Remember seeing those ridiculous vibration belt contraptions that was the dubious piece of “gym equipment” that may have been in a few seventies and eighties gyms across the nation? I rememember actually using one of these vibration belt machines and feeling absolutely ridiculous, and wondering how anyone could possibly think these things, which require no movement other than you just standing there, actually work to burn calories or trim the waistline.

The vibration belt machines became somewhat of a joke, being dubbed the lazy man’s workout, and there was a reason for that. They were never really proven to do anything other than maybe give you the sensation of movement, they were never proven to burn calories or condition your cardiovascular system, so they were pretty much dismised by the fitness and well being world. Until now, where they have found their niche in being able to provide the human body some sort of benefit beyond just standing there and “feeling” like you’re getting a workout.

This time though, the vibration doesn’t come in the form of a vibrating cloth or rubber belt, but rather it comes in the form of a vibrating platform, which has already gained a bit of a following in high tech and expensive gyms for it’s claims that it can intensify the workout and also dramatically improve balance and coordination (those claims I don’t doubt).

It is now thought that the vibrating platform may have some beneficial applications in the quest to help sedentary, older adults keep their muscles and bones in working order, probably because it provides some sort of stimulation and circulation, without the person actually doing strenuous physical movement, which is the point in the older, possibly infirmed or unlikely to work out population.

Pilates is a newer practice that women are falling in love with for it’s notoriety as a long, lean muscle builder. Women who want a “dancer’s body” are flocking to studios that teach pilates, and it’s become an overnight sensation, although admittedly years ago now, in Hollywood where the body is everything and people are obsessed with staying lean and mean.

So, what is this machine that can help you do pilates? I thought that you could do pilates on your own, on the floor, and the exercises were very simple and could be done anywhere, without any machinery or accessories? Well, that is true, but as with everything else, there was a machine made to help you through the exercises, the pilates machine. Let’s talk about what it is and what it does.

What does a pilates machine look like? Well, it looks like (to me), sort of a rowing machine. It is long and flat, and looks like it could be stowed away fairly easily, although not all of them, I’m sure, are foldable or stowable. It has bands coming off of it, almost like a bowflex machine (which, by the way, is noted for creating that same long and lean look in mean and women), which I assume are used as a form of light resistance, just as you would be doing if just doing pilates on the floor by yourself, accept this is a more guided and precise way to make sure your movements are correct.

A good pilates machine will be quiet and have smooth rolling tracks, for a smooth, friction free workout that results in smooth muscle tone and long and lean muscles. Some pilates machines come with rebounders, which is like a small trampoline for a nice light little cardio workout before you begin the muscle workout on the machine. It’s best to get a book or DVD on what exercises to perform and how specifically to perform them on the pilates machine, so you’re not doing them incorreclty, but these often will come with the better models of the machine.

The more I use the balance ball that I recently purchased, and the one at the gym I (thankfully) have access to at my job, it is really growing on me as a way to trim and slim many of my problem areas. Not only is it great for the abs, which is what I primarily use it for, but I find that many of the exercises I use the balance ball for that are geared for my abs are also working my inner and outer thighs at various times.

While I don’t really feel my tummy is a problem area for me personally, I do feel like it could be a bit more toned right now, so the balance ball really helps me to isolate those abdominal muscles without putting a lot of strain on my back and neck, which is a major concern when working the abs for most people, especially people like myself and my boyfriend who both have injuries from car accidents in our back and neck.

When you use the balance ball to do ab crunches with your calves on the balance ball, when you extend your legs out in front of you and roll the ball away from you, not only are you forcing your ab muscles to work and tone, but you are also toning the inner thighs. You’ll feel a little tension there on the inner thighs and know that they are indeed straining a bit to keep your abs in line so you don’t throw your balance out of whack, and voila, that’s how you get your bonus workout in on those troublesome thighs - and I know I speak, to most women on the thighs!

There are also some excellent ways to use the balance ball to do strictly exercises that target the legs and thighs, and that usually involves you in a standing position and using the balance ball up against your back, with it smooshed up against the wall behind your back, and you doing squats. This may not seem like anything special, but try a few of them and you’ll see they are much more challenging than regular old squats without the balance ball because you’re actually using something as a gauge to tell how you’re doing.

Well, it looks like Nintendo may have another spin off hit for their super hit gaming system, the Wii. When this gaming system first came out, people scoffed at the idea that game playing based around real time movement on the part of the participant would catch on. Boy were they wrong! The thing about the Wii system is that it’s fun for all ages. You don’t have to practically have a doctorate in gaming to play it and have fun, and yeah, actually do kind of good.

