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A Problem With My Blog

Just a quick update on the outage I had recently. My Blog went mad! Posts were dissapearing and it was behaving like something possessed.

To cut a long story short I’ve had to restore the Blog from a backup I took about a week ago. Touch wood that seems to have fixed the problem but I’ve lost a couple of posts.

I think I can remember what they were so it’s no big deal.

If you’ve had difficulty viewing the Blog over the last week I apologise.

Carol

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsA Problem With My Blog

My Step360 Videos Update

Looks like I won’t be receiving my Step 360 until the end of this week that’s the problem with living in the UK it can be hard to get stuff shipped from the USA quickly.

I’ve missed out on a lot of equipment I’d like to have tried / reviewed but often the manufacturer won’t ship outside of the USA and Canada.

Anyway my video serries on the Step360 will be a little bit delayed until next week. I’m hoping to show you the Step360, point out it’s good and bad points, show real people (myself and husband Bob) using it and get the opinion of the step instructors at our gym.

I’m excited because I love trying out new pieces of exercise equipment and with a bit of luck this one will be worth the wait

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsMy Step360 Videos Update

Pilates Can Help Soldiers – It Can Also Help You

It’s sad but true that since the 1990′s 70% of potential recruits into the army have failed their entry physical test.

Hamburgers, lack of physical activity and computer games have made many Americans and other countries young people unable to pass a basic fitness test.

Even those that pass are more likely to injure themselves whilst training because of a lack of basic body stability.

If you teach any sort of physical exercise I’m sure you’ve seen a similar trend in any of the classes you teach.

The Army has decided to change the way it teaches PT in an effort to reverse this trend and help soldiers increase their fitness while reducing the chances of picking up an injury.

Guess how they’re doing to do it? They’re doing it by adding Yoga and Pilates moves into the mix.

The Army has seen the benefit of strengthening the body from the inside out.

First you need a firm foundation (Pilates) then when you have good basic stability you can add in more aggressive strength training. If you don’t do it this way common sense will tell you it’s almost guaranteed you’ll injure yourself.

It’s strange that we wouldn’t build our home on sand but we are quite prepared to do just that with our most precious possession – our bodies.

So take a leaf out of the Army’s book and consider adding Pilates to your current workout schedule you’ll not regret it.

If you’re interested you can read the full article Soldiers Try Out New P.T

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsPilates Can Help Soldiers – It Can Also Help You

Tower 200 – Hell Of A Workout?

If you’re looking for the mother of all workouts, check out the Tower 200 from Body By Jake.  This is a home fitness system that cleverly fits on the top and bottom of a door and is padded so that it won’t make marks that will have your other half moaning a bucketful, and it acts like a home cable machine – offering 200 lb of resistance and 200 different exercises for a trial price of $14.95 with no shipping and handling. Woo Hoo.

Let’s be honest here; it’s aimed at the harder end of the market who want a really quick workout that will really hurt!  The exercises are demonstrated by a scary looking guy with big muscles that you wouldn’t argue with, and the system is obviously aimed at men who want to bulk up their muscles. That being said, the cable resistance is variable and it would give a woman a great muscle-toning, fat-burning workout. We don’t need big muscles to make us scary .

It’s a home version of a gym cable machine, which is in my opinion the most practical piece of kit in a gym as it gives a functional workout that engages balance and core muscles instead of just holding you in place like fixed-weight machines.  The 11 minutes is a bit short in terms of a workout, but it looks like you move from one exercise to another with no rest, so by the end of the 11 minutes you will probably feel like you’ve gone 10 rounds with Rocky!

I had to dig a bit to find out exactly how much the whole beast costs;  it’s the usual thing – you give them your credit card number and trial it for 30 days for $14.95 and at the end of the 30 days you will be “conveniently” charged 4  “easy” payments of £39.95, making the cost of the whole thing around $175.  That’s actually not too bad for a full workout system and you get all you need including handgrips, ankle straps, DVDs and exercise charts.

Only thing I noticed was that their beefed-up model wasn’t using the door system, but was doing the exercises with what looked like a proper cable machine, so I’m guessing the door system wouldn’t be quite as robust! But  it’s a good idea, it will fit into into a very small space and it will give you a good workout whether you are male or female, scary or fluffy .

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsTower 200 – Hell Of A Workout?

