Many of our members and instructors use various heart rate monitors and wearable fitness trackers. These devices can be great if you’re monitoring your calories, if a doctor has told you to monitor your heart rate or if you just want to know more about how your body behaves in a workout! Most of these toys now come with training guides, personal stat tracking software, and even ways to integrate your training with social media. There are many types of these devices, so before you buy you should figure out which kind is right for you!
Pedometer Watch/Device
Through motion sensors, these watches/devices track your steps to give you an estimate of calories burned (based on your weight) and distance traveled (based on your height/stride). Some also monitor heart rate for a more accurate read of level of exertion.
Pros: Relatively inexpensive, can use all day long to track activity
Cons: Not as accurate when recording distance. Not great at tracking activities such as biking or weight training.
Check out: Fit Bit (www.fitbit.com) very small and lightweight. Can also monitor your sleep levels with included wrist band. About $100.
GPS Watch
With GPS technology, these watches can tell you down to a hundredth of a mile how far you’ve traveled. They estimate calories based on distance and weight or from a heart rate monitor. Great for biking, walking and running.
Pros: Incredibly accurate, a must-have for distance runners and bikers
Cons: Can’t use indoors. Not intended for fitness classes.
Check out: Garmin Forerunner 310XT (www.garmin.com) this particular model is waterproof so you can take it in the pool and can easily be mounted on a bike. About $250
Wearable Calorie Management Systems
These nifty little devices are meant to be worn all day and night, usually on the upper arm, and monitor total caloric burn with extreme accuracy. They calculate calories based on Galvanic Skin Response (sweat), skin temperature and heat flux and motion/steps. With their online and smartphone guides you can log food intake as well to give you a thorough record of your progress.
Pros: Highly motivating, can track all kinds of activity including fitness classes, daily activities, even sleep.
Cons: The only way to access the data for these devices is to buy a subscription to their online tools, which is an extra monthly fee.
Check out: BodyMedia Fit System with LINK armband (www.bodymedia.com) this armband is Bluetooth enabled, getting all the data to your smartphone in real time. About $200 (plus $10/month subscription to smartphone app/online tools)
Do you use a fitness tracker? Have you tried one in the past? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
What are the advantages of aerofitness?
1. This fitness direction, thanks to its non-standard format, will interest you and give you the most unusual, but definitely pleasant sensations.
2. Since you are in the air during the exercises, your classes are held as if with a weighting. But due to the fact that you work with your own weight, this type of fitness is atraumatic.
3. The bands support the body and relieve excess stress from the joints and lumbar spine.
4. Due to the effect of gravity on your body, the muscles of the back and limbs are better stretched.
5. Some people mistakenly believe that people with a large weight can not engage in aerial fitness, but in fact the belts can withstand a load of up to 180 kg, and there is always an insurance in the form of a mat at the bottom, so both men and women can engage in this area of fitness, regardless of their physique.
Aeroyoga and aerofitness – it’s fun and interesting! Who among us does not want, as in childhood, to swing on a swing, and even with health benefits.
Who will be particularly interested in aerofitness classes?
For children, such classes are a good way to prevent scoliosis and other disorders of the musculoskeletal system.
For the elderly
For pregnant women and those who have just given birth
For children with neurological disorders (cerebral palsy, autism, Down Syndrome)
Despite the fact that aerogymnastics has more positive points, there are still some prohibitions here:
1. Aerofitness is contraindicated in high-stage hypertension, since inverted postures are also performed in the classroom, which is accompanied by an increase in intracranial pressure.
2. Another strict contraindication is a herniated vertebral disc.
3. Enlarged thyroid gland.
4. Heart defects.
Stretching
The word stretching comes from the English “stretch, stretch”. Therefore, it is not difficult to guess what to expect from this sports direction.
Stretching training includes sets of exercises to improve stretching and flexibility. After a few sessions, you will feel how the body gradually becomes plastic and graceful.
Stretching
By the way, it is very cool to combine stretching classes with dance fitness directions.
Many people mistakenly attribute stretching to stretching the leg muscles, but in fact, the most important exercises of this type of fitness are those that are aimed at relaxing the muscles of the back and neck, which hold our main frame-the spine.
