Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
The air may be stale but it probably is safe to breathe. All of us, but especially a diabetic should have a significant amount of weight bearing exercise added to their lifestyle. Diabetics are always told to 'exercise' and to most of us that means: running, cycling and/or elliptical machine. Possibly rowing machine. Running and cycling can be done in a gym or outside.
However, if a diabetic can add significant amounts of new lean muscle tissue to their body it is sometimes possible to actually reverse the progress of the disease. That means a gym. No getting away from it. 20 miles of cycling takes 2:00hr to possibly 3:00. That is a lot of hours per day to devote to one activity. It won't be sustained. Certainly not after September/October. Then what?
Or she could just buy a set of dumb bells and do some simple exercises at home. I use the gym, but I don't have an aversion to it. Telling people they have to go somewhere they hate to do the exercise they need really isn't helpful.
BTW, that 2-3 hours figure seems really slow to me, even for a beginner. Most beginners I've seen can average better than 12 mph, which would beat that, and with some normal progress would go faster after a few weeks. And how did 20 miles get to be a magic figure?
I agree you need a secondary activity if you have a winter you won't ride in, but again implying it has to be the gym is not going to lead to anything sustainable for someone who hates the gym.