Feed: The Firm Wave Workout - AggScore: 90.7

Although this isn't strictly Wave related I've come across the T-Bow which might interest you. So I wrote the following review on the T-Bow - See what you think.

There are lots of pieces of exercise equipment out there for home use, but how many will fit into a small apartment? Most are huge, unwieldy and - it has to be said - downright ugly! How many times have you been embarrassed when a relative has stayed over and had to share the spare room with a monstrosity of an exercise machine? And even then, having the beast squatting in the spare room like a huge toad (the exercise machine, not the relative!) doesn't mean you'll use it. I had a superb exercise bike and ended up draping the laundry over it instead of pedalling it.

Well now there's the T-Bow. An amazingly versatile piece of exercise kit that can be used in the smallest of spaces, and cleared away into a closet in a trice when your workout is over.

Exercising is essential for our health and well-being, but how many of us, with our busy lives, can make time to visit the gym? Not me, for starters, and I teach this stuff! I always end up paying exorbitant monthly fees and never getting there - which adds guilt at wasting money to the problem. Last time I made it, I had only 22 minutes (exactly) to do a workout in!

So I'm always excited to come across home exercise equipment that doesn't take up much space or cost the earth, and that gives a full-body workout.

The T-Bow fits the bill perfectly.

It's made of a high-quality polymer, and shaped in a curve, with a mat surface on top, and gaps at the sides to fit exercise bands through. Totally simple, and totally brilliant; using the T-Bow you can do cardio exercise for fat-burning, attach resistance bands for muscle-sculpting, and also do core exercises for toned, beautiful abs. Not only that, the T-Bow is perfect for Pilates, creating long, lean muscles and re-aligning your posture for that perfect silhouette!

I've been recommending the T-Bow to all my Personal Training clients, and they've been amazed at how much fun it is. Yes, Fun! Workouts with the T-Bow can be as varied as you want to make them - no more long, boring sessions on a treadmill.

Here's how it works:

• Curve side up, the T-Bow is stable and can be used as a Step. 20 minutes of brisk Stepping burns 200+ calories and tones leg and butt muscles. Add light handweights and tone upper body as well.
• Turn the T-Bow curve side down and stand on the edges. Now rock from side to side - feel that in those thigh muscles! And because you need to balance, your core muscles all switch on, working those abs and burning even more calories. It feels like a cross between skating and surfing and reminds me of being a kid again!
• Turn curve side up again and slide in the easy-to-use elastic bands for the same toning benefits as a weights session
• Get down on the floor! Lean or lie on the T-Bow's curve side for a great Pilates workout to sculpt those hard-to-reach muscles of the abs and back for great posture and wonderful toned leanness!

I've looked for more The Firm Wave Reviews and found this article I wrote. I hope you like it.

Whether you are 20 years old or 50 years young, the way your body burns fat is the same. At 20, it is just much easier! But however old you are, The Firm Wave will help you burn fat.

Fat-burning within the human body happens in more ways than one. Your body uses calories and burns fat every time you move, or do a crossword - even when you are asleep in bed. When you are young, your metabolism (the engine of your body) runs quickly; you have loads of energy, can work all day and party all night (and still get up for work the next morning!). Even without doing very much exercise, you burn off fat.

As you get older, your metabolism slows down; it's a fact of life. You have to work harder and exercise more to burn the same amount of fat as you used to, because the body simply uses fewer calories on a daily basis. How many people have you heard say that they eat less than they used to, but have put on weight? Me for one! I used to eat like a starving grizzly bear, and never weighed more than 120 lbs until I got over 35. Then, slowly but surely, I began to gain weight.

With women especially, you begin to lose muscle from about the age of 30 - unless you specifically exercise to keep it. Lean muscle is essential for burning fat. Radical dieting is NOT the answer to losing fat and keeping it off - sensible eating and the right type of exercise is.

And this is where The Firm Wave will help you. It is incredibly versatile and can be used for muscle-toning, cardio fat-burning, core strengthening to firm up that wobbly mid-section, and stretching. This last is often missed out from exercise programs, but is absolutely essential for keeping muscles firm and flexible and far less prone to painful injuries.

