Bicycle ergometer and eddy current brake therefor

A method of obtaining an optimum athletic load value for a user of an exercise device in which the legs of the user are bent stretched to rotate a rotary unit having a variable load applied thereto during continuous exercise by the user, the athletic load value being increased stepwise, and in each step the load value and a steady number of pulses per minute of the user being measured to provide a linear load versus number- of-pulses correlation graph, the method comprising the steps of:

• measuring the number of pulses per minute of the user when the user is at rest to produce a first data element;
• measuring the steady number of pulses per minute of the user under a first load to produce a second data element;
• comparing said second data element with a first reference value which is the steady number of pulses per minute under the first load on a statistically obtained load versus number-of-pulses correlation graph computed by a minimum square law average corresponding to the age and sex of the user and thereby determining a second load value;
• measuring the steady number of pulses per minute of the user under the second load value to produce a third data element;
• comparing said third data element with a second reference value which is the steady number of pulses per minute under the second load on a statistically obtained load versus number-of-pulses graph computed by a minimum square law average corresponding to the age and sex of the user and thereby determining a third load value;
• measuring the steady number of pulses per minute of the user under the third load value to produce a fourth data element, the upper limit of the measured steady state number of pulses being limited by an athletic safety number of pulses per minute for the user;
• and
• determining the optimum athletic load value by obtaining a load versus number-of-pulses approximation line the upper limit of which is determined by a maximum number of pulses per minute calculated in response to the age and sex of the user, according to the second through fourth data elements or the first through third data elements if the athletic safety number of pulses per minute was reached before the fourth data element was obtained.