I was looking to get my boss a popular exercise DVD the other day at Target, and since they have all of their workout and fitness videos in the same section as their fitness equipment (it took me forever to figure this fact out after browsing in the DVD section forever), I got to see what all the latest, fun stuff was that you can buy to add to your fitness routines. While a lot of it is still your routine basics like weights, there were some newer items that I wasn’t aware existed. One was a sort of lumbar support for your back when doing floor or ab work of any kind.

I could see how this would come in handy, especially for people like me that have issues with their backs and need all the protection they can get when they’re working the abdominal area, which tends to often strain the neck and the back when it shouldn’t. A lumbar support’s purpose is to sort of force your back into the correct position so that you get the exact position at which you will both gain the most mucle workout and also save from straining those other delicate muscles that happen to try to work too when they shouldn’t.

While stuff like this may not be the most exciting thing to buy, it certainly can save you from a lifetime of hurt and frustration with your workouts.

Another thing I noticed was a newer type of medicine ball. This wasn’t quite the “water ball” I just talked about, but it was a hard medicine ball, with a softer, more squishy layer over it of shiny plastic, so that it was a bit easier on the hands, and perhaps easier to grip if you were using it, say, between your knees to get either a more targeted ab workout, or to help shape and sculpt your inner thighs for an extra burn.

They were a little bit on the high end, price wise, at least that was my opinion. I think it cost something like $45 for the largest one, which weighed in at about 9 lbs. But hey, we’re talking Target here, not Wal-Mart. Target may have better selection for things like this, but they sure don’t usually have the better prices. It’s all about the nuances and marketing for Target.

Pedometers seem to be very popular these days. They had pedometers (as my husband likes to call them – peedometers), ranging in technology and price allover the map. I didn’t even recognice some fo the functions that the higher priced ones offered, but then again, I have never used a pedometer myself. I wonder how much some of those functions would come in handy anyways.

Of course, yoga mats and other accessories were incredibly popular, since yoga is spreading in popularity and recognition.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 11:21 am and is filed under Fitness Accessories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.