Lately I’ve been trying to research if there are any exercise machines or gadgets that were either marketed or designed specifically for women. It was just a curiosity thing. Needless to say, I was not able to find much. I have no doubt that it would be a hard kill from a sales point of view if you eliminate half of the market.

One that I thought this was interesting as I was researching exercise machines; I came across the “Tone at Home” by Slender You. Looks like an exercise machine table bed, which provides support as you conduct repetitious exercises. It does not really specify that it is just for women, but it did pop up as I was searching.

Exercise Machine: Tone at Home

Tone at Home is meant to offer you an effortless exercise solution, which is comfortable and enjoyable. While supporting your weight, this toning table powers you through a series of repetitious exercise movements. During the movements you are required to resist the force of the table bed, thus working your muscles. The more resistance you provide, the more you will increase your energy level, the greater your results.

Tone at Home states that you can increase your flexibility and endurance, while reducing the risk of any lower body injury (I.e. ankles, knees & hips). This may be beneficial for people who have difficulty moving, and conducting their own exercises and stretches. It looks comfortable, considering it’s in a table bed format; however, this exercise machine would not be recommended if you are looking to get that toned look, fast.

Exercise Machines for Women: Tone at Home

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A gal goes to the gym with a guy friend. She ends up doing the same sets of exercise and workout routines, but why is he losing weight and firming up better than her? It is a common bewilderment among women as to why men can gain weight – and then shed it off quickly. It is one of the main issues that make us women look at men with envy.

Compared to men, women are not as fortunate to lose weight as quickly and easily.  Why is that? Well, here are a few reasons why:

Biological. The male body has more muscles, compared to females. And muscles are what burn the calories, which makes you lose weight. By having less muscle, women end up having more fat cells – and we ultimately have to work the muscles we do have, harder to lose fat.

Hormones. A major contribution to the difference between man and woman, as hormones control our metabolism rate, and the storing of fat cells. It is natural for bodies to store fat as a survival feature, women are just programmed to store and hold more – especially during pregnancy. Reason being because a woman’s body was meant to bear children, and to provide them with food. Men, on the other hand were meant for hunting and gathering, and so, needed the muscle to endure the physical labor.

Did you know…though women have more fat and store more, we end up burning 300 more calories per day during pregnancy, and 500 more calories during breast-feeding.

Bad eating habits & poor lifestyle. These days our food is riddled with chemicals and preservatives – which end up being stored in our bodies and are harder to burn. Eating healthier foods with routine exercise is essential to a better lifestyle and losing weight successfully. Dieting is not an effective option. Improve your lifestyle and see positive result…

Why it’s harder for women to lose weight

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The era of technology has its pros and cons. Pro, we have technology that can make our lives and jobs easier. Con, technology constantly makes us available and assessable at all times, and therefore we are still busy, if not, busier.

As we prioritize ourselves with tasks, assignments, and deadlines, our attention to health ends up taking a backseat. We all know that our health is important, but somehow we just can’t seem to incorporate it into our busy lifestyle.

Exercises for busy people

Creating an exercise workout plan is often daunting, and anticipated to be most unpleasant if you see it as forcing yourself to do it just because. This is what deters most people from starting or even committing to their workout plan. Whether you are a busy man or busy woman, if you think positively, and take it step-by-step it’s really not all that bad.

Assess your level of physical capability, and consider your options for exercise activities.  What could you fit, or easily accommodate into your lifestyle? Are you able to visit the gym on your way from point “A” to point “B”? Can you squeeze in time with any home workout equipment?

Choose activities that are easy and you would enjoy. Individuals are more likely to follow through with activities they consider fun, compared to something that seems like hard work and painful.
Tip: Exercise doesn’t always have to come from the gym, or a workout machine. Try casual activities like walking, which you can incorporate into a daily lifestyle. Attaching Velcro lightweights to your limbs as you do work, or doing on spot exercises like lunges, jumping jacks, push ups, etc.

