Whether you're travelling and want to stick to your exercise schedule or you're setting up a home gym and want some equipment to get started with, consider investing in some portable fitness gear.
My top 5 pieces of equipment that I love to use are listed below.
Resistance Band
Resistance bands work your muscles like weights do – your muscles contract to generate force to stabilize and control the desired movement. People of all ages and fitness levels can get an effective workout using bands, as many exercises can be done from a seated position.
Bands are cost-effective, easy to store, excellent for travelling etc. They add variety to your workout, can be combined with other equipment and can safely be used alone (ie does not require a spotter).
BOSU
BOSU is short for ‘both sides up’. It is used for balance and flexibility training, core strengthening, as well as reflex improvement. It's a great piece of rehab equipment to help those with ankle injuries, post-op hip surgery, and back pain. The challenges and added intensity to the workout while using the BOSU will make your body adapt to new stimuli and keep workouts from being repetitive.
Stability Ball
Besides developing good overall muscle tone for your entire body, the ball provides numerous other benefits that range anywhere from rehabilitating back, hip, and knee injuries to delivering a powerful workout to improve core stability, posture, and muscle balance.
You also improve your flexibility and your cardiovascular system by using a low-impact workout.
Skipping Rope
Benefits of skipping are endless but here are just a few:
1. The effort it takes to jump rope for 10 minutes is the equivalent of running a mile in eight minutes.
2. One hour of rope skipping will burn up to 1,300 calories.
3. According to the British Rope Skipping Association, 10 minutes of skipping can have the same health benefits as a 45-minute run.
4. Skipping is a full body workout which uses your abdominals to stabilize the body, legs for jumping, shoulders and arms for turning the rope.
5. Skipping is less jolting on your joints than running.
6. Once you've bought your rope, skipping is a zero-cost workout.
7. Skipping helps to improve heart rate and blood pressure.
8. It's a good workout for all fitness levels as you can do it at a pace that suits you.
9. Skipping regularly improves flexibility.
10. It also aids your coordination and balance.
11. A regular skipping session improves muscle tone in both the lower and upper body.
12. Skipping is a weightbearing exercise so can help in improving bone density, thus helping stave off osteoporosis.
Timers/On Demand Fitness Programs
Timers for health and fitness programs, are useful in several ways:
Measure Your Progress
A timer can be used to time your speed during training so you can effectively measure the progress of each training session from beginning to end.
Manage Your Time
A timer is beneficial to use during your training because it allows you to manage your training time.
On Demand Workouts are super convenient, user friendly and of course the biggest feature is that they are MOBILE!! Being able to stream your workouts/download for offline use directly to your mobile devices allows you to easily take your workout with you.
I personally have downloaded workouts from youtube but the best thing I've done is get a Beachbody OnDemand Membership! There are over 600 workouts and new ones are added regularly. There are also modifiers for different levels, nutrition plans, trackers and calendars and tons more. You can get 3 month, 6 month and 1 year memberships at super affordable prices; a steal really;).
If you have any questions about purchasing equipment in general or about OnDemand programs like Beachbody On Demand (BOD), contact me I'd be happy to help you:).
There are three ways to get started Beachbody On Demand (BOD) and having 600+workouts at your fingertips 24/7!
A - Go to https://www.beachbodyondemand.com/register and fill in the Account Form. Where it asks if you were referred by a Team Beachbody Coach, you can enter my Coaches ID 1799431:).
B - Go to my coach site https://mysite.coach.teambeachbody.com/?coachId=1799431&locale=en_CA and click on 'Beachbody On Demand' to get started.
C - You can send me your email address and I can Share-A-Cart and send you the link to Beachbody On Demand (BOD) directly.
Beachbody On Demand - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GET REAL RESULTS.
40+ PROVEN PROGRAMS
600+ WORKOUTS
LEADING SUPER TRAINERS
PERSONAL COACH
24/7 ON DEMAND
TRAINER TIPS
NUTRITION GUIDES
PROGRESS TRACKER
Interested in a fitness/wellness consultation or have some questions about nutrition and your current fitness program? Join any of my groups online (Facebook) and/or pick up my book, How to be Fit for Life - Eight Proven Steps to Reaching Your Fitness Goals, Getting Results, and Living the Fitness Life for more help with your fitness journey. And please feel free to contact me and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have:).
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