quantifying training/physical benefits of unicycling

Hi,

Recently a reporter asked me this question:

Is there anyone (perhaps youJ) who can tell me more detail about the
training/physical benefits of unicycling? I need some hard data like
wattage, heart rate, etc. to make comparisons so that readers get a
better idea of the aerobic element. How high does your heart rate get,
etc?

I can descriptively answer the question but I don't have any hard
data.

Anybody have this info?

Thanks,

Kris


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danger_uni - Kris Holm
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Well, that kind of depends on how you want the information derived. In
theory, I could tell you the wattage a unicyclist produces, but this
will be a mathematical formula, and should in theory apply to all moving
objects. If you need measured data, I'm sorry to say I wont be able to
help you.


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Erant

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Kris i cant help you
But my mom may she is a Physical Therapist! I'll ask her.
Kris i got a two questions for you, when do you usaly release a new line
of unicycles? And why arn't you on the forum more often? It seems you
only pop up when you have a question.
Latter
redhead


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redhead - South Florida's Unicycle Club
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It sounds like you need to do some hardcore tests, like in da hospital
to find that out, dont u?

p.s. Im sorry im getting way off topic, but is this the real Kris Holm?
And if so r u going to do anything new to your 06 KH's?


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musketman
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Bah, stick to the topic at hand. Anyway, if you're not the mathematical
type, this might blow you away completly, but this is a pretty good
website when it comes to calculating wattage. (Warning: This involves
formulas for air resistance, slope resistance, rolling resistance, etc.)
All these formulas are approximations, and will only be 100% accurate
under ideal circumstances, which never occur...


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Erant

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Don't have any numbers, but maybe you can get a ballpark estimate using
a few basic measurements?:

Calories burned must be related to water sweated/lost (or maybe not. I
don't know).

So if you could find that equation, then you could simply measure the
weight of the water you drink on the ride (mass of starting water minus
mass of water left over, just in case...). Weigh yourself, aswell,
before and after the ride. This will tell you how many pounds (wait,
Canada... kilograms) of water you lost and how many you replaced. Could
be helpful in finding how many calories you burned.

You could also look at how many calories are in the food you eat on a
ride. Or, how many calories did you consume on the day of the ride
relative to how many you consume on a non-riding day. Then relate it to
the type of riding and duration, etc.

just a few ideas, none of which strike me as particularly good, but
together they may give you a semi-decent estimate of energy burned
during rides.

Personally I measure the energy burned on a ride in super chicken
burittos. On average I'm comfortably full after a bit more than one.
After a ride it's usually 1.5-2 .


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gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

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Nick's main man.

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For wattage you could just use a spinning magnet method, spining magnet
= electrical current, using your average rpm's, and maxwells equation,
you could get the wattage proccesed by the movment of unicycling. This
isn't including forward momentum, or the forces used to keep yourself
balanced just the aditional unused energy that is transformed into
heat/weight, and held by the unicycle itself.

As for heart rates this will depend on 1: How good of a unicycle you are
(how much energy you use to stay balanced) and 2: how physicaly fit you
are, so it would really be an individual thing, and it would also be
easy for you to do it yourself kris. just some heart rate measurments.


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cyberpunk - Become one with the Debian

The following is the fault of a random google search and catboy.

"Baby Laughs : The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood"


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I don't know much about hard data, but I can say that the
tighter-fitting pants in my wardrobe have been harder to put on lately
due to increased leg girth, and I can now walk for quite some distance
carrying my girlfriend where I used to wear myself out at about ten
metres or so.

You'd need to get a few people to go out for a ride, describe the ride,
and measure their heart rate and ability level to get any idea of the
range of exercise. I know that it's definitely easier for me to ride a
distance than it is to run or jog a distance, but I'd consider myself a
good rider, rarely having to overcorrect for any deficiencies in my
balance, making it more efficient. For someone else, i.e. a new rider,
going 50 feet is going to tire them out because they're still learning
to correct for balance and put weight on the seat.


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flyer - Level 5 Unicyclist
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Hello Kris,
I don't have wattage, but here is some info:

I had posted this 8/21/2005: I read an article in the paper today about
the amount of water needed while exercising. It described weighing
yourself before and after 1 hour of exercise, and that's the amount of
water an you should drink. So I measured, 2.5 pounds, that times 16 is
the number of ounces, or 40 oz of water an hour! (Sounds like a lot to
me.)

Additionally: In 13 months of riding this 50 year old has gone from 192
down to 163lbs. Pure uni exercise.

I had a stress test a few years ago, was told nothing was wrong, that I
was in poor shape and need to exercise. It would be interesting to see
the difference to now.

Best I could tell ya.


--
Chrashing - Unicycles are flying machines!

Regards,
Ken
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Kris, you should get some data from Nathan Hoover, he has posted a
number of times about his rides which he has used a heart rate monitor
on so you may be able to get some numbers there.

It probably does depend on the skill of the rider though. A beginner may
have a much higher heart rate than an experianced rider doing the same
thing. However, it's likely that an experienced rider will push themself
to a higher heartrate by doing more difficult riding, so the number may
be very similar.

musketman wrote:
*p.s. Im sorry im getting way off topic, but is this the real Kris
Holm? And if so r u going to do anything new to your 06 KH's? *


Yes, danger_uni is the real Kris Holm.


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