For the first 22 years of my career as an electrician, I spent almost every day walking, climbing, reaching, swinging, and pulling. He was in very good physical condition and excelled at anything that required agility and balance. For some reason, at our friends’ weddings, a limbo stick would always come out around midnight. I’m 6’1″ and I usually win!
In my early 40’s I stopped being “in the tools” and took on more of a supervisory role (desk jockey). I bought a treadmill and stayed slim by using it almost every night. Several months later, my family went on a ski vacation. To my surprise and dismay, there was no longer that feline confidence in my actions. Physically, I was still in good shape, my balance and reflexes having taken a nosedive.
After some googling (and listening to my wife gently joke about me getting older), I realized that my “core strength” wasn’t what it used to be. Your “core” is essentially the area of your torso. It includes the muscles of the back and the abdominals. There are many of them, and they all have Greek names, but basically it is these muscles that help you to be agile. My treadmill was not working.
GET ON THE MONOCYCLE…
I was discussing my dismal situation with my wife’s boss. He is a nurse, a competitive cyclist, and an occasional skier. Oddly enough, his first recommendation was to start riding a unicycle. He explained that the inherently unbalanced situation that riding a unicycle puts the body in forces all those core muscles to constantly and rapidly flex and relax in an effort to keep you on top of the lone wheel. He also said that the only thing that could be better would be rolling logs. Unfortunately I don’t have a 20″ diameter lake and trunk, so the unicycle would have to work, and he lent me his old one until mine arrived.
The learning process is one that requires some determination. Getting the hang of a unicycle took me much longer than when I was a kid learning to ride two wheels. Fortunately now I have more patience. The average time to become competent enough on a unicycle to ride without endangering yourself or public property is 12 hours.
In another sense, the learning process is very similar to riding a bicycle. After a lot of effort, it seems that something “clicks” and suddenly you can ride. Your body has a “EUREKA!” moment. Gaining confidence and skill takes longer, but discovering a whole new physical ability as an adult is bordering on the surreal.
I wholeheartedly recommend the unicycle for both exercise and entertainment. I truly believe that it is one of the “best kept secrets” in health and fitness and hope that one day it will gain widespread use as a core strengthener and cardio machine.