It's been awhile. I know. What started as a little tickle in the back of my throat morphed into full-blown flu/Plague and sidelined me for over a week. I tried to run through it, but the day after I ran 8 miles on a scratchy throat, the scratch turned into raw and swollen, irritated by coughing fits that turned into gagging fits that... well, you get the picture. I just thought I'd share. It appears that misery does, indeed, love company. And yet, only one here is my dog.
Anyway, right before I got too sick to do anything but sleep, I took my Trikke T67 out for the first time in about six months and planned this blog post.
I don't know how many of you have a Trikke or how many of you saw the infomercial and thought you might like to have one, but I've had mine for a little over a year, and this is my overall assessment of it as a form of exercise.
First, I should point out that my model is the T67, which has the hard-molded rubber tires like on rollerblades. It's also the smallest "adult-sized" model. It's supposed to be appropriate for older children and small adults. I'm not even sure I was under the weight cut-off on it when I bought it. It was just the only model I could afford. Honestly, if it's serious fitness you're worried about, it would be cheaper and more effective to buy a bike. That being said, I love my Trikke. It's totally addictive and a ton of fun. I'll admit, it took me awhile to 'find the sweet spot' as the lingo goes so that I could actually make the Trikke go. I spent a lot of the first few days just coasting downhill, slamming on the brakes and then kicking back up. By downhill, I'm talking just the couple degrees of incline of my barn aisle, since that was the only place anywhere around me that had a surface smooth enough to Trikke on. Eventually, though, I learned to control my speed on the downhill by slaloming, and didn't need to use the brake anymore, and then learned to carry the downhill momentum around to get me started on the uphill. Believe me, once you find the technique, it's too much fun to stop.
But is it a good workout?
That depends. Is it a good cardio workout? No. Not really. And that's not entirely the fault of the design. Like I said, I have a small model with hard tires. It will not work on the roads behind my house. Only on clean blacktop and concrete. This limits me to just the fifty or so feet of barn aisle in my horse barn or driving someplace else. Basically, if you can't rollerblade there, you can't Trikke there, at least not on my Trikke. But the larger models with the pneumatic tires are supposed to be more tolerant of different surfaces. I think if you had a larger model and could go down a safe stretch of road for miles at a time, you could get a decent cardio workout on the Trikke. At least as good as your average elliptical machine.
That being said, you can raise your heart rate just like you would doing any other activity, by using your legs more. I find that if I incorporate a lot of squats into my Trikking I can get my heart rate up into at least slow, easy run zone. It just takes a little practice.
Now, just because I wouldn't rate the Trikke very high for cardiovascular exercise doesn't mean I don't think Trikking qualifies as working out. I guess whether or not you think it works as crosstraining for running depends on your definition of crosstraining. I actually had this discussion with someone on the LJ runners community just a week or so ago. I have always considered crosstraining to be anything that gets a similar cardiovascular challenge to my chosen activity while incorporating other muscle groups to do so. I never considered strength training to be crosstraining. I considered strength training to be strength training. Apparently, I'm the only one on the planet who defines it as such. So, if you consider any form of exercise that's not your chosen activity to be crosstraining, then the Trikke definitely qualifies, not so much as a cardiovascular test, but as, what I like to refer to as, Pilates on wheels.
That's right. Trikking is like Pilates on wheels.
How so? Well, let me explain. The first few days I had my Trikke, as I mentioned, I couldn't make it go at all. Still after the first day, I had serious PAIN all along the sides of my ribcage, into my obliques, my lower abs and back. I won't say my core hurt, because I'll instantly lose all the credibility I ever had with the gymrat crowd. LOL. But here's what I noticed-- when I do a lot of Trikking, I hurt in places I never hurt before. I don't hurt in my biceps or triceps, but along the outside of my arm, along the bone, and my glutes don't really hurt, but there's a definite tightness at the base of my spine around my tailbone. So, yeah, I think it definitely hits all those postural muscles that you normally only hit by doing Advanced Pilates. And that's not to mention the hip flexors. Holy cow, if you want that V-cut, I definitely recommend the Trikke.
And that's just by doing your basic Trikking. There are a ton of ways you can change up your position to hit other muscles groups. I already mentioned incorporating squats in order to elevate your heart rate. Besides elevating your heart rate, you get all the benefits of a bodyweight squat, and the longer you go, the more it burns, and you can get a really exquisite burn going while still having fun.
Then, there are two or three different positions I like to rotate between. First, I do a toes-out Pilates First Position type stance, which is exactly how it sounds. My feet turn out on the foot pads, calves get close together, heels come off the footpads and dip down into the well between them for a good lengthening strength move. Glutes tuck in and everything comes into alignment from lower abs to the top of your head. This really targets the inner thighs, hip flexors, calves (though more of a calf stretch than strengthener) and glutes. It's a little hard to get any kind of speed up in this position, especially uphill, but it's still pretty stable once you get the hang of it.
By contrast, the 'toes-in' position is a lot less stable. Again, it's exactly what it sounds like. Toes to the inside of the foot pad, heels off the outsides. I wouldn't attempt this if you have knee issues as there is definitely some torque to the knee joint. Also, it tends to throw your body weight forward so that you're more likely to try to muscle your way through the movement instead of feeling the edge of the cambering wheel, and the foot pads will lift off the ground, increasing the potential for tip over. I wouldn't do this stance at all except it really works the calves and the glutes. I'm not recommending this one, just saying I use it.
You can also change the muscle recruitment by stepping up to the front of the foot pads so far that the toes of your feet actually end up on the forks of the Trikke. I find this really tightens up the movement so that the power comes almost exclusively from the abs, back, and skeletal muscles. As an added benefit, it's a very stable position. I've yet to have a foot pad come off the ground using this stance, and it's very good for building and maintaining speed. I think this is my favorite stance for having fun while still getting a good muscle workout.
Anyway, those are just a few examples of how you can customize your Trikking to get what you want out of the workout. The most important thing, though, is that Trikking is fun, so you tend to go for very long periods of time without realizing how much of a workout you're actually getting. The other weekend I did over an hour and a half, and when I got off my legs were rubber.
Overall, I give the Trikke a moderate rating for effectiveness as training equipment. I don't think the Trikke will be phased out of my exercise program any time soon, and I don't have that much time for working out, so I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't find it beneficial. However, I wouldn't do it more than once a week, since the muscles adapt very quickly, and it starts to require an exorbitant amount of time to get the same results. But nothing replaces the fun factor for workout motivation. I'd definitely recommend people who can afford it and have a decent place to ride one go ahead and buy the Trikke if they think it looks like fun. I'd just recommend the T8 or larger, with the pneumatic tires instead of the hard rubber. Ultimately, I would love a T12, but you know what they say about wishes and horses.
I did a quick video of me on the Trikke. Do not be laughing at the ridic that is me. I tried to incorporate all the different things I talked about, but it's hard to film oneself with any effectiveness. First is just regular trikking, then toes out, toes in, forward on the forks, and squatting.
Disclaimer: Trikke recommends the use of a helmet and pads. Do as I say, not as I do.
And there you have it. 'Til the next bend in the road. Watch out for plot holes.
-Tracy
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