Dance Cardio is the Fitness Trend of 2009

Yep, that's a wee me being leap-frogged by one of my hyperactive dance partners from the Lindy Hop team. Good times.

Attention all nether rock dwellers: You might not have heard but we're in a recession. And the long arm of the recession has been particularly tough on the fitness industry. Gym memberships are down, fitness clothing purchases are declining and personal trainers are finding their business getting a lot tighter. Mainly this seems to be because people view fitness as an expendable luxury. This seems a bit disingenuous to me. In my mind, fitness itself is a necessity for good health and a sound mind but fitness can be achieved without spending a dime - it's called the outdoors, you've heard of it, right? So one way that savvy consumers are cutting back on their fitness luxuries without cutting out fitness altogether is to consolidate. Hence, the fitness trend for 2009 has been crowned: Group Fitness.

For those of you older than 20, group fit refers to what us oldsters use to call aerobics or cardio class. You basically have one teacher leading a room full of sweaty folks. Group fit has moved way beyond Jane Fonda and The Firm though and now you have options ranging from kickboxing to bootcamp to spin.

Whenever I mention group fit and my deep love for sweating with strangers - or just strange friends (hellooooo TurboKick!) - inevitably someone says, "Oh, I could never do that!" And hey, if you are happy running in the beautiful outdoors 365 days a year, I'm not interested in changing your mind. But many people avoid group fit because of one basic reason: self-consciousness. They say they aren't coordinated (read: I'll fall off the step or drop my weight on my foot or kick my neighbor) or they prefer working out alone (read: I don't like other people's bodily fluids flying at me) or even that they think they wouldn't fit in (read: I don't have matchy-matchy workout clothes, toned abs or I'm not 21.)

I'm not going to tell you that your concerns aren't valid (Well, except for the matchy-matchy clothes one. As long as it covers your naughty bits and gives you adequate support then wear whatever you want! You're just going to sweat all over it anyhow.) but if you can overcome your self-consciousness you will discover there are a ton of benefits to group fit. Not only do you have an instructor to tell you what to do - hard to think what comes next when your heart rate is in the red zone - but you also get music and, best of all, friends. It makes a huge difference to be able to laugh with someone else when you turf it. Plus it saves on money since the whole class is essentially paying the instructor's salary.

A great way to get involved in group fit is one of my all-time loves: dancing. Eight million viewers of Dancing With the Stars can't be wrong! For all of you who have sat on your couch and watched a parade of c-level stars shake their money makers, I am here to tell you that you can do it too! "But I'm not coordinated enough, blah, blah, blah...." Who cares? It's so fun that you'll forget all about the fact that your feet are more George Foreman than Mario Lopez. Plus there are tons of options in cardio dance. Latin classes like Zumba are exploding right now. Urban classes like Hip Hop Hustle are found in the farthest reaches of suburbia (not to be confused with Rihanna's Disturbia, although I can see how you make that mistake). Ballet, tap, swing, ballroom, and even "aerial dancing" where you spin suspended from strips of fabric are found in gyms near you.

Back in college I was on a Lindy Hop (a form of swing dancing) team. It was truly one of the highlights of my college experience. While we weren't doing it specifically for exercise, I definitely found that all the dancing made my butt tighter, my stomach flatter and my legs looked smokin' in those little red hot pants (see above). While swing dancing was my first love, I also got to do a lot of ballroom dancing and discovered Latin dancing. Which came in handy after I got married and my husband refused to swing dance with me saying I was too bossy and I back-lead. Both of which are true. (I'm a control freak, remember?) So the husband and I took up Salsa dancing together and our marriage has been muy caliente ever since!

Wednesday's Great Fitness Experiment Giveaway: Core Rhythms DVD Set
Would you like a chance to add some Flamenco to your flan (a bland Spanish dessert with the texture of cooked boogers)? One of my pet peeves about other dance cardio videos I have tried is that they take an aerobics instructor and teach her a few dance moves. This is exactly the opposite. In this 4-disk DVD set, international dance champions Jaana Kuntz (she of the hot pink hair) and Julia Powers (she of the big hair) teach you actual Latin moves from the Salsa, Samba and Merengue. I have to say that for an at-home workout, this is truly one of the more delightful ones I have tried. It's campy - the shiny costumes! the spray tans! the omnipresent ginormous set of abs pulsing behind them! and it's a decent workout - anyone who has ever watched "latin hips" in action knows those great abs don't happen by accident! Basically it's Strictly Ballroom meets Fit TV. It's aerobics for drag queens.

