Ladies, if you are the type of person who has the discipline to get into a workout routine at home, then there might be a new piece of equipment for you. Nautilus has announced the launch of the CoreBody Reformer, a new piece of fitness equipment specifically designed to help women build their core strength by combing the moves of yoga for flexibility; dance for calorie-burn; and Pilates for muscle strength and tone. All in one package that is light and easy to carry over one shoulder.
Tag: Yoga
Improved Pilates Platform That You Can Stick With
While Pilates can be done at home, this is a case where more equipment is always a good thing. The problem with this however is that it can take up space very quickly. For urban dwellers, those with limited space or just anyone who doesn’t want a “gym” in their home, there are fortunately a few alternatives.
The latest is the Wrist Saver Block from Stick-e, a multipurpose foam block with handle that is designed to provide a safer, more stable and more comfortable workout. The light weight block with an internal handle optimizes wrist positioning during upper body weight bearing exercises, yoga poses and pushups. As a result, it provides better comfort and strength.
(Videos after the jump) Continue reading Improved Pilates Platform That You Can Stick With
Puretoes Leaves Digits Free for Activities
Participating in an exercise class barefoot is not always appealing. The floors are grimy. Your feet might not give you the traction you need, particularly if the room is cold. You may just feel more comfortable with your feet covered. That said, socks and other footwear are not compatible with disciplines such as yoga, palates, dance and some forms of martial arts. In these disciplines traction and balance are essential.
In steps Puretoes. These are foot coverings – Puretoes doesn’t identify itself as socks – with a grippy material on the sole and stops at the toes. The combination of the free toes and the grippy coating on the ball of the foot and the heel make it possible to do many poses and combinations called for in several disciplines. There are separate holes for the big toe and the rest of the toes, which helps keep the foot covering firmly on your foot. You still have the ability to spread your toes to balance for poses such as the tree pose. You can do a karate kick without worrying your stocking-feet will slide out from under you.
There are similar products on the market, including toeless socks from Stick-e, which also have grippy coating painted to the bottom. While those socks are knit and similar to regular socks, Puretoes are made from a material that appears to be a light neoprene with a brushed material on the inside to provide comfort.
Puretoes Official Website
[Via GearJunkie: Puretoes ‘Not-a-Sock’ Foot Coverings]
Yoga Gets a Leg Up with Stick-e
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2lzZ204HVw&feature=player_embedded#at=108
Practicing yoga during the summer, or in hot studios as practiced with Hatha (or “hot”) yoga, sometimes doesn’t seem compatible. The heat makes you sweat, and sweat makes you slip on the mat or floor. Continue reading Yoga Gets a Leg Up with Stick-e
Charter Pumps Out ExerciseTV on-Demand
Workout videos hit the scene in the ’80s with the likes of the Jane Fonda Workout and others. Later when DVD became popular in the ’90s and a little later DVD workout “videos” became more convenient for the cleaner picture and ability to skip to multiple workouts. Fast forward a little, and the new avenue for workout videos is cable’s on-demand programming.
Charter Communications just added ExerciseTV, a free fitness and lifestyle On Demand channel from ExerciseTV, a digital fitness network and part of NBCUniversal. Now when you browse through available on-demand content you can get encouragement to workout.
The on-demand channel has a variety of workouts that range from cardio to abs to yoga and dance. Programming includes content from expert fitness professionals including Jillian Michaels, Jackie Warner, trainers from Crunch gyms, Chris Freytag, Billy Blanks Jr. Other fitness gurus will be cycled into the lineup as it becomes available.
“Finding time to exercise isn’t easy between juggling work and family,” said Kara Lamberti, senior director, Video Product Management at Charter. “Motivating yourself to fit in a workout at the gym isn’t easy either and ExerciseTV On Demand makes exercise convenient, easy and fun.”
One of the benefits of exercise programs On Demand is the variety of workouts Charter offers. You can stay in the cardio section and still have a few days of different workouts, or vary the disciplines from cardio to resistance, and so on.
Over the summer this may be a rainy day solution. In the winter it easily turns your family room into a gym and lets you stay in shape in colder months.
First Impressions: NightWave Nightlight Puts You to Sleep
All my life I’ve had trouble sleeping. By now most nights are better, but there are nights I’m up to see the sunrise, and not because I slept like a baby all night. The problem is that my mind races the second I turn out the light, and I can’t stop it. At some point I learned to concentrate on breathing, using a relaxing breath that ends just about every Yoga class.
That’s the concept behind NightWave. Thought at first you have to wonder, how is a light going to help me get to sleep? NightWave is a device that projects a blue light on the ceiling or wall of your bedroom. Set for sleep mode, it runs for seven or 25 minutes. A blue light brightens and dims at a regular pace that suggests a rate for you to breathe. In addition to the light being suspect, you keep your eyes open to watch the light for this time interval.
Last night I turned it on the normal sleep mode, which runs for seven minutes. I kept my breathing in time with the light, though I found that a little faster than I might time my breaths. I also tend to close my eyes to breathe, and kept wanting to do so. For the first night I found my mind a bit distracted by the device. I think it will be easier to focus tonight. I also plan to try the 25-minute mode, which has slower light intervals for longer breathing. Continue reading First Impressions: NightWave Nightlight Puts You to Sleep
CES 2011: The Gymbox Goes for Free the TV Challenge
Last August Samsung kicked off its “Free the TV Challenge” to spur development of new connected TV content, and developers from across the country were invited to submit their best ideas for 2D and 3D TV applications across a range of categories. Finalists were selected from this range of submissions and the winners of the challenge will be announced this week at the Consumer Electronics Show.
