Working out and uke playing?

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Cassie

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Hi guys, Just a thought. I'm going to start working out with a friend of mine. I used to go with her before she started having feet problems. I usually start out by walking on a treadmill. I don't go really fast but enough to work up a sweat. Do any of you add yuke playing into any kind of exercise like walking? The reason I'm asking is because I want to make working out more fun. I enjoy being with my friend but I need to work out for my health's sake. She used to work out before her foot problems and the doctor just told her she can start walking again. We made our first plans to work out together for tomorrow. It will be every day unless something comes up and we can't. Even then we have a treadmill here at my house that I can walk on.
 
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I understand your problem. I walk or cycle and as the weather improves I will need to get out more. Playing a ukulele while cycling could attract unwanted attention or cause severe loss of skin.

It's possible to set up a treadmill or exercycle in front of a TV so that you can watch the news while exercising. Exercising while playing is more of a challenge.
 
pritch said:
I understand your problem. I walk or cycle and as the weather improves I will need to get out more. Playing a ukulele while cycling could attract unwanted attention or cause severe loss of skin.

It's possible to set up a treadmill or exercycle in front of a TV so that you can watch the news while exercising. Exercising while playing is more of a challenge.
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I could see how playing while cycling could be a problem because you'll need to turn your bike. I don't watch TV that much any more. There's just too much depressing stuff about people getting killed, hurt, arrested and all sorts of other bad things. If I need to check the weather, I check on my laptop or find a weather radio station.
 
I'm nowhere nearly coordinated enough to ride a bike and play the uke. I do well to walk and chew gum. I got rid of my bike, just too dangerous around here. The things that people do in cars and on bikes make me shudder. Some of the things I do with uke make people shudder.
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Nickie said:
I'm nowhere nearly coordinated enough to ride a bike and play the uke. I do well to walk and chew gum. I got rid of my bike, just too dangerous around here. The things that people do in cars and on bikes make me shudder. Some of the things I do with uke make people shudder.
Thread highjacked......
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What are some of those things that you do with the uke that make people shudder.
 
Ah, let me count the ways....

buzzing notes, missing the string altogether, thudding notes, playing out of tune, chording on the wrong frets, bad timing, rushing through the song, forgetting what key I'm in, forgetting to put the battery in the pre-amp, getting tangled in the mic cord, forgetting lyrics.....

you name it.

Come to think if it, this sounds like a workout.
 
Nickie said:
Ah, let me count the ways....

buzzing notes, missing the string altogether, thudding notes, playing out of tune, chording on the wrong frets, bad timing, rushing through the song, forgetting what key I'm in, forgetting to put the battery in the pre-amp, getting tangled in the mic cord, forgetting lyrics.....

you name it.

Come to think if it, this sounds like a workout.
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Oops! That's not good. Little Kalea is totally acoustic so I don't need an amp.
 
I would not play on a treadmill, but might consider it while using a stationary bike.
 
I would use the uke-playing as a reward for a certain amount of time on the boring treadmill. The only danger might be that you wouldn't want to go back to the treadmill.
 
When I go hiking/walking/trekking I usually take a break at my destination spot (so, yeah, my walks tend to be there-and-back type deals). You could take a uke with you and play a bit when you got to where you are going. Maybe take some pictures and put together a scrapbook of places-where-me-and-my-ukulele-have-been. Or, embrace the technological age and upload video clips instead. Just some random thoughts.
 
DaveY said:
I would use the uke-playing as a reward for a certain amount of time on the boring treadmill. The only danger might be that you wouldn't want to go back to the treadmill.
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I can actually see uke playing as a way to reward oneself and keep in the habit. I just wish there was a way to incorporate it into the workout itself. The only thing is that we're going to a gym and it would look silly to carry a uke with me. The more I think about it, uke playing would probably be a healthier reward than chocolate.
 
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I've never tried playing the ukulele while exercising. My wife and I ride bicycles a lot in the summer. We go down to a paved bike trail that runs through several towns, and often time we will ride from the trail head to a town twelve miles away, and there we hill have lunch at a bar and grill along the trail. Usually we bring a bottle of wine along, and on the way back to the trail head, there is a little clearing with a table where we stop and drink our wine. I like to bring the uke and play it while we drink the wine, and my wife and I both sit there and sing. But I'm not sure if one would classify that bike ride as exercise, or just an outing. Either way, that is what we like to do.
 
I no longer exercise on a treadmill or an exercise bike. It's much better to get outside and take a hike, even in the cold weather. I live in the NE United States. So come winter, I do snowboarding and try to keep busy.

I suggest picking up a racket sport, swimming or something else you may enjoy. There's so many better ways to exercise than on a stationary bike or treadmill. There's no scenery or fresh air on a treadmill. Another benefit of taking up a sport is meeting new people.

I think we're loosing this aspect of meeting people in our technological age.
 
This doesn't work on a treadmill (since it's at a fixed rate), but if I'm on a stationary bike or arc trainer, I'll try to match the speed of my steps to the tempo of the music (whether it's in my headphones or heard overhead). That usually gets a pretty good sweat going without too much effort. That's as much as I care to integrate playing music into my workout.

Otherwise, I try to ride my bike outside (with one of those carts that the kids can sit in on the back) or jog.
 
One Bad Monkey said:
This doesn't work on a treadmill (since it's at a fixed rate), but if I'm on a stationary bike or arc trainer, I'll try to match the speed of my steps to the tempo of the music (whether it's in my headphones or heard overhead). That usually gets a pretty good sweat going without too much effort. That's as much as I care to integrate playing music into my workout.

Otherwise, I try to ride my bike outside (with one of those carts that the kids can sit in on the back) or jog.
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I do that myself. I used to set my Casio keyboard to a set rhythm and follow it. Sometimes, I would make a recording of the rhythm and it's changes in tempo and ise it so I wouldn't have to pause.
 
Would it be crazy for me to suggest that you not combine the two? One activity or the other is going to suffer if not both. Focus on your workout and to make the workout more fun, you have your friend there. That's the whole point of doing it with a friend is for fun and support right?
 
I hope this doesn't come off as mean spirited but, if you are able to play a uke while working out you probably aren't working out hard enough to realize a fitness benefit. You want to be breathing hard. Working out in a gym can be kind of a drag as it is so don't short change yourself by getting a lame workout too.
 
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