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Body Blade Vs Shake Weight

jack — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:00:44 +0000

Two new pieces of exercise equipment are making headlines in the fitness industry these days — the Body Blade and the Shake Weight. These two revolutionary new exercise tools both use dynamic inertia instead of gravity to provide added resistance to even the simplest exercises. But how well do they really work, and which one is better than the other?

A Close-Up Of The Two

Let’s start with the Body Blade. This device has two long, flat, flexible blades extending from either side of a central handle. When shaken, the blades wobble back and forth, providing a to-and-fro kind of resistance that sustains itself for long periods of time. This resistance is what helps even simple exercises seem more challenging.

The Shake Weight, on the other hand, is a dumbbell-shaped device. It has weighted ends that are supported by powerful springs from the central handle. When shaken, the weights shake up and down repeatedly, providing a resistance that reportedly fatigue the muscles 5 times faster than free weights.

For Cardio Exercises

Both devices have their places in cardio (aerobic) exercises, since simply holding either one in your hands during an exercise gives you extra dynamic resistance to work against. That means even simple aerobic exercises (and even Yoga) will feel more intense.

For Muscle Building

When it comes to building muscle, the Body Blade has a slight edge over the Shake Weight. The Body Blade can make your muscles contract up to 270 times a minute, with resistance forces reaching up to a whopping 64 pounds. A few seconds with a good Body Blade and you’ll fatigue your muscles to failure.

The Shake Weight is also useful for muscle-building, as it does have an edge over free weights. But its usefulness can’t quite match up to the flexibility of the Body Blade, so it’s best for individuals who are just starting out.

For Cost

If you’re on a tight budget, we’d suggest you go with the Shake Weight for the meantime. The Shake Weight costs only around $20 to $30, while the Body Blade can cost anywhere between $50 and $160, depending on the type of blade you choose (there are 5 types available).

For Portability

The Shake Weight also wins in the portability category. It’s considerably smaller than the Body Blade, and it weighs a tolerable 2.5kg — around the weight of a large laptop. The Shake Weight is easy to carry around, but it’s best to use it indoors and in private — unless, of course, you don’t mind the naughty stares you might get.

For Rehabilitation

If you’re looking for a lightweight, low-impact exercise tool to help you recover from an injury, then the Body Blade is your best bet. Much has been said about the Body Blade being a useful tool for physical therapy, with relatively few, if any, raves going for the Shake Weight.

Choose Your Weapon

In the end, everything will depend on your specific needs. The Body Blade and the Shake Weight both have their advantages over each other, and they do add a new dimension to your usual workout regimen. So choose carefully!

Body Blade — Workout Made Easy

jack — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:00:22 +0000

If you could only choose to use one piece of exercise equipment for the rest of your life, what would it be? Here’s a suggestion: Consider choosing the Body Blade. This new exercise tool is quickly winning over exercise enthusiasts all over the world, and here’s why.

What’s The Body Blade?

The Body Blade is a relatively-new exercise tool that’s meant to replace traditional free weights and exercise machines. It’s basically two (very) flexible “blades” extending from a central handle. These blades undulate back-and-forth very quickly, up to hundreds of times per minute, to provide two-directional resistance.

Traditional resistance training utilizes gravity, where the individual resists the pull of gravity by lifting weights or doing exercises that involve one’s own body weight. This resistance helps build muscle and improve cardiovascular condition.

The Body Blade works differently. Instead of using gravity, the Body Blade uses dynamic inertia. Instead of resisting gravity (which only pulls the weight down), the individual will need to resist the dynamic inertia produced by the Body Blade’s two flexible ends.

That means resisting not just one direction (down), but two (back and forth) — and hundreds of times per minute! The motion fatigues muscles to failure very efficiently and with less time, allowing more sets and more muscle groups can be worked in a single workout session.

Exercises With The Body Blade

One of the simplest exercises you can do with the Body Blade is to hold it with both hands vertically in front of you. A few shakes, and the Body Blade will begin to flex back and forth on its own. As the resistance increases, you use your core muscles to hold the Body Blade in place — a workout that’s tougher than it sounds!

Muscle-building exercises, such as dumbbell curls, are easily replicated with the Body Blade, as well. Simply hold the Body Blade in the positive (bicep curled) position, and give it a few shakes. Hold the same position as the resistance increases. At hundreds of contractions per minute, you’ll likely work out your bicep in mere seconds.

There are too many exercises to list down in a single article, and more and more uses for the Body Blade are being invented every single day.

