Arm-Cycling

I like exercises that allow me to get an aerobic workout with upper-body muscles. My favorite upper-body workout, walking with hand weights is impaired somewhat currently because my sore SI joint limits the length of my walks. My PT facility had a machine that allowed me to arm-cycle which I enjoyed, and I thought it would be nice to reproduce this at home. My recumbent exercise bike puts the pedals in a pretty ideal position when it is laid on its back. I tried it out and got a good workout, but gripping the pedals by hand wasn’t too comfortable. This was easily fixed with a dowel, as shown in the pictures.

I can get a nice upper-body workout with this setup. I can just cruise at an easy pace or make it as hard as I want by throwing in some intervals. Here is a video showing arm cycling. This is now an enjoyable addition to my upper-body routine.