An interesting piece of workout equipment to help us achieve better muscle tone and weight loss goals is called The Rack.  It is a portable and versatile style of workout apparatus that can be used in three different positions: flat, standing or for bench style exercises.

The Rack is made of heavy duty steel and can support up to 300 lbs.  The Rack, itself, weighs 30 lbs. and it is easy to assemble.  The Rack can be folded for the purposes of storage and transporting it.

With the purchase of The Rack, you receive a fitness guide and journal to plan out 12 weeks of exercise routine.  This journal helps to direct you on which combination of DVD’s to go through and in what order to reach your goals.

Also included with The Rack are many different workout DVD’s: Intro to The Rack, Fat Shredder, Big Arm Blast, Explosive Chest, Ripped Abs, Into The Zone and Bartendaz Workout.  The Intro DVD covers how you can do multiple levels of exercises to attain a sculpted physique.

The Fat Shredder DVD involves exercises done in all directions at a fast pace so you will work up a sweat and increase your heart rate and increase your metabolism.   The Big Arm Blast DVD goes at a fast pace also and is directed at pumping up your biceps.   The Explosive Chest DVD emphasizes exercises for building up your pectoral muscles so you can get a sculpted body.  The Ripped Abs DVD utilizes The Rack at all three levels and it is aimed at developing a tough, hard core for your body and it lasts for 10 minutes.

The Into The Zone DVD involves progression training and it’s focus is on the entire body.  The Bartendaz Workout DVD lasts for 15 minutes and it is a challenge and it does work to build muscle and strength.

The Rack is available online at a cost of $159.96 that can be done in one payment or you can do a $14.99 trial followed by 4 monthly payments of $39.99 each.  The Rack is also available at retail stores such as Target if you are not an online shopper.

The  workouts offered with The Rack are effective and the schedules and calendars make sense.  The Rack workout programs go over a period of 90 days and it specifies which workouts to do on which days.  The Rack is also very specific in it’s nutritional guide and it is strict.  It eliminates guesswork as to what you are expected to do if you want to meet your fitness goals.

It is the specific directions and instruction for the workouts and nutrition that make The Rack a stand out fitness package.  It is the supplemental directions that make The Rack worth the money invested.

Compound moves are one of my favorite ways to really cut down on my exercise time while not cutting my body short on the cardio effects it needs to keep my metabolism humming and get my bodily functions working to their best ability.  Not only does doing these two-punch moves help me to elevate my heart rate into fat burning territory, but they also help me to work on my coordination.

I’m terrible with coordination usually. So much so that I used to really shy away from any type of hand-eye coordination sport in high school and grade school. I was so bad that I couldn’t see a ball coming until it practically hit me in the face.  Of course, some of this had to do with naturally poor eyesight which got resolved a little later in life, but a lot of it has to do with my natural inability to coordinate body parts in an orchestrated fashion.

Compound moves, which usually make two levers of your body work at once – ie legs and arms, are really hard and they’re a great way to amplify your weight training. They make your heart work more in a short period of time. So in the end, you can really cut your workout in half by doing them because your body is outputting so much more effort in figuring out how to coordinate sending blood to several areas of the body at once.

The blood sends oxygen to these areas, and that burns calories in turn, which makes us all happy campers because in the end, that’s what exercise is for – burning calories, burning fat, and keeping a fit, healthy body in the process that isn’t overburdened with extra fat layers.

When you are doing a move like a sumo wrestler squat with dumb bell rows or shoulder rows, you are really forcing your body to send that blood to all those areas, making it work harder and making it go through way more calories than if you were just moving either the arms alone or the legs alone.

This is a great thing for those of us that are busy (who isn’t these days really).  I love compound moves because they allow me to do in about a half hour what I previously couldn’t do in an hour. They really work me hard, and I feel it the next day.  They also get my endorphins going almost as well as the “runners high” I experience when I run, which really lets me know I’m doing something great for my body.

Review : Ripped in 30 with Jillian Michaels

In a good way of course. Jillian Michaels has outdone herself with another DVD that’s a kick butt workout compressed into a half hour. Just what I love, because I hate sweating it out at the gym or in my basement with the precious little time I have in my day for too long. Sure, I want to look good – even great – but I just don’t always have that standard hour that everyone seems to think works so well when it comes to working out.

The DVD is called Ripped in Thirty. It uses the same principles as her 30 Day Shred video, but it kicks things up yet another notch in my humble opinion. Case in point, I did the first workout and was sweating profusel as well as cursing Jillian and her damned cohorts within the first five minutes.

These are a lot more dynamic and have some more complex moves, but they really do get the job done. They are a little more ab-focused as well, which is what I’ve always felt was missing from her 30 Day Shred DVD.  I love to get an ab workout in every since time I get in exercise mode because my abs are one of the first areas of my body that starts to feel like squishy mush when I am lazy for a couple days and just taking it easy.

When my abs are tight and toned, I feel much leaner, sit and stand much taller, and tend to look much thinner (not to mention more confident) so kudos to Jillian for focusing more on the core in these. Mind you, you might not be doing tons of crunches, but the exercises are built to engage the core a lot more.

Level 2 is definitely harder than level one with some more compound moves and a little more explosive movements than the first segment. The DVD contains 4 workouts, and they are progressively harder, so you really have to be in shape to get through them and to practice them regularly.

She does a lot more stretching and cooling down in these ones, perhaps because she got feedback that there was not enough of a warm up in the first ones and people may have been getting injured. I know when I first did 30 Day Shred, I really felt it in my ankles, and they actually swelled a bit because of all the explosive movement.   In comparison, this one does a lot better job on warming you up and preventing injury.