The Firm Wave burns fat in several ways; "surfing" on the Wave is cardio exercise, which works lungs and heart and burns calories. Using the other side of the Wave for Step tones the leg muscles as well as counting as cardio, and burns calories. Attaching resistance bands to the Wave and squatting, lunging and doing exercises like Arm Curls works specific muscles, which tones and shapes them and burns calories; and lying or leaning on the Wave for Pilates exercises works the core, sculpting waist and tummy muscles, and burns calories!

I count that as 4 ways to burn full-body calories, with just 1 great piece of equipment! And the Firm Wave comes with several inspirational DVDs to supercharge your workout, plus its own mat, wallchart and healthy eating guide.

For exercising at home,I would say that your best bet with limited space and money is The Firm Wave. This is fairly new on the market, and is produced by The Firm, a U.S. based company with a good reputation for innovative weight loss products and inspirational DVDs.

The Firm Wave Personal Gym is a curved piece of equipment that can be picked up with one hand and is made of a strong plastic. It is shaped like a hump-backed bridge and has holes along the edges that resistance bands can be fitted into. What makes it so innovative is that it can be used either side up, and can be stood on, sat on or laid on to get a full-body, calorie-burning, muscle toning workout in a small space and at a fraction of the cost of other home exercise kits!

Any exercise professional will tell you that, for the most weight loss and the best body shaping, every workout that you do has to include the following:-

Cardiovascular exercise

Sounds complicated, but means only that you move your body in a way that makes you warm and slightly breathless - think brisk walking, jogging, swimming and cycling. This activity burns calories and strengthens your heart and lungs. Doing cardio exercise indoors can be a challenge, especially in a small space - a treadmill is good, but probably won't fit in your understairs closet!

The Firm Wave allows you to do your cardio exercise in 2 ways; curved side down, you stand on the sides and push through your legs to rock the board - a bit like a seesaw. It also challenges your balance, making you use more muscles and burning more calories. "Surfing" on the Wave will burn as many calories as jogging - and it's fun! Not only that, turn the Wave curve side up and you have a stable platform for "Step" exercises - any gym will tell you how good Step is for weight loss, and it's safer than running up and down stairs.

Resistance Exercises

An essential part of any weight-loss program, resistance exercise means just that - working your muscles against a resistance to make them stronger. Every time you get up out of a chair or lift shopping out of the car, you are building and strengthening your muscles. And the more toned and strong your muscles become, the more calories you burn - even when you are not exercising. Muscles need calories 24/7, so stored fat is used up to maintain them. Which means you lose weight even while you are asleep or watching TV!

This is where the holes built into The Firm Wave come in useful - they are designed so that you can fit elastic resistance bands through, enabling you to perform all sorts of muscle-toning exercises. Resistance bands cost only a few dollars, and most big stores sell them.

Carol J Bartram is a qualified Personal Trainer and Pilates Instructor. She has evaluated many different pieces of exercise equipment and has the following to say about the Wave.

The Firm Wave fits into a small space, and can be easily stored in a closet between workouts. It comes with fun, easy to follow DVDs to get you started and best of all, costs less than $100. So if you are ready to start on getting that lean, toned body that you've always desired, follow the link and check out the The Firm Wave Workout today.

If you lead a busy, active, life - as I'm sure you do - exercising at home is often the only practical way. After all, what's the point of paying fees to an expensive and plush gym if you can never make the time to get there? They may have the latest equipment, the swankiest changing rooms and the hunkiest instructors this side of the Mississippi, but that's no use to you when you are trying to juggle home, work and kids.

All that will happen is that you will lose no weight and feel guilty for paying out the fees every month without getting any benefits. Guilt leads to comfort eating, which contributes to further weight gain, which causes stress and, ultimately, health problems. You are in a worse state than when you joined the club!

