The Path to Wellness is Paved With Exercise

In addition to helping keep your body in bathing suit-shape, exercise can do wonders for your mood, your confidence, and your overall sense of well-being. While it’s great to set personal goals when it comes to getting and staying in shape, just as important is incorporating exercise into your routine for your mental and emotional health. If you think about the different facets of your health as like the four wheels of a car—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—it’s easy to see how keeping all four in good condition is necessary for the vehicle to even operate. If your two back tires are in great condition but the front tires are a little worn out, it’s going to function at half the level it could. Similarly, if you’re missing one tire completely, you’re not going to get very far without breaking down. It’s also true that when you’re feeling balanced and in good spirits, you’re more motivated to be active (and vice versa) which explains why our emotional and mental health is directly linked to our physical state.

Making a commitment to an exercise routine is akin to the perks of “buy one, get one free.” Not only are you seeing physical results in toned abs and strong muscles, but your endorphins are soaring and you feel more “tuned in” to life on a visceral level. The true rewards of exercise come when you can literally feel the joy and passion of life by engaging your body in movement and expression. This is why it’s so important to find ways to exercise that truly make you feel alive and happy. When exercise becomes a chore, we lose that “feel-good” connection to what we’re doing.

For beginners, it’s sometimes just as simple as trying new things or signing up for a program that will get you out and about, meeting new people, and moving and shaking. Trying different kinds of exercise or getting the guidance of a trained professional can help you figure out what feels best and what works for you.

For more experienced athletes or health nuts, sometimes taking on a more challenging routine or trying something more extreme is just the rush you need to stay motivated and keep the adrenaline pumping.

A great place to start is with a fitness company that offers programs for different levels of experience and activities that will inspire and challenge you. Finding like-minded people to share activities with and who are committed to health in all areas of life is an important part of staying active. Ultimate Potential, a life mastery and outdoor fitness adventure company, offers programs for novices to advanced athletes that help people meet their personal health goals for body, mind, and spirit.

Choosing Between the Various Exercise Bicycles

Walk into any sporting goods store today and you’ll there’s a wealth of options when it comes to exercise bicycles, and a wide range of price and features as well. While you want to invest wisely in this type of equipment you also want to be sure that you’re getting your money’s worth and aren’t paying for things you don’t need or just plain old overpaying for even a basic model. So what should you look for when it comes to exercise bicycles and how can you make your decision?

First keep in mind that there are recumbent bikes and upright exercise bicycles; the recumbent mean that you lean back in the seat of the bike and these usually even have a back that you can rest against. Your legs are in front of you while you pedal. Upright exercise bicycles are taller and the pedals are below your body; you typically lean forward on the handles while you pedal, or sit upright. Men should be especially careful about using a standard upright bike because the narrow seat puts a lot of pressure on the prostate gland.

The recumbent bikes are much easier on the back while the upright models actually typically give you a better workout in your legs. If you’re just starting out or are still very overweight, or have any type of back problems, you may want to opt for something by way of one of these recumbent exercise bicycles so that you’re not putting undue stress on your legs or back.

Both of the upright and recumbent bicycles have one thing in common. They are considered low impact devices. Unlike treadmills machines the exercise bicycles produces a smooth motion without the jarring, joint damaging action of walking or running. For someone with any type of joint or back problem this low impact motions will mean the difference between using the exercise machine and not using it. What good is any exercise machine if you will not use it.

Other features and options that you’re going to find with most exercise bicycles have to do with the level of resistance you can program and how smoothly the operation is. Many of the better or more expensive models of bikes will allow you to program in various levels of resistance, whereas less expensive models don’t have so many options.

It is usually better to have more options than less when it comes to resistance as many people are surprised by how much of a workout exercise bicycles actually are. Some may also have programs, meaning the bike will automatically adjust resistance while you work according to preset programming. This is great for those looking for a challenge when it comes to biking, as you don’t need to worry about making adjustments while you pedal.

