The year gone by has been a tough one in multiple ways: economically, emotionally and intellectually, to name just a few. Unfortunately, many of those factors are well beyond our individual control and so it is easy to get down, and wallow in the things that can't be improved in spite our best hopes, intentions and efforts.
Then there's my elliptical.
While I hesitate to make this tale an allegory that encapsulates the myriad of valleys into which we have descended and the mountains we have to climb, well, why not? You have to see hope and signs where you can, be encouraged by successful outcomes, and take comfort that the tide can be turned, even if things get harder before they get easier. A bridge too far up a creek without a paddle? Perhaps, but let me try.
As my knees got progressively creakier, I decided several years ago that running was not a good idea. Casting about for some sort of exercise that would get my heart rate up but the stress on my joints down, I tried out an elliptical trainer. These cross-country ski-like machines offer a gliding motion that gives you a solid workout without the pounding of slamming one foot after the other into the pavement. Knowing that there was a much better chance of me using one if it were close at hand as opposed to driving to a gym, I bit the bullet and bought one.
All good. I routinely got up and clocked thirty minutes on it most mornings. As with most gear of this type, you can adjust the difficulty to provide a more challenging workout by increasing the resistance... making the easy difficult, much like our current situation. And so over time I pushed the dial up a little bit at a time, and forced myself to accommodate to the new environment. I eventually got well past a cake walk, but well below a slog.
Perhaps it was the age of the equipment, or the machine trying to balance that particular resistance level, but one morning just as I finished my workout and hit the stop button I heard a loud "BANG!" that came from within the unit. Nothing on the outside appeared changed. However, a few tentative shuffles showed that while the device still worked, the level of difficulty was off the charts. Rather than settling at a level where everything was running just fine and easy, it went the other direction and broke at the hardest setting available. Not to make too much of a parallel to the world at large, but then again...
A little online research showed that it was likely a cable that snapped. The hardest part of replacing it was getting into the whole system, whose outer layers had not been engineered to make it easy for regular folks to enter. (Remind you of anything?) Thankfully other brave souls had been there before me, and posted tips and tricks that the pros used to manipulate the cover to get at the inner workings.
So I ordered the part. It of course got lost in the seasonal rush, and I had to diligently track it down and get the powers that be to shake it free from a misdirected delivery. Once I got it, it took a number of tools, much muttering and some skinned knuckles to get in, find the broken part, extricate it, install the new piece, then get the whole thing reassembled and back up and running. I'm very tickled with myself that, other than a slightly different algorithmic slope to the resistance setting, it seems to work just fine. Indeed, while I used to work out at a level 10, the new equivalent now seems to be a 13 or 14. Same resistance, different label.
As I said, while I hesitate to extrapolate my experience to a wider arena, let me try. Old system that got progressively harder but worked. Then broke big time. Some diligent learnings, and some dedicated efforts to effect a change. Some muttering and swearing, some painful contortions, but repairs were possible. And finally a restored system that works again, albeit a little differently. A reach to the current world? Perhaps. But at the risk of overplaying my hand up a mountain to the point of no return, we can only hope that as my exercise equipment goes, so goes the world.
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Marc Wollin of Bedford tries to exercise every day. His column appears weekly via email and online on Substack and Blogspot as well as Facebook, LinkedIn and X.
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