One answer is to exercise at home. Comfort, privacy and no monthly fees - apart from the mortgage, which you'd have to pay anyway. And if you go for a compact exerciser like The Firm Wave, you don't need to turn a whole room into a gym, as a small space will be perfect, and the Wave can be stored away when you've finished.

What's a Wave?

Nothing to do with the ocean or a surfboard, the Firm Wave is made of strong polymer and shaped like a hump bridge. It is extremely versatile; place it on the floor with the curve side down and it rocks when you stand on it and push your feet from side to side in a see-saw movement. This is fun! "Surfing" the Wave raises your heart rate and gives you the cardio part of your workout - and burns calories. And because you have to balance, your core and ab muscles have to work, which tones and flattens the dreaded "pooch". At first, you will find you get out of breath surprisingly quickly, but you will soon adapt - I suggest you start with 5 -10 minutes. Put on some good rock music and away you go. My current favorite for this is The Proclaimers "500 Miles" and I try to bellow along with it. I am breathless by the end of the track and the dog thinks I'm crazy!

But that's not all the Wave can do. Turn it over, curve side up, and it has a mat surface and is stable. You can now do Step-up exercises for cardio and leg-shaping. The Wave also has attachments for elastic exercise bands - now you can do the resistance part of your workout for toned, shapely arms and legs. And remember - the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns all day long.

And we're still not done! Curved-side up, the Wave is also perfect for doing Pilates mat exercises on. Lie over the Wave and you work your abs, sides and back, to get that toned torso that we all dream about.

Carol J Bartram is a qualified Personal Trainer, Pilates Instructor and Sports Therapist. She has reviewed many pieces of home exercise equipment and has the following to say about the Wave.

Whichever piece of home exercise equipment you choose, there are several factors to take into consideration.

• How much available space do you have?
• How much are you willing to pay?
• Do you want something that can be hidden away in a closet, or left out all the time?
• Do you want something to tone and shape muscles as well as give you a cardio workout?

It's really worth sitting down and having a good think about these points - there's nothing worse than buying a home exercise machine and realizing it's not what you wanted!

The Firm Wave is a cleverly designed, curved exercise system that can be used in several ways:

• Curve-side down it works your legs and core, burning calories and toning your mid-section as well as improving your balance and co-ordination.
• Curve-side up it is more stable and can be used for Step exercises.
• Add exercise bands to create a full-body muscle toning system.
• Can also be used for Pilates exercises to create long, lean muscles and flat abs.

The WAVE can be used in a small space and put away in a closet when not in use, making it the ideal piece of equipment for a small spare room or apartment. Cost-wise, the WAVE represents great value for money and comes complete with several DVDs and a useful wall chart.

A treadmill, on the other hand, represents a much larger investment, costing from $200 for a manual system, up to several $1000 for a state-of-the-art motorized model with varied speeds, programs and inclines.

My experience is that spending around $2000 will get you a first-class home treadmill with a lifetime guarantee on the frame, a smoothly-running motorized belt that is wide enough to be comfortable and long enough to take large strides, and enough programs to ensure you reach your training goals and never become bored! Oh, and don't forget the heart-rate monitor and calorie-burn counter that are also included on these models.

Most companies will deliver and install your treadmill at that price. All you have to do is step on and press a button. Treadmills are permanently set up and take up a lot of space, although there are several folding models if space is a premium.

As an exercise professional, I rate both the treadmill and the Wave. However, a treadmill is much larger and more expensive, and cannot be used for toning the arms and shoulders - and I don't recommend trying Pilates on a moving treadmill!

It doesn't actually matter which piece of equipment you go for, just as long as you actually use it. My personal choice for convenience and value would be the Wave - there are not many pieces of equipment that work your heart and lungs, tone muscle, burn calories and strengthen your core, all in one small value-for-money package!

Carol J Bartram is a qualified Personal Trainer, Pilates Instructor and Sports Therapist who has looked at many pieces of home fitness equipment. She thinks The Firm Wave, an inexpensive Personal Gym is a fabulous piece of home exercise equipment, which will help you to lose fat, get stronger and look great.