Home Gym Essentials

January 30, 2013 By

I often get questions from clients asking how they can create a home gym without spending a ton of money but still be able to get quality products that won’t break after a few uses. Having the home gym of your dreams doesn’t have to mean taking out a loan (although it can if you want it to), having a room solely dedicated to working out or even having a lot of equipment. All it takes is the right pieces to help you get the most bang for your buck and your workout. Here are my recommendations for the essential equipment for your perfect and effective home gym for under $150!

Gym Boss Interval Timer : $19.95 This is the PERFECT gadget to give your workout the discipline and structure necessary to take your workout to the next level. This easy to use timer will allow you to control intensity and allow you to focus on the workout without having to watch the clock. Perfect for circuits, tabatas and intervals – set it and forget it.

 

Black Mountain Products Resistance Band Set: $27.99 Resistance bands are possibly one of the best items that provide the “best bang for your buck”! Not only are they lightweight and easy to store, but they are portable and be taken with you wherever you go so there are no excuses to miss a workout!

 

Exercise Mat: $10 -$20 Having a great mat to keep you cushioned during stretching, lifting and cardio session will not only keep you more comftatble, but it will also protect your joints from the hard ground. And if you are a Sweaty Betty like me, it will keep your carpet dry.

 

Anti Burst Stability Ball: $15.68 A stability ball can be used in place of a bench or for core exercises like crunches and planks. Sitting or lying on a stability ball while strength training will engage and strengthen your core and help increase balance.

 

Step with Risers: $32 A sturdy step with risers can take your workout to the next level. It can be used as a bench for lifting, a “box” for exercises like jump ups, a great leg toning tool for step ups, uneven squats and lunges as well as for cardio workouts.

 

Furniture Movers: $10 for a set of 4 at Wal-Mart.  Why spend $40 on a set of “Fitness Gliders” when you can buy furniture movers for a 1/4 of the price? Use the furniture movers for low impact versions of mountain climbers, lunges and jumping jacks or add variety to your planks and pushups.

 

Medicine Ball: $28.52 Medicine balls are great for a multitude of exercises. Slam one of these puppies against the floor for a great upper body and ab workout, use it under one hand when doing pushups or simply use as a weight while you do squats, lunges and ab work. This little guy if fun, functional and a great way to relieve some aggression.

 

Want a little few more ideas for a complete home gym?

BOSU Balance Ball: $95.98. The BOSU is an amazing functional tool to help improve your balance, strength, agility and speed. The beauty of the BOSU is that it can be used flat side up or flat side down dependent on your fitness level. . The BOSU takes exercises like squats, pushups and planks to a whole other level.

 

TRX Suspension System: $199.95 The TRX system is great for the traveling fitness freak, an outdoor enthusiast or the average Joe who doesn’t have much space to work out. Hook the TRX up to a tree, pole or sturdy beam in your house and your set for a great workout using just your body weight. Great for all fitness levels.

 

Bowflex Adjustable Weights: $299.00 If you want to get a good strength workout at home, but don’t have much space, these dumbbells are an ideal solution. With just the turn of a dial, you can automatically change your resistance on each dumbbell from 5 pounds all the way up to 52.5 pounds of weight. It adjusts in 2.5-5pound increments, enabling you to gradually increase your strength without bulking up.

Filed Under: Fitness Equipment, General, Uncategorized

Getting Real

January 10, 2011 By

Your Personal Trainer/Fitness Professional/Fitness Instructor/Whatever 4 letter word you want to call them is a REAL person. We put our pants on one leg at a time just like you. We my be trying to quit smoking, or working on cleaning up or diet, or struggling to meet a new fitness goal just like you. We, too,  have our good days and we also have our REALLY bad days.  We have the days where all we want to do is lay on the couch, flip on the tube, veg out with a bag of Cheetos and watch reruns of the Jersey Shore (that comment right there should show you that I am FAR from perfect). And you know what….it’s ok! WE ARE HUMAN! And any trainer that tries to make you believe that they are perfect, or they never cheat on their diet or they don’t skip work outs is not being “REAL” with you. How can a Fit Pro expect you to be totally honest with them when they won’t be totally honest with you? REAL fit pros will listen to your concerns and not belittle you for “slipping up”. They can relate to you because they have probably dealt with the same problem and because of that, they can give you great advice because they’ve been there. And even if they haven’t been in the exact same situation , they will show compassion and not try to guilt you into “being perfect”. We are not perfect and a REAL Fit Pro shouldn’t expect you to be either.  Is your trainer “real” with you?