And it's so much fun you'll forget you are even working out. Plus you'll learn moves you can actually take with you to the club or your cousin's 3rd wedding.

One last super cool thing about these DVDs is that you always have the option to change the view at any time. So rather than staring face-on at the teachers, you can switch to a back or side view to really see what they are doing. It also comes with an introductory DVD that explains slowly and simply how to do the basic moves so you aren't left scrambling to catch up.



To enter to win your own Core Rhythms starter pack, leave me a comment below telling me how you feel about group fitness. Do you love a packed room of sweaty masses? Or do you prefer to work out that hip action in the privacy of your own home and then wow everyone at the next family reunion luau? Anyone want to go dancing with me?

January Great Fitness Experiment: The Lose 10 Pounds Diet

Reader Maggie made an astute observation in her comment on my post "Can You Be Too Old To Exercise?" Smart girl, she writes:

[...] it really bothers me when a fitness magazine has an article about loving yourself and your body the way you are... and on the next page there's an article telling you how to lose 10 pounds fast (!).

Shape Magazine heard Maggie and decided to give her a late holiday gift (just like when your aunt "forgets" you are allergic to peanuts and gives you a gigantic tin of her famous peanut brittle): On page 150 they have a delightful little article called "Banish Those Body Issues" illustrated with a photo of 6 naked women. (Why is it that for a woman to show she is body confident, she must be naked? Is confident and clothed some kind of oxymoron?) On the very next page is the article with largest font from the cover: "Drop 10 lbs This Month." Not only that but it was subtitled: "Our best plan ever!"

To paraphrase my favorite karaoke song ever "Why do you build me up (build me up!), buttercup baby, just to let me down (let me down!)?" (If you are currently singing "And worst of all (worst of all!), you never call darlin' when you say you will (say you will!)" then you will love this.) Shape gave me a challenge I could not refuse. I am going to do their "Drop 10 lbs this month" plan and see what happens. Will I learn to "banish those body issues?" or will I banish that pesky poundage?

I've always wanted to take a magazine at their word and then write about the results. It's like those commercials that say you can burn (tiny type) up to (huge type) 1,000 calories an hour doing Zumba! Now I love Zumba but I've done that class with a heart-rate monitor on and I'll be darned if I ever broke 400. This workout not only says it will "burn more than 400 calories in just 30 minutes!" they also promise "you'll have firmer muscles, your clothes will be noticeably looser, and the number on the scale will plummet. Plus you'll feel like you can take on antyhing the world throws at you." I don't know about you but interplanetary objects chuck stuff at me like all the time. Who can resist that?

It's the smart aleck in me. I can't help it.

All snarking aside, a lot of people look to magazine workouts for ideas and while occasionally they come up with some flat-out craziness, often they have some good plans for spicing things up. In addition to novelty, you can't beat them for cost effectiveness. In this time of financial hardship, shelling out a few bucks for a magazine certainly beats an hour with a pricey trainer. Also, they are widely available, come with pictures and are a good place to start. And what is January if not a good place to start?

My sister, who knows me better than I know me, pointed out that a lot of people find my Experiments intimidating because I'm such a die-hard exerciser (post about compulsive exercise coming at you soon!) "Why don't you do something that everyone can try?" she asked me the other day. "Oh but everyone can try the stuff I do," I began to enthuse. She cut me off, "What I should have said was, 'Why don't you do something that everyone will want to try?'" Ah. And while I do realize that some of you read this just for the freak-show appeal of watching me do hilarious and sometimes idiotic things - and that's not going away, don't worry - I do worry about alienating people who are just getting into fitness. Exercise is for everyone! No matter how young or old, how weak or strong, how thin or thick, how introverted or extroverted; there is something for everyone. So this month there are no excuses. This is a real workout - your quads will burn - but it is customizable to every level, requires little to no equipment and has a good healthy balance of strength training and cardio.

