Is It Just Me, Or Is This Thing Getting Harder?

So in the beginning, hopping on my ROM was a piece of cake. Well not quite; it was difficult but in a ‘tolerable’ way.

Not anymore.

I frequently feel like I’m hyperventilating, every muscle in my body screaming for mercy after just 90 seconds. ROM, our honeymoon is over. Used to be at the gym, when I’d do an exercise for awhile I’d get ‘better’ at it. Y’know, it’d get easier over time and it was up to me use more weight, do more reps, etc. Not so the ROM: It’s getting harder and harder. I emailed one of my ROM coaches to ask: Am I a failure? Is this normal? This is what she said…

Yes, the machine DOES get harder the stronger you get, because you are able to create more resistance, because you are spinning the flywheel faster. You have to imagine a little old lady getting on the machine, and pushing and pulling to her ability, and then a highly trained athlete: one is just barely going to get the flywheel spinning, so not much resistance is created, and the other is going to really get the flywheel going, so the centrifugal brake will be engaging more: so the workout will be harder. So guess what? It means that you have moved over in the spectrum further away from the little old lady and closer to the highly trained athlete…

I plan to test this theory out with my mother or grandmother in the next few months. Should be interesting, eh?

A complete index of ROM Fitness Challange posts can be found here.