Anybody ever use the Reader while working out? Here I mainly mean while walking on the treadmill.

I try to do an hour a day, four days a week walking at low heart rate on the treadmill at my gym. Now I just watch mindless TV but have thought it'd be great to set the Reader on the Treadmill shelf and happily read away.

Anybody do this?

I'd sweat all over it and short it out

Love my reader ... spatter little bits of toothpaste on it despite my best efforts. My sweat doesn't scatter far enough to worry about, but the distance to the plexi-stand magazine support is too far for a 6 inch screen (at least for me), at the gym. Fortunately, I have a second book passion ... audiobooks. The only way I keep my daily average page consumption up to snuff (work crunch or not) is to maximize every spare minute .... call me obsessive (my wife certainly does).
I use audible.com (since '99). A great reader, can make even a reread a wonderful experience ... Patrick Tull doing the Master and Commander stuff ... the ultimate ), Frank Muller, Simon Vance, Nigel Planer (esp his Pratchett stuff). Almost a shame that Tull and Vance have doubled up on the O'Brian novels ... but, who could blame them ... if you are one of the top readers ... O'Brian has to be a temptation, and a joy.

BTW ... getting a subscription is the way to go with Audible, ... individual purchases (although cheaper than other choices for audio content), is pricey for my taste.

I've done it myself. Works great. Put your font size on L and stick it in a ziploc bag. Read away!

I agree I just put mine in a ziplock and use it an hour a day at the gym on treadmills and ellipticals. Works great and has really improved my whole workout experience!

Anybody ever use the Reader while working out? Here I mainly mean while walking on the treadmill.

I try to do an hour a day, four days a week walking at low heart rate on the treadmill at my gym. Now I just watch mindless TV but have thought it'd be great to set the Reader on the Treadmill shelf and happily read away.

Anybody do this?


I use it everytime I go. It's fantastic if you're doing elliptical or treadmill since you don't need to fiddle with pages on a real book.

I've never used ziplocks like everyone else seem to be doing. I sweat, but nothing that will require me to put it under plastic. My goodness.

I tried it with Pbooks, I'm fine as long as its the treadmill, if its the bikes or the ellipse machines (basically anything powered by me :D ) I get to a good bit then my body just stops and I am sat/stood there grinning like an idiot.

Thanks all for the advice. I'm on vacation at the moment but plan on picking up a 505 upon return. Probably get it at Borders since they have that special offer on.

Cheers

I've been using mine on the elliptical for the past month or so with no problems. In order to read comfortably, I have to put the reader on Large and lean forward a bit more than I normally would.

But it's definitely the best reading-while-sweating experience I've ever had. Fonts on paperbacks are usually too small and listening to audio books while working out was one of the most boring experiences in my life.

Is it a pain to flip the pages while you're running or on the elliptical?

Is it a pain to flip pages while running or using the elliptical? Nope. It's just a matter of reaching out and pressing a button. I like using the button that's on the bottom of the reader because it's easier to get to.

This thread reminds me of one of Bill Bryson's books - the one (I forget the title) in which he write about his impressions of the US after returning there from many years living in England. One of the things he comments on is his neighbour who drives to the gym, spends an hour on a treadmill, and then drives home again, and who looks horrified at the suggestion that she simply goes for a walk from home instead :D.

With two months experience, I can now tell you the 505 works great on the treadmill. I set it to the largest font and use an MEdge leisure cover and it is easy and pleasant to read. And I've discovered that one hour on the treadmill while reading a great sleazy detective novel feels like ten minutes. It's really made what used to be a tedious chore, a real pleasure.

The one thing I would like for reading while working out is an remote control. For ipods, you can by external controls that are easier to use while doing things like working out. It would be nice if you could have an external control for reader. Just something with a giant, page turn button that would be simple to press while running. I don't think the readers have as much ability to be controlled as the ipods have, so this is probably unrealistic.

I've set my PRS500 on the elleptical while training too, but now that I'm into HIIT-training, I don't really have time to browse through a book.

The one thing I would like for reading while working out is an remote control. For ipods, you can by external controls that are easier to use while doing things like working out. It would be nice if you could have an external control for reader. Just something with a giant, page turn button that would be simple to press while running. I don't think the readers have as much ability to be controlled as the ipods have, so this is probably unrealistic.

The same thing has occurred to me as well. Walking on the treadmill, it's easy enough to turn the page but having a remote would make it easier

Wink, wink --- that's why the Kindle has such large buttons!

