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4 Reasons to Add an Exercise Ball to Your Home Gym

Leta Shy — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:58:44 PDT

The exercise ball may occupy a lot of room in your home gym, but it's one versatile piece of equipment. Find out how to get the most out of your exercise ball below.

A healthier seat: Ditch your normal seat on the couch and sit on an exercise ball instead. Using a ball to sit helps correct your posture, tones your abs, and encourages you to stretch, all of which sounds a lot better than the lower back pain that too much sitting on the couch can cause.

Routine shakeup: Adding an exercise ball to your normal mat routines can shake things up and challenge you. For example, you can plank using an exercise ball at your feet to make holding your pose that much harder, or sit or lay on your exercise ball while you execute arm exercises. Even just practicing your balance by kneeling on the exercise ball can help you tone and whittle. Need some ideas? Try these amazingly effective ab and butt workouts using the exercise ball:

Find out how to do the plank pike and the hamstring curl using an exercise ball with this advanced exercise ball workout video.
Skip boring crunches and do this ball pass ab exercise instead.
Challenge your core and balance with this single-leg squat, done against a wall using an exercise ball.
Lie on the ball and work your arms with this chest press move.

Read on for more reasons to use an exercise ball.

Build Your Home Gym With These Essentials

FitSugar — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 15:46:34 PST

Cut out the commute and create a home gym to excuse-proof your fitness life. Having the right tools will help keep you motivated, too, so we've rounded up our favorite workout gear to help you build your home gym. Even if you don't have a lot of extra space (or extra cash) to work with, there is something in here for everyone.

How to Create a Serene Yoga Spot

FitSugar — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:05:31 PDT

September is National Yoga Month, and if you're unable to take advantage of the free classes yoga studios are offering, don't fret. With a little elbow grease you can transform a corner of your home into a dedicated yoga zone. I learned a few things while recently converting part of my guest bedroom into a yoga space.

It would normally take me a while to tackle a home project like that, but turning an empty space into a serene workout area was much easier than I anticipated. Mostly because the task involved clearing and cleaning. In hardly no time, I transformed the area into the perfect meditating spot. Come check out these easy steps that will have you breathing and stretching easier in your own home.

Indoor Workouts For a Rainy Day: How to Burn 300 Calories

Jenny Sugar — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:27:31 PDT

Don't let the rainy weather wash away your workout. If nasty rain and wind is forcing you to get your sweat on indoors, here are some ways to burn 300 calories at home.

Get your stretch on: unroll your mat and practice yoga. An hour and 20 minutes of light yoga burns 315 calories.
Pop in your favorite cardio DVD such as Bob Harper's Ultimate Cardio Body or Tracy Anderson's Cardio Dance Workout; you'll burn 310 calories with 45 minutes of high-impact dancing or aerobics.
Jump rope: it doesn't take much. In just over 30 minutes you'll burn 305 calories. Pass the time by jumping rope in front of your favorite TV show.
Walk up and down the stairs: not only will you strengthen your heart and tone your legs and booty, but just under an hour of doing the stairs in your house burns 313 calories.
Grab your dumbbells: you'll have to do a lot of bicep curls and push-ups, but after an hour and 45 minutes, you'll burn 310 calories.
Hit the machines: if you haven't lost power and you have a treadmill or elliptical at home (lucky you!), go for a run. At a pace of 10 minutes per mile, you'll burn 300 calories in just over 30 minutes.

What other ways do you work out inside?

Home Gym Basics No Matter How Small Your Space

Leta Shy — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:58:12 PDT

I like things easy. And easy means a convenient way to stay fit but doesn't take too much time out of my day. Easy solution? A home gym. What's not to love - all the equipment you need to stay fit, no gym membership required.

It's hard, however, to keep a home gym as equipment-ready as your neighborhood gym if you don't have the space (or the money). Luckily, just a few basics are all you need for a full-body workout. No matter how much space you have, read on to find out what you should have to outfit your home gym.

Exercise ball. This will take up the most space, but trust me, it's also one of the most versatile pieces of gym equipment you can own. Work your whole body with just a stability ball. Check out this video for two advanced moves that work your abs (no crunches required) and backside, and after you're done, relax your back with this spinal twist move. But before you buy, make sure you get the right size for your body; use these guidelines to find a fit.

Read on for more home gym basics after the break.

