Summertime is around the corner again, especially in Arizona. Whether you intend to be spending time at the beach, at the lake, or by the pool, everyone wants to have a firm and toned body for when it's time to put on their swimsuit. Chances are you have seen commercials, infomercials, and advertisements for an assortment of weight loss products designed to "tone your body by using it just minutes a day". Let's be honest: there is no miracle device that is going to turn you from flab to fab instantly and with minimal effort. It is the effort and exertion that helps you to burn fat and build muscle. However, millions of people still purchase those "miracle devices" each year. In the end, the only people who benefit from consumers purchasing these machines that do not live up to their expectations are the people who manufacture and sell them. Despite the endless market for exercise machines that make false claims, a lot of equipment is available that, when used correctly, can be very beneficial to your health and fitness and can become a useful part of your weight loss program. There are several factors to keep in mind when choosing the equipment that best suits you. For starters, it is best to start by assessing the shape you are in, and then determining what your goal is. From there, you can select the appropriate equipment to lose weight, build/tone muscle, and tone your ab muscles and waistline. Losing Weight and Getting in Shape: It can be fun! Many fitness goals and weight loss programs fail because the person who wants to get in shape loses interest. Let's face it running on a treadmill is boring and monotonous, and can be rough on your knees and hips. The key to ensuring that you stick to an exercise program is to find activities that not only burn calories, but also keep you entertained and do not cause unnecessary strain on your body. Swimming is one of the best forms of low impact, cardiovascular exercise. Unfortunately, most people do not have a pool that is large enough or designed for lap swimming. For those situations, the ExerSwim Portable Swim Current Generator is the ideal solution. It installs in minutes on most swimming pools and, using an enclosed propeller drive, provides you with an adjustable speed current of up to seven miles per hour. The ExerSwim uses two rechargeable low voltage batteries and is easily transportable. If you do not consider yourself to be a strong swimmer, the Exerswim can be adjusted to a lower setting for walking and other aquatic exercises. Much like running on a treadmill, swimming laps can be a boring exercise as well. With the SwiMP3 V2 Waterproof MP3 player, you can listen to your favorite music downloaded from your Mac or PC while you swim. The device includes an integrated rechargeable battery, easily clips to most goggle straps, and uses a special bone conduction" technology to provide you with crystal clear sound under water. If the weather is not quite warm enough for aquatic exercise, or you just consider yourself to be more of a land person, the Pilatesstick Portable Body Sculpting System is a completely portable device designed to allow you to perform a highly-effective form of low impact exercise practically anywhere. Pilates is a method of physical movement and exercise, coupled with focused breathing patterns, designed to help stretch, strengthen, and balance the body. It has been used world-wide by everyone from actors to rock stars and has been used as an important tool in professional sports training and physical rehabilitation. The Pilatesstick includes a heavy-duty cable system, its own carrying case and Pilates mat, and a Full Body Basic Training DVD. Building and Toning Muscle Say Good Bye" to the Hassle of Weights For years lifting weights has been the method of choice for building and toning muscle. Unfortunately, a wide variety of weight machines and weights are necessary to give your muscle groups the workout needed to improve definition and build mass. Why waste your time and money while risking injury with these machines? A variety of simple and affordable devices are available that accomplish those same goals. Chances are you have seen the Perfect Pushup advertised on television. Because it has been featured on commercials and infomercials, most people dismiss it as just another useless device... this is not true! The Perfect Pushup takes the ageless push up, an exercise that is highly effective for strength training, and enables it to work more muscle groups while taking strain away from your wrists. The rotating ability of these push up handles allows your arm to follow its natural rotation as your hands go from being near your chest to being fully extended from your body. The height of the hand grips allows you to lower yourself farther into the push up, working your arms, shoulders, chest, and back. The Perfect Pushup is also available in a Travel Edition that collapses and comes with a travel case. The Perfect Pushup Travel Edition is compact enough to fit in carryon luggage and makes