But I don't mean to start a flame war, please! :)

Walking on the treadmill, it's easy enough to turn the page but having a remote would make it easier

When I walk on my treadmill, I like to use handweights to get some upperbody exercise, but that is nigh impossible with the Reader. My choice is to not read and use the weights or read and forget the weights. I've chosen to do the latter.

Thanks to the Reader I'm on my treadmill for 1.5-2 hours everyday and doing 5.5-7 miles of walking. Its been good for my health.

When I walk on my treadmill, I like to use handweights to get some upperbody exercise, but that is nigh impossible with the Reader. My choice is to not read and use the weights or read and forget the weights. I've chosen to do the latter.

Thanks to the Reader I'm on my treadmill for 1.5-2 hours everyday and doing 5.5-7 miles of walking. Its been good for my health.

If you're walking to lose weight, more than 1 hour is actually countereffective...

One of the things he comments on is his neighbour who drives to the gym, spends an hour on a treadmill, and then drives home again, and who looks horrified at the suggestion that she simply goes for a walk from home instead

The only benefit I can see is that you can combine watching TV or reading with exercise in a way that's tricky unless you have a tandem bicycle or something. personally, I'd go with that but my partner doesn't want to drive it either :(

But that does continue to amaze me. Especially when combined with nonsense like "if you exercise outside the gym you undo the effect of the gym".

I ride my bike to work every day, half an hour each way, and that seems to work for my. I'm only slightly overweight and I eat all sorts of junk. But when I go cycle touring I always seem to lose a couple of kg and add a lot more muscle, so I could obviously stand to exercise more to get more benefit. But 5-6 hours a day of aerobic exercise might annoy my coworkers :) )

If you're walking to lose weight, more than 1 hour is actually countereffective...

I'm curious: what is the basis for the above assertion? Why would it be counterproductive to walk for more than 1 hour to lose weight? Assuming one's goal was to lose weight via the treadmill, how would you know what the most effective time would be?

FWIW, I like to do the Fartlek pattern, which varies my treadmill's elevation between -2% and +9% incline. It is a good conditioning routine.

I'm curious: what is the basis for the above assertion? Why would it be counterproductive to walk for more than 1 hour to lose weight? Assuming one's goal was to lose weight via the treadmill, how would you know what the most effective time would be?


I can't find a definite testreport as I've read it in several magazines and books. The idea is that for fat loss, muscle mass is most important. And doing prolonged cardio at which your total energy is used up, your body will start using muscles besides fat.
That's because the human body doesn't solely use one type of energysource, but a combo. So even though, during low intensity cardio sessions, most energy comes from fat, a bit are taken from sugar and protein. In the long run, the easy-access protein will be used, your muscles.

Some quick googleinfo

Watch out: Avoid running, which, when combined with lifting days, can decrease muscle size due to the large energy expenditure it demands. "When the body is faced with a calorie deficit, the muscles are one of the first places it goes, along with fat stores, to supply energy to your other systems," says Rubenstein. So, in this case, running will lead your body to feast on its own muscle tissue.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_10_19/ai_108838859
http://www.allspiritfitness.com/library/QandA/qa_too_much_cardio.shtml
http://www.healthrecipes.com/muscle.htm
http://www.arthurdevany.com/2007/03/too_much_cardio.html


Besides... a more intense training is more effective in time and energy put into it (do a search on HIIT or even tabata)

I'm sure that treadmills have tremendous benefits when it comes to convenience, but living in an English country village as I do, I far prefer a nice walk in the countryside in the fresh air, listening to the birds sing and watching the lambs in the fields, etc.

I'm sure that treadmills have tremendous benefits when it comes to convenience, but living in an English country village as I do, I far prefer a nice walk in the countryside in the fresh air, listening to the birds sing and watching the lambs in the fields, etc.

Sounds like my wife. Me, I hate exercise. I do enjoy country walks, but they tend to be rambles rather than at "exercise" intensity. To get around my dislike of exercise, I use the treadmill, which lets me distract myself by reading. Plus I don't have to worry about weather and -- more importantly -- I can fit it into my workday.

The idea is that for fat loss, muscle mass is most important. And doing prolonged cardio at which your total energy is used up, your body will start using muscles besides fat.

Ah, that's only after you've exercised to exhaustion. Which will hopefully take more than one hour. The switch from burning sugar to burning fat happens relatively quickly, but from there to burning protein is a huge jump and normally only happens once you run your fat reserves right down. So until you are a genuinely skinny beanpole, don't worry about it. Worry more about coming home from the gym, flopping down on the couch and "treating" yourself to a nice big bag of junk food. That is what will stop you losing weight.