Who The Body Blade Is For

The Body Blade is for everyone! It’s a great tool for anyone who wants to lose weight, or build muscle, or grow stronger, or even simply improve their posture. There are thousands of ways to use the Body Blade, and you’ll only need to discover a few to create a complete workout regimen with it.

It’s also great for the elderly fitness enthusiasts out there, who need lower-impact exercises to stay in shape. Individuals undergoing physical rehabilitation also benefit from the easy, low-impact, adjustable resistance that the Body Blade offers.

Currently, there are 5 types of Body Blades to choose from. From the one that provides the least resistance to the most, they are: Body Blade Lite (for rehab), Body Blade CXT and Body Blade Cardio (for aerobics), Body Blade Classic, and Body Blade Pro (for serious workouts). Be sure to choose one that’s right for your body type and fitness level!

Diet Recipe Showdown

fitgizmos — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:00:08 +0000

Ready for a diet recipe showdown? In this article, we’ll compare three of the more popular diets today — the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, and the Zone diet — and see how they stack up against each other. Which one will fit your lifestyle best? Let’s take a look!

Diet Recipe Showdown #1 – Food

Let’s start with the popular Atkins diet. The Atkins diet calls for severe limitation of carbohydrate intake, while upping your intake of protein and other nutrients. That means you can still eat steaks, lobster, and burgers (without the buns though), but no breads, beans, pastas, rice, fruits, and starchy vegetables.

The South Beach diet, on the other hand, gets rid of most fruits, dairy, and simple carbohydrates during its first phase, but gradually re-allows them into the diet in the second and third phases. It’s somewhat more flexible than the Atkins diet in that sense. The South Beach focuses on allowing the right kinds of carbohydrates instead of limiting the intake.

And finally, the Zone diet will let you eat small portions of lean meat, tofu, vegetables, seafood, and fruit. The idea is to get into the “zone” diet of 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and 30% fat, which helps the body perform at its peak.

Diet Recipe Showdown #2 – Ideal Candidates

Since the Atkins diet removes most of the carbohydrates from the diet, it’s the best diet for meat lovers who have no problem giving up bread, rice, most fruits, and pasta. It’s also a good diet for people who need to lose weight, but aren’t really interested in eating salads to do so.

What about the South Beach Diet? It’s also for people who’d like to try a low-carb diet, but aren’t really willing to give up bread, rice, fruits, and pasta. Again, it’s not as fixed and inflexible as the Atkins diet, so South Beach dieters will enjoy a bit more freedom.

And finally, the Zone diet is best for dieters who like to crunch numbers and watch what they eat very, very closely. Knowledge is the best antidote to fear, after all, and when you know exactly what’s going into your body, you can rest easy.

Diet Recipe Showdown #3 – Disadvantages

When it comes to the Atkins diet, the biggest disadvantage is the toll it may take on your heart and kidneys. Eating lots of meat means taking in a rather large amount of fat and cholesterol, and the ketosis fat-burning stage can hurt the kidneys in the long-term. And finally, you’ll be taking in less fiber, which can lead to constipation.

The South Beach diet also has its disadvantages — the first phase, for instance, can be a real chore to work through. But once the second phase sets in and you’re allowed to eat a wider variety of food, things aren’t so bad anymore.

The Zone diet, aside from running the same protein-related risks that the Atkins diet does, is also not suitable for people who don’t have the ability (or patience) to measure their servings!

Now that you’re in the know, it’s time to decide what kind of diet is best for your goals, your lifestyle, and your abilities.

Biggest Loser – Follow The Diet At Home

fitgizmos — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:00:34 +0000

Do you find yourself impressed by how the contestants on the popular TV show Biggest Loser seem to lose so much weight, and then keep it all off? Do you want to see that kind of results from your own efforts? Here’s some good news — you can! The Biggest Loser’s diet-and-exercise routine is so safe that it’s endorsed by many doctors, dietitians, and nutritionists.

The Diet

The diet is fairly simple — you’ll just have to remember the numbers 4-3-2-1. This stands for 4 servings of fruits and vegetables, 3 servings of lean protein, 2 servings of whole grains, and 1 “extra” serving of your choice — alcohol, sweets, oils, or healthy fats, all under 200 calories. This is the amount of food you’re allowed to take in every day.

Basically, you divide your 4-3-2-1 servings across five meals during the day — breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. You’ll notice that these meals are quite small, which is okay — they’re packed with protein and fiber, making you feel fuller with less calories. And if you still find yourself hungry, no problem — you can eat more than your allotted 4 servings of fruits and vegetables!

