

2.	Expensive if you aren't sure it will work.

3.	This looks to be as good as other machines simulate dynamic movements, but 
you never really know.

4.	There are lots of ways to exercise with minimal knee strain (he says from 30 
years experience).  She may wish to examine other possibilities.  The real key 
is understanding what the individual pair of knees can and can't do.  In nearly 
all cases, doing noting withthem willmake them worse with time.  For example, 
X-C ski machines are quite reasonable (excellent used NordicTraks for $2-300) 
and the motion is usually good for most knees.

GaryJ
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From: Jim Plaia <jimplaia_at_sisna.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] paddle trainer
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 13:43:38 -0700
I apologize for writing a misleading question.  My wife and I have had
fairly involved knee surgeries on all four knees (two apiece) over the last
18 months.  I've getting back into shape fairly well, but for some reason
her knees don't tolerate rehabilitation as well as mine.  What we've needed
to go to is a strict schedule of knee-work and knee-rest days and we were
speculating about the paddle trainer for the knee rest days.  X-C trainers
are great but still put too much strain for the knee-rest days.  Swimming
works fairly well but access to a pool around here is very limited.  The
cost for the paddle trainer is very high; that was the reason for the
request for help or experience.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary J. MacDonald" <garyj_at_rogers.com>
Cc: <paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net>
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2004 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] paddle trainer


> 1. No indication of size.  It appears to need a space about 8 x 5 feet,
maybe
> oval with those as maximums, but non-trivial overall.
>
> 2. Expensive if you aren't sure it will work.
>
> 3. This looks to be as good as other machines simulate dynamic movements,
but
> you never really know.
>
> 4. There are lots of ways to exercise with minimal knee strain (he says
from 30
> years experience).  She may wish to examine other possibilities.  The real
key
> is understanding what the individual pair of knees can and can't do.  In
nearly
> all cases, doing noting withthem willmake them worse with time.  For
example,
> X-C ski machines are quite reasonable (excellent used NordicTraks for
$2-300)
> and the motion is usually good for most knees.
>
> GaryJ
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From: Joan Volin <jvolin_at_optonline.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] paddle trainer
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 14:18:00 -0500
I cheeked the website, and it looks like an interesting machine, which I'd
like to try.  As it, the address given is not far from where I live, so I
contacted them, and got a response from a fellow named Grayson Bourne.  He
offered to bring it over to my house for a 14 day trial, and set it up, or
to have me come over and check his own machine out.  Since one of my
questions about it is whether it will actually fit into our exercise space,
I'm opting for the latter.  However, he'll be away this week and I'll be
away the following week, so it won't be just yet.  I'll report back after
I've seen it in person.

I did check out a different paddling exercise machine - don't remember the
name of it, but it's made by Precor.  It didn't seem totally satisfactory,
in that you couldn't really get the lower body involvement, and it didn't
seem to allow for a more vertical stroke.  This one looks more adaptable,
but I haven't quite figured out how the "paddle" attaches to the rest of the
machine.  It's not cheap, but none of these exercise machines are. But it
might be worth it.  We'll see...

Joan
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