New Toys

I went to the Sports store today. I have been increasing my exercise lately
and wanted to add some variety to my tiny home gym.

Prior to today, I had a small room with my treadmill, a no frills weight
bench which does recline, a TV, assorted videos, an exercise mat, assorted
dumbbells and a pilates ring. Today, I added to that a 55 cm exercise ball,
a jump rope and a 6 pound medicine ball.

So far, I only like the medicine ball. I remember in high school, I could
skip rope like a professional boxer. I embarrassed myself today. It just
didn't feel right. Still, I will work on it to improve coordination.

The big ball looks even bigger in my tiny gym. It came with a tape of
pilates exercises. I know I have seen more generic exercises such as
crunches, etc. and I will look for some of those on the web. Pilates just
isn't for me. It was challenging to just to maintain position while doing
simple curls, etc. and I used it to support my feet while doing pushups. It
is a nice medium between 'girl' pushups and regular. The father you extend
yourself on the ball, the harder it gets. Much more variation than the two
choices between the 'girl' variety and regular.

My medicine ball brought me unexpected pleasures. I do crunched to improve
my posture but I can never do anything with my legs lifted because it causes
my lower back to spasm. Today, I was able to bring my knees to my chest and
lift my bottom far off the floor with no problem repeatedly. I think it is
because of the additional weight physically pressing my spine to the floor.

I did some other exercises with it and like the feel and the concentrated
weight. For instance, holding it high above my head and bringing it
alternate knees while doing crunches was a lot more challenging than my
regular ones.

If anyone has any ideas of how I can better use my new toys, please feel
free to post. Also, keep in mind that I have a tiny room devoted to
exercise at my house but if you have any other suggestions, I am open.

j

"Julianne" wrote in message
news:WQp7c.13436$F91.11319@lakeread05...
If anyone has any ideas of how I can better use my new toys, please feel
free to post. Also, keep in mind that I have a tiny room devoted to
exercise at my house but if you have any other suggestions, I am open.

j


Congrats on the new stuff I like the big ball a lot to do stability
exercises and you can actually get videos that have entire workouts with
them. My trainer has me doing some of my dumbell work on the ball because
it works on the core muscles and the stability factor adds a challenge (i.e.
french curls, flys). I also use it to do crunches when my tailbone is
bothering me.

I use this site to get exercises http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
and it includes things to do with the medicine ball too.

Jenn

"Julianne" wrote in message
news:WQp7c.13436$F91.11319@lakeread05...
I went to the Sports store today. I have been increasing my exercise
lately
and wanted to add some variety to my tiny home gym.

Prior to today, I had a small room with my treadmill, a no frills weight
bench which does recline, a TV, assorted videos, an exercise mat, assorted
dumbbells and a pilates ring. Today, I added to that a 55 cm exercise
ball,
a jump rope and a 6 pound medicine ball.

So far, I only like the medicine ball. I remember in high school, I could
skip rope like a professional boxer. I embarrassed myself today. It just
didn't feel right. Still, I will work on it to improve coordination.

The big ball looks even bigger in my tiny gym. It came with a tape of
pilates exercises. I know I have seen more generic exercises such as
crunches, etc. and I will look for some of those on the web. Pilates just
isn't for me. It was challenging to just to maintain position while doing
simple curls, etc. and I used it to support my feet while doing pushups.
It
is a nice medium between 'girl' pushups and regular. The father you
extend
yourself on the ball, the harder it gets. Much more variation than the
two
choices between the 'girl' variety and regular.

My medicine ball brought me unexpected pleasures. I do crunched to
improve
my posture but I can never do anything with my legs lifted because it
causes
my lower back to spasm. Today, I was able to bring my knees to my chest
and
lift my bottom far off the floor with no problem repeatedly. I think it
is
because of the additional weight physically pressing my spine to the
floor.

I did some other exercises with it and like the feel and the concentrated
weight. For instance, holding it high above my head and bringing it
alternate knees while doing crunches was a lot more challenging than my
regular ones.

If anyone has any ideas of how I can better use my new toys, please feel
free to post. Also, keep in mind that I have a tiny room devoted to
exercise at my house but if you have any other suggestions, I am open.

j


Here's a few exercises for the ball. I ocassionally use mine for a computer
chair - it forces you to maintain your balance at all times.
http://www.jumpusa.com/swissexercises2.html

Beverly

Mens Health magazine (the print edition) has a lot of medicine ball
exercises in it.

I did a search on their website and came up with 7 blank pages on it.
Meaning, there's something wrong with their website.

Maybe tomorrow it will be OK.

www.menshealth.com

"Julianne" wrote:

The big ball looks even bigger in my tiny gym. It came with a tape of
pilates exercises. I know I have seen more generic exercises such as
crunches, etc. and I will look for some of those on the web.

I bought the 3 (Upper Body, Abs and Lower Body) Gaiam Balance Ball tapes
with Suzanne Deason. The music is nice, scenery lovely and (important to
me) her voice isn't annoying. I enjoy them very much and alternate them
with Winsor Pilates and my dumbbells.