When you’re shopping for exercise bicycles, be sure to try out a few models and see which feel smooth while you pedal. Most are made up of a few simple wheels and gears and aren’t that complicated when it comes to their design and engineering. Unfortunately this simplicity can mean that the gears just don’t mesh well and the bike becomes uncomfortable when used. So think of your budget, your level of fitness right now, and try out a few different exercise bicycles and you’re sure to make the right choice.

Tunturi Exercise Bike Introduction, Cost and Reviews

Quite simply, Tunturi make some of the best exercise bikes on the market and arguably make the best display consoles of any bike. The company makes different models to suit different fitness and feature-list requirements. The bikes range from mid-price to expensive. You could do far worse than opt for one of its machines. To help you along, here are some reviews of Tunturi bikes.

Tunturi are a Finnish company and its exercise equipment is very popular in Europe. Recently, its equipment is making inroads in the U.S., which isn’t surprising when you take at look at what’s on offer. Few competitors can match their build quality, feature-list and stylish looks.

What is fairly unique to Tunturi, though how long this will last before others also incorporate it into their products, is the ergometer function found on most of its bikes. What’s really cool about ergometers is that they provide detailed feedback on a variety of data during a workout. They’re useful if you want to repeat the same exercise routine, or monitor your calorie consumption during your workout.

Tunturi exercise bikes come with the best display consoles of any machine available. Many users, especially at entry-level, like displays that give great feed back, and are easily read and understood. A display should provide the motivation a user needs during a workout. The company provides two main types of display; T-Ride and T-Road.

The T-Ride is the base level display for the Ergometer bike range. The 3.8″ color LCD console tracks speed, distance, time, heart rate, energy consumption and effort. There are a number of landscape programs where slope affects the training intensity. Obviously, going uphill increases the intensity of the workout while going downhill decreases it. What’s nice about Tunturi’s bikes is that when in downhill mode the bike responds and feels exactly the same as if you cycling outdoors.

The T-Road is the more advanced display. The 7″ color LCD console displays the workout program as a real life, outdoor video stream. The video is perfectly synchronized with the intensity changes of the program; the faster you pedal, the faster the landscape changes.

The Tunturi F30 is the base level upright bike and retails for around $300. Its plus points are that it has built-in grip sensors and its recovery heart rate measurement evaluates fitness in just 60 seconds. It also comes with magnetic resistance of 9 levels. However, this model does lack the ergometer function and does not come with either the T-Ride or T-Road console.

The E40 is the next model up retailing for around $600. It does have an ergometer function and you get T-Ride console with 5 preset programs. You also get T-Scale, which allows you to edit and adjust the 10 pre-set HRC, power and resistance programs even whilst you’re working out. You select the training duration based on your target time and scale the training intensity based on your personal requirements. One drawback is that the wireless heart rate monitor comes only as an optional extra.

The E60 upright model retails for around $750. You get the same features as the E40 but you also get the wireless heart rate monitor. This machine would suit any serious cyclist.

The E80 is the top-end upright retailing for around $1,000. Additions to the E60 include the T-Road console, a race function, USB PC connection, 512 Mb USB memory stick included for data transfer and a versatile 20 user register for better feedback accuracy, personal settings and program memory. There is also an E85 version. The only difference between them is that the frame of the E85 is slightly different, being designed for the competitive cyclist. For the vast majority, the E80 is the better choice.

As well as uprights Tunturi also make recumbent exercise bikes. The models available are equivalent to their upright counterparts. Therefore the E40R has exactly the same features as that of the E40. Likewise the E60R is exactly the same as the E60. The E40R and E60R retails for around $800 and $1,000 resp.

They aren’t cheap but a Tunturi exercise bike does come with a ton of features and is extremely well built. If there is one criticism it is only about their price. Being imported does mean they are more expensive than other brands. But, having said that, they are still worth every penny if you take exercise seriously.

Benefits Of Treadmill

How does treadmill workouts benefits you to lose weight?

So why treadmills are STILL the #1 home exercise machines with shoppers? Because they get results!
Here are the top 5 ways home treadmill workouts can help you lose weight and get into great shape!

