After considerable going back and forth, I've decided to go with a folding stationary bike instead of putting an outdoor bike on a training stand. The outside bike would take up more space and wouldn't be that easy to set up and take down. For $20 more than a training stand and a riser block, I could get a folding bike. After reading a lot of reviews, I decided to go with
the Marcy Foldable Excercise Bike. It's $20 more than the other Marcy bike, but I decided the foldable feature was worth the extra $20. The reviews of the foldable are more favorable than the other Marcy. They pretty much agree that is has a small footprint, which is important in my small bedroom, and it's quiet. The other Marcy got dinged on assembly and build quality.
I thinking that before I got the cycle I should go ahead and get a better scale. The one I'm using right now is good as far as it goes, a generic I got for $20 on sale, better than the generic Walgreen's scale I had before (which I'm trying to give away on Freecycle). I'm mainly interested in getting one that measures muscle mass, since I already have a hand-held Omron that measures body fat.
Even before that, I decided to order a Stamina folding equipment mat to double as an exercise mat and for putting the rowing machine and the bike on. I've been using the Reebok fitness mat, but that's not what it's designed for. I'm not sure it will hold up to sustained use for that purpose. I have an area rug under that, but it keeps bunching up so I'm going to move it.
I keep making incremental changes that I hope will result in improvements. I'm trying to get into the habit of propping my feet on the stepper when watching tv or using the tablet. It's supposed to help the back.
Got my sleep on last night, more than I wanted, around nine hours. I woke up several times during the night but was able to fall back asleep.
Today is a cheat day for my 4:3 diet. I don't expect it will have that much impact since I didn't eat that much yesterday. Today is a rest day for exercise.
It rained early this morning. It really made a difference in terms of comfort level - the stickiness was gone this morning. It's supposed to rain tonight, which I hope will reduce the humidity even further. The clouds kept things in the eighties, which was nice because it was originally supposed to hit the nineties.
Interesting essay over at the Greatist by a guy who achieved a six-pack in six weeks and the long-term consequences. He sees it as a critique of six-pack abs, but I see it as more of a critique of any crash course.