Set a goal and a plan of action to achieve them. Be sure to take into account your capabilities and limitations by being realistic when choosing the intensity, frequency, and duration. This will help prevent injuries, burnouts and disappointments.

Did you know…It is best not to burnout from an exercise. Instead, exercise to the point you feel energized as this gets your metabolism going and you will still have energy for the day. You’ll also feel better after exercising too.

Stick with it. Consider your exercise program as a long-term goal, which will get you into the habit of continuing your exercise regime. Also, if you create your workout plan to give you results, you will feel more positive about continuing your workout when you feel and notice improvements.

Exercises for Busy Lifestyle

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I am happy to finally be able to provide information on the final component to my ab workout machine series – the Body Shaper Machine. This full-body workout machine has been a popular product in Korea, and has just recently been introduced to the North American market. I had read about this late last year, and decided to wait until their website was fully launched before I started reviewing.

**I apologize in advance to my male readers, I had no idea when I first heard about this, but this machine goes out to all the ladies. However, men can use it too, so long as they are comfortable with the color pink.

Body Shaper Machine: What is it?

A workout machine made especially for ladies dominated the Asian market, and has now been approved to sell in the North American market. The Body Shaper Machine is a manual, and portable device that can be used to target certain muscles, or provide an all body workout. Different workout sets, exercises different muscles to help tone and slim down your body.

The Body Shaper Machine has two wings that act as leverage, with an air pump in the center with a pressure valve; and the colorful rubber on the wings prevents slippage. Designed to be thin and compact, the Body Shaper Machine offers a good amount of resistance that is manageable for the everyday female who wants to work out.

Is Body Shaper Machine Effective?

The instructions and workout sets for this little workout machine are straightforward. It was created on the principles of yoga, such as slow and controlled movements, and deep breathing. Key elements to any muscle toning and body slimming workout.

This weightless and small size is marketed for women, to be used almost anywhere. At the office desk, school, or casually watching television – anywhere our busy schedules take us that we can afford 5-minutes.

The Body Shaper Machine seems convenient and easy enough to use. The crucial element to make this product effective would be repetition and sticking to a regular workout routine. The size makes it easy to use almost anywhere at any time, that laziness and neglectfulness of workout routine would be your #1 enemy.

Exercise for women: Body Shaper Machine

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A new innovative health gadget that, well, seems sister-gadget to the alcoholic breathalyzer, only this time it’s for your health. The Body Gem is a new gadget meant to be integrated into your weight loss and fitness lifestyle, by helping you determine your calorie intake.

Everyone is different in body size, in terms of height, weight, muscle mass, etc. A generic weight loss plan with size categories may not be the most effective method for determining your body’s needs. However, the Body Gem is promoting itself to be able to help you with your calorie calculation.

Metabolism Fitness Gadget: The Body Gem

The Body Gem is a Metabolism breathalyzer, which measures the rate that your body burns calories when you breathe into it. This information is then used to help determine a healthy weight loss or fitness program that would be suitable to your body.

This healthy gadget is to encourage the development of a healthy strategy to weight loss. A good way to lose weight is cutting down on excessive eating, which also includes junk food. Only consume enough calories from healthy foods that your body needs, along with regular exercise that would get your heart pumping, such as cardio.

Metabolism Fitness Gadget: The Body Gem

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I thought this was the cutest cardio workout gadget, or cardio exercise equipment that is great for all canine lovers! A great way to lead a healthy lifestyle, with an active partner who is always ready for a walk or run. No matter how early, or how late in the day it is.

Cardio Workout: Cardio Canine

A “hands free” human harness and dog lesh, with a secure water bottle holder.  Your dog’s leash is attached to the Cardio Canine belt, which sits securely on around your waist. Now your hands are free for other things, like carrying doggy treats, or picking up droppings.

There’s nothing difficult about this cardio gadget, quite practical actually, especially if you have larger dogs. I myself am a smaller than average person, and my dog – an angel that he is, is still a bit difficult to control when he’s excited. It gives my arms a difficult, but good workout though.