The Workout
You've got two days of the strength circuit in the magazine, two days of high intensity interval work and one day of something low-n-slow like yoga or walking. Every 4th day is a rest day.

The workout the Gym Buddies and I will be following is:
Monday - Shape Magazine strength circuit (see pictures below)
Tuesday - Boot Camp interval workout (you can sub biking, running, swimming or any other activity that gets heart rate upupup and then takes it down for a rest and then back up again. The key is the intensity - you want something short and hard. Don't go over 45 minutes. You want a suggestion? Do the 8/12 bicycle sprints!)
Wednesday - Shape Magazine strength circuit
Thursday - Yoga/walking
Friday - Turbokick interval workout (again, sub in what you like)

We will also be doing a Hip-Hop cardio class Monday nights that falls into the steady state cardio category and a TurboKick class on Saturday but that's just because we love those classes so much and can't bear to give them up. You don't have to add anything else in.

While I would be highly surprised if I lost 10 lbs this month, this workout has some new moves and takes anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes depending on how much time you have to give to it. If you can get past the editorial hyperbole, I think you might like it. We did it at the gym today and it kicked our butts! So throw those resolutions in high gear and join the Gym Buddies and I this month. This is your month, people and I want to hear all about it! Who's in with me?

Shape Magazine Workout Scans
*note: This workout uses a weighted ball but there is nothing special about the ball. If you don't have a ball, use a dumbbell or a milk jug or two soup cans. You can even do the moves without any weights at all! (Click the images to enlarge)

The Fitness Trend I Wish Would Make a Comeback [The Sweaty Bangs Problem]

Yes, I've used this picture twice on this site before but that is just how deeply I love this dude. I have titled it "Awesome Sauce." I think he may be the patron saint of the GFE!

Bikram kickboxing - you many not have heard of doing kickboxing in a super heated room before but let me tell you it's all the rage at my Y. Oh it's not intentional, it's just what happens when you cram 70+ sweaty bodies into a tiny studio with poor ventilation. We sweat so much all over the floor that Turbo Jennie had to bring in carpet dryers to keep us all from hitch-kicking right onto our well-toned tushies. (Confession: while I haven't kicked myself onto the floor - YET - lest you think me more of an athlete than I am, I did accidentally slide into the horizontal splits trying to do a plie squat. I'm already getting excited for ice-rink kickboxing come winter, when all our sweat freezes to the floor!) So today while I did slip-n-slide roundhouses, I was contemplating fitness trends that I really really wish would come back in style. Why? Because thanks to my propensity to sweat like a dude and my cute bangs, so much salt water runs into my eyes that I'm considering shaving off my eyebrows to fully embrace my pale-wet-and-clammy aesthetic:

You love me, Powder.

You know what I need? A sweatband. Oh yes, one of these bad boys:

They still make them. Under Armor even makes pink ones and I had one in my cart before bowing to the whims of fashion and taking it out. Hey, I may not be the most fashionable girl around but I do like to look au courant and for some bizarre reason bangs-in-your-eyes is the It style right now.

They look adorable but trust me when I say they are about as comfortable as wearing sunglasses rolled in dog hair. They get even worse when I sweat.

I've tried other solutions. Bobby pins work great for pulling my bangs out of my face but they don't do squat for the sweat rivulets. Headbands are super cute right now but I must have the world's weirdest shaped head because they pop right off with all the zeal of Tim Gunn making fun of "I must be carried down the stair by a phalanx of men" Anna Wintour. (You must watch this video, I have never seen Tim Gunn so happy! Or Jon Stewart for that matter.) And I can't pull off do-rags due to the fact that I'm neither black nor an extra on Little House on the Prairie.

So you see how I have arrived at the sweatband? The terry cloth is wonderfully absorbent, the circular shape enfolds my sweaty forehead in a gentle hug, AND it's machine washable! The only problem is I think I'd look more Muppet-unibrow than trendy Hipster:













For the love of little green apples, I'm a 32-year-old soccer mom! (Okay, "soccer mom" in name only - my boys actually do Show Choir, and do it awesomely, I might add.) Help me out! Do you have the sweaty bangs problem too? What do you do? Should I just buck convention and wear the sweatband with pride? What bygone fitness trend do you wish would come back?