#1: A Treadmill Helps You Burn MORE Calories by Battling Exercise Boredom
We all know that in order to lose weight, get firm and fight gravity’s pull, exercise is a must! But what do you do if you do not LIKE working out?
What if you get bored or don’t like logging hours in the gym with all those muscle boys or short-shorts women?
One viable option is the home treadmill, because of all the things it allows you to do to FORGET that you are exercising in the first place!
You can set it up in front of the television and watch your favorite episode of ER or Oprah. An hour will fly by and you will not even notice that you have been walking (or running)!
Many treadmills also come with a magazine or book rack. What about walking uphill (a MEGA calorie burner) while reading your favorite magazine or novel?
How easy is that?
And the more you enjoy your workout (or the more you can forget that you’re exercising) , the more time you’ll spend burning calories on your treadmill.

#2: The Treadmill is Unmatched for Workout Versatility.
Most funky fly-by-night exercise gadgets only allow you to do one thing. One repetitive motion that your body quickly adapts to (and that means less calories burned.)
A treadmill – on the other hand – gives you a lot of workout versatility so your body continues to be challenged to burn calories.
If you are just starting an exercise program you can start with a slow walk and then speed it up as your body gets into better shape. If you are training for a marathon, you can run at a steady pace and even build in sprints.
You can power walk or do a slow steady jog. Many treadmills will let you walk uphill. Some even come with handweights so you can build in upper body exercise as well.
There are countless ways you can vary your workout with a treadmill so that you continue to challenge your body and burn calories.

#3: A Treadmill Helps You Burn MORE Calories by Increasing Your Exercise Frequency
Did you know that a new 3 year study conducted by the University of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business has found that consumers are overpaying for gym services?
The study concludes that most people overestimate how often they will use their gym membership and that most do not visit the gym often enough to justify their membership costs.
Perhaps the reason may be that many people just do not have the time to go. But here is where a home treadmill can help you actually increase your workout time and frequency.
Did you know that experts tell us that two 15-minute workouts can give us the same exercise benefits as one 30-minute workout?
Here is where a home treadmill can help:
A treadmill allows you to split your workouts up into mini-workouts and still burn just as many calories!
Maybe you want to go for a 15 minute wake-up walk in the morning. Maybe it’s a 20-minute light jog at lunch. What about a 10-minute power walk just before dinner to curb your appetite or fight night-time boredom?
Whether it is 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 or 20, it all adds up in weight loss. With a treadmill, YOU ARE in charge of your workout time.

#4: A Home Treadmill Gives You the Benefit of All-Year-Round ANY Time Exercise!
Ok, here it is – one of the MOST IMPORTANT benefits of having a home treadmill:
CONVENIENCE, CONVENIENCE, CONVENIENCE
If you live in northern climates, you know that walking or jogging in the snow and ice is NOT fun. What about when it’s raining? Scratch exercise off the list!
A home treadmill can be one of the best exercise comforts around because you can use it regardless of the weather or time of day.
AND you can also exercise in any type of clothing that you want (no worrying about wearing that ratty t-shirt to the gym!).

#5: By Using the Large Muscles in Your Legs, A Treadmill Helps You Burn MAJOR FAT Calories
A recent Woman’s World article made the startling claim that, contrary to popular belief, gentle walking is one of the BEST ways to burn fat!

Why?
It seems that gentle walking allows your body to go STRAIGHT to the fat stores for energy instead of first depleting your sugar (glycogen) stores (used by your body for quick energy).
Not only that, there’s been countless studies including one by the American Medical Association, that rank a treadmill as the #1 cardiovascular machine for losing weight and burning calories.
Working the larger muscles in your legs burns maximum calories, which means more weight lost. You can even increase your calories-burned by walking uphill which uses even more muscles!
Given all their benefits it’s no wonder that treadmill sales have continued to skyrocket over the past five years with more and more people starting their own fitness and weight loss programs at home.
So if you want to lose weight and get into great shape, a treadmill can be an excellent investment to help you to achieve your goals. No matter what you decide be sure to have fun and make your health a priority!

Source:
Medical Supplies and Health and Fitness Company offering gym membership, personal fitness training.