One new way I keep moving with MS

I never thought I needed a Cubii … until I got one.

I mean, come on. I have a full-time job and work remotely, so if I ever needed a break to give my mind a rest and burn some calories, I could just get up and go for a quick walk around the neighborhood, right?

What purpose – other than getting in the way and collecting dust – would a compact seated elliptical serve under my desk?

That was the first question I asked myself when I received an email from Dave, the director of sales at Cubii.

Keep in mind that as bloggers and MS community influencers, Jennifer and I receive several emails each week from companies asking us to try their health-related products and equipment for free in hopes we’ll write about them here on our blog. We usually look past these emails because, well, as I said, we receive them quite often and we’re not in this to be compensated spokespeople.

But there was something different about what Dave had to say and how he said it. “For those with MS or Parkinson’s, Cubii is a way to keep moving without the risk of falling,” he wrote in his email. “It fits your space and allows movement at your pace.”

I was intrigued. For those who know my experiences, part of the reason I stopped running was because I started falling too often. My MS-weakened left foot would clip a crack in the sidewalk and my head quickly crashed on the concrete to break my fall. So I’m not moving as much as I should, and what do I have to lose by telling Dave to send us a Cubii and see if it does anything to help.

Maybe it wasn’t so much that I had nothing to lose, but I truly felt I somehow had everything to gain with this piece of exercise equipment.

Before we go any further, let me say straight up that other than receiving a complimentary Cubii to try, I am not getting paid to write this essay. If I didn’t believe in its benefits, I would have simply ignored it like those promotional emails Jennifer and I receive and let it collect the dust under my desk.

More than just a flash in the pan

I received the Cubii in the mail and put it together while watching an early season non-conference Michigan football game. Now several months later, the regular college football season has ended, and it took me this long to write about it. Why? Because I wanted to make sure the Cubii had sustainable staying power and it wasn’t just another health fad that quickly faded.

This is the real deal, and I use it every single day while I’m at the “office.”  It actually controls the location of all the equipment at my work station. My laptop, keyboard and monitors are strategically centered and perfectly aligned with the Cubii (pronounced Cube-ee). Dave told me the name comes from the “cubicle” as it originally was created for busy professionals to get movement while sitting at their desks all day.

So each day that I’m working, I effortlessly work in the time to pedal. It’s perfect to do while I’m proofing copy, conducting research online or need to break for a couple minutes – just to stay active and keep my legs moving. Sure, I still get up and stretch every hour and go for short walks when time permits. But when it’s raining, snowing or just too frigid to brave the Michigan winter, I always can count on the calorie-burning Cubii.

The reality is I have yet to fully utilize all of its features. These include adjusting the tension to improve my strength and tracking my workouts to record time, distance and calories burned. But right now I’m just concerned about keeping my legs moving. All this, while sitting at my desk with the Cubii conveniently positioned at my feet.