Gym/fitness equipment: What to use and how to use it

One of the keys to sticking with a health program is to mix it up. Once you've done the same routine or class several times a week for a month, not only will your body adjust to it and burn less calories, but chances are you'll get bored and start putting less and less effort forth. If you still love that class or elliptical workout, by all means continue to do it--just add in some new stuff once in awhile to keep your body working at its max capacity.

I've been practice training a friend of mine for the last month or so, and as I've planned the workouts it's occurred to me that there is almost an unlimited amount of exercise combinations you can do. Seriously, I'm pretty sure you can go your whole life not repeating the same routine. Therefore, there's no reason to get bored working out! Whether you have a gym membership or you like to work out at home, there are a lot pieces of equipment you can use to change up your workouts. Some you might be familiar with, and others might look intimidating. I've included a few below and why I think they're worth trying. If you are at the gym and see something you've never tried, don't be afraid to ask one of the staff to help you. You're paying to work out there, so you should be able to take advantage of everything they offer. Otherwise, you can usually find a youtube video to show you as well :)

At the gym:
1. Cable machines -- Unlike regular weight machines, the cables force you engage your core to stabilize you in order to execute the exercise. This burns more calories and engages more muscles (which is good!). Plus you can do many different exercises on this one machine-- there are cuffs you can attach to do leg work as well the arm exercise pictured below.

2. Assisted pull-up/dip machine -- I LOVE THIS MACHINE! It looks hard to use but it's not, and you won't find a better all around upper body workout. Regular pull-ups are pretty difficult, so this machine allows you to rest your lower legs on a platform attached to a weight column. The more weight you add, the easier the pull-up will be. Basically, the weight on the column is subtracting from the amount of weight you have to pull up(your body weight). For a beginner, start with 80-100 pounds. Follow the pictures on the machine to see technique- It should be somewhat difficult to pull yourself up but you should be able to complete 10-12 and really feel your arms and chest muscles. Plus you'll feel super tough! The part you don't see in the picture are the bars right next to her hips, which you can use to do tricep dips. Instead of pulling yourself up, you lower yourself down, letting your triceps do the work. Do in these a couple of sets of these two exercises and I guarantee you'll tone up your arms, shoulders and chest in no time.

Gym or home:
1. Bosu balance trainer -- Most likely your gym has these, but you can also buy one for home if you really like it (they are pricey though). This essentially adds a degree of difficulty to exercise you might already to. It forces you to balance yourself while doing that particular exercise, therefore engaging more muscles and burning more calories. Ball side down you can do push-ups or planks on it, or ball side up you can just sit on it and do some arm exercises. Click here for some other possibilities.

2. Body bar (or weighted bar) -- The next few are variations on the traditional dumb bell. The weighted bar comes in a variety of weights (I own a 12 pounder), and can be used instead of a set of dumb bells in most cases. Much like a bar you'd see on a bench press, the weighted bar is great for squats and lunges---you can just rest in on your shoulders and go. Here are a few more moves you can do with the body bar.

3. Medicine/Toning Balls -- The inspiration for this post came from me getting kind of sick of dumb bells and planning a workout using a 10 lb. medicine ball instead. You can do some very different things with a ball than just the traditional dumb bells (of course the reverse is also true), and it can be just the trick to break through a plateau or just keep you interested in working out. My favorite aspect of the medicine ball is that you can pass it back and forth--either to a buddy or just to yourself from hand to hand. You can do this as a form of cardio (i.e. passing it from hand to hand while you hop from foot to foot) or as strength training (i.e. standing on one foot and slowly passing it back and forth, holding for a few seconds in each hand). Here are a few others to try. A toning ball is basically a small version of a medicine ball. It makes it easier to hold while doing pilates/yoga type moves, and if you have a smaller amount of weight you can hold two. Both are great in my opinion, but if you are more of a pilates or yoga fan you might want to opt for an 8 lb toning ball or a set of 4 or 5 lb ones. If you tend to like higher intensity workouts, go for the bigger medicine ball.

4. Resistance Tubes -- The lease expensive option for a home gym. Resistance tubes can be very useful when used correctly, but you have to choose the right one. The tubes come in different levels, from easy (extremely stretchy) to difficult (not very stretchy at all), that vary the difficulty to stretch it and therefore work your muscles more or less depending. The basis of the resistance tube is having something stable to serve as the center point, whether it's your legs or piece of furniture. There's really no limit to what you can do with a tube--just holding toward the center and pulling it in opposite directions will give you an arm workout. The tubes take up little space, so it's an easy way to get a workout in while you're watching TV. Here are a couple moves to try.