Filed Under: General, Motivation, Uncategorized

Today…

January 10, 2011 By

How are you going to make today different than yesterday? Will you learn from your mistakes? Will you make the changes that you want to see in your life? Will you finally do that thing that you said you always wanted to do? Or will you beat yourself up for not being EXACTLY where you want to be in life, or for not staying on track with your goals or for not doing all the things you said you would do? What happened yesterday is in the PAST! No matter how many times you replay it in your head, you can’t change it. IT IS WHAT IT IS. But, what you can do is learn from it and move forward. Don’t let your past keep you stuck and unable to see the possibilities of your future. Tomorrow will always be a new day, but the choices you make today can be the start of SO MANY good yesterdays.

Filed Under: General, Motivation, Uncategorized

Get SMART and Reach Your Goals

January 3, 2011 By

Did you get off track over the Holidays and you’re not sure how to get back “on”? Do you have goals you want to reach in 2011, but you’re not sure how to? Try the 2011 SMART PLAN! With the 2011 Smart Plan, you’ll learn how to create your goals and how to stay on track until you reach them.

Specific

Measuarble

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

PLAN

Specific: Be specific with your goals. Don’t just plan to run a marathon or lose 50 pounds. Instead make it a specific goals like, “I will run the Twin Cities Marathon this fall” or I will lose 50 pounds by September 1st. Being specific makes the goal “real” because you have a specific thing you are striving for.

Measurable: Make your goal measurable! If your goal is to lose a certain amount of weight by a certain date, determine how much weight you’d have to lose per month to reach that goal. This creates smaller goals out of a larger one. Sometimes the big picture can feel so far away, but meeting the smaller goals will keep you motivated to reach the ultimate one!

Attainable & Realisitic: Make sure your goal is attainable. Losing 50 pounds in one month is NOT ATTAINABLE OR REALISTIC! No matter what you see on the Biggest Loser, no person living in the real world can lose weight that fast in a healthy way. Just like you can’t go from no activity to running a marathon in 1 month. Make sure your goal is one that you can attain. Setting goals that are not realistic is only setting yourself up for failure and a huge let down.

Timley: Set a time frame of when you’d like to reach your goal. If you don’t set a time frame of when you’d like to reach your goal, then the commitment is too vague and you might play the “I’ve still got time” game. You can also break down the large time frame into smaller ones to help you stay motivated and moving forward. If you are looking to run longer distances, plan to run “X” miles one week and add on a half mile the next week, and then another half mile the next week until you are you to the distance you want to run.


PLAN: Plan for slip ups and temptations. We live in the real world and in the real world NO ONE is perfect. You will reach a point during your journey where someone says “Come on…just one piece of cake”. You may feel tempted, but do you know what you’ll do in that situation if you really don’t want to eat that cake. Or, if you do eat the cake, are you prepared for the possibility of eating another, and another, and another? Plan for this so you can be ready if you find yourself in this situation and how you will stay on or get back on track.

Filed Under: Motivation, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Unwritten

May 10, 2010 By

As I was running my half marathon last week, the most amazing song popped up on my ipod just when I needed it the most. I don’t remember downloading the song much less putting it on my playlist. Just when I thought I couldn’t take another step, Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” started playing in my earbuds.

I am unwritten, can’t read my mind, I’m undefined
I’m just beginning, the pen’s in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

 

As I listened to the song along mile 10, I realized that at that moment and time I was in the process of writing my own book. I was mid-chapter and it was up to me how I wanted the chapter to end. Up until this point I was enjoying my race – taking in the beautiful views, focusing on my breathing and feeling the ground under my feet. But then I hit a wall (which I would later realize was because I forgot to eat my energy gel). I was allowing the pain & exhaustion to take over my mind and I was pushing the fun of the experience out. Was that how I wanted to remember the story of my first 1/2 marathon? Not really – I wanted a great story to add to my book. How I finished this race was up to me. It was MY experience to have and no one could have it for me.

As the song ended, I took a deep breath and felt it fill up my lungs.  I was going to finish this race my way – strong and proud of myself. I felt it coming on…..my second wind. I picked up my pace, felt the sun on my back and put one foot in front of the other. With each step I was writing and MAN DID I WRITE AN AWESOME STORY!!! My chapter titled “Unwritten” ended with me crossing the finish line of my first half marathon feeling energized, strong and proud of the experience that I made and wrote for myself.


Filed Under: Motivation, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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