And finally, you’ll need to drink water. For good health reasons, you’ll want to drink around 8 glasses of pure water every day — more if you exercise a lot. And speaking of exercise…

The Exercise

No matter how popular the diet is, it’s no good without exercise! The Biggest Loser diet involves plenty of exercise. You’ll start with 30 minutes a day, and as your strength and stamina improves, you’ll work your way up to 90 minutes a day — very doable!

But that doesn’t mean you’ll be jogging on the treadmill for an hour and a half. You’ll need to diversify your training between cardio exercises to burn fat, resistance exercises to build muscle, and interval training to build even MORE muscle.

Why the need for muscle? Simple — every pound of muscle you put on will burn through 10-50 calories of fat per day, even when you’re just resting! That’s 1-5 pounds of fat burned in a year per pound of muscle. And on this diet, you’ll be putting on at least a few dozen pounds of muscle!

The great thing about muscle is that it’s more dense than fat. You might weigh the same, but you’ll look smaller, leaner, and healthier. After all, it’s not just the bright numbers on the weighing scale — it’s also about how you look and feel about yourself!

So go ahead — look for good fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains you can include in your new Biggest Loser, home edition diet! Also, get advice on which cardio, resistance, and interval training routines you can try.

Cleansing Detox Diet – How To Stay Healthy All Your Life

fitgizmos — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 18:18:14 +0000

Everyone wants to stay healthy all their lives, but can’t seem to stay away from bad lifestyle habits! But here’s some good news — a cleansing detox diet is often all it takes to clean up your body and get it back to working in tip-top shape, preventing the onset of disease and adding years to your lifespan.

What a Cleansing Detox Diet Does

A cleansing detox diet basically does just that — it cleanses and detoxifies the body. Without so much toxins getting in the way of your normal bodily functions, your body can focus on repairing damaged cells, optimizing organ systems, improving blood circulation, and more.

The more optimally your body works, the more resistant it becomes to disease, and hence adding more healthy years to your lifespan. Detoxification is always a good addition to any healthy lifestyle, and anyone can do it!

How To Cleanse Your Body With Detox

There are many detox diets out there, with different ingredients, processes, time frames, and required conditions. But they all do the same thing — they help the body cleanse itself of toxins and harmful waste matter. The idea is to find the diet that suits your lifestyle best.

For instance, some of the more popular detox diets involve fasting. Individuals who detox this way don’t eat any solid food for a set number of days, and instead take only special drinks or soups for their energy.

Such diets are meant to help the body catch up with its workload — without any new solid food to process, the body can focus on getting rid of waste matter that’s been sitting for decades in your gut! These diets are obviously very effective, but good only for the short-term.

Short-term detoxification measures are meant to be done twice a year, and they’re recommended for individuals who can’t easily shed their unhealthy lifestyle habits. But some disciplined individuals manage to stick to a long-term detoxification diet, based on raw vegetables and fruit.

Long-term detoxification methods operate on the idea that the body already has everything it needs to keep itself clean. It’s just that processed foods block the healing process. That’s why going back to basics — eating lots of organic, raw vegetables — keeps the body healthy and resistant against disease.

Want To Stay Healthy All Your Life?

If you want to live long and healthy, then do consider including detoxification in your lifestyle. If you want to, but aren’t 100% ready to let go of certain bad habits, then start with the short-term detox methods. Once you get the short-term methods down to a habit, slowly ease into longer-term measures.

For Better Morning: Tips for Insomnia

Fit Gizmos — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:17:11 +0000

Do you have any problem with sleeping?

Are you still feeling tired even after you had sleep last night? Do you struggle falling into a deep sleep? There are a few effective devices such as Chi Activate Sleep Solution designed to aid to sleep. However, there are easy insomnia solutions to get you out of sleep troubles.

Sleep Aids List

1. Engage in relaxing activities

Activities such as yoga or mediation in a stress free environment help. You should perform the activity at the same time of everyday because having a regular routine matters to build a habit.

2. Do 5 minutes of breathing exercise

Take deep breaths slowly and breath with your abdomen rather than through your chest. Your belly expands and also contracts with each breath.

3. Avoid spicy or a large amount of food before your bedtime

Eating results in a stomach activity to digest. Therefore, it disturbs you to focus on sleeping and reduces the quality of sleep.

4. Listen to relaxing sound

Sounds of comfortable ocean waves, forests and rain dropping would definitely help. These natural sounds create a calm environment and relax your mind. A very quite, peaceful classics are good too.