Plus, parents love that it gets their kids, and even them, off the couch and gets them up and moving since you have to be up and moving your limbs for most of the games. The proof of the system’s popularity shows in the fact that it sells out nearly as soon as the stores stock their shelves with the systems, and they even go for significantly more than their retail value on many online auciton sites, especially at the peak of their popularity, when people couldn’t buy enough of them for holiday presents.

It looks like the Wii system by Nintendo has come up with another add-on winner for their system in the Wii Fit. The Wii Fit system comes with a balane board, which is desigend to read everything from your weight and BMI, to measuring how you’re doing at balancing and coordinating certain moves, which is great for focusing on balance, and helps people young and old to focus on their balance, which helps posture.

We actually got one of the free DVD’s for the Wii Fit, just to check out what it can do and see if it was something we might be interested in purchasing, even though we have yet to even buy the Wii system to begin with at this point. It’s a very interesting and fun gaming system and it’s sure to be a sensation already, with stores already filling preorders for the product before it even hits shelves, selling out it’s first couple of shipments already!

The Wii Fit DVD showed how you can do a variety of exercises and fun games that include fitness and moving with it. It includes yoga, balance games, coordination games, boxing, running in a virtual park, aerobics including step aerobics where you use your fit pad to determine how you’re doing, and stabilization moves and muscle workouts with “personal trainers” of the virtual sort of course to help you determine whether you’re doing your moves right.

The yoga feature even tells you if you’re doing a yoga posture right or not, since you use your balance board and it can tell what you’re doing by reading how your body weight is balancing. All in all, the Wii Fit is sure to be a sensation, there’s no doubt in my mind. I have to admit after seeing the DVD, I really wanted one for myself!

We just purchased a far infrared sauna for several different reasons, and we’re already loving the relaxing and soothing effects this heating machine has on our muscles both after workouts and at night after a busy and stressful day at work when mucsle tension seems to take over at night. What makes an infrared sauna different from regular saunas though?

Well, a regular sauna, which was popularized by Sweden, whose population liked to take long hot baths in the moist heat, used regular saunas, which were simply wooden boxes that heated anywhere from 150 to over 200 degrees by heating the air around the body, and using a centrally located heater with rocks in it that water could be poured on to make it more of a hot steam bath. It was relaxing, but it was not easy to make it very long in the stifling high temperatures.

So, the infrared sauna was designed to use infrared heat, which emanates around and penetrates the tissue of the body, instead, heating the body itself directly, not just the air around it. The consequence is that you get a deeper tissue penetration of the therapeutic heat, and consequently you also get a relaxing experience and other therapeutic benefits such as skin clearing, muscle relaxation, and and excellent added benefit of increased circulation of blood. See reviews and ratings of far infrared saunas for more information on better brands to choose.

This increased circulation of blood is supposed to help burn calories, but there is a lot of debate out there as to whether an infrared sauna can help you lose weight by using it. Unfortunately, the water you sweat out does come right back on as soon as you drink more water, but proponents of the infrared sauna say that the calories you burn while your heart is pumping out more blood to keep the body cool is still a benefit because it cardiovascularly conditions the heart and causes a benefit to those losing weight because of the extra calorie burning ability.

Do you know how many times I’ve gotten home from work and just wanted to punch something? A wall, a bag, whatever I could get my hands on, except of course, for an innocent bystander! Well, with one of the best workouts you can get for your arms, you can take out all your frustration from work and “vent” on a punching bag by throwing some well placed swings that land square on an inanimate object who’s only purpose is to let you take out your hostility and pent up energy. Can you tell I know a little about all the above?

But seriously, using a punching bag with boxing gloves is one of the best arm workouts you’re gonna get today. Not only that, it will leave you sweating and out of breath, so it’s also a good cardio outlet. You just have to be careful to protect your back and keep your legs strong as you rotate your torso around to get in your upper cuts and roundhouse blows.

I’ve used punching bags before, but I don’t actually own one in my home gym yet. I do think it’s a piece of home exercise equipment to consider, especially if you have a home gym since it is a fairly sizeable piece of home exercise equipment. All in all, you’ll get some great cardio as well as great muscle toning and arm strengthening in, and hey, a little self defense too!

I’ll admit, I’ve gotten very behind in offering some of the most important home exercise equipment reviews that I wanted to when I first started this online fitness info magazine, but I’m trying to catch up and make good on some of those reviews now, so readers can get a better idea of what they’re looking for, especially if they choose to buy online.

Buying exercise equipment online can often be beneficial because many times you can get free shipping, and before you buy, you can often read reviews from other customers who have purchased the exact same piece of equipment, and see what their experience has been thus far with it so you know what you’re in store for, and what you want to spend your hard earned money on.

