Silly fitness gadgets Tom Smith

Scientists have established that just by buying fitness equipment, you can greatly improve your strength and aerobic capacity, whether you actually exercise or not.  This same principle is illustrated in the Diet Book Effect, by which you can lose weight, simply because you buy diet books.  All quite false, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, I like fitness toys, especially if they are cheap and effective.  So under the MBMR principle, here goes.  Glenn Reynolds blogs about kitchen knives, so why not.

First, push ups.  They are good for you.  Not only your triceps and shoulders, but that mysterious thing called your core.  But as you get older, push ups start to hurt your wrists.  So, buy stuff!  These basic everlast push up bars work well.  But if you really want some fun, get these 'Perfect Pushup' doodads.  At 40 bucks they're kinda pricey, but they do make push ups more fun, and seem to make them more challenging in a good way.

I have recently gone back to martial arts after a 9 month or so lapse.  I needed to take this time off in order to build up fat deposits, get stiff, and forget basic skills.  All of us need time once in a while to do that.  The new place is quite famous in the MMA community, and nearly every single person there could kick my butt.  But everyone is very nice.  I know this because recently during JKD sparing I inadvertently kicked a much better fighter right in his guys, and after hopping around a little saying oh! oh! oh!, he did not kill me, and graciously accepted my apology, which was very sincere.  In any event, there I have learned of some other fitness gadgets I find pleasing.  There are these balance disks, which you stand on while doing things.  You can do squats, do arm exercises with weights, or just stand there and watch TV.  It's like standing on a big half-full hot water bottle, and is said to improve your balance.  It's a lot cheaper than this, which appears to work on exactly the same principle.

Then there are these boys.  You can read all about kettlebells on the web.  They are a traditional Russian weight lifting toy that seems to have caught on in the martial arts world.  I like them because they are one more thing I can buy. But more seriously, they are kinda fun and seem to work you in a way that feels more complete than the usual dumbbell routines.  But if you do experiment with them, be very careful with your technique and your back.  I was on my back for a week after using them with poor technique. 

This has got to be the ultimate cheap and effective fitness toy. 

And of course blogging.  Blogging about this stuff burns the fat right off.

Comments

[anon lawyer]

If you like kettlebells, you should check out clubbells: http://www.clubbell-exercise-training.com/

The X-vest is also very cool: http://www.thexvest.com/

[A.Non]

Blast straps: http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=114&pid=916

[Mary in LA]

Do you have an opinion on rebounders? I just bought one, "used in mint condition", which just proves your point that all it takes to get fit is to own fitness equipment. ;-)