Before Buying Anything On-Line Read This

I’ve noticed a trend developing of people having bad experiences when ordering products on-line. I buy products on-line all the time and rarely have a problem so I’m posting the following tips to help ensure your on-line buying experience is as good as mine.

The most common reason people complain is ordering items they didn’t want or in other words extras being put on the credit card they didn’t order. This usually happens because in an effort to make more money on the transaction some companies like to add items to your basket by default. These products need to be removed before checkout.

These extra items are called up-sells and in some cases the product you’re purchasing is a loss leader for the company – they don’t make any money from selling you the product they make their money from the extras they add on

The way to avoid this sharp practice is to:

• Be aware they may do it
• Check every page in the checkout process carefully for added goodies you don’t want
• Don’t sign up for Free Trails like 30 day supply of vitamins or such like. Free stuff always sounds good but you’ll have a devil of a job cancelling even if you remember before the free trail is up
• Watch the S&H sometimes it can be more than the item you’re purchasing. This is particularly true for BOGOF offers (Buy One Get One Free) yes you get a free one but when the S&H is $6.95 for a $5 item it’s not such great value.
• Always order from the Website when you’re alert not at 2:00am in the morning

I believe buying on-line can be safe but you really need to have your wits about you when purchasing. The old adage Buyer Beware is just as true for on-line as off-line purchases.

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsBefore Buying Anything On-Line Read This

Kettleworx DVD – Is It A Real Kettlebell?

The debate continues on the Kettleworx DVDs. Are they any good? Is a 10lb Kettlebell heavy enough? Is Ryan certified?

I’ll be honest I don’t know the answer to those questions what I do know however is that many people are happy with Kettleworx. Normally if an Infomercial product is complete rubbish you come across many negative comments both on and off-line. Yes you’ll find a few negative comments mostly from people doing traditional Kettle Bell training who scoff at the 5-10lb weight and who’ll tell you it’s far to light even for women.

I would have to disagree. If you’re already fit and fairly strong and have a history of working out then 10lbs may well be to light – assuming you’ve had the correct training that is. But lets face it who is the target market for this product? It’s going to be middle aged overweight people with little or no workout experience.

Do you really want that type of client hurling a heavy weight around? With poor core stability lets face it they’re going to hurt themselves before long and then they won’t be able to train at all will they?

Let them start with Kettleworx and a light weight. Once they’ve strengthened then they can move up to a heavier weight. If Kettleworx gets people excited enough to workout then that’s fine by me. If someone can show me that the Kettleworx is dangerous then please post your comment below.

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsKettleworx DVD – Is It A Real Kettlebell?

Tower 200 Reviews – Body By Jake

When I first saw the advert for the tower 200 I must admit I was impressed and a little excited. A cable training system that can be installed anywhere you have a door.  Made of steel pre-assembled and easy to use what could be better?

I’ve always liked cable machines as an exercised tool because it’s provides you with functional training.  It doesn’t lock you into one particular position like gym machines nor does it isolate a particular muscle group.  It’s a full body workout because almost any exercise you do using a cable machine requires that the rest of the your body (muscles) need to work to stabilise you and therefore more muscles are used whilst performing the exercise.

I must admit it sounds perfect providing a maximum of 200lbs resistance which should be enough for most people’s needs. Jake claims you only need to use the tower 200 for 11 minutes a day and that it comes with a free DVD and the ability for you to perform over 200 exercises.

I almost bought one myself but then I started to look around and read other people’s comments on the tower 200 and as I thought if it sounds too good to be true it probably is too good to be true.  Opinion is divided into two camps (as always) one who say it’s well built and the other claims that pulleys break and resistance bands get frayed.

People were complaining of broken and worn pulleys and stated that the cables had started to fray and in some cases actually broke.  You can imagine the damage a pulley flying off when loaded with 200lbs of pressure could do.  It wouldn’t be a pretty sight if it hit you on the head or any part of the body for that matter.

It would appear this really is (or could be) a fantastic piece of at home exercise equipment costing in the region of  $200 if only they can get the alleged quality problems sorted. Given half a chance  I’d probably buy one myself.

Read the comments on this post to see what I mean about the quality issues.

PS I’m not saying this product is bad it may be fantastic it’s just that I get nervous when I start to read negative reviews. A couple you’d expect after all you can’t please everyone but more than that and I become wary.

