I remember, with great fondness and a big smile, when my mom and dad used to take me and my little sister to the park, where at the time, they had a big trampoline. We were so young at the time, that the trampoline seemed absolutely huge to me, but I’m sure looking back that it was just the same as the big ones people have so often in their backyards.

Back then, you really couldn’t buy them for your backyard easily like you can now. You couldn’t just run to your nearest Dick’s Sporting Goods store and charge it – it was more like a special order thing. 

And believe me, back then, I wasn’t concerned about all the crazy amounts of cardio exercise I was getting while I was jumping and bouncing up and down and laughing my head off – I was having so much unadulterated FUN that I was laughing my head off the whole time.

That’s kind of how it is for me today too. Something about jumping on a trampoline brings back those nostalgic days of childlike bliss, the kind you rarely feel as an adult, where you get almost euphoric with pleasure and silliness.

Trampolines now though, offer me a great deal more than just fun. If I were to put one in my back yard, it would also be a really great workout, that happened to also be a ton of pure fun.  Trampolines offer you the kind of cardio you can’t get anywhere else, because you are using your legs like springs, and it takes a great deal of energy to land and bounce back up, and yet you don’t really notice how hard you are working and how much your heart rate is up because you are also enjoying yourself.

It’s almost like an amusement park ride, and for that reason, you don’t mind that you are also getting a very adult workout.  One thing that you really need to keep in mind on trampolines for the home are the weight capacity if you are an adult. You really shouldn’t have two full grown adults on it, say a man and woman, that are going to exceed the recommended weight.

This could very well dampen your plans to work it out with your hubby on the trampoline.  Also, keep in mind that if you have any knee or back or neck injuries, to really protect these parts of your body. 

You are still doing high impact aerobic activity, and the fact that you are on a springy surface may not help if you are landing with great force and keeping your body too rigid to allow some give.  So just keep your body lose and make sure you’re not too rigid and you should be ok.

Sometimes, taking vacations and staying in hotels with gyms, no matter how small they are, is a really great way to either take your workout in a whole new direction because you may not have all your devices at hand that you usually do, or to try a new piece of equipment, gadget, or fitness accessory.

We recently went on a tiny little getaway to Pittsburgh, and stayed at a Doubletree Hotel, where there was a pretty decent little gym. It even had that nice new tile that minimizes impact on your joints laid down, and smelled or new rubber – not at all like dirty socks and sweat like most gyms end up smelling!

So, needless to say, we enjoyed the one time we got to visit it on our two and a half day stay.  One of the pieces of fitness equipment this particular hotel gym had was a Bosu ball. A Bosu ball is something I’ve seen in other gyms and seen in ads, but I had never had the opportunity to try it.

I literally had no idea what I was doing because there were no directions on the exercises you can do posted in the gym.  So, I figured I’d wing it. I ended up flipping it, ball side down, flat side up, and using it as a balance board for me to stand on and do my squats. 

Boy, let me tell you, the Bosu Ball added a whole new dimension of difficulty to my squats. You really have to focus on balancing your body when you’re standing on the small flat board, and you don’t realize it until you get up on it. 

I was quivering and shaking the whole time. I only did twenty squats, and that actually seemed like an eternity to me, so I know I got a totally kick butt, different workout on the ball. I also know that I was utilizing muscles I rarely use since I was out of breath and shaky after only twenty slow squats, which I figure would help shape my butt and thighs and maybe even firm up some of my cellulite.

There is actually a lot more you can do with the Bosu ball that I didn’t try.  You can use it as an ab cruncher, by sitting on top of the ball part of it with your butt planted in the middle and your legs coming up to your chest, then back out and extended for an extended crunch.

You really work and tone the abs and stabilizing muscles a lot more, and your butt, because you are trying to keep yourself balanced the whole time, not just working the abs by doing mechanical crunches. I’m a fan of the Bosu ball, and will use it again when I have the opportunity, especially now that I know more ways to use it!

It’s the holiday season, and I’ve already seen a few Facebook posts from friends and acquaintances saying that they were really hoping their families bought them a treadmill or a bike or some other such piece of exercise equipment so they could really have something at home to work out on.

Especially the women and men who have kids at home and care barely ever find any time, if any, to get out anywhere to an exercise class or to the gym.

Home exercise equipment has become massively popular because it offers a totally convenient, hassle free way for people who are concerned about their physical fitness, to work out at home. Instead of trucking it to some gym and working out in front of others, which I personally don’t like to do all the time, you can do it in your own home.

