First, let me begin this article by clearly stating that Shaun T. is the anti-christ…ok, not really; but I did find myself cursing him under my breath every step of the way. Now for the rest of the story…

Not too long ago my wife decided that she wanted to find a workout program that would help her get back in shape, not that she is really out of shape but she wanted to tone her muscles up. She didn’t reach for a Denise Austin Pilates DVD, or a Jillian Michael’s workout or even Shaun T.’s other workout series the Beach Body Workout. No, she went right to the edge of reason and decided on the Insanity Workout (appropriately titled I would like to point out). My daughter was watching a late night as seen on TV exercise equipment show, saw this advertised and made the recommendation to her mother. Before I knew it, we were receiving the DVDs in the mail.

I have been a fitness professional for about 20 years so I have a fair degree of experience assessing the level of effort an individual should be exerting to exercise. I will tell you, my wife (and more specifically me) did not need to begin our journey towards better health using this plan. My first indication that this may be a bit intensive for us was the fact that the entire program (package labeling, pre-video screen shots, intro to workout, beginning of workout, and so on) is plastered with warnings stating that this is not a program for beginners and can be hazardous to your health. Did not give me the warm fuzzies, but we pressed on anyway.

The workout is incredible. Shaun T. is a great coach and provides excellent encouragement throughout the session. The warm-up is every bit as intense as most full-on workouts you would complete. Just when you think you can’t take any more, Shaun gets down to business and makes you SWEAT. Fortunately, because I was doing the workout from the DVDs (and not in a class somewhere) I was able to take breaks as necessary and not damage my pride, and I took many breaks. Did I mention that I took MANY breaks? The workout was crazy and it really did do a great job of working most of my muscle groups. The exercises used are low impact for the most part so you your joints are not being abused during the work out. By the end of the 45 minutes I felt like I had been hit by a train…it felt good.

The Insanity Workout DVD Set that my wife purchased had the thirteen (13) discs. For those of you that are not familiar with the program, there are two levels: intro (which is the one I am talking about) and the insane (I can’t even imagine how it could be any more insane than the intro workout). In addition to these to programs there were extra discs that were specifically designed for muscle isolation training and muscle mass development.

The DVDs have exercises that work all major muscle groups within the body. There is a cardio work out for the abs, for the legs, and for the back and chest. These workout sessions are great, but not for the faint of heart.

So while I was honestly compelled to silently curse Shaun T. every time we put one of the DVDs in, I have to give mad respect to this fitness professional that goes the distance in every one of the sessions and works hard to motivate the folks working out with him in both the DVD and at home.

I highly recommend the work out; just remember it is not really designed for beginners, but those folks that are already totally crazy about their workouts will really enjoy its intensity and reap incredible results.

As Seen on TV Exercise Equipment – Overview:
Most of the time on this site I spend my time reviewing various home gym machines that incorporate fairly traditional exercise activities. Today’s article focuses on an exercise apparatus that does, in fact use traditional exercise movements, but is a slightly unorthodox manner. The home gym equipment under scrutiny today is the Urban Rebounder.

As Seen on TV Exercise Equipment – Product overview:

Urban Rebounder

The equipment is dubbed the Rebounder because it makes use of a small trampoline bed to provide the bulk of the workout for users. The aim of the equipment is to provide users with a variable type of aerobic workout based on their own, personal fitness level. This is appealing for several reasons. The one that immediately comes to my mind is that fact that you can control the intensity of the workout, and the impact that it has on your body. The gentle nature of the trampoline bed allows you to perform many repetitions of various motions and exercises while minimizing the impact to your joints and organs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, this type of home exercise fitness equipment allows you to increase the intensity and frequencies of your workouts without having to purchase additional equipment…a big plus. During my many years of training competitive gymnasts we used these types of mini-tramps to condition and train our gymnasts very effectively.

As Seen on TV Exercise Equipment – Turin’s Review:
If you can’t tell, I like these types of home gym machines…simply because of the broad applications and usability they have for a broad range of people. Additionally, this type of equipment will grow with you as your fitness level increases, and it doesn’t have to coast you an extra penny whe you are ready to kick it up to the next level. Think about it, with most of the other types of weight training equipment, or home gym, you need to purchase additional weights or accessories to move up to the next level of workout complexity. The Urban Rebounder has it all, right from the start. Additionally, having used this type of equipment before for gymnastics conditioning, I agree with them that this is a pretty fun way to get into shape…and very effective.

If you decide to check out this non-traditional workout equipment, come back and tell us what you think about it. Cheers and good luck on your exercise goals!

TV Exercise Equipment

As Seen on TV Exercise Equipment – Overview:
Ok, time for another review of a small home gym machine. This time, we will be reviewing the Air Climber. You may have seen this product because it is one of those as seen on TV items that can show up on infomercials late at night. Basically this equipment’s claim to fame is that it is small, compact and should provide the user with a decent workout.

The Air Climber

As Seen on TV Exercise Equipment – Product overview:
The Air Climber is in fact fairly small, which again is good for those of you who do not have a lot of space for home gym fitness equipment. It basically makes use of two air powered pedals that one steps on… similar to a climbing machine that you would find a in a gym. Additionally this piece of equipment comes with a workout DVD, wherein the instructors put you through your paces and get your heart racing. The equipment starts at about $120 depending on where you purchase it from. The information I found on the Internet says, that it can support a full-size adult, but some users report having problems with it supporting more than 140 pounds. Additionally, there have been some complaints about problems with the air ballasts that provide support for the pedals staying inflated during workouts. Again these are issues raised by some consumers but are probably not indicative of all users.

As Seen on TV Exercise Equipment – Turin’s Review:
If you’ve spent any time reading this site, you know that I’m a big fan of small home exercise fitness equipment. I think it is important to be able to have your own home gym machines close by so that you can maximize your time and get your workouts in where your schedule allows. I am not so sure about the effectiveness of this piece of equipment though. I have never used it, but I fail to see why a simple aerobic exercise regimen or even the use of a simple step aerobic apparatus would not suffice. Again, I haven’t used this equipment, but I think that a workout derived from using this equipment would be the same as doing aerobics in your living room. Just my two cents.

If you are familiar with this piece of equipment or have used it in the past, please consider telling me about your experience with it and whether you feel it was a good investment of money and time. Cheers and good luck on your exercise goals!

Exercise Equipment As Seen on TV

If you’ve spent any time looking around the site I’m sure you’ve noticed that I write a lot about different types of exercise equipment at home gym machines that are available on the web. Like you I spend most of my time doing research on the Internet prior to purchasing equipment to make sure that I’m spending my money getting exactly what I want. I just wanted to take a couple of moments to write a short article advising my readers to ensure that they take the time to thoroughly evaluate any type of home gym fitness equipment. You may be looking to purchase.

When writing about fitness equipment for the site I try to find home gym machines that come from reputable distributors and manufacturers and then I try to find pieces of equipment users have reviewed. I believe this provides me with at least a modicum of insight as to how other consumers who have purchased this home gym equipment perceive their purchase. I hope that when you are looking to purchase your next piece of exercise equipment off of the Internet that you rely not only on my site, but other exercise equipment sites to evaluate the nature and cost of your purchase. It is my opinion that if you cross reference several of these sites regarding the equipment that you are considering purchasing you should be able to get a good idea of whether it will meet your needs.

The other thing I would recommend is that once you have made a determination regarding the type of equipment that you would like to have I would compare the price from the various sites against each other. Make sure that when you do this you include sites such as Amazon and Google shopping, because this will give you a large sample to compare prices against.

Good luck with your home gym fitness equipment purchase.

Home Gym Fitness Equipment