Is this a good idea?

[QueBert]

I'm 50 years old, 175lbs and not in shape. I recently bought a big BT speaker that weighs 26 pounds. I also bought a backpack made for it. My plan's to use it on my late night rides thru the hills standing up on my electric scooter. I knew 30'ish lbs (with the backpack) wouldn't be light, but when I put it on I understood that it's a lot more noticeable than I was imagining.

I did some Googling and saw all sorts of opinions. I'll only be using it while on my scooter, so I'm assuming it'll affect my muscles very differently than a person walking around with it on. People on here are way smarter and know more than I do. I'm assuming this could wind up being good for my traps, delts and just back in general, but also too much would probably throw my shit out of wack. I know there's not a correct answer, but I'm curious if 30 minutes 5x night a week would be too much to start with? I tested it out the other night for a 10 minute ride and I could feel how much I was using my muscles to keep my balance while going 30mph. I know it'd become easier with time, but I don't want to overdo it and end up needing physical therapy because my back's out of alignment.

Or maybe I'm completely off base and this is not a great idea and will probably end badly if I keep it up, in my pea brain, after a year of this I'd have a strong back like Brock Lesnar, but I have doubts that's how it works lol.

 

[WelshBloke]

I'm not convinced that this isn't bait but why are you using a huge arse BT speaker in public like that?
If you want to die because you cant hear a car coming up behind you why not use headphones? At least that way everyone wont hate you when you get squished.

 

[Quintessa]

This is more of a health question, I just found out someone is half a century old here.
The question is, haven't you been training your back by gradually adding weights before 26 pounds? And why the speakers, haven't you thought about using books to make it easier to adjust to your condition/ back strength?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

And why with the electric scooter? It might make better sense to use the backpack for grocery shopping with the scooter for transport. If you want audio on your scooter, there are much smaller speakers that provide plenty of decibels.

You're still relatively young (compared to me). How far are you from a regional or state park -- better, a national park -- or US Forest Service land? If the drive (or "scoot") is not too burdensome, you could fill a day pack with cheese, crackers, perhaps a butane stove, even a sleeping bag, and carry the weight for a hike.

When I was in my late 20s, I made two hikes with a 70-lb back-pack -- a USMC feat. Years later, I made the same strenuous excursion up the McGee Creek Trail in the John Muir Wilderness to McGee Lake at 10,000 feet, and I had more sense to pack 45 lbs of supplies and gear. I couldn't do anything like that now.

But you surely could. Check out REI and stock up on some gear. Read Colin Fletcher's "The Complete Walker", published back in the '70s but now through several revisions.

 

[mindless1]

I'm 50 years old, 175lbs and not in shape.

Then get a bicycle to exercise instead of an electric scooter, unless you're in it for the scenic view/distance instead, then get an eBike where you have to pedal a bit too.

I recently bought a big BT speaker that weighs 26 pounds. I also bought a backpack made for it. My plan's to use it on my late night rides thru the hills standing up on my electric scooter.

Why? This makes no sense unless you are trying to harass people, "late night" no less. You only need a speaker/enclosure large enough to be heard the whopping 10" away that your ears are, if not headphones.

If you are trying to harass people, I'm not a fan of that but then mount it at a lower balance point on the scooter, not your back.

I knew 30'ish lbs (with the backpack) wouldn't be light, but when I put it on I understood that it's a lot more noticeable than I was imagining.

Yes, it's a terrible idea for a scooter where your balance is everything, even if you were in good shape. People do it in 3rd world countries in order not to starve to death, but you didn't express that situation.

I'm assuming this could wind up being good for my traps, delts and just back in general, but also too much would probably throw my shit out of wack.

No, it's terrible for your muscles because you'll likely strain a muscle and then wreck and have even more injury.

I know there's not a correct answer, but I'm curious if 30 minutes 5x night a week would be too much to start with?

Yes, any amount of time doing it is too much.

If you want to strengthen your core, do it off the scooter.
It only takes a single unexpected event to give you a Very Bad Day.

I tested it out the other night for a 10 minute ride and I could feel how much I was using my muscles to keep my balance while going 30mph. I know it'd become easier with time, but I don't want to overdo it and end up needing physical therapy because my back's out of alignment.

I hope you're dressed in motorcycle grade protective gear because this isn't going to turn out well. What time is going to do, is put the odds against you of having an accident, even if you manage to strengthen your core from gambling while doing. 30lbs in a backpack for someone out of shape AND only 175 lbs, is simply too much weight, too high up a center of gravity for a scooter.

Or maybe I'm completely off base and this is not a great idea and will probably end badly if I keep it up, in my pea brain, after a year of this I'd have a strong back like Brock Lesnar, but I have doubts that's how it works lol.

Surely you will have a stronger back, but there's no need to risk this and again, why do it at all?

Get some 10 lb dumbells, let them hang at your side, and twist your torso not arms, back and forth until you start to really feel the burn. Wait a day and do that again. Keep repeating, increase the weight when you're ready, and never ride around on the scooter with a 30lb brick on your back.

I could be wrong, what is the weight and center of gravity of the scooter? This matters a lot, though you're telling us it is already a strain, so I don't think that going out for 30 minutes to *see what happens* is the best plan, unless those 30 minutes are just doing circles on your lawn until you've had enough and need a break if that's before 30 minutes have elapsed, where there's a lot fewer unexpected variables.

You do you, but I see no reason to risk this if all you need is some exercise OFF the scooter and then decide if you can manage that weight ON the scooter.