We found there to be some very interesting finalists, but we’re pulling for Gymbox, which provides weekly, full-length workouts on demand. These include Step Aerobics, Kickboxing, Yoga, Pilates, Core Strength, Treadmill, Cycle, Strength Training, and Stretch. New classes are added weekly so you never have to repeat the same workout twice.
Dare to Go Bare with Footstickers
Bare feet get a lot of attention these days. Running in bare feet or bare feet-like shoes from Vibram are said to be healthy. Yet if you choose to go bare, your feet are vulnerable to injuries such as twists, slips, and the dreaded pebble or glass. A concept from designer Frieke Severs from Nike EMEA for “Footstickers” covers key points of the foot to provide better motion control, more feeling for the direct floor contact and a surface-grabbing silicon surface to propel you in your workout. Continue reading Dare to Go Bare with Footstickers
The Material Girl Starts Hard Candy Fitness
Madonna is the face behind a new global fitness club, Hard Candy. You know she goes to the gym. You want your arm muscles to look like hers. Now you can work to achieve those arms, abs and other muscle groups in these new clubs. The first one is set to open in Mexico City in the exclusive Bosques de las Lomas area at the end of November. An additional 10 locations are planned to open in Russia, Brazil, Argentina and throughout Europe and Asia.
Hard Candy Fitness plans to offer innovative training methods in private, group and dynamic formats including classes such as Zumba, Latin Moves and Cardio Kickboxing. Each gym will feature a bike studio, mind and body studio featuring “The Great Wall” where members can practice BarWorks, sculpting, Capoeira and new trends in yoga. For strength and circuit workouts there will be cardiovascular equipment with personal viewing screens
and more than 60 pieces of strength training equipment at each location such as free weights, PreCor, Hoist, Free Motion, Nautilus, Hammer Strength, StarTrac, AbCoaster and TRX suspension training. Expect also to find a healthy alternative juice bar or café to replenish post-workout. We do have to wonder if there will be any Pilates classes or equipment since Madonna was one of many celebrities that caught on that trend back in the day.
The locker rooms are reported to be seen to be believed with fine materials that make the place you change and store your close a sanctuary.
It’s a shame that the new chain of clubs hasn’t named any U.S. cities for planned locations. They will no doubt feature the newest exercises and equipment. Hard Candy Fitness, however, will likely be among the more pricy of health club memberships.
Get Into the Sling of it With aeroSling Elite
Suspension technology is catching on. It is an easy way to get a decent workout at home or on the road, and these are among the easiest pieces of equipment to take on the go. This month the latest innovation in suspension technology is arriving in the United States from Germany, and this one might be worth a bit of suspension of disbelief.
Smooth Fitness, the online retailer of home exercise equipment, is bringing the aeroSling Elite to the America. The modular, flexible band relies on a person’s bodyweight to provide the resistance while the suspension system can strengthen core muscles. This piece of equipment can be used on doors, hooks or even outdoors on trees, and it can be anchored at different heights and adjusted for varied degrees of fitness levels.
“The aeroSling represents the next generation of suspension training, with its innovative pulley system that allows for a multitude of new exercises to train every muscle group with a greater range of motion,” said William Olson, President and CEO of Smooth Fitness. “It truly is a trip to the gym in one small mesh bag, and can even be incorporated into yoga and pilates.”
The aeroSling Elite will be launched later this month by Smooth Fitness, and will be available exlusively through the website. We will try to get our hands on one and let you know if we got into the sling of things.
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Partners with Men’s and Women’s Health
You say to yourself you’re going to do those targeted workouts you see in the pages of Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines… until you turn the page. With Your Shape: Fitness Evolved you’ll choose the workouts from the game, or opt for Men’s Health‘s “The Sleeve-Busting Arms Workout” and “The Ultimate Men’s Health Fat Loss Workout.”
Knowing that men and women workout differently, the game offers a fully different routine for the fairer sex. Women’s Health will provide workouts such as “The Perfect Legs and Butt Workout,” “The Toned Arms and Shoulders Workout,” and “The Skinny Jeans Workout.”
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved publisher Ubisoft has partnered with Rodale to provide these targeted, magazine-prepared workouts on its upcoming title. Expect Your Shape to provide dynamic, interactive, customizable and convenient at-home workouts. The team that brings you workouts in the magazines creates these workouts. Continue reading Your Shape: Fitness Evolved Partners with Men’s and Women’s Health
Zen to the iPad with All-in Yoga HD
For less than the price of a yoga class you can get customized routines on your iPad or iPhone with the All-in Yoga HD app from Belarus-based Viaden Media. The company has developed many apps, most of them gambling, which may inspire the name “All-in Yoga.”
While deciding to buy the app for $4.99 for the iPad may seem like a gamble versus all the other yoga apps in the iTunes store, it appears to be comprehensive. The software promises 200 poses and yoga classes to enhance both mind and body. It offers a database of asanas (poses) recommended by professional yogis and highlights the most popular. If you’re not sure of the sun salute routine or any number of other positions, there’s detailed how-to’s, photos, video and male voice guidance to instruct yoga classes and tutorials. Continue reading Zen to the iPad with All-in Yoga HD
Wii do Yoga
If you’d rather do your salamba sarvangasana, parsvakonasana and sun salute poses at home, we understand. There’s plenty of yoga DVDs on the market. But why not go one step farther with Yoga for the Wii? The interactive version features four levels with a number of yoga rooms and Asian-inspired settings. Model Anja Rubik shares her yoga expertise with tips and videos as she advises you through your progress.
Yoga for the Wii adds the Wii balance board controller as an option, so you can get feedback on how you’re doing on some of your poses. The console version advances at home Yoga by adding interactivity, letting you take your time on your poses and telling the Wii when you’re ready for the next one, and getting coaching and feedback based on your progress.
Yoga for Wii from JoWooD and DreamCatcher Games