Probably, every woman over 35 at least once thought about the elixir of youth. But that’s impossible, isn’t it? Not so! Stretching will help you feel 10 or even 15 years younger. It is no secret that grace, flexibility and plasticity are associated with youth. Therefore, with regular stretching exercises, the condition of your skin will improve, stretch marks will disappear and in general you will feel a surge of strength and energy.
Have you ever tried to do the splits? If so, you probably remember how much it hurts. And how difficult it is to overcome yourself and sit for the remaining 30 seconds, while trying to relax as much as possible. But when you see the result of your efforts, feelings of joy and pride overwhelm you.
Of course, there are contraindications for stretching:
1. These are mainly dislocations of joints, sprains of ligaments and muscles.
2. In addition, it is not recommended to engage in stretching for people with diseases of the cardiovascular system.
3. Well, do not forget that with the temperature it is better to lie at home.
What you should pay attention to:
Stretching refers to the final stages of training, and this is not for nothing! The better you warm up your muscles during exercise, the less likely you are to get a sprain, a muscle tear.
Warm up-from the word warm up. This is a very interesting point: have you noticed that, on the street, under the rays of the sun, your body seemed to become more flexible? The fact is that not only physical activity, but also high temperature can stretch the muscles well. Therefore, it is recommended to do stretching in a warm room.
Stretching is always accompanied by proper breathing. That is why it is better to start your acquaintance with stretching together with a specialist! It will show you where to inhale and how to exhale, which will help you relax better.
Callanetics
If you measure the effectiveness of the sport with how difficult it was for you to perform the exercises, then callanetics will become your favorite type of stretching.
Callanetics is a special type of gymnastics that combines static exercises and stretching. Sometimes callanetics is called the fitness of uncomfortable positions. And it’s true: the most difficult thing in this sport is to keep your balance for a few minutes, which requires a lot of effort.
Therefore, callanetics is effective if your goal is to lose weight. But this sport is very capricious: you will see the result only if you follow the 3 golden rules: rational nutrition, proper breathing and high-quality performance of each exercise.
This set of exercises, created by American Callan Pinkney, affects all the tissues of the body, thereby improving muscle tone and contributing to the early correction of the figure and weight.
What are the advantages of callanetics?
Most exercises do not require special training, so this type of gymnastics can be practiced by experienced athletes and beginners, and children, and people of advanced age.
The exercises do not require special equipment, and on the Internet you can easily find a variety of types of training videos, so this stretch can be performed at home.
Since callanetics includes elements of yoga, this program cleanses thoughts and improves the psychoemotional state. Many people accumulate negative emotions. Therefore, periodically (the more often, the better) it is necessary to “carry out a general cleaning” of our body.
Important:
This specialized sports complex of exercises must be performed at a very low pace, gradually increasing the intensity of training, during classes you can not overexert yourself.
It is important to monitor the correct technique of performing exercises, for this you can stand in front of a mirror and record each movement.
Callanetics is a great way to keep your physical activity level up, but it also has its downsides.
The main one is the increased complexity of the exercises. This type of fitness is mainly designed for people with a high level of physical development, so beginners may not be able to do some positions.
But it is not for nothing that they say: “Aspiration and work will grind everything.” It is important not to give up.
Stretching is really necessary for your body and your muscles. By stretching, the muscles relax and recover more easily. In addition, stretching promotes the elimination of lactic acid, which is largely the cause of muscle pain after training.
Stretching makes the body plastic and graceful! And when you start feeling your body, you become more confident! Therefore, stretching is useful for both girls and men.
Conclusion
The sports industry does not stand still, training programs are constantly being improved, and new fitness directions are emerging.
People are more interested in their health, and that’s great! Even fashion is adapting to a new, sporty, mobile and mobile lifestyle: not only are more and more sports stores appearing, but convenience is also being preferred in everyday clothing.
The trend for sports and fitness can be traced in our everyday life. Now many employers are interested in hiring, whether you do sports, and what is your lifestyle.
If earlier slimness was the prerogative of the young, now many women and men try to keep themselves in good physical shape and in 40, and in 50 years, and even older. Beauty and success today are determined by your physical health.
And in this world of sports, we simply have no right to stay away! We hope that after reading our article, you will have the desire and motivation to start practicing one or more of the types of fitness described above.
And we will be happy to help you with this! Our online store offers a huge variety of sports equipment: jump ropes, trampolines, exercise bikes, and much more. We will be happy to make your trip to the world of sports the safest and most comfortable!
We choose sports and advise you!