At Home Workout Reviews

Every now and again I come across piece of exercise equipment that is so good that it makes me do a little dance of delight. Well today is the day!

It’s the day of the The Ab Circle Pro

This piece of equipment is brand new on the market and I believe it’s going to be a real hit! The Ab Circle Pro combines Cardio exercise with abdominal exercise to burn fat and toned sleek trimmed abs – all at the same time! Imagine being able to work your abs at the same time as burning calories – that is every exerciser’s dream, certainly among all the clients that I have come across.

The problem with traditional Ab exercises is that they don’t combine a fat-burning element. Also, most Ab exercises are done lying on the floor which isn’t ideal. Traditional Ab Crunches, if they are not done absolutely correctly, will only hurt your back and will not help your abs. I seem to spend my life trying to teach people to do Crunches correctly!

The main problem with Ab Crunches happens when people push their abdominals outwards during the Crunch instead of sucking them in. Pushing your abs out when you crunch will indeed make them stronger, but will make them bulge outwards instead of flatten — exactly the opposite of what we want to happen! And if I tell my novice clients to pull their tummy button down as they crunch up they hold their breath and start to go blue!

The Ab Circle Pro deals with these problems in a very clever way. The Ab Circle Pro can be set up in seconds, getting you off the floor and putting your abdominals in a perfect position to be toned – there is no question of your abdominals being pushed outwards as the Ab Circle Pro works your abs as you swing from side to side. Think of the Ab Circle Pro as a treadmill for your abs!

This is a good way to sculpt great abs, banish the pooch and get a fantastic trim waistline. You are up off the floor and your neck and back are in a perfect position – no more neck pain from doing crunches!

The Ab Circle Pro has three levels of resistance to make your workouts tougher as you get stronger and trimmer. The unique, patented friction-free track means that you glide smoothly from side to side working those abs and burning as many calories as jogging on a treadmill.

Your spine and neck are in line (every Pilates Instructor’s dream) and the handgrips are sturdy and padded making you feel safe and secure. In this position you also get the benefits of a chest, shoulder and arm workout – an added bonus!You can try the Ab Circle Pro for 30 days in the comfort of your own home for just $14.95, or buy outright at the great value price of just $199.75 (plus shipping and handling). So if you want to lose those love handles, banish those bulges and send that pooch packing, try The Ab Circle Pro today.

After much begging and pleading from my clients I’m going to bite the bullet and create my own Pilates product.

After reviewing one Pilates For Beginners program after another I can’t find one that I’d recommend for complete beginners. Sure there are thousands of different books and DVD’s on the market many of them written by some of the current Pilates superstars but none of them really suitable for a complete beginner.

They all assume some Pilates knowledge and aren’t a complete Pilates program. The books are difficult to understand and I don’t know anyone who could learn and apply the correct form from a book alone. The DVD’s are great but how can you perform a Pilates exercise whilst watching the TV?

What’s required is a product that has written instructions, video showing how to perform the exercises and an audio track you can use to sequence the workout.

I’m in the [...] Continue Reading…

Another Christmas has come and gone and if you’re anything like me you’ve ditched all of the fitness principles you so carefully worked on for 11 months of last year and done precious little exercise, along with eating like a pig throughout December.

And you’re now feeling the pinch – of your pants that is – being slightly too snug round the waist line.  And you’ve also hit the awful realisation that It Isn’t Christmas; It’s Monday. But don’t despair, throw yourself off the roof or reach for the cookie jar – read on about how to get the body of your dreams in 2010. After All, Tomorrow Is Another Day.

(You can tell I’ve gone loco when I start quoting from all the old movies I watched over Christmas instead of exercising!)

The one exciting thing about this dull, grey time of the year is that there is usually some new [...] Continue Reading…

The Japanese have always held their senior citizens in high regard, viewing them as an asset to society rather than a  burden.  This still holds true, and now exercise equipment is being placed in parks designed specifically for the use of these citizens, most of whom are well into their 70s.  Rather than cardiovascular exercise, this new equipment focuses on keeping muscles strong and working on balance.  As you age, your muscles waste naturally, and your balance deteriorates as the signals from your brain become muffled.  The good news is the deterioration is not inevitable and muscles can be kept strong and balance improved by specific exercises.

New equipment in one park to the north of Tokyo has proved so popular that over a dozen elderly Japanese at a time make their way there even in freezing temperatures to exercise, socialise and have fun; where once the squeals of children [...] Continue Reading…

A new study has revealed that skinny teenage girls may be running the risk of developing the brittle bone condition osteoporosis in later life.  Research from the Children Of The 90s project claims that not only muscle is important in building bones during the teenage years, but also body fat has a significant role to play.  This is true for both sexes, but particularly girls who are far more likely to aspire to be as thin as current celebrities and top models.