The thing about muscle fatigue is that once it happens, no matter what you'd "like" to do, it isn't happening. Don't reach that limit doing 30MPH on a scooter, out of shape with 30lbs on your back, and possibly with people chasing you because you're blaring your 26lb blaster late at night for *reasons*.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I hope you're dressed in motorcycle grade protective gear because this isn't going to turn out well. What time is going to do, is put the odds against you of having an accident, even if you manage to strengthen your core from gambling while doing. 30lbs in a backpack for someone out of shape AND only 175 lbs, is simply too much weight, too high up a center of gravity for a scooter.

I'm the one who needs the dumbbells, because in my current state of elderly disability I cannot walk 3 miles or more for pleasure -- let alone with a 30 lb backpack. I would stop frequently to catch my breath and restore blood oxygen levels in the 90s. I certainly couldn't jog even a 1/3 of a mile, which is something I could do easily when I was 40 or 50.

How this came to be begins when I first picked up a pack of Winstons at age 16 and then Benson & Hedges at 18, and a pack per day for 50 years, although the last 10 of that stretch showed a lot of attempts to quit, months on Nicotene patches and Chantix tablets so I couldn't speak of a full 50 pack-years -- the clinical yardstick of exposure. If thinking hopefully that reducing the odds of contracting cancer falls off precipitously in a downward exponential slope against duration of successful abstinence, one's expectations are crushed by a horizontal axis of the exposure. There are two probability density functions, and abstinence may not be as strong as a lifelong subjection to smoke.

But a 50-year-old, even a smoker out of shape, could bear 30 lbs on foot. The problem as you say is the scooter, uneven surfaces and shifting center of gravity -- with less than perfect balance and coordination. Imagine the greater risk of an electric skate board with remote controlled speed and braking, capable of 20 mph. When I suggested that as transport for grocery shopping, friends urged me not to risk my life.

Even an old fart prepared with knee and elbow pads and a bike helmet would not fare well.

What I would say to the OP is this: coming into this forum for second opinions was probably the wise thing to do.

 

[Greenman]

Really weird random thread.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Really weird random thread.

Well, not speaking for the rest, I'm not sure exactly what the OP wants. To drive around with a 26 lb BT speaker on his motor scooter? To get exercise? To enjoy fresh air while listening to classic rock blaring on that speaker? It's just a weird idea. Comparing days when I could spend a week in the woods versus today -- that's what's on my own mind -- with the dissertation on smoking and COPD.

There's a cultural dimension to this. Today, people can use earbuds or their hearing aids to enjoy music while on the move. You may notice: on today's highways, people keep their car windows rolled up -- closed. Decades ago, it was occasionally annoying when somebody had their windows down while playing their favorite tunes, or you'd find a car with a big booming woofer in their trunk, thump-thump-thumping at the stoplight. Me -- I've got John Phillip Souza on my vast collection of tunes in the SUV, hoping for the day when Orange-Face dies, so I can play "Washington Post" or "Semper Fidelis" at high volume with my little American flags mounted on the rear tail-lights while throwing confetti at stoplights. Then I can get arrested for disturbing the peace and littering -- Sweet!

 

[Torn Mind]

Start loosening up your hip flexors and your butt muscles, strength core gradually with machines.

Might need to check your range of motions first.

 

[Greenman]

Well, not speaking for the rest, I'm not sure exactly what the OP wants. To drive around with a 26 lb BT speaker on his motor scooter? To get exercise? To enjoy fresh air while listening to classic rock blaring on that speaker? It's just a weird idea. Comparing days when I could spend a week in the woods versus today -- that's what's on my own mind -- with the dissertation on smoking and COPD.

There's a cultural dimension to this. Today, people can use earbuds or their hearing aids to enjoy music while on the move. You may notice: on today's highways, people keep their car windows rolled up -- closed. Decades ago, it was occasionally annoying when somebody had their windows down while playing their favorite tunes, or you'd find a car with a big booming woofer in their trunk, thump-thump-thumping at the stoplight. Me -- I've got John Phillip Souza on my vast collection of tunes in the SUV, hoping for the day when Orange-Face dies, so I can play "Washington Post" or "Semper Fidelis" at high volume with my little American flags mounted on the rear tail-lights while throwing confetti at stoplights. Then I can get arrested for disturbing the peace and littering -- Sweet!

It would be a cosmic slap in the face if you went before Trump.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

It would be a cosmic slap in the face if you went before Trump.

That it would! That it would! On the other hand, think of the burden lifted!

 

[igor_kavinski]

You, my friend, are a serious challenger to Gizmo J and this is something even he won't attempt (well, not with a sane mind. Under the influence of something, maybe...).

You must live somewhere really nice where people don't want to do something to you for playing loud music in public unless everyone there is doing the same.

And if your core/back muscles aren't up to it, you just get some serious spinal disc issues which I'm sure is something you are badly looking for at your age...

 

[mindless1]

Wait. You wouldn't happen to be living in a shed next to train tracks and a river, would you?

 

[IronWing]

OP, I am 💯% supportive of this plan but only on the condition that you wear a mask and cape while riding and blasting your tunes.

 

[nakedfrog]

I'm curious what speaker you bought that's 26 lbs, that's a pretty hefty speaker presumably capable of some serious output, quite possibly overkill.
I know what you mean about the weight though, I got a 12 lb weighted vest for hiking and initially thought "surely this is more than 12 lbs?" but it was not.
How did it turn out, have you taken any trial rides? Is there not a handlebar-mounted BT speaker that can fulfill your needs? Were you the one that was delivering pizzas via scooter?

 

[iRONic]

@nakedfrog

JBL Clip 4

I hook this on my wheelchair. It's loud enough for me to hear but also controllable where I don't piss the world off.