So, in keeping with my promise, very soon to come are recumbent bike reviews. What is a recumbent bike? Well, it’s the bikes where you kind of lean back in your seat a bit, and you can set the resistance to your liking. They’re actually fairly comfortable, and they’re not like the traditional “spinning” exercise bikes, because you can’t really stand up in them.

I like the fact that the recumbent bikes don’t seem to build up the quadricep muscles too much, which can be an area of concern for other women as well. So, read our new recumbent bike reviews when they are available if you’re in the market for one, and save yourself some time and a headache.

I think that I might buy myself a Christmas present this year with my annual bonus from work. I really want a suspended punching bag like professional boxers use, along with the little bag that suspends from the top of the contraption that goes back and forth as you punch it from the side. You can also do roundhouse kicks to the large bag, which is an excellent exercise for the legs and outer thighs, which you know I’m a big fan of.

It seems that most of the good boxing equipment and punching bags are made by Everlast, at least they are in the two places I’ve looked so far which is Dicks Sporting Goods and Sams Club. Sams Club has the huge contraption that has a body sized punching bag that stay put, and the little one at the top that you can do the quick punching with , as well as a set of boxing gloves.

Ok, I admit, I already bought the punching gloves, or boxing gloves. Funny thing is, I had to buy the kids sized ones since I have very small hands, and the larger ones were ridiculously large on my hands, and probably would have caused me injury instead of preventing injury since they are so big and bulky. There are woman’s ones, kids ones and men’s ones, but the women’s ones were still too large and bulky for me to use comfortably.

Boxing is not only good for anxiety relief and getting pent up anger out, but you can build yourself a mighty buff pair of arms pretty fast doing this, as well as train yoruself cardiovascularly since you are bobbing around a lot, working the waste, and getting the heart rate up throughout the whole workout. I can just see coming home after a long day of work and taking it all out on the punching bag. Talk about therapy!

I didn’t realize how important it was to purchase the right abdominal equipment until we actually purchased one - an ab-roller style piece of exercise equipment that was a simple C-shaped crunch machine that helped you stay in form when doing ab crunches, at a garage sale.

We had already purchased a “cheapo” ab roller type of machine at Target for about $30, and thought that this model, which looked a lot nicer and more intricate than the ab roller we’d purchased at Target (and mind you, cost only $1 at the garage sale), would work a lot better and be a more solid piece of home exercise equipment for completing abdominal crunches correctly and without lower back strain or pain.

However, boy were we wrong. This ab cruncher model did look a lot nicer and sturdier, but there was a reason the folks who sold it at the garage sale were getting rid of it. Doing your crunches on the thing actually made you lower and upper back kill you the next day. While it did feel like you were working your abs a little harder, the C shaped design had some kind of flaw in it where you lower back was not protected at all, and in fact it actually made you wrench you back a little every time you came into the crunch position.

I knew it wasn’t only me either, my boyfriend also said the next day his back was incredibly sore. So, for now, we’re sticking with our lower end Target ab roller, and may be on the look out for an even more back-safe model down the road. I do know that a lot of not getting a sore back from doing ab work is in your form and protecting your back by using your abdominal muscles instead of your back, which is a common mistake a lot of people make when doing ab work, but I consider my ab form pretty good, and I’ve been doing them for years, so I don’t think the form was my problem, I really think it was the machine.

I wish I could remember the brand name of the machine, I want to say it might have been Reebok, but can’t say for sure - it was a purple color though and did look to be an old model.

We all know that a workout and exercise is beneficial to our health. There are many apparatus and types of equipment we can use to maximixe the benefits our bodies receive from our workout.

An interesting and inexpensive workout intensifier is the use of resistance bands for our exercise routine. Some of the rationale behind using resistance bands would be, first of all, they are very little money. The price for resistance bands ranges from $6.00 to $20.00.

Another reason resistance bands are appealling is that they can be taken anywhere easily. This way you can workout readily when traveling. Also, resistance bands can be suited for any degree of fitness whether you are a novice at exercise or more advanced. The amount of difficulty depends on how the resistance bands are used. You can get more tension from the workout band by adjusting your hand or body position. If it still feels too easy, like there’s no effort to move, switch to a heavier band. Conversely, if the tension is too intense, switch to a lighter band.

For the upper body, some of the workout maneuvers done with resistance bands include alternating chest presses, the one arm chest fly and the tricep extensions. Working out the lower body, the legs and hips, may be done with resistance band exercises such as squats, lunges and side steps.
With the use of resistance bands, you can get a total body workout. You can vary the intensity of the workout by how many reps you do of each exercise motion and which type of resistance band you use.