--
Walking on . . .
Laurie in Maine
207/110 60 inches of attitude!
Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03

Great site. I have learned a lot from it!

j

"JMA" wrote in message
...

"Julianne" wrote in message
news:WQp7c.13436$F91.11319@lakeread05...
If anyone has any ideas of how I can better use my new toys, please feel
free to post. Also, keep in mind that I have a tiny room devoted to
exercise at my house but if you have any other suggestions, I am open.

j


Congrats on the new stuff I like the big ball a lot to do stability
exercises and you can actually get videos that have entire workouts with
them. My trainer has me doing some of my dumbell work on the ball because
it works on the core muscles and the stability factor adds a challenge
(i.e.
french curls, flys). I also use it to do crunches when my tailbone is
bothering me.

I use this site to get exercises http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
and it includes things to do with the medicine ball too.

Jenn

The ball is the bane of my existence right now. I think I will try to use
if for the computer periodically just to see what happens. Those of us who
are clumsy and uncoordinated like to blame everyone else.

j
"Beverly" wrote in message
...

"Julianne" wrote in message
news:WQp7c.13436$F91.11319@lakeread05...
I went to the Sports store today. I have been increasing my exercise
lately
and wanted to add some variety to my tiny home gym.

Prior to today, I had a small room with my treadmill, a no frills weight
bench which does recline, a TV, assorted videos, an exercise mat,
assorted
dumbbells and a pilates ring. Today, I added to that a 55 cm exercise
ball,
a jump rope and a 6 pound medicine ball.

So far, I only like the medicine ball. I remember in high school, I
could
skip rope like a professional boxer. I embarrassed myself today. It
just
didn't feel right. Still, I will work on it to improve coordination.

The big ball looks even bigger in my tiny gym. It came with a tape of
pilates exercises. I know I have seen more generic exercises such as
crunches, etc. and I will look for some of those on the web. Pilates
just
isn't for me. It was challenging to just to maintain position while
doing
simple curls, etc. and I used it to support my feet while doing pushups.
It
is a nice medium between 'girl' pushups and regular. The father you
extend
yourself on the ball, the harder it gets. Much more variation than the
two
choices between the 'girl' variety and regular.

My medicine ball brought me unexpected pleasures. I do crunched to
improve
my posture but I can never do anything with my legs lifted because it
causes
my lower back to spasm. Today, I was able to bring my knees to my chest
and
lift my bottom far off the floor with no problem repeatedly. I think it
is
because of the additional weight physically pressing my spine to the
floor.

I did some other exercises with it and like the feel and the
concentrated
weight. For instance, holding it high above my head and bringing it
alternate knees while doing crunches was a lot more challenging than my
regular ones.

If anyone has any ideas of how I can better use my new toys, please feel
free to post. Also, keep in mind that I have a tiny room devoted to
exercise at my house but if you have any other suggestions, I am open.

j


Here's a few exercises for the ball. I ocassionally use mine for a
computer
chair - it forces you to maintain your balance at all times.
http://www.jumpusa.com/swissexercises2.html

Beverly

Laurie:

Tell me about your experience with Pilates? I am curious. I really don't
think it is for me because I like to think about other things when I
exercise. For instance, I watch TV or movies when I am on the treadmill.
Sometimes, when I do crunches or push ups, I time myself to commercials.
The Pilates stuff that I have seen insist that you pay close attention to
breathing, etc. I prefer exercised where close attention is NOT required.

j
"SnugBear" wrote in message
.4...
"Julianne" wrote:

The big ball looks even bigger in my tiny gym. It came with a tape of
pilates exercises. I know I have seen more generic exercises such as
crunches, etc. and I will look for some of those on the web.

I bought the 3 (Upper Body, Abs and Lower Body) Gaiam Balance Ball tapes
with Suzanne Deason. The music is nice, scenery lovely and (important to
me) her voice isn't annoying. I enjoy them very much and alternate them
with Winsor Pilates and my dumbbells.

--
Walking on . . .
Laurie in Maine
207/110 60 inches of attitude!
Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03

"Julianne" wrote:

Tell me about your experience with Pilates? I am curious. I really
don't think it is for me because I like to think about other things
when I exercise. For instance, I watch TV or movies when I am on the
treadmill. Sometimes, when I do crunches or push ups, I time myself to
commercials. The Pilates stuff that I have seen insist that you pay
close attention to breathing, etc. I prefer exercised where close
attention is NOT required.

I've been using the Winsor tapes since December 2002 and after awhile, I
just *knew* when to breathe - it made sense. I never thought it was a
strict requirement though. I did the 20 minute workout three days a week
till I got to my goal and then started using the longer, advanced tape.
I listen to talk radio and keep the volume on the tape so low that it's
almost a subliminal message.

In addition to being really good for the tricky back I tolerated for
years, I absolutely believe it made the difference between wearing size 6
and size 4. Balance ball is really good for your back too!

In the annoying voice category, I really dislike the Quick Fix Stability
ball tape with Keli Roberts. She goes fast and has Stepford Women
backing her up. As always, YMMV.


--
Walking on . . .
Laurie in Maine
207/110 60 inches of attitude!
Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03