All in all, Ripped in 30 is a GREAT DVD. I really love these DVD’s too because they’re inexpensive. I got mine for just under 9 bucks on Amazon and will be doing it for years to come. Can’t beat that!

Recent studies have shown that eating a fatty diet can actually cause injury to your brain.  The injury to the brain from a highly fatty diet doesn’t just occur gradually over time.  According to these studies, the change takes place within 24 hours of eating a high fat diet.

These damaging alterations in the brain happens in humans and in rodents.  One area of the brain that suffers serious consequences with inflammation and injury is the hypothalamus.

This is of particular significance since the hypothalamus is the area of the brain that controls weight.  If the hypothalamus suffers structural damage, it will not be able to function properly in individuals who have always eaten high fat diets and continue to do so.

This gives scientific reasoning to back up why certain people try so many diets and exercise that may give them only minimal short term results of some weight loss.  Then, without a concerted effort, they return to their “pre-diet” weight.

The hypothesis from the study findings is that this “preset” weight that certain obese individuals keep returning to is caused by fundamental changes in the brain.  The obese person’s energy balance has been altered by a lifetime of consuming an unhealthy high fat diet.

This study and it’s findings will hopefully make people even more aware of the health ramifications of persisting to eat a high fat diet.  Also of importance, is changing children’s diets to a lower fat, healthier choice type of nutritional intake.

Obesity is epidemic in this country and it tops the list of health concerns.  It is such a severe health issue that it is prioritized above concerns over heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer and diabetes.

Changing eating habits for the entire family off of the “junk” food, fast food and all high fat choices is so necessary.  Parents should make sure there are lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean protein sources available for the whole family. These choices should be made in the grocery store aisle to begin with.

Food preparation methods should be reviewed for fat content.  Tasty recipes should be used to supply filling, satisfying meals using low fat choices.  Instead of fats for sauces and moisture to a meal, low fat selections can include using low fat yogurts in place of sour cream and vegetable bases using tomatoes with lots of herbs for seasoning.

Your family will start craving these foods once they are all accustomed to it.  One healthy choice, with all this awareness, will lead to another, until it becomes a lifestyle change.

Looking back on 2011, there were some interesting additions and revisions in the fitness workout world.  For building strength, a few standout workouts include Krav Maga and Rushfit.  Krav Maga classes are strength building self defense style workouts.

Krav Maga lasts about an hour and is a combination of punching and kicking that will definitely build stamina and strength.    Rushfit, byGeorges St-Pierre, is another strength building fitness workout that is a mixed martial arts style.  It is a well rounded workout that puts all of your muscle groups to the test for fitness.

To build endurance and speed, most of the standout workouts are the cross training approaches and the barefoot and minimalist running.  Cross training is beneficial for endurance athletes because they tend to do the exact same activity repeatedly.

Cross training introduces new activities to their routines by doing things such as adding weights and swimming.  While barefoot and minimalist running has been around for decades, it has gotten a lot more focus and attention over the past year.

A newly revisited approach to distance training is always good to assess how to become a safer and faster runner.  Some of the fitness workouts focus on balance and coordination.  Capoiera is a Brazilian martial art that is becoming very popular for a form of exercise and working out.  Agility, dexterity and coordination are a must for this form of fitness workout.

Your coordination will definitely improve with this activity.  Paddle surfing is another newer workout aimed at improving balance and coordination.  This involves standing on a surfboard and paddling to stabilize yourself against the waves of a lake or any natural body of water.

Some of the newer workouts developments have their focus on flexibility and therapy.  These would include aerial yoga and the Compex device.  Aerial yoga uses a suspended fabric sling to assist you to do yoga poses and stretches more readily.

The Compex device uses electrical charges to your muscles to shorten recovery time after a workout.  As a relaxation therapy for sore muscles after a workout, it is quite effective.  Any of these workouts would, when combined with a sensible, reduced calorie diet, be effective for weight loss also.

One thing I’ve come to realize, which was actually a major paradigm shift for me, is that crunches are not the end all be all when it comes to flat abs and core strength. It wasn’t until I really pushed myself during one workout session on a Fit TV television show that I realized the power of the plank when it came to my abs.

My abdominal muscles had never been so sore before!  I only did what seemed like a minute of holding, then going down into a downward dog type of position for about twenty seconds, then going back into the plank position, but this time lower to the ground, so my elbows were flush with the ground rather than my hands holding me up in the plank position.

This burned out my abs more than any crunch had ever done.  Needless to say I was pretty impressed, and have made planks a necessary part of my weekly ab training regimen ever since that fateful day several years ago.

What’s So Different About Planks?

Plank positions force you to hold your entire body weight with your arms and your abdominal muscles solely. This is quite a strain, and you really have to focus all your core strength in order to take pressure off the back, neck and arms as much as you can, which is what I think is a very natural reaction to the move.

You are using your own body weight to work your abs, whereas with crunches, you are only doing a repetitive up and down motion which does not use the weight of your own body and gravity to make you work ten times harder. Sure, after a hundred crunches you feel the burn a lot, but after a mere minute of the plank, you feel the serious burn in a fraction of the time it takes with crunches.

One of the tricks I’ve learned with crunches too is to take a five to eight pound weight and lay it across my abdomen. This tends to make it harder for your abs to work, and you can really feel the difference in effort, which means you are burning more calories and working the muscle much deeper than without the weight.

Another cool thing about ab planks is how versatile they are. This is actually something the plank has in common with the crunch.  They both have many different positions, angles and degrees of difficulty you can work with.  You can even do inverted crunches in a plank position by twisting the legs up toward the body one at a time – just watch that back!