Having the Cardio Canine around the waist seems better than trying to manage your dog in one hand, and doing something else with the other. If the dog is leashed at the waist, you as an owner have more power and control because power comes from your core. Your legs are the next powerhouse in helping you control your stability, and offers leverage of force when needed.

Health Benefits with dogs

Being a dog owner, and going out for routine walks are great for practicing a regular healthy lifestyle and workout. Aside from being a great companion, dogs (and other pets) offer great benefits to their owners, aside from an active lifestyle. Other health benefits with dogs include:

• Improvement of Mood – soft fur, cute animal, and fun loving nature is enough to lift anyone’s spirit. It’s also been proven that people with pets are less likely to suffer from depression
• Lower Blood Pressure – They help you relax and get your mind off of things, even if it is only for a minute. Having a pet has been proven to help a person relax and reduce tension.
• Reduce Stress Levels – They are the best listener, which also makes a dog a better supporter, compared to another human being. Mainly because pets will never judge us, but always will love us.

• Unconditional Love – Dogs really are a man’s best friend, and has been found to be one of the best antidotes to loneliness.

Cardio Workout Gadget: Cardio Canine

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Hope everyone had a happy holidays, and soon a Happy New Years. Everything suddenly got  busy, more than usual – so I had to put my series on hold for a bit. But happily, I have found a bit of time to write

Brookstone Back Stretcher & Ab Trainer

The Brookstone Back Stretcher & Ab Trainer chair is built at a curve, which is suppose to contour to the appropriate curve of your spine. It requires, and allows one type of movement, which is leaning back and sitting back, up right.

Brookstone Back Stretcher & Ab trainer: back pain relief & ab workout

How to use the Brookstone Back Stretcher & Ab Trainer…

Leaning backwards stretches your back, decompressing your spine to alleviate back pain. The gentle, and easy movement is to slowly expand your discs, helping reduce backaches. To complete the movement, lowering yourself back down to the starting position tones your abs, while realigning your spine for a better posture.

The Brookstone Back Stretcher & Ab Trainer is equipped with a seat and headrest. The backrest is a skeleton of soft foam rolls and rubber. The design and materials are meant to provide a firm support for your head, neck and spine as you lean back. The chair also supports your upper body so that you won’t strain your spine as you would during a traditional sit up.

Is the Brookstone Back Stretcher & Ab Trainer effective?

If you are looking for a fast way to tone your core, this may not be the one for you. The Brookstone Back Stretcher & Ab Trainer is firstly a back stretcher before it is an ab workout machine. Needless to say, you could progressively strengthen your core overtime, given that you contract your abs during your whole session. This will probably give you the slowest ab results out of all the ab workout machines in my series; however, it would be beneficial to those who have minor trouble with back flexibility, and needs to stretch their back out. Would not recommend for those with severe back pain in need of relief unless medical physician says otherwise.

Brookstone Back Stretcher & Ab Trainer

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This ab workout machine seems like an innovative hybrid, meant to involve sit-up movements, with a bike machine frame to tone abs.  Providing support while specifically forcing users to work out their core muscles, Ab Coaster Pro works the abs from the bottom up; rather than top down like a normal floor crunch.

Bottom up VS top down:

People do not enjoy doing regular floor crunches because we find that it strains our neck and upper back. Since majority of your movement is from the upper half during a sit-up, this is called a “top-down” work out. Ab Coaster Pro is said to eliminate that upper body tension during workout. While supporting your upper half, it supposedly offers better results because it demands movement from your core and lower half, a “bottom-up” workout. This concept is said to be the most effective approach for toned abs.

How does the Ab Coaster work?

Kneeling on the seat, your arms are rested on the rest pads while grabbing onto the handles. Using just your stomach muscles, Ab Coaster Pro’s seat offers support as you draw your knees to your chest, and release.

The seat swivels from side to side, for a smooth transition from working out your front, to your side. Adjusting the angle of the seat can allow users to target different sections of the tummy area. Below the seat is a plate loading weight bar for additional weights to get a greater workout.

