Category: accessible Devices
I don't know if this belongs here or not. If it doesn't, I guess the admins wil move it. I was wondering if there were any talking tredmills. I want to buy one to excersize and lose weight with, but I can't seem to find one. If you guys know of anything that might help, please let me know.
Steff
I have seen some that has buttons that were tactiled and brailled, but I am not sure if it could talk or not. I don't think so.
I hope it helps but so far no, I tried to get my fitness certification and never saw a talking treadmill.
I've never used one of those electronic treadmills with the digital readouts of your speed, incline, how many calories you are burning, etc. But I doubt if they do make talking ones since blind people don't even exist in the minds of people who make exercise equipment, appliances, etc. However, I think an old-fashioned manual treadmill would be easiest for a blind person to use.
The ones with buttons that are raised are easy to use. You can type in the level, say 0 3 or whatever on the key pad. As far as how much you are burning and such it's not important really if you are sweating. You can raise or lower the speed as well, or cause it to go up or down hill. Some have differen't types of exercise and that can be typed in as well. Their is a button that has the type of training, so you push it, then you set the level, so I'd say when shopping for one depending on how much you wish to pay ask is the keys are raised, many are. After that you can braille what you need, or just remember the layout. Speed, or level of training are about all that is needed. Visit a 24 hour fitness center. They have them and you can feel the buttons. Call and explain you need a trainer to show you how it works and tell that trainer what you want to learn. Get the brand of the treadmill and then shop online for it, or call some fitness stores in your area and describe what you want. Price would be around 600 and up, but most of the features on the upgraded once are just over kill in the skeme of things, so just get one that does the basics.
We got even more basic than the treadmill, but it also exercises your arms as well. Our cross trainer set us back hmmm, around $600/£350 6 years back when we were looking for an exercise machine I could use by myself without needing someone there to help me set the time, speed, resistance Etc, I could just hop on it, set my resistance which was this little roller thingy under the hand grips and moving bars which exercised your arms, then press the middle start button on the integral computer thingy for half an hour or so's workout, then when mum was around, she'd give me the readings, since it measured the number of calories burnt off and your heart rate, plus time elapsed of course, but I couldn't see what was on the little computer thingy on the handle bars.
Now, I'd pop in to one of these afore-mentioned fitness centres and ask to have a look at both treadmills and cross trainers, since there are several different models of both to choose from. Our cross trainer for example, has this big rounded handle in the middle, with oval-shaped pad things which measure your heart rate and things when you're holding on there, plus these big moving side bars either side of that handle, the afore-mentioned computer and resistance roller thing which work your arms as you push down on the foot plates with your feet in a sort of walking pedalling motion. You could say it's a kind of front crawl as in swimming, but you're standing up as oppose to being on your front in a swimming pool. I've lost up to 4 pounds a week thanks to this cross trainer.
Jen.