A common excuse I get from people for not exercising on a regular basis is I can’t afford to buy any at home exercise equipment and I certainly couldn’t afford an expensive gym membership.

Well, that may be true even though a lot of good equipment isn’t very expensive.  To be honest you can get a fantastic full-body workout without buying a single piece of exercise equipment and therefore not having to spend a penny.

Before exercise gadgets became so popular primarily because of the outrageous claims some equipment manufacturers gave people are now brainwashed into thinking it’s impossible to get fit without spending a small fortune on equipment.

It’s perfectly possible to keep fit using by just your own body weight.  You could for example do press ups and squats.  Between press ups and squats you use almost every single muscle in your body either directly or in a stabilising role.  Add to that 20 minutes of brisk walking a day and you have a very good and effective exercise regime which costs you nothing but time.

So although exercise gadgets like the Shake Weight can make your workouts more interesting and varied they are not essential.  So don’t use the I haven’t  got any money excuse any longer.  Even the 20 minute walk a day will give you surprisingly good results with very little or no impact to your joints.

If however you have a few dollars to spare I’d recommend employing a Personal Trainer for a few weeks just to show you how to do the body weight exercises safely and in good form.  It doesn’t take very long to learn these simple and effective exercises and once you see the great results you can get you’ll wonder why you didn’t try them before

Posted by: At Home Workout Reviews

Help I Can’t Afford To Buy Exercise Equipment

I’m pleased to report that Step exercise seem to be making a comeback.  A few years back, Step classes were all the rage in gyms and village halls everywhere, but then their popularity seemed to fade in favour of classes like a Bodypump and Bodyattack.

Don’t get me wrong here; I’m not against Bodypump and Bodyattack, but the drawback is that you need some level of fitness already before you join these classes as they’re very fast-paced and intensive,  and if you’re the kind of person that get out of breath climbing the stairs then by halfway through you will be red in the face and wheezing like an asthmatic pit pony.  Your muscle soreness the next day will also have to be felt to be believed and many people have been put off this type of class that this reason – it’s just too much for beginners.

In my opinion Bodyattack can be also be risky as it is high impact and requires a good level of balance, flexibility and coordination; again a certain level of fitness is required before attempting these classes.  I know of two people who have recently injured themselves quite badly doing Bodyattack and one of them was the instructor!

So if you are new to exercise and new to a gym it will be quite a relief to you to see Beginner Step classes advertised.  These classes do not mean that you only work out at a snails pace doing very basic moves (which gets very boring very quickly).  Any good instructor in a basic Step class will do lots of repetitions of each move, making sure the class has had plenty of time to practise before moving on to the next move.

I need basic Step classes (you could always use The Wave as a step) as  I am one of those people who are totally hopeless when it comes to telling left from right, and if the instructor is leaping and twirling and doing intricate moves then I am more than likely to get my feet mixed up and fall over my Step.  Yes, it is very embarrassing, and yes it has happened to me more than once!

Step is in excellent form of exercise which burns large amounts of calories while toning the butt, thighs and calves, and it also improves balance and coordination.  If you have weak ankles or knees it is an excellent way of strengthening them and is classed as low impact as long as you don’t jump.

Step is suitable for all ages and both sexes; I recently persuaded my other half to start coming to class with me and I have never laughed so hard in my life as at his frenzied efforts to copy the instructor, waving his arms like a demented windmill, one beat behind everyone else and usually facing the wrong way on his Step.  It was wonderful exercise and wonderful entertainment and it says something for his strength of character that he agreed to come again; in fact the entire class begged him to come again as they enjoyed his performance so much!

So get Stepping to the beat, burn those calories, tone that body and enjoy yourselves

Posted by: At Home Workout Reviews

Step To It! – Risky Or Safe?

Hi,

Yes I’m back! I have to apologize for not posting for some time I think the last post is way back in August.

Life has been so busy recently that I’ve had to cut back on a lot of my commitments and unfortunately this Blog has been one of them.

Anyway things have settled down a bit and I’m determined to post at least once a week. Since August a lot has happened in the health and fitness industry and I’ll be commenting on these trends soon.

I’ll also be reviewing the latest pieces of at home exercise equipment to hit the market along with the expected rush of new stuff that will be released just after Christmas. If history tells us anything most will be a complete waste of money and I’ll give you the heads up on what’s hot and what’s completely useless!

If you would like me to review a particular piece of fitness equipment please feel free to leave me a comment below and I’ll do my best to oblige.

Regards,

Carol

Posted by: At Home Workout Reviews

I’ve Been Missing In Action!