One of the best things I ever did for myself and for the comfort of my workouts (thereby making them more likely to stick to), is to start buying the kind of lightweight materials that are out now, a lot of them by exclusively fitness clothes companies.  There are quite a few actually at Target, with their store brand of workout and active clothes, and that’s actually where I got my first piece of lightweight, breathable clothing for the gym (or at home, whether you work out there or at a gym).

These are usually some sort of meshy sort of material, but not always. They actually allow the skin to breath because the weave is so light. They also help to wick away sweat from the skin, and help to prevent acne and irritation bumps on the back and chest due to irritation from sweating and the intense body heat that builds up when you work out hard.

I’ve also found some great workout clothes that are made with this type of material, which unfortunately does cost you a little more than just plain old cotton, at some outlet stores by us. For instance, there is a boatload of light workout clothes at the Reebok and Adidas and Nike outlet stores near our house, all at a substantial discount. And the best part is, you are still buying a great, durable brand, you’re just usually getting it at a substantially lower cost.

I bought a few sleeveless shirts that are a light heather grey, and they are really a pleasure to work out in. Their price was also a pleasure, marked down to just ten bucks each, and they wash great too, they don’t even shrink. Do yourself a favor, if you’re being cheap and just want to wear your old tshirts to the gym, at least go out and buy yourself one or two good light breathable shirts, and you’ll see the difference. Soon, you’ll be a convert!

So, we finally broke down and went out shopping for a new pair for each of us. We really like Adidas shoes, in fact Adidas are the only kind of running shoes that I can even wear. For some reason, Nike and Reebok shoes just don’t fit my fit correctly, and they never feel comfortable or conforming enough. I used to be able to wear them in my twenties, but around ten years ago I found that Adidas were the only shoe I could get away with.

We went to an outlet store near us to shop. The selection is pretty decent, but nothing like the one you’d get at say a Dick’s store or an athletic shoe store. Still, the outlet store knocks at least twenty to twenty five bucks off the price of the shoe from what you’d pay for retail, so I thought that was a great deal.

We each looked and looked, and finally he said he found one called the Glide. He said, well I bet the women’s has them too. Turns out that women’s running shoes also carried the Glide version, called Glide Supernovas. The price on them was $75, which was about a $25 markdown from retail. I tried on a Glide and a Glide 2, which was a little more expensive, but actually not as comfortable or well fitting as the Glide. My husband found the same thing in his shoes as well.

So we both ended up with Glide shoes by Adidas. We tested them out running around the store, and they felt like you were running on air. Literally, you could feel no impact on your joints when bouncing up and down in these shoes. They are amazing, just like walking on clouds. I hope they keep making this shoe for a while, because I’m hooked, and I’d tell anyone that they’re worth trying on if you’re in the market for a great running shoe.

Try to find them at an outlet. You may have to by “last season’s” color, but who cares, all the colors I had available were still in style anyways.

Also, that’s honestly just the kind of thing that I’m totally picky about, and I want to make sure I read reviews and do all the other anal things I like to do for research before I purchase items like that, so I’d much rather pick it out myself than potentially hurt someone’s feelings by asking for the return slip, or having to bother with the return in the first place, which I absolutely hate doing to be totally blunt.

Boy, do I sound like a royal scrooge, but I know what I like, and that’s that dammit! At any rate, if you had any fitness stuff on your list that you didn’t get, make sure you shop online for it, as there are already huge reductions on everything from treadmills and ellipticals to yoga mats, DVD’s for exercising, and other fitness accessories.

I was just at TJ Maxx, the retail store, that day after Christmas, and even they had a huge table of fitness sutff, weights, DVD’s, various neat accessories to help your work out better and more, on clearance, so I’m sure that online there are still bargains to be had since they are counting on people with New Year’s resolutions to still be out in force shopping for things that they need to make their new year a little more svelte and sexy.

I think that I’m going to look for deals on medicine balls out at the stores soon, because I thought about it, and due to their weight, I’d probably get a really good deal on the medicine ball itself online, but then I’d have to pay a fortune in shipping because it weighs a lot for a smaller item. So, for something like that it might not be worth it unless they paid for the shipping.

Oh, I also found a really cheap “The Firm” workout DVD at TJ Maxx. It’s a cardio burn one that uses a step to work out, so we’ll see how it works out for me, I’m not to keen on stepping workouts because they really blow me away energy wise, but this one shouldn’t be too bad because it’s only 35 minutes long and it only cost me three bucks, so easy come easy go if it doesn’t work out.

More specifically, my upper arms. They have always been, along with my thighs, one of the areas that my body first deposits extra fat, and my upper arms have always been larger and less toned than I want them to be. It has made me self conscious to wear sleeveless shirts in the summer, and also has been a source of embarrassment when my arms come out looking huge in pictures. It’s one of the reasons I don’t even like to be photographed in short sleeves!

This Shake Weight is priced at about twenty bucks, and it’s a single weight. I did see it in a CVS drugstore, so it’s not only available online. You’d also save yourself shipping and handling charges if you bought it at a store, just an idea. It’s a weight that uses a sort of vibration where when you pick it up, it’s using dual inertia to make all of your muscles in your arms and your chest work simultaneously.

It supposedly gives you pretty much a full upper body workout in about six minutes, which would be awesome, considering I work my arms out longer than this and don’t get the results I want sometimes. However, be warned that you do have to also watch your diet to get those toned arms you admire on movie stars. You can’t just work your arms out and expect them to look sleek and ripped, as a lowfat diet will help eliminate the fat that covers the muscle as well, so it’s a two pronged approach if you want sleek, ripped arms.

If I don’t get the Shake Weight for Christmas from my husband (he knows I’m interested in it), then I’m going to break down and go buy one myself at CVS and I’ll have a full review for you on the Shake Weight in January sometime. Let’s hope it works – it’s certainly not a bad price to pay for toned arms!

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 is not to be confused with the novelty item that allows you to float, while inside it, on the water’s surface. Those are very cool though, I must say! This is a piece of exercise equipment, or better yet, an accessory, that you can use to help your resistance exercises feel a little more strenuous when you are doing the ones where you have a small space to fill such as between your knees in the situp position, so you can actually use the ball to exercise your resistance skills, instead of just body part on body part.

It’s a great idea since you really do feel it more when you increase the surface area you are resisting. I might look into getting one eventually, but for now I stick with my medicine ball for that exercise.