During the study several thousand youngsters aged 15 were checked, and it was found that those with more fat had stronger and thicker bones, especially the girls who are far more likely to suffer from the painful fractures associated with osteoporosis in later life; it is an established fact that older women are three times as likely to sustain hip fractures than men of the same age.

Research leader [...] Continue Reading…

A Manhattan gym has recently become the subject of a lawsuit by a client who claims to have injured herself during a pole dancing class.  This exotic dancing exercise craze is currently all the rage in gyms both in the US and the UK, with many gyms offering pole dancing classes to members. At the moment, pole dancing is taught exclusively for women by women, but men are becoming aware of its incredible calorie burning and muscle strengthening properties; up until now, men would much much rather just be spectators !

Pole dancing requires considerable upper and lower body strength and core stability, as you rely on your arms and shoulders to support your weight while your legs grip the pole.  For novice exercisers this can be incredibly challenging and they really should not attempt any more spectacular moves until they have mastered the basics.

The lady involved is suing the [...] Continue Reading…

Once again we are back to January.  Christmas is over and we’re all thinking less about Santa and more about how to get rid of all that extra weight we’ve put on guzzling Christmas pudding and mince pies. To help us,as usual at this time of year, there is a rash of new celebrity workouts available, with one of the most popular being by the former Eastenders star Hannah Waterman, who has lost a stonking 42lb and gone from being a round and cuddly size 16 to a lean, mean and toned size 6.

Hannah is only 5′2″ high and was shocked by seeing a picture of herself resembling Mr Blobby.  With the help of a nutritionist and exercise coach she set out to transform her body, eating nourishing high-protein foods little and often and exercising regularly in short bursts.  This type of working out is called interval training and [...] Continue Reading…

We all know that fad diets don’t last long, don’t help us keep the weight off and don’t do us any good, but that doesn’t stop us trying out every new one that comes along, in the vain hope that maybe this time we can lose 10lb  in two weeks, look toned and sexy, and keep it off forever while continuing to eat all our favourite foods.  Every year we do the same thing; eat like hogs over the entire Christmas period and then feel shockingly guilty come January and try and live on two crispbread a day.  What happens?  We are miserable, starving, grumpy and still fat!

According to a best-selling Canadian author, there are several ways to lose weight without fad dieting and these consist of  common sense solutions called “eating clean”.  Tips include not depriving yourself of food that you enjoy because this leads to binges, which [...] Continue Reading…

According to a recent article from a Professor in Wisconsin USA, calorie counting devices may only be 75% correct in their totals.  Much loved by dieters and gym goers (mostly female), these machines tell you how many calories you’re burning whether  you’re on an exercise bike, taking a brisk walk or using a Nintendo Wii.  Some people even like to know how many calories they’re burning while sitting on the sofa!  But how accurate are these beasties?  And should you pay much attention to them?

Sadly, say the experts, it’s unlikely your particular device will be particularly accurate.  True, they can get it right, but they can also be way out – up to 30% too high or too low in some cases.  The problem is that everyone is different, it depends on the intensity and duration of the exercise, how many muscle groups you’re using at the same time, [...] Continue Reading…

With the New Year comes a new way to exercise that will reduce fat, build lean muscle and strengthen your core and postural muscles.  The new ViPR may resemble a  tube with handles cut in it, but it’s practically a gym in its own right.

The letters stand for Vitality Performance and Reconditioning, and this neat piece of kit will do all of those.  It looks like a bit of old pipe, is made from heavy duty rubber with evenly distributed weights within it, and is frankly as tough as an old welly; it can be pulled, pushed, lifted, swung, thrown and even stepped on to give a full body workout that will use muscles you never knew you had.

The new brainchild of a well-known fitness company, the ViPR comes in several weights ranging from 4 kg to 20 kg, so is suitable for both sexes and all age groups.  [...] Continue Reading…

The latest piece of exercise equipment to hit the market ready for the New Year is the Shake Weight. It makes sense for companies selling into the health and fitness market to come out with a fitness gadget at this time.

People are just emerging from their torpor after a couple of weeks binge a thon. Waists are bigger arms are floppier and butts are heading south what everyone is looking for is a gadget that can help them lose weight without having to do any work!

So is the Shake Weight that killer piece of equipment?

The marketing blurb claims:

It’s a new workout system called Dynamic Inertia
It’ll help you get toned and lean arms
It targets the dreaded Bat Wings (sagging skin under the arms)
Can give fantastic results in just 6 mins a day
Causes more muscle fibres to be used compared to a similar weight dumb bell

It reminds me of the Flexi [...] Continue Reading…