maintaining a fitness routine while travelling much easier. Both versions include an exercise program to get you started. If you are more interested in muscle tone and definition than bulk, the Thera-Band Exercise Bands Set is a simple yet effective form training device that is commonly used by Olympic swimmers. Available in multiple levels of resistance to accommodate your individual level of strength, Thera-Band Exercise Bands are small enough to make them perfect for travel. They can be cut into different lengths and offer a variety of available exercises to tone multiple muscle groups. Toning Your Abdominal Muscles Getting Rid of That Gut! Commercials and infomercials for machines designed to help you lose belly fat and get six-pack abs are all over television year-round. The population as a whole is obsessed with this hard-to-obtain look and will spend money on products that promise impossible results. The common misconception is that, if you want to get a slim waistline and toned abs, you need to use a specific ab machine to do so. Unfortunately, that is not the case. If you have a lot of excess fat at your waist or are very overweight, diet and cardiovascular exercise are the first steps you should take towards achieving this goal. The devices mentioned in the first section are great for getting you started on the path to this goal. Once you have slimmed down from diet and exercise, you can begin using ab machines to tone your existing abdominal muscles. One of the most simple and inexpensive, yet very effective devices for exercising any part of your body is a gym ball. You can select from the Gymnastik Maxafe Ball, FitBall Exercise Ball, or the Physioball Maxafe Ball. They are available in a variety of sizes and colors, and many include exercise charts and pumps. Besides offering an assortment of abdominal exercises, exercise balls enable you to tone your arms, legs, chest, and back as well. Each of these three models can accommodate up to 500 pounds and are burst-resistant to prevent injury. The Slendertone Flex Abdominal Toning System is another product that is often dismissed as ineffective and a waste of money. This is primarily because consumers expect this product to drastically reduce their belly fat and give them six-pack abs. The Slendertone is an effective product but only when used in conjunction with diet and exercise. If you already have a stomach with very little fat and need a way to gain that extra edge to reach your fitness goal, the Slendertone Flex is the ideal piece of fitness equipment for you. Electrical impulses cause the muscles of your entire abdominal area to contract and relax, giving you an effective workout while you go about your busy lifestyle. This product is perfect for those who sit at a desk all day or are too busy to get that extra ab exercise in their schedule. The digital display allows you to easily set the desired level of stimulation and choose from four preprogrammed workouts. Who says ab exercises need to be boring and painful? The Bongo Board is a unique device designed to give you an effective and fun core workout. At first glance it looks like a skateboard with one set of wheels, but the Bongo Board is fun to ride and requires only a small area indoors or out for use. Its patented design allows you to learn proper distribution of body weight to achieve constant equilibrium and tone the muscles used for balance and stability, such as your abs, lower back, glutes, and obliques. Getting Fit Through Nutrition A Healthy Diet is the Key to a Healthy Body America's obsession with weight loss and the desire to have the perfect body with minimal effort has lead many to resort to weight loss supplements. Many of these supplements promise fast results by suppressing your appetite. Unfortunately, these methods of weight loss carry serious health risks and side effects such as damage to your heart from overworking it, stomach problems, mood swings, nausea, and headaches. As mentioned before, there is no easy way to lose weight. Supplements should never take the place of a healthy diet and exercise program, but they can be used to help augment it. Sublingual B-12 is a supplement that contains vitamins B-12 and B-6 as well as folic acid. It helps increase energy and improves cardiovascular health. Unlike other supplements that are swallowed and can take hours to enter your blood stream, Sublingual B-12's fruit punch-flavored tablets dissolve under your tongue to enter the blood stream in a fraction of the time. Best of all, they are one of vitamin supplements that actually taste great. Finally, Set Realistic Goals The products mentioned above make no claim to be miracle devices. While they are very effective tools to help you lose weight and get in shape, you typically will not see results immediately. Do not over-exert yourself to try to achieve faster results as this can cause injury. Above all, be patient if you want to go from a couch potato to an athlete it will take some time.
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