reviews

Doing What It Takes

by Dave on August 26, 2009

flattr this!

The good news is I found a job. The bad news is I am exercising less, I can’t walk on my lunch (bad neighborhood), I’m being taunted by the vending machine, and consequently I’ve gained a few lbs in the few weeks I’ve worked there.

leap-of-faithMy basement is too short to put my exercise equipment. I tested this by bringing in my shortest piece of equipment (My Tony Little gazzelle). When I ride it my heads just grazes the ceiling. It’s not ideal – but it will work. The bottom line is I had to find something to exercise. I have less time to exercise, so where I use to walk for an hour I will now “gazzelle” for 30 minutes a day.  If the gazzelle didn’t fit, I was going to start exercising with videos, or I found an old Torso Track. The bottom line is while I may not be able ot use my cool elyptical, I CAN use exercise equipment (or my body). You may not get to do what you want, but you CAN do something

And sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to get the job done.

EA Sports Reviewed

When this game fist came out I found what appeared to be an honest review at Amazon.com I talked about this back in July. To their credit EA Sports provided me a review copy and I was thrilled to check it out.

THE GOOD

I could feel the difference in my arms using the band (even though it took some time to get the tension right).
I always broke a serious sweat, and the 30 day challenge motivated me to keep going.
The exercises were fun (I loved the boxing and tennis).
As you strap on a controller to your leg and in your hand, it really pays attention to make sure you have the correct form.

THE BAD
I would guess that 15% of the time it did not recognize my right lunge. This was really annoying as it killed the momentum you had.
It is designed to do workouts. To the best of my knowledge, I could easily go in and just box.

Summary
You definitely want to watch the videos to make sure you are using proper form. The exercises seem easy, but you will sweat. I found it odd that it monitored my steps, but when I ran it only would run at a certain top speed (it would lose accuracy if you ran really fast). The occasional slip in recognizing my right lunge (and I went back and watch the video to make sure I was doing it right) eventually lead me to not using the game anymore. It frustrated me to much and ruined my workout.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A portion of sales through this Amazon.com link goes to support the show. Thank you in advance!

{ 0 comments }

Core Ball Workout Reviewed

by Dave on January 19, 2009

flattr this!

Join the forum discussion on this post

A core ball is called by many names.  Instability Ball, Off-Balance Ball, Swiss Ball, or Engage All Your Core Muscles Ball would be more appropriate. You can find them in the Core Ball section of the Logical Weigh Loss Shop.

A Core Ball Buyers Guide

It is important to get a ball that is right for your size. Here is a basic guide: you will want to get a ball 55 cm for someone 4’11″ to 5’4″, 65 cm for 5’5″ to 5’11″, and 75 cm for people 6′ to 6’7″. Be sure to buy one with a pump (it took me about 5 minutes to blow mine up, so I got a forearm workout in addition to the core workout).  Some come with DVDs but its almost not necessary as there are tons of resources to find exercises.

Core Ball Exercises on the Web

Mayo Clinich Slide Show

Ask Men Top 10 Fitness Ball Exercises

Pysio Ball Exercises for Your Core

I’m sure there are a ton on YouTube

The thing that got me is how much I was sweating after doing a short work out. This appears to be working!

Now the other thing is why did I buy one? Well in her Book Never Say Diet Chatnel Hobbs used one (and shoe lost 200+ lbs) and in his Book Are You Ready Bob Harper from the Biggest loser was using one. So since I’ve owned every other piece of exercise equipment, why not try this. The only down side is storage (as its big and will definitely not fit under the bed). The one thing about seeing these exercises in these books is that READING about the exercises does not make you thin.

Cool New Podcast “Beyond Diet”

I found a new podcast in iTunes called “beyond Diet by Keith Klein. Man he has some great points. Items such as if we have a bad day its like getting a flat tire. We may feel like we should just “blow off the day” and eat. He says this is like getting out and seeing the flat tire, and slashing the other three tires.  His website is www.eatingmanagement.com

My Fitness Coach for Nintendo Wii

This should not be confused with My Weight Loss Coach for Nintendo DS (which is getting fair reviews). I kept reading about how great this game is. Then I met someone online who actually has it. Here is what she said,

“I just got the My Fitness Coach ‘game’ today and I have to comment on it. This is by far the coolest workout game I have ever played. First of all it’s much more like an interactive workout video.

The trainer ‘Maya’ guides you through a fitness test first which involved, jumping jacks (brutal), modified push ups, squats, and crunches. She then suggests a plan for you based on the info you put in weight and measurements and results from fitness test.

Today I did a 15 minute upper body workout with her and I think I may go back and try 15 minutes of straight cardio. With absolutely no equipment right now she has my back and chest muscles feeling worked! She also asks approx. 3 times during your workout how it’s going, your available answers are No Sweat, I’m working hard or Too Hard, she then will adjust your next workout with her accordingly in the appropriate area.

Anyway just had to comment about how awesome this game is!!!

UPDATE *****

So I needed to hit my calories burned for today so I did 15 min of cardio with her. WOW was it good. It was at the perfect level for me. It was hard but not so hard that I couldn’t push myself to do it.
I also did a 1/2 hour of Yoga with her which was wonderful. A little tricky at first but overall a great program. Yoga doesn’t offer you the option of saying it’s too hard but after having done Yoga on the Wii Fit this seemed like a natural progression.”

Favorite Workout Music

We got a tip from Joan who says she loves Blink 182′s “Feeling This” as “It just gets her going.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A portion of sales through this Amazon.com link goes to support the show. Thank you in advance!

{ 0 comments }

As Seen On TV Machines Reviewed

by Dave on January 8, 2008

flattr this!

I was at my Brother’s house and saw a Consumer Reports Magazine and it listed some health and fitness items. I summarizer in this episode.

You will be surprised that how many of these items you can get the same results with NO equipment at all.

Products like "The Bean," The Air Climber," "The Leg Magic Professional" really don’t accomplish more than similar exercises you can without the products (so why spend the hundreds of dollars?).

I did learn that there is another "version" of Consumer Reports called
Consumer Reports on Health
 that have reviews on Medical technology as well as fitness and exercise.

Realize things like a brisk walk, a jog, a jump rope, push ups, sit ups, using dumb bells, are all ways to exercise without spending a huge amount of money on fitness equipment

Get serious about your weight loss and become a premium member today and get all the back archives commercial free, along with great bonus content at www.logicalloss.com/premium today.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A portion of sales through this Amazon.com link goes to support the show. Thank you in advance!

{ 0 comments }