PS> You know what else is awesome and I wish I got to wear more of? Tennis dresses. All the coverage of a skirt but so many more cute options! Although maybe not quite like this:

Um, Venus? Do you know you have fireworks exploding out of your lady business? Also, this looks like the world's least-flattering tank top but if you see yourself in the other pictures you will realize this is actually a dress. (You should, you designed it!) Typically we associate crotchtacular dresses with inebriated starlets. Don't be that girl Venus. Think of the children.

But I do give you mad props for wearing underwear! Although I do feel compelled to tell you that when they say to wear flesh-toned undies they mean underneath something else. Carry on being awesome now.

February's Great Fitness Experiment: P90X

It's big, it's bad, it PUTS THE X IN EXTREME!!! (It also puts the yelling into infomercials!) That's right, after over a year of pleading from you guys, I've finally got a hold of a copy of P90X for a Great Fitness Experiment! At $140, this workout is a little out of my budget and sadly I'm not cool enough to get them to give me an evaluation copy but fortunately for me Christmas came twice this year. See, Gym Buddy Megan's husband Sensei Don got her P90X for Christmas and she generously offered to share the love (and pain) with me.

For those of you who have not been sucked into one of their mesmerizing infomercials - they're everywhere, even on QVC! - nor have been accosted by one of the many P90X devotees - they're almost as rabid as CrossFitters! - it's a series of 12 intense workouts and a diet plan designed to take you from Pillsbury doughboy to winner of the bake sale ('cause you're cooking beefcake!). You do a different workout each day, 6 days a week for 3 months.

In addition to all this, P90X has the one aspect in a workout that is like catnip to me. No, it's not buff shirtless men doing crazy pull-ups (although it does have plenty of that). It's a challenge. This is not one of those "it's so fun you won't even know you're working out!" workouts. This is a "I will beat your body into submission and you will lie in a puddle of your own sweat and thank me for it" workouts. Apparently in my mind, P90X is the dominatrix of fitness (my "issues" duly noted.) They even have a test you have to pass before you are authorized to do the workout! I love tests! I love numbers! I love elitism!! Seriously, the best way to get me to try a workout is to tell me you think I can't handle it. Strangely this tactic does not work with household chores.

The Gym Buddies and I did the test before January's Great Personal Training Fitness Experiment with Lindsey and passed, except for one thing: women are supposed to be able to do one pull-up. There was a time when Gym Buddy Allison and I would have snorted derisively at one measly pull-up. As they are wont to do, our newly born children have made us humble. None of us could get higher than halfway. But tonight as Megan and I did Day 1 of the program, I discovered that I could eke one out! (Yes, I jumped a little. I'm still counting it.) This is important to me because there was an incident in college where I got locked out of my apartment and had I been able to do a pull up onto our deck I would have saved myself the humiliation of having to ask the boys next door to break into my own house for me and then promise to wash their car in a bikini before they'd let me in. (Which I totally didn't do, by the way.) So thank you for saving me from future embarrassments Lindsey! After one month we will repeat the test.

Megan and Don are going to be playing the program straight, doing the whole 90 days and the diet plan - a high-protein low carb plan similar to South Beach. Myself and the other Gym Buddies are only committed for February. I will not be doing the diet plan (more on that tomorrow.)

Unfortunately, this is going to be one of those Experiments that will be very difficult to follow along with at home unless you own the DVDs or are willing to buy them. (Check your local library! Many have exercise DVDs and you might just get lucky!) But after you read about tomorrow's workout (an hour of plyometrics - my quads are burning just thinking about it) you may be grateful for that.

Great Fitness Experiment: Sandbags! [Plus Creatine Experiment results]

This pic amuses me because I found it on a site under the heading of "preschool crafts". It's titled "Build a sand castle with tin cans." Uh-huh, sure. You're going to write your kid's college admissions essay too aren't you?