Cool or Not: Roberto Cavalli-Designed Exercise Bike

Leta Shy — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:16:31 PDT

It's one thing to have your own home gym (or spare room to house your gym equipment), but sometimes the only place to put your treadmill or exercise bike is smack in the middle of your living room. That can create an unsightly eye sore.

That wouldn't be the case if you sprung for an exercise bike that looks more like modern art than gym equipment. Roberto Cavalli, the high-end, luxury celebrity designer favorite, has launched an exercise bike collection with Ciclotte. Like Ciclotte's other sleek, minimalist bikes, these machines seem more at home in a museum than your sweaty local gym but boast all the calorie-burning features you'd expect from a serious exercise bike - four gears for spinning workouts, ergonomic design, and a lightweight but durable frame made from carbon, steel, and fiberglass.

The Roberto Cavalli Ciclotte collection comes in six colors including fuchsia, gold, and silver, but my favorites are the ones with the crazy animal print accents, like the one above - a perfect complement to the designer's forthcoming gymwear collection, also shown above. No word on the price yet, but most Ciclotte bikes run around $11,000. What do you think: better-looking than a regular bike, or too odd for your house?

Source

A Reader Shows Us Her Home Gym

FitSugar — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:40:52 PST

FitSugar reader Tmvargas wrote this love letter to her home gym for the third challenge of our Get Fit For 2011 giveaway.

It may not be glamorous. It may be blazing hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. I may have to keep a tennis racket near me at all times because I'm convinced that a rat is going to get me while I'm trapped on the treadmill. (I swear I saw one.) But it's all mine. It's a place where I can go and do my happy dance when I beat my previous records. It's a place where I can yell at myself to push through the last mile.

It's my happy place. It's my gym.

Be sure to post a photo of your fitness life in our Get Fit For 2011 group to enter our weekly giveaway of a $100 Nike gift card and a chance to win our grand prize - a four-day fitness boot camp in LA! Use the camera on your phone to photograph contents of your gym bag, your home gym, your workout DVD collection, your fave workout wear, or an incredible view from your last bike ride.

A Reader Takes Us on a Tour of Her Home Gym

Fit Community — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:00:06 PST

Here's a post from the OnSugar blog The Adventure Chronicles:

While searching for an apartment, space for a home gym was on the top of our checklist. We found an apartment that we fell in love with, but it didn't have that ideal space for a gym. Instead, we utilized the detached dining room as a gym, office, library, and second living room. It's not only a great place to work out, but it's also a great place for playing video games, hanging out, and working. Feel free to look through some of the ways we made it work in our space. I'm curious to know how you fit your fitness equipment into your overall home - especially if you're living in a small urban space like me!

Want to see more? Start following The Adventure Chronicles or create your own OnSugar blog! Maybe your posts will be featured here, too!

Gifting For the Home Gym

FitSugar — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:00:37 PST

Giving the gift of fitness is definitely a gift that keeps on giving. If someone on your holiday gift list works out at home, here are some pieces of equipment to help them burn it up in the comfort of their own home.

Clockwise from top left: Perfect for challenging both the core and the sense of balance, the BOSU ($100) takes any exercise up a notch. The Jungle Gym XT ($100) brings suspension workouts into the home - the system works with a door or a pull-up bar. Bring a little mind-body exercise into your fitness freak's home gym with a Pilates Spring Board ($445); it's a wall unit version of the classic Cadillac. If you feel like giving big, it's hard to go wrong with an elliptical by Precor ($3,400) - a joint-friendly cardio machine. A set of adustable dumbbells ($143) means more options that take up less space; perfect for strength training in a small space.

Do You Have a Home Gym?

Michele Foley — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 07:30:13 PDT

Since all of her kids have up and gone, my mom is converting one of her unused bedrooms into a home gym. Since she works out almost every day, it's a smart move. She'll save on gas, membership fees, and won't have to deal with any more treadmill hogs. The downside is that she won't be getting out as much. For her, hitting the gym is as much about socializing as it is about working out. Over the years, she's met a lot of ladies at her fitness center: they work out together, chat it up in the sauna, and often go to lunch after working out.

While the idea of having a home gym is nice, I like getting out of my house, especially since being around other fitness folks motivates me to work harder and longer. And, to be honest, I am nowhere near being able to afford my own home gym - though I do devote a small corner of my home to fitness gear.

How about you?