One of the hardest parts about skiing or snowboarding is sitting in the wind and cold on the lift rides up the mountain. With other winter sports such as snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, your body is always working, so it’s pretty easy to stay warm. That’s not usually the case with downhill skiing or snowboarding though. Even if you have good gloves, the wind always seems to sneak in around the wrists. That’s why some bright person invented Wristies Wrist Warmers.
These fingerless gloves are longer than usual, extending halfway up your forearm. They’re thin enough to be used as inserts beneath your regular waterproof gloves, but heavy enough to keep your wrists nice and warm and protected from the wind. $11 gets you a pair from the Snow Shack. (Kids and adult sizes available.)
I’ve always seemed to get the best workouts when I went to the gym (despite having and using a Bowflex for a year, I never felt I got the same kind of workout I did at the gym where I had rows of machines and free weights to use), but let’s face it: you don’t always have time to go, especially if you work full time and have a family you’d actually like to see. Or if you travel a lot, you aren’t always going to be at a hotel with a full gym on the premises. That’s why it’s nice that there are some solutions out there that let you work out from home or on the road and that don’t take up a lot of space.
Ripcords Resistance Bands are a much more compact alternative to the Bowflex and other home gyms. If you’re an athlete (or have been at any point in your life), you’ve probably encountered bands and tubes being used for resistance training. There are all sorts of exercises you can do (virtually working out any muscle group) with them, simply by adjusting the way you pull and create tension on the bands. Of course, if you haven’t had a personal trainer walk you through their use, you might not be quite sure how to work them to build strength without injuring yourself. That’s why something like the Ripcords system is nice; the product comes with instructional videos to walk you through workouts that build strength for the whole body.
Prices start around $25 for a basic set of bands or $37 for the bands and a DVD video (probably a good idea to get the video). Considering how much home gyms cost (I remember paying over $1,000 for a basic Bowflex), this is one exercise system that seems worth the money.
*Sponsored post
If you’re looking for a way to spice up your weight training workout, or maybe just need an exercise system that’s compact and good for travel, you might want to check out Smart Bells from Think Fit. As you can see from the picture, they’re a bit different than your average free weights.
The sculptural weights are meant to “uniquely conform to the shape of your body,” and they “flow aerodynamically as you move them through the circular motions of the patented Smart Bells Routine.” It’s supposed to be a combination of strength training with aerobics, which incorporates Tai Chi and Yoga moves into the workouts (don’t worry, there is a DVD that comes with the system to show you what to do).
The Smart Bells cost $75 from https://thinkfit.com/.
If your kid has dreams of becoming a Major League Baseball pitcher some day, then this radar pitch baseball could be a fun gift (and, hey, you can play with it too). The ball has a small LCD screen that displays the speed of the latest pitch. Throw it any distance (little league or pro), and the ball has no trouble using internal sensing technology to measure and report the velocity of the pitch when it’s caught. To save on battery life, it shuts off automatically if you don’t use it for 2 minutes.
The ball is available from Brookstone for $25:
Radar Pitch Baseball
If you’re looking for some fitness motivation that goes beyond merely looking at exercise gadgets, you might want the advice of a personal trainer. I’ve done the personal trainer thing at the gym a few times, mostly when I’m looking to change up my workout and get some ideas to keep things interesting, and it can be pretty expensive. As an alternative, you could check out some of the blogs out there that are written by certified trainers. True, it’s not the same thing as getting one-on-one advice, but there’s a lot to be said for something you can read for free whenever you want.
One such resource is this weight training blog. The lady who runs it has been a personal trainer in Las Vegas for the last 3 years and clearly has some experience. Some of the sections include advice on nutrition (such as ways to keep from packing on the pounds over the holidays…), basic training tips (such as how to squeeze exercise time into a hectic schedule), and training plans (in case you need some workout ideas).
Some of the more specific articles cover such as important information as the fact that walking may help control blood pressure and that strength training could help prevent knee arthritis.
There are a lot of good articles tucked into the blog, so take a look when you have time.
**This is a sponsored post**
When you’re in the midst of a hard and fast basketball game, you might not have time to stop and look up at the scoreboard. What if you could just get the score by looking at your opponent’s shirt?
In Australia, new jerseys with electro-luminescent displays on them are being tested. The shirts show information for the players, such as the time left in the game and the current score. The name of the technology is TeamAware and it’s supposed to be “beneficial for the player’s confidence in their team tactics.”
The jersey works in conjunction with an iPod-sized computer that must be strapped to the player’s body and which communicates with a central control system. No word on when or whether this will make it’s way to the U.S.
via GizmoWatch
If you live in a condo or an apartment, or even a house without a garage, finding space to store a bicycle can be tough. Not everybody wants it sitting in the living room where it’s going to be tripped over by people coming and going, and if you live in a damp climate, you may not want to leave your bike sitting outside on the porch. Also, there’s the problem of transporting your bicycle to and from the bike trail (for when you live in the city and cruising the streets amidst pedestrians and traffic isn’t that exciting). For that, you pretty much have to buy a dedicated car rack, unless… you have a bicycle that folds in half so you can fit it in a closet or the trunk of your vehicle.
The Jeep Compass folding bike is designed to do just that. Its aluminum frame bends in half at the middle, to make it easy to transport or store when you come home. Expect to pay $300 for this convenience.