"Why are you buying play sand in the middle of a blizzard?" The cashier at home depot looked at me suspiciously as if a mom with 4 kids in tow (and by "in tow" I mean "running in circles around the cart throwing paint cards at each other while the 4-year-old tantrumed next to the candy he couldn't have") would have ulterior motives. "You building them an indoor playground or something?" Ah, she thinks I've lost my mind!

"An indoor sandbox? Certainly not." I may be addled but I'm not insane. "Actually the sand is for a workout." She looked confused so I explained, "I have these canvas bags, see, and I fill them with sand to make them heavier. So I can lift them." I made a weak bicep curling motion.

"Why don't you just use dumbbells?"

Good question. Perfect question in fact. Back when we first Experimented with kettlebells we also got that question a lot. "Why are you swinging those things in here? Just use the weights like a normal non-freakish person already!" But we quickly learned that kettlebells are not just balls with handles. They're canon balls with handles. And it's that very swinging action that makes all the difference between a traditional free-weight workout and a kettlebell workout.

I grabbed my screaming toddler, scooping him up in my arms. Of course he did what he does best: he made a scene flailing and trying to toss himself out of my arms onto the hard concrete floor. Over the screaming I yelled, "The key is the sandbags are an unstable weight! So you have to work harder to lift and stabilize them, just like this..." I looked down at my suddenly still child. "What are you doing?" I hissed. He lay perfectly limp in my arms. The cashier peered over the counter curiously. I jiggled him. "Come on!" His eyes remained closed without a hint of flutter, his little mouth slack and drooling. Had he tantrumed himself into a seizure? I set him down on the bag of sand and we all stared at him. Never have I seen a 4-year-old so absolutely still.

"Should I call someone?" The cashier ventured. At which point he exploded.

"Stop wooking at me! Can't you see I'm invisible??" Mystery solved.

Which brings me to the main reason I am so excited to try sandbags for February's Great Fitness Experiment: sure they're an unstable weight that activates all kinds of smaller muscles and your core and makes weight lifting exponentially more difficult and therefore more rewarding. But the best part is the sandbag is an unstable weight that doesn't humiliate me in public. Yet.

New Trend: Texting While Running

American racers are sissies, in Europe they are way less lax on enforcement. "Oh hai! I will teach you to look where you are running - buttock, say hello to my two pointy friends!"

"Don't forget to follow my race tweets!!" my friend* texted me on the eve of her big race. The Twin Cities Marathon was yesterday - huge props to all my peeps who ran it! (Way to go, Tracey - her first one!! And Bill, Shannon and Meghan!) - but I figured she was kidding. Who tweets while running a marathon? Remembering the last time I ran farther than 20 miles (um, over two years ago, sigh), I was a) too exhausted to form a coherent post and b) so sweaty that had I even had my phone on me I would have fumbled it through my slippery hands and drop-kicked it over the finish line.

So imagine my surprise when my phone chimed with an announcement from her at the start line. Well, I figured, she's not running yet. But then mile marker two brought a hot foot alert. The aid stations were serving Powerade in red cups, just in case you are curious. Possible blister at mile 14. Definite blister at 16. Cramp at 17. Ominously (or mercifully?) that was the last text I got from her. While the blow-by-blow was very entertaining for me, as it went on I began to worry about her safety on the race course. Twin Cities is pretty strict - they won't even let you use your iPod on the course out of concern for the safety of all the runners - so I can only imagine what they'd do if they caught you texting. In other races, I've heard many a runner complain about getting veered into by electronically distracted racers. Of course the complainant is generally sporting white earbuds but that's another issue I suppose.

Just walking while texting is risky - you may remember the 15-year-old girl who walked into an open manhole in Long Island whilst texting. Plenty of us have walked into walls, fallen off curbs, and apologized to a mannequin after bumping into it in the mall, thanks to walking and texting. (Yeah, that last one was me. It was super embarrassing.) So if walking and thumb-typing is that tricky, it's a miracle more runners haven't been injured fussing with their gadgetry.

And it's not just phones that are the issue. I once tripped over a tree root and did one of those face-plant prat falls in the dirt thanks to messing with the readout on my heart rate monitor. (It said I was flat-lining! Clearly an emergency!) Thanks to iPods, GPS systems, heart rate monitors and, yes, phones, runners have a million reasons to take their attention off the road. But is it worth it?

