Thread: What we use

The behind the scenes equipment that we here at The Exercise Blog use to perform our workouts. In no particular order.

Resistance Bands They come in various resistance weights. I’m using the 30,40, and 50 pound bands + door anchor, and cardio belt. There are various brands, each coming in different ‘weights’. The different colors are each a different weight and not the same from brand to brand. One brands black band could be 50 pounds were as another brands could be 2 pounds. We use the ones from BeachBody, the B-Lines which are shown here. Although the Bodylastics are on the wishlist. As they seem to be built better all around. But the B-Lines were cheaper at the time, and there hasn’t yet been a need to upgrade them.

Perfect Pushups + Power 10 dvd You have without a doubt had to have seen these at the store before. You walk into Sports Authority, Dick’s, even CVS and there they are. They work. They work damn good. Raises you off the ground higher then if you weren’t using them so you are able to do a deeper pushup, all without strain on your wrists. The Power 10 dvd gives you 3 workouts that are 5 minutes each.

Perfect Pullups + ab straps I’m by no means a handyman but I was able to mount this to the door within 5 minutes. Very quick and easy to do, and it can be taken down and put to the side. Although I keep mine where it is as I’m not tall enough to to hit my head on it nor is it in a common area door way. It’s in a basement doorway leading to my washing machine. Using the ab straps with this really works your abs and should be purchased together to compliment the pull up bar.

Omron Full Body Composition Montior / Scale HBF-510w If you are serious about losing weight you will want something that will prove it. A traditional scale is great but does not give you the information that you should really know. Body fat percentage, so you can see how much fat you lost compared vs gaining muscle weight. Since Visceral fat is around your abdomen and surrounds your vital organs you can’t see it, so you will want to keep the levels in check thus helping prevent high cholesterol, heart disease as well as Type 2 Diabetes. This scale/monitor is something that should be on everyones equipment list. It cost me around $70 but there are cheaper and more expensive models. But you should have something more then a scale that you step up onto and it shows just your body weight.

Omron pedometer HJ-720ITC This nifty little device counts your steps just like other pedometers but it also comes with software so you can download the information to your computer and really track how much you walk. I place mine in my pocket when I get dressed and don’t even realize that it is there during the day. Software will track how much you walk in a certain hour and will put it in graphs so you can see how busy you were in a certain hour of the day. Great for comparing what you thought was a busy day to a previous day that you thought was easy. I owned the HJ-112 version but because they are small and light I left it in my pants and it went into the wash killing it so I upgraded to this version, which runs about $30 while the cheaper version was about $20 they have even cheaper versions but I wanted to be able to track how much I walked so the software was a big selling point for me that has proven to be very useful and worth the price.

MyoTape Can be picked up in most places for about $6. This is good to have before starting any diet or fitness program because you are going to want to have accurate measurements. A regular tape you could pull tigher in places to make yourself have a lower waist line or whatever, you’re only cheating yourself when you do this! But with this you hit the button and it tightens the same amount every time giving you correct accurate measurements each time.

Accu-Measure Fitness 3000 Personal Body Fat Tester To cheap to work? Wrong! Another item for about $6 that should purchased together. If you don’t own a scale like the one listed to check your BMI then you should be adding this to a shopping cart. Cheap effective way to measure your body fat. The included body fat chart needs to be redone as there are far superior caliper fat charts on the internet. Will soon be adding those charts here shortly, so you don’t have to go looking for them.

Timex T5H881 Zone Trainer Digital Heart Rate Monitor I’ve owned this watch since 12/07 and absolutely love it. I have small wrists so this is perfect for me. There are other watches out there that are bigger and do more, but I needed one that wasn’t big and I just watched the ‘basics’. Well this has some features I still haven’t used. The band that gets strapped around your waist is comfortable and once you get your workout going you don’t know it’s there. With the watch you can have different settings, and show different things, from the time, to lap numbers, how much time is remaining, has passed, your heart rate etc. This is something everyone should own because you’re heart needs to be in optimal range to really start shedding those pounds.


Valeo Adjustable Ankle and Wrist Weights 20 pounds total. 10 pounds each. These are great for when you are doing pull ups or for when you are using the ab straps with your pull up bar, to add some extra weight to mix up your workout a bit. Another great way to use these is just in your walk around the block. You’ll get a nice workout just from walking with these around your ankles. They are adjustable as well so you can take 2 pounds out at a time as you can see in the picture.

iPod Touch 64gig 3rd Generation I’m pretty sure you know what this is and does. Went with the touch instead of a nano, or shuffle is cause I use it for other things then just exercise and fitness. Also their are some really great apps that help you keep track of your workouts. Which we will be doing a write up on in the future. We use the Grantwood band to secure this to the arm while workingout.

Apple iPod Nike+ Sensor This little gadget is great for tracking how far you run, the time it took you to run, and how many calories you burned off doing so. You can also sign up for a free account and track your runs from day to day. See if you are improving You can set it to have certain goals of running a certain distance burning a certain amount of calories or running a certain amount of time. You could make up a playlist and play that and change the song while running nice and easily. Works with Nike+ Shoes but we use the Grantwood shoe pouch shown below to secure it to our shoes.

Sennheiser PMX80 Sport Series II Behind the Head Earphones I went with these because the ‘earbuds’ would always fall out of my ears no matter which ones I purchased. To much running and bouncing and they would fall out. The ones that ‘hook’ around your ears I just didn’t find comfortable and would have the same problem with them bouncing loose on my ear and would have to keep adjusting them so I could hear the music while cars zoomed past or during those really busy crowded gym nights. I have 7 pairs of headphones sidelined because of these. Great behind the head earphones, can run bounce around and they done come loose. Great sound. Orange and great might not be your colors but I tend to wear orange a lot when I go running or to the gym in general so these match perfect with my outfits and shoes. But if you can’t stand the colors I’d look for another set of behind the head earphones as I think its the way to go if you have a lot of running in your workout.

Tuneband for the iPod by Grantwood Technology Not having used another armband I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it works great. Sometimes I use it around my forearm other times around bi’s and tri’s. I can run for miles, literally and the band stays in place. It’s great. You can get the pouch and armband /tuneband as a ‘bundle’ deal from Grantwood in various color options.

Shoe pouch for the Nike+ Sensor by Grantwood Technology This great little holder for the Nike+ sensor shown above goes right over the laces. To ‘install’ it you have to unlace some of the laces and then run the laces through the loops to secure it in place. The little pouch is great if you don’t own a pair of Nike+ shoes. They go great with my New Balances. You can get the pouch and armband as a ‘bundle’ deal from Grantwood in various color options.



I had this typed up on another site of mine so I have to update it a bit as I now own the Bowflex Selectechs 552s that I'll be using during the P90X program

Treadmills are without a doubt one of the most popular items of home and commercial gym equipment, powered or motorised treadmills use a motor to move a belt, keeping the rate at which you walk, jog or run constant. Many motorised treadmills have powered incline adjustments. One of the main advantages of a motorised treadmill is that it's more challenging because it can go faster than you can, so you have to work harder to keep up.


Personal Trainer Chicago

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