One legged workouts while recovering from fracture

[svens]

Absolutely, see Muscles Used by Indoor Nordic Skiing Machines | Concept2
Even if leaving legs out, there are still plenty of upper body big muscles involved.

[Garratto]

Your core muscles do not do the kind of work necessary for sustained aerobic exercise. In any case, we are not talking about cross country skiing, we are talking about using an arm ergometer for exercise during rehab. Moving your arms around over something like a 12 inch range of motion just isn’t going to do it – not enough muscle mass, not enough range of motion, not enough resistance, not enough work being done. TS wrote the thread because he knew exactly that and wanted to bounce ideas around so he could actually get a good aerobic workout; now he is.

[Power13]

@Garratto

Moving your arms around over something like a 12 inch range of motion just isn’t going to do it – not enough muscle mass, not enough range of motion, not enough resistance, not enough work being done

Have you ever seen the machines used by crew members of America’s Cup teams?

Back in the day, Schwinn modified their AirDyne exercise bikes for AC teams and they flocked to it because of the training stimulus it provided, both in short, intense intervals and for sustained periods.

Those machines have now been replaced by much higher tech units, but the training stimulus remains.

[Garratto]

Sure the airdyne is basically an exercise bike with handlebars that can be pushed and pulled while you pedal. I’m not following how this or cross country skiing indicate that an arm ergometer provides worthwhile aerobic training when you have an injured leg.

[dave76]

@Power13,
The machine you describe looks interesting, but I do not have access to one. It is not something I can

• fit in my house
• afford, particularly since it’s only for a few weeks.

So I hear you, it is possible to have a good workout with your arms only. I am not saying the contrary. I am just saying that with my arm ergometer, I find it difficult.
Now that I can stand on one leg more easily, I am doing my workouts standing, and this increases my HR to a low Z2 or slightly under.

[svens]

This subtopic started with your claim:

@Garratto

To get good aerobic and cardio benefit you need to use your legs, or at least one leg, because the arms themselves do not have enough muscle mass to increase oxygen consumption to a level that will require your heart to beat at a Z2 or higher rate + stroke volume.

Later in the discussion, it became apparent that the OP lacked access to such equipment. This progression is typical in forum discussions: someone seeks advice, different suggestions are offered, and as the context deepens, the advice becomes more tailored to the thread starter’s specific needs. However, this doesn’t make ongoing discussion useless; it could still benefit others facing similar situations but who have access to different equipment.

[Marcellus]

Great that you’ve found a solution. I hope you don’t mind me continuing a little bit of the other discussion to try to provide some clarity for others who may be in a similar situation but with different equipment availability.

I think a lot of the misunderstanding is about the idea that we can use either legs or arms. It is probably better thought of as lower or upper body (or whole body). Cycling is obviously almost entirely a leg exercise (if you include the glutes), so maybe this is why cyclists assume that when the contact point is your hands, the exercise will be arm-based. In fact, in sports which use the upper body (e.g. cross-country skiing (especially double pole technique which top athletes can do continuously for 70km), rowing, kayak, wheelchair marathon etc.), the technique is almost always based around using large muscle groups in the trunk first to get up to speed, moving through to the shoulders and then the arms to finish. Yes, if you just have an arm erg it will be very difficult to get a good cardiovascular workout - you need a machine that allows you to use your trunk. The ski-erg is very good for this, is available in many gyms, is used by many wheelchair athletes and is great when you have a leg fracture.

For those interested, a video of double pole technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JliBCQp5NTI

Standing ski-erg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVvoLcCyfL8&pp=ygURc2tpIGVyZyB0ZWNobmlxdWU%3D

Seated ski-erg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g0xTadM1wQ

[Power13]

@Garratto

Sure the airdyne is basically an exercise bike with handlebars that can be pushed and pulled while you pedal

I’m not talking about a regular air dune….i am talking about an air dune that was adapted for crews on America’s Cup boats. It was an arms-only machine.

@dave76

• fit in my house
• afford, particularly since it’s only for a few weeks

I wasn’t suggesting that machine per se, I was simply responding to the idea that you can’t get a cardio workout using your arms only.