The Best Fitness Gear and Technology
Get-Fit Guy’s 8 favorite fitness gear and exercise tools!
Ben Greenfield
Did you know that a brand new Quick and Dirty Tips show just launched? It’s called Tech Talker, and it certainly got me thinking about technology. Of course, any time a fitness geek like me thinks about technology, I ponder which of the latest fitness gear and exercise tools could make your workouts better. Here are my 8 favorites:
-
Rumber Roller
In How To Recover After A Workout, we saw that foam rolling is a great way to relieve sore muscles and get rid of painful tight areas called “adhesions.” Here is a video of a favorite soreness-reducing foam roller I use called a Rumble Roller, which has ridges that dig more deeply into your muscles.
-
Yurbuds
Yurbuds are special earbuds that don’t fall out of your ears when you’re exercising, but still allow you to hear outside noises such as cars or workout companions.
-
In How To Exercise In The Water, you learn how to do activities such as underwater running, swimming or water aerobics. Frankly, I find that most pool activities are boring unless I’m using an underwater .mp3 player that I have loaded with my favorite songs and podcasts. The sound is much clearer than you might expect, and this is a far better solution than my old method of putting my iPod into a ziplock bag and keeping my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t get wet!
-
Whenever I run errands, I use a special, low-impact workout contraption called an Elliptigo. This is just like an elliptical trainer that you’d use at a gym, but it’s designed to be used outdoors, is on mobile wheels and goes just as fast as any bicycle. You ride it in a stand-up position, and it burns as many or more calories than running! To see how the Elliptigo looks from a first-person perspective, check out this video I took.
-
I’ve been using a special workout timer called a Gymboss to complete my Tabata workouts, which is a type of workout you do where choose just one exercise, like push-ups, and you do as many as possible for 20 seconds, then take 10 seconds of recovery, and you repeat for a total of 4 minutes. Watch this video to see how I program my Gymboss to get a better workout.
-
FIT10
I keep a FIT10 in my office for quick 10 minute workouts, such as the one in this video. The FIT10 is an easy-to-use trainer that only requires a door – making it perfect for quick and highly effective home, office, or hotel workouts. It has adjustable resistance levels for all fitness types, and can be used for upper body, abdominal, running or sprinting workouts, and an unlimited number of other exercises. It is also very good for people who need low impact exercise, since the FIT10 workout builds strength without compressing your spine, or over-stressing your joints.
-
In the episode “How To Use A Heart Rate Monitor During Your Workout”, you learn about how to find your fat-burning zone, and how to get the most benefit out of tracking your heart rate while you exercise. Heart rate monitors consist of a chest strap and a wristwatch, they are one of the better qualitative tools you can use to monitor your workouts. The least expensive website I’ve found with the greatest variety of heart rate monitors is Heart Rate Monitors USA.
-
Adjustable Dumbbells
Adjustable dumbbells are perfect for a small home gym, office, or even a personal training studio with limited space. They allow you to adjust a single dumbbell from 5 pounds up to over 50 pounds. Simply push a pin into the weight that you desire, then take the dumbbells off their stand.
If you have questions about any of these fitness tools, or want to tell us about some of your favorite, share them below in Comments or on the Get-Fit Guy Facebook page!
Running image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.