James FitzGerald explains the story behind an OPEX shirt and the importance of the Airdyne to fitness training

To many, the Airdyne is a symbol of pain and frustration. Despite it’s notoriety, the Airdyne has become a cult symbol in the realm of functional fitness, as well as a one of the most effective strength and conditioning tools. It also happens to be one of the most prominent symbols of the unity of the OPEX training community around the world.

“What the Airdyne created was a relatedness to the suffering and a connection to how much pain we would all go through in training and exercise.”

The Airdyne has actually been in use for a very long time, although it rarely saw use as it was usually stuffed in a obscure corner of gyms across the world. The emphasis in fitness in the ‘past’ was on traditional bodybuilding and strength rather than conditioning. However, a revolution happened in the mid 1990’s. People began to reject the use of weight machines and isolation exercises in favor of traditional strength and conditioning works involving free weights like barbells and conditioning tools like the Airdyne.

The OPEX Fitness community, through the BigDawg blog, was one of the first proponents of using the Airdyne to improve athletes’ and clients’ strength and conditioning. The shirt was borne out of this effort to unite the community in the commonality of the pain everyone experiences using the assault bike. It is meant to be ironic as ‘fine’ is the exact opposite of what you normally feel when doing anything athletic on the Airdyne. Training on the Airdyne is painful if done correctly and we at OPEX are united by the way in which we use the Airdyne to help our community and clients live larger and more fulfilled lives through fitness.