If you don’t have time to make it to the gym, but you want to make sure you get your cardio workout in every day (okay, three times a week), you can buy a piece of home exercise equipment for the job. Treadmills are probably the most common thing out there, but there are a lot more options than that today (despite the popularity of the treadmill, many people prefer cardio machines that offer an upper body as well as a lower body workout). If you want to work arms and legs, you could get an elliptical trainer or something like the Cybex Total Body Arc Trainer.
This device is designed to work all the major muscle groups for a complete workout. It looks like a cross between a stair stepper and an elliptical trainer. I know from personal experience that both of those kinds of machines are great at burning calories (much more so than the old plodding treadmill), so I imagine the Total Body Arc Trainer would be similar. As you’d expect, the Cybex machine has lots of training programs you can choose from and monitors your vitals (heart rate) and progress (steps, distance traveled, etc.).
Okay, here’s a fitness gadget I’d actually be tempted to get for myself. The Reebok Coreboard is a device for improving balance and core stability. You step on the surface and it twists, tilts, and springs back in reaction to your movements. I think it’d be great for practicing karate kicks, but you could also just do steps or side-to-side stuff on it to improve balance. You can combine it with a medicine ball, aerobic bar, tubing, or dumbbells to really challenge yourself. The best thing is you can do this stuff in your own home where no one can watch (I always feel a bit silly using those Swedish balls at the gym…). The Reebok Coreboard costs $160 from Power Systems.
If a regular fitness ball doesn’t do much for you (I mean, after all, it’s just a ball…) and the peanut exercise ball isn’t floating your boat, you might want to try a fitness ball with handles. The Danskin Core Ball Plus is designed to be pretty much all you need to do a complete upper body workout. The “handles” of which I speak are actually balls attached to rubber tubing, so you can do all sorts of resistance exercises, such as bench press and military press, while balancing your weight on the ball. And if all that balancing just sounds tedious, you can make use of the “balance ring” that comes with it. The round tube can rest around the bottom of the ball to stabilize it (though I think that would defeat a lot of the purpose of using a fitness ball, as they’re meant to make you utilize more core muscles even when doing isolated exercises such as military presses).
Anyway, the Danskin ball costs $40 and is available from fitnessem.
Here’s a golf-ball-retrieval device for golfers. According to the product description, the Golf Ball Hog from Metro Products lets you get lost balls out of water, mud, sand, high grass, bushes, and even over fences. The handle extends and the little scoop thing on the bottom is designed to rake balls out of their hiding spots. When you’re done with it, it shrinks down to fit in your golf bag right along with your clubs.
You can get the device for $20 from Amazon.com (there’s a pretty good review that describes how successful someone has actually been with the thing):
Whether your goals are weight loss, muscle gain, or just an improvement in your overall health, you may find that adding certain supplements to your diet can help with your goals. They’re not a panacea, or cure all, but they can certainly be beneficial when paired with a good diet made up of lots of natural, organic whole foods.
There are lots of supplements stores these days, everywhere from the gym to the mall, and if you’re like me and buy a couple different things a month, you’ve probably noticed how expensive this stuff is. Fortunately, you can find better deals if you’re willing to shop online. You can often find a wider selection too.
One such online store is N101 Nutrition, which offers a wide range of nutritional supplements and natural beauty products. They provide ingredients of their products online (which is nice if, like me, you have food allergies and have to avoid wheat or soy or other potential allergens that are often found in pills) and give discounts for volume purchasing. There is also a rewards program, so you can get some extra discounts if you are a frequent shopper.
*Sponsored post.
You need a leash for your snowboard because, well, they make ya (apparently the ski resorts don’t like it when people’s boards slide away and whack some innocent skier in the back of the head), and a lock just makes sense when you’re shelling out hundreds of bucks for a board. I mean, you’ve got to head inside for nachos at some point, and you want to relax and know your equipment is safe. So, here’s something to help you deal with both situations.
The Guardian leash and lock set from Dakine is handsome and compact. The leash is made from stainless steel and a plastic-coated steel cable, so it should be sturdy enough to last you a few seasons. The digits on the 3-digit combination lock look easy to roll with your thumb, even when it’s encased in a glove.
Here’s a training aid for my hardcore tennis players, who train all year around. You’ve doubtlessly rented a ball machine from your tennis club before, but what if you could have your own? You could use it on any court, indoors or out, and you wouldn’t have to pay a rental fee (though, of course, you have to pay to buy it originally).
The Elite Battery Ball Machine is battery powered, so it’s easy to use on outdoor courts where there’s no plug in available. It has an optional remote control, and it can be broken down (the lid flips over to cup the machine) so it fits in the trunk of any car. Wheels and a handle make it easy to roll to the court. It oscillates and shifts to send balls all over the court, if you want it to, and you can adjust the speed of the ball from 10-80 mph.
The price? $1500 from Lobster Sports.