Top 5 Home Fitness Products

5.  Nintendo Wii / Wii Fit

The Nintendo Wii or the Wii fit is not a fitness first device.  You will not go from "flab to fab" overnight or even with time using the Nintendo Wii fit.

With that out of the way the Nintendo Wii and the Wii fit can be a great way to introduce home fitness into your lifestyle.

The Nintendo Wii makes physical activity, albeit a small amount of physical activity fun.  The association with fun and physical activity can go a long way in kids and adults alike.

If physical activity is associated with fun, according from Pavlov's dog research of the 1800s a person who repeatedly has fun playing the Wii would begin to enjoy exercise.

While the previous statement may be a push the new Wii fit is designed to help people get fit.  Surprisingly enough, it is actually a great way for beginners to get back into an exercise program.

The Wii fit program provides a lot of pretty good information about the sedentary body and how it can improve posture, balance and body composition.

The technology is very advanced as the Wii fit can weight each side of the stand-on sensor individually.

Another positive with the Nintendo Wii fit is the price.  It retails for only $100 which is definitely a good deal as it does some of the things that expensive kinesiology laboratory equipment does!

Popular Science Article w/ Ask The Trainer     |     Buy Nintendo Wii Fit from Amazon.com

4.  Stability Balls

Stability balls or Swiss balls have been mainstream now for a few years.  Unlike most fad products which eventually die out, stability balls aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Why?  Because they work.  Stability balls are a very effective fitness tool to have in your home gym or at the gym.

Swiss balls allow you to work your core and abdominals very effectively.  You can also do exercises for your entire body as well on stability balls.

You can use a Swiss ball with any other home fitness products on this list to create fun,

challenging and effective workouts in the privacy of your own home.

At your home, a stability ball can also function as a chair which will cause you to use better posture than usual.

What you may not know is all stability balls are not created equal.  A good stability ball such as the Duraball pro will cost around $50.  The extra cost as opposed to cheap stability balls (~$15) is well worth it as the Duraball pro will last longer and inflates to a higher pressure.

This higher pressure will allow a good base for dumbbell exercises easily handling a pair of 100 pound dumbbells and a 250 pound individual.

Stability Ball Exercise Videos   |   Stability Ball Exercise Information   |   Buy Stability Balls from Amazon

3.  BOSU Balance Trainer

If you have never heard of or used a BOSU balance trainer or BOSU ball you are really missing out.  The BOSU balance trainer was invented in 1999 by a personal trainer.

Most gyms have a set of BOSU balls available for members to use and some have classes.  If you want to bring fitness to your home a BOSU ball would be a solid choice.

At first glance you may not be able to see many uses for BOSU which is an acronym for Both Sides Up.  Therefore you can use the both sides of the BOSU to perform a variety of beginner to challenging exercises.

The BOSU balance trainer is very versatile and allows you to perform many different exercises.  You can also perform many different types of exercises such as resistance, balance as well as explosive plyometric exercises!

You can use the BOSU alone or in combination with any other pieces of equipment on this list.  The BOSU is more versatile than the stability ball because you can stand on it.

You can pick up a BOSU balance trainer from any sporting goods store at around $150.  If you order online you can expect to pay less than $100.

BOSU Ball Exercise Videos    |    BOSU Ball Exercise Information    |    Buy BOSU Balls from Amazon

2.  Heavy Resistance Tubes

Resistance training does not have to include weights such as dumbbells, cables, barbells or even body weight.  Resistance tubes offer a different form resistance exclusive to tubes.

Because the resistance tubes are elastic the further they stretch, the more resistance you will encounter.

This is beneficial because with dumbbells, cables and body weight the resistance is usually constant for the entire range of motion.

Tubes allow you to focus on the end of the range of motion which is often neglected during dumbbell or cable resistance exercises.

The best part about resistance tubes is they take up almost no space and can be stored anywhere.  You can take resistance tubes when you travel for business or vacation.

You may have used resistance tubes before and found they failed to offer significant resistance.  It is true, old school resistance tubes which you can get in the store for around $10 do not provide enough resistance to use for an effective home workout.

There are heavy resistance tubes now which offer a great way to challenge your entire body.  The JC predator is a great tool to include in your gym workouts or home workouts.  It is an adjustable 3 tube setup which allows extremely heavy resistance with all 3 tubes attached.

The extremely heavy resistance of the 3 tubes will allow you do heavy full body exercises where you have to control your own body weight which is supported by the tubes.

You can lessen the resistance by taking 1 or 2 of the tubes out which will allow you to perform isolation exercises for your weaker body parts.  The best part about resistance tubes is you can use them along with any other item on this list to challenge your body and get results.

You can pick up some cheap limited resistance tubes in your local sporting good store for around $10 each or you can order the very versatile, adjustable JC predator resistance tube setup for around $50 online.  A must have for any home gym.

Resistance Tube Exercise Videos          |          Buy Heavy Resistance Tubes from Amazon

1.    Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells

Talk about versatility.  There is nothing more versatile than a plain old fashioned set of dumbbells.  Unfortunately not many homes have the space required to store a whole set of dumbbells.

Bowflex SelecTech dumbbells solve this problem.

Each dumbbell is adjustable by 2 dials.  All you have to do is turn the dial to the desired weight, lift the weight up and you will have the amount of pounds you selected for each dumbbell.

Resistance training is key for elevating your metabolism to burn fat while you maintain and build your muscle mass.  Dumbbells offer a limitless amount of exercises in which you can perform at home in your limited space you have for your home workouts.

Dumbbells can be combined with any other things on this list to create effective and fun workouts that will allow you to get results at home.

Bowflex offers 3 Varieties of SelectTech Dumbbells

 The 220 model changes from 2.5-20 pounds and costs around $150.  The 520 model changes from 5-52.5 pounds and retails for around $350.  The heaviest model is the 1090 which adjusts from 10 to 90 pounds per dumbbell and retails for around $700 which is fraction of the cost of a full set of 10-90 pound dumbbells.  The stand is sold separately.

Amazon.com     |     Exercise Information Anatomy Map     |     Exercise Video Library

Honorable Mention:  Total Gym

Many.... actually most products are not worth what they cost.  It more accurate to say most as seen on TV products are downright laughable scams which serve no purpose and are a total waste of your hard earned money.

The total gym on the other hand is a great product.  The only reason it does not make the top 5 is because it takes up a lot of space which not everybody has.  Some models fold up for storage which can save space but when you set it up you need a good amount of space at home to use a total gym.

The total gym is just about what it says.  You can perform a full body workout using the total gym alone just like you had a total gym at your house.  Even better, can use a combination of calisthenics, floor exercises and some of the other equipment on the top 5 home fitness products to get a tremendous workout at home.

The total gym is adjustable and great for people of all fitness levels.  The resistance or weight during total gym exercises is based on your body weight.  This allows you to work your core a little more because most exercises require core stabilization.

Total Gym Exercise Videos     |     Buy a Total Gym from TotalGymDirect.com

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