And with the superior quality of a lot of the home fitness equipment, you get the exact quality of workout at home as well. The recumbent bikes, for instance, are a fantastic deal. The best recumbent bikes are sturdy, just like at the gym.

They also have settings so you can do various workout regimens, based on your fitness level and what your goals are.  They are being offered for ridiculous prices on a lot of Amazon sellers as well as some other websites, but mostly Amazon.

The at home ellipticals are also excellent. These are great for people who have joint issues or don’t like to have a lot of impact when they workout because they are so minimally impactful. They are also excellent at sculpting butts and thighs for women who often have problems with this area. You won’t find better deals than you will this time of year on these great pieces of equipment either.

Treadmills are also a steal this time of year.  They are excellent as well for interval training, and often have settings that allow you to achieve either a big time cardio burn or a good muscle workout with uphill levels.

We have a new informational page on how to find the best treadmills for running that you should definitely check out if you’re in the market or are going to be in the market for a treadmill for runners any time soon .There are some special considerations when buying a treadmill for running that those who use them primarily for walking don’t need to worry about as much.

Running can be hard on your joints, and it can also be hard to run on a treadmill that isn’t built right for high impact running. So read our new page on the best treadmills for running – it’ll help you to

There is one thing at the top of my “must have” or deal breakers lists when I am on the hunt for high quality exercise equipment that I can use in my own home. That top of the list item is comfort.

You have to be comfortable on any piece of workout equipment if you will ever set foot on it again, or at least want to set foot on it again, after that first initial use. For this reason, you should really stick to buying higher quality when it comes to gym equipment.

Usually, the lower quality stuff is priced much cheaper for a reason – it’s made cheaper, and it feels like it on your back or neck, or some other vital body part that you need to utilize every day.

A great example for me is this really cheap piece of workout equipment I bought from a coworker years ago. It was a sort of stairmaster type of thing, only it was so cheap that it was built on a pully system that looked like it may not even hold a lighter woman comfortably.

Every time you stepped down on it, it wobbled, and it felt like it was going to tip over. This was definitely not “comfortable” or even confidence-building that it was going to keep you all in one piece up in the air all vulnerable to it’s holding capabilities for very long.

It also made a horrible whooshing sound every time you stepped down on it, adding to the irritation I experienced every time I set foot on it. But hey, this was back in my really broke days, and before I really knew the difference between a high quality piece of machinery and the crap that you can buy for a hundred bucks off people who have already deemed it unworthy for their own use.

It is vital that you spend a little more if it’s going to buy you a lot more quality when it comes to home exercise equipment. It’s really built more solid, and it also has comfort in mind a whole lot more than it’s cheaply manufactured counterparts. It may cushion your joints better as well, reducing risk of injury and soreness afterwards.

It’s good to be a little sore after a workout, but not because of your gym equipment!

It’s probably no surprise to you at all, since exercise equipment such as elliptical machines, treadmills and the like, are pretty high ticket items, with the economy the way it is now, that the amount of larger exercise equipment pieces that are being sold as gifts has been on the wane, not only last year, but so far this year too.

It used to be a much more popular gift, and even one of those gifts that you can give to your loved one that you live with, and you can enjoy the fruits of it as well! Ok, so maybe it’s a bit of a cheat to buy this sort of thing for your partner when you know you’re the one who really wanted it, but more and more couples these days are going in on one single gift to sort of “give to eachother” when it comes to bigger items.

I know several couples who do this type of thing. For example, if you’ve had your eye on some huge flat screen TV or maybe a nice new desktop computer, you can maybe make it a group gift to eachother instead of spending money on one another separately. It’s a great way to build a household of items that you really need and want, or both, without busting the bank in addition to buying gifts for the various holiday for eachother.

When you consider that large cardio exercise machines can range anywhere from $400 to over $1,000, it’s no wonder that these items have fallen slightly out of favor as gifts. It doesn’t mean that people don’t still want them, it just means that, as with a large amount of other consumer goods, we Americans have rearranged our priorities, and where once exercise machines may have been a priority, now more primitive things like food and shelter have become our focus since those things we have taken for granted are lost to so many now.

Also, one word on charity. It was awesome to see the place where I work come up with a goal-breaking number of coats in the Coats for Kids drive this year. I know that people aren’t making a lot of money this year, but for charities like that to still be raking in donations, I think, really speaks to the resilience and generous nature of Americans.