http://gawker.com/this-is-what-it-feels-like-to-be-quadriplegic-1206659714
A well-written piece from a victim of a drunk driver.
Archive | August, 2013
And there ain’t no more !
30 AugI keep increasing the resistance on my FES bike, and my legs keep responding and rising to the challenge. Today, during my sprint workout, I increased the resistance to as high as it would go, 20 Newton-meters, and increased the speed to as high as it would go, 55 rpm, and lo and behold: my legs put out 115 watts for a few seconds! I got the same result on all 5 of my sprints. I finished up with 7 minutes cool down at 40 watts. I can honestly say I never thought I would get to this point. It’s basically unheard of.
I will keep working out at least 3 times a week and try to gradually extend the length of time I can operate at this highest power level. Good times!
To all of you that helped raise funds for this device, once again I am deeply indebted to you.
power to the pedals
25 AugI have been slowly increasing my power on the FES bike, but haven’t made any real gains since hitting 40 watts over a month ago.. Last Friday, I had an idea to try something new on the bike and simply increased resistance several large steps from what I had usually used. To my surprise, my legs were able to push against the higher resistance, with the result that on my second sprint I reached a new peak power of 71 watts, almost double my previous best!. Two days later, in another ride, I repeatedly hit 65 watts, so this seems to be more than a one-time occurrence. Apparently it’s rather rare for users to hit this power level, but what do I know, the end is not yet in sight!
By the way, about the arms, I found that by swinging my arms while pedaling , I can get my heart rate up to 110 to 220 beats per minute. It will probably also strengthen my arms: I can’t do it for more than a minute at a time without taking a break.
evening workout
16 Aug
in last night’s evening workout, I pushed my manual chair 640 m in just over an hour. slowly but surely I am getting a little bit stronger
Standing tall
11 AugI try to stand up using my standing chair a minimum of 1 hour per day. Some days I can only manage 20 minutes or half an hour, while other days I can exceed for one hour mark. But yesterday I set a new record: I stood for three and a half hours! This was not all in one go, but spread over 25 times standing.I thought I might be completely worn out today, but I’m off to a good start again. Maybe my body is slowly getting used to the idea of standing.
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