Walking Fitness: Walking Weight Lose

Fit Gizmos — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:23:47 +0000

These days, most of our jobs are confined to the use of a computer, or to a seat of a chair for long periods of time. We are not as physically active as we use to be unless you are a self-motivated individual that exercises daily. For those who would like to be self-motivated, but are unsure how to start let us consider how to lose weight walking.

Did you know? You can improve your health and lose weight walking.

It is recommended that people take an average 10,000 steps a day, even if you never leave your house. Consider all the walking you do, around the mall, around the house, etc. It’s an easy exercise to get you started into a healthy routine, and then gradually raising the bar and challenges at your comfort.

Walking Fitness Tips

- Walk with weights. Dumbbells or Velcro 1 lbs weights and strap them to your legs.

- Get a Pedometer. Count your steps, and then increase the number of daily steps you take gradually from 10,000.

- Walk & more. While walking you can do other exercises to add on to your routine. Contracting your stomach muscles can help you exercise your tummy muscles and get you into the habit of walking around with a tight stomach. Next thing you know, you’ll be doing it out of habit. If you’re doing chores around the house, lifting the laundry basket is also a good workout for your arms and legs – just remember to bend from the knees, not the waist.

- Stay hydrated. Walking is still exercise; help your body remove the toxins and fat from your body by staying hydrated.

Music. You’d be surprise at how much movement you will get out of your body when listening to music. Music is an emotional stimulant that can make us dance, increase or decrease our pace, and relax us.

Walking Fitness: Walking Weight Lose

Metabolism Fitness Gadget

Fit Gizmos — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:00:52 +0000

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

How to stay awake in class or at work?

Fit Gizmos — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:01:29 +0000

The most dreaded week after holidays, returning back to school or work and the attempt to get you back into a proper sleeping pattern. Days of sleeping late and sleeping in are now on hold till weekends, or until your next break. In the meantime, how can one expect to function properly during the daylight hours, with so little rest from the night before? Whether you need to stay awake in class or at work, here are some tips compiled to help you stay awake, while maintaining healthy lifestyle.

Tips to stay awake

Eat Breakfast - Having a healthy breakfast is a good way to get your metabolism and energy up and running for your day. Many people skip having breakfast in busy morning. However, skipping out may leave you unfocused, and unable to concentrate or stay awake until lunch.

Cold Water – Splash your face with cold water in the morning. Not only does this wake you up, but it also helps to close your pores from the pollutant elements in the air. During the day, if you feel tired, drink or splash your face again with cold water.

Caffeine – A common solution in society today to stay awake. Coffee and tea have become our main options, and for your health, tea is better than coffee. Many people these days are making it a point to cut coffee from their diet for health reasons. While tea is a better, cheaper, and a healthier choice for a caffeine source, one cup of coffee a day is okay compared to three cups in one day. Energy drinks are heavily marketed these days.

Energy Drink – Don’t get tricked by manufacturers’ hype and avoid relying on these products. These may cause side effects such as vomit, nausea or irregular heartbeats. Also think about how it works. What it does is that it stimulates you to bring and use your energy for tomorrow. How would you stay tomorrow? This is why many people still feel tired the next day and this cycles over and over.

Music – Music has been studied and known to affect a person’s mood. We get it all the time in movies, shopping, etc. Listening to upbeat, fast-track sounds are great wake up music (avoid soft & slow music, like jazz or classical). Either between classes, transiting or in the work place with headphones can help you stay awake, rather than silence which can be boring.

Snacking – Healthy snacks: Granola bars, cold veggies, nuts, etc. Work that requires a lot of thinking and a lot of concentration uses a lot of brainpower. Keep the energy going and stay awake by gradual consumption of munchies.

Exercise – A bit of light cardio in morning is a good way to get the blood pumping and your metabolism going. Just remember to have a bite after to replenish the energy you used.

Napping – (Not mandatory) It’s not a bad thing if you have time and you need to rest your eyes. A nap 15 – 30 minutes is best for a power nap, making you feel energized and refreshed when you get up. Anything longer will make you feel even more tired and lazy.

Gadgets – There are products available in the market to help you stay awake. One of the keep awake gadgets is the Wink Glasses. It is a glasses with a sensor that stimulates your brain to keep awake whenever you are about to doze off. Another gadget is Aroma Diffuser. Place it on your desk and enjoy the natural smell of essential oils. This not only kills bacterias near you but also refresh your brain.

Click Here to read more about the Wink Glasses

Click Here to read more about the Aroma Diffuser

How to stay awake: in class or at work

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