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsTower 200 Reviews – Body By Jake

Procrastination And Weight Loss – The Hidden Enemy

They say procrastination is the thief of time and how true.  How many times have you decided to do something about your current fitness levels? You think about it, you know it’s a good idea but then you do nothing about it.  You say to yourself I’m too busy, I haven’t got the time and other common excuses that people make.

I’m no stranger to procrastination myself I’ve been known to put things off and off and off.  Usually the cause of my procrastination is a lack of self-discipline.  I know that sounds harsh but I believe it to be the truth.

I can’t remember where this quote came from but some famous person in the fitness industry asked someone why they didn’t exercise.  I don’t have time was the reply.  You don’t have time?  You don’t have time to get up from behind your desk and lift yourself up onto your toes five times?  Well I guess I could find the time to do that it would only take me a minute.

The next day you could raise yourself up onto your toes 10 times that would only take you just over a minute isn’t that true? well yes I suppose it is.

In my experience it’s better to start small and work up to spending more time exercising. Then once we start to get the benefits we’re more likely to continue.

It’s a conditioning process. Start with just one minute day and then add a minute every week. In six months you’ll be doing 30 minutes worth of exercise a day!  And because it was easy to start the likelihood is you’ll continue because it will have become a habit.  Unlike other habits though this one will benefit you

So stop using the excuse you don’t have the time to exercise find one minute a day and start today.

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsProcrastination And Weight Loss – The Hidden Enemy

Diet Has The Word Die In It!

I always found it amusing that diet has the word die in it.  Now I’m not saying that if you diet you’re going to die that would be overstating the issue but I believe dieting is inherently pointless.

We’ve all heard of the success stories of people have been to slimming clubs and report losing 30 or 40 lbs in a fairly short space of time by following one diet or another.  Sadly when I meet up with with these people again six months later they’ve  put all the weight back on and added a few pounds as well.

The body doesn’t take very well to dieting for many reasons.  I may well write another article later giving my views on why I believe dieting is pointless.  But for now just take my word for it dieting with a view to losing fat is not the most efficient and permanent way to do it.

In my opinion if we should replace the word diet with healthy eating, portion control and a little bit of self discipline.  We all know what constitutes a healthy diet there is no shortage of information on the types of food that are beneficial for our overall fitness and well-being.

That’s not to say we need to live on lettuce leaves for the rest of our lives it’s just that for 80% of the time we need to be sensible in the food we eat.  We can still treat ourselves to the odd pizza or cake if that’s our desire just don’t do every day!

The mind hates a vacuum, if we try to eliminate something we like from our diet completely our mind will rebel and the more we try to do without it the more we desire it.  The trick is to just reduce the amount of calorie dense sugary foods we eat.

I’m sure you already know what you need to do by now the trick is actually doing it.

Add a little At Home Exercise and we’re really cooking with gas

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsDiet Has The Word Die In It!

Why Am I Not Getting The Fat Loss Results I Want?

I think everyone can relate to the question why am I not getting the fat loss and fitness results that I want?  To be honest with you I have absolutely no idea!  Now obviously neither do you otherwise you wouldn’t be asking the question would you?

If you really want an honest answer to this question why not ask a fitness professional?  When you consider particularly these days how important it is to maintain a healthy weight I find it surprising that people don’t ask the person who’d really know.  People will ask their mothers, friends, acquaintances and uncle Tom Cobleigh and all to try and find the answer to this question but rarely the person who has the answer.

If I was ill or had something wrong with me the first place I go is to see my physician or Doctor.  I know I’m probably going to have to pay but if I want professional advice that’s just how it is.

But when it comes to fat loss which lets face it is probably one of the most serious problems of the modern age we become pikers.  We’d rather spend hours in front of a computer googling fat loss and weight loss than spend some money on hiring a qualified personal trainer.

Personal trainers cost anywhere in the region of $30 to $50 for a one-hour session but just think of what you’re getting for your money.  Your personal trainer will assess your current fitness levels and recommend a workout that is tailored just for you.  That way you’ll maximise your results and have little or no risk of injury.

Usually after two or three sessions which may be weekly at first you’ll be able to just employ your personal trainer for maybe once a month in order to change your workout to take into account your new fitness level and to prevent you from hitting a plateaux.

So my advice would be that if you have the money put your hand in your pocket and employ a personal trainer you know it makes sense.

Posted by: At Home Workout ReviewsWhy Am I Not Getting The Fat Loss Results I Want?