Ab Coaster Pro Reviews:

Before buying, it’s always a good thing to know what you’re getting into. Here are a few product reviews of what people said so far:

Noisy. The sound of rolling steal as the seat glides along the rail can be quite irritating after a while.

Not as easy as it looks. Working out the core can be difficult, but so can every other part of the body. Everything takes practice, and getting use to.

There are better Ab Coaster products. Many people have mentioned that other Ab Coaster products have given better results than the Pro.

Ab Coaster Pro

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I first saw this product on television a few years ago, before he went onto the American Shopping Channel. Never thought about Mastermoves after that until I decided to write this ab machine series. It’s nice to have variety, and I thought that this would be a good one to talk about. Not that I endorse it, or any of these ab machine in that matter, but it is different from the usual huge hauling, assembling contraptions that I thought it would be nice for a change.

Mastermoves is workout program designed and created by a local fitness trainer, engineer & salsa dancer Oswaldo Koch.  A new routine to help twist away your fat, strengthen your core, a give fabulous abs in about 3 months.

How does Mastermoves work?

Mastermoves require users to stand on their feature product: the Master Disk, a wooden swiveling, but stable diskette. The workout comes from keeping the upper half of the body straight and facing forward, while you twist the lower half of the body at the core. Twisting motions help work out your sides and stomach muscles; at the same time, you also learn the same twisting moves for salsa.

Mastermoves: Master Disk

Master Disk is partnered with a Master Rod, which looks similar to a wooden twirling baton. Used to help stabilize a person’s balance when twisting, and certain arm movements allow for a greater workout.

Mastermoves: compact & convenient?

This is probably the most compact ab workout machine I’ve seen thus far. The small size allows easy portability, and I wonder how convenient it can be for someone of a busy lifestyle? Naturally it seems like something you can easily manage while watching TV, but how about twisting away as you fold laundry? It probably would not be the best thing to twist in the kitchen as you make dinner, or drink your morning coffee. But it is not a hidden fact that many people after a while become lazy, and make excuses for not working out. Sadly, it becomes a costly habit.

Like any work out machine or program, people need to stick with the routine to get the results. Many people usually buy workout contraptions and then forget about it later, which defeats the purpose of buying an ab machine entirely. While larger workout machines cost more to stand in corners collecting dust, Mastermoves at least, is compact enough to be left hibernating forever under the bed.

Mastermoves: Master Disk & Master Rod

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While we would all like to maintain our ideal weight and shape, choosing the right work out machine is one option people can conveniently shed pounds at home. With so many exercise machines out there, how do we start looking? And so I begin my “Top Ab Machine 2009” series. Review 5 ab workout machines for those who are feeling the weight of heavy feasting.

First up: Ab Lounge, an ergonomically and efficiently designed lawn chair to help people do full-on crunches easily.

How does the Ab Lounge work?

The fabric seating supporting your head, neck and back, while you work out your stomach muscles; and a digital counter tracks your progress. Movements of a crunch targets your abs, and you can adjust to work out the sides as well. A full on body workout requires movement of a butterfly motion, and pulling of strings.

Sit ups become easier with this machine as the chair’s design enhances the momentum of a crunch. If it does not require a lot of effort then just how effect is this machine?

Who should use Ab Lounge?

It may suit people who have back pain, or have difficulties doing a regular crunch. It is worrisome when watching the demos on the commercials; people lying back, bending pass the 180-degree mark of the spine. This could be problematic for those who are not as flexible as the models on television. All though, people with back problems have mentioned that the Ab Lounge has made working out easier for them; while, regular want-to-be-fit people have not seen any results and allow it to collect dust somewhere in the house. At least it folds nicely to rest in your closet, or under the bed where you know you’ll forget about it, and then remember it long after the return policy has run out.

Those with back problems, please check with your doctor before purchasing. People who are just wanting to get fit, there are other better, less expensive alternatives than this contraption.

Ab Lounge

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