For myself, running without music is pure agony. I better either have a friend loaded with juicy gossip or an mp3 player loaded with a heart-pounding playlist to get me through my long runs. (Side note: I can walk for hours listening to podcasts but I can't run to them. Also, I can't stand books on tape. The people read.... so.... slow.... that I just want to grab them by the lips and scream, "Talk like a normal human, not a robot!") I also generally wear my heart rate monitor. And if I were rich enough to have a Garmin I'd darn sure be wearing that bad boy too. But all of those are, in theory anyhow, "set it and forget it" (I'm the Ron Popeil of fitness!) gadgets. Properly set up you shouldn't have to mess with those for the duration of your run. Texting on your phone, however, is a different story.

Top Ten Gym Buddy Approved Gift Ideas for Fitness Fanatics

Prediction: those drinks are about to go flying right out of their hands!

I try out a lot of things for this site and I'm not just talking workouts. Part of the fun of doing this site is that I also get to try out lots of new cool fitness stuff and - in the best situations - get to pass it on to you too.

There have been some epic failures: how do I write in 500 words how insanely unflattering these pants are? The stripe goes right over the largest part of the thigh! Their model, naturally, looks gorgeous in them but I am evidence that real women... not so much. Another lame one were the "pinhole glasses" that looked like the eye wear brainchild of Kanye West and Napoleon Dynamite. (I couldn't even bring myself to write the review.) The biggest diet fail was probably Sensa, the powder crystals that you sprinkle on your food that are supposed to decrease your appetite through some science-y way with real research! I wanted these to work so badly I did that Experiment twice. Never lost an ounce. Also bombed: Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease Collection - maybe it's a good workout but I couldn't stop laughing long enough to find out. But then I'm guess stripperobics aren't meant to be done in flannel pjs dotted with polar bears wearing scarves and sipping hot cocoa. We won't even talk about some of the downright insane stuff I get offered and have the good sense to say no to (more male enhancement products than I can shake a stick at, har har.)

Honestly though, the bad ones are prettyrare; most products I try out either fall into the "Eh, it works but I wouldn't go to the effort of using it very often" or "Holy balls of toilet-sore awesomeness, how have I lived my life without this?" categories. So today I'm giving you my list of AMAZING fit gear. Every item on this list I have loved so much I've ended up buying with my own money. Plus I've enjoyed working with these companies so much that I want to sing their praises as much as I can! I'm not being paid for this review, I don't get any kind of kickback from these companies; these are things I just really really love.

1. The handful bra ($40). You might remember my post crowing about how great it worked as a nursing sports bra but now that my girls are back to being single-serving I love it even more. I bought the Handful in nearly every color they have. (Dear Handful, make a gray one already! Also, your "nude" is totally not my "nude", just saying.) These are the only sports bras I wear anymore. (Although if I have to do something really high impact, I will layer a compression bra over the top.) Many of the Gym Buddies are converts as well with one wearing hers day and night for all occasions. They are that flattering. One downside: they are made for us small-chested sisters. They only go up to a c cup.

2. Kettlebells($20-$50 ish, depending on weight). At first I was not convinced that these weren't just dumbbells with a handle. They are so not! I have fallen in love with the versatility of these iron balls-o-wonder. Even the basic swing is an amazing functional, multipart exercise. (Just don't copy Jillian Michael's form.) These are the #1 workout tool the Gym Buddies and I request in our boot camp classes. Downside: Really expensive to get a whole set. If you have to choose just a couple, pick one lighter one (but nothing less than 15lbs, seriously - with KBs you can go heavier than you're used to because of the swinging action. Those stupid 5-pounders are useless.) and a decently heavy one, like 35-45 lbs for swinging.

3. TRX Suspension Trainer($150.00). Definitely the priciest item on the list (if you workout at a gym, put in a request that they get one!) but totally worth it. This is the #1 item I recommend to people looking to build a home gym or who workout almost exclusively at home. You can hit every body part and with much more efficiency than by just doing bodyweight exercises. Plus it only weighs a couple of pounds, sets up in about 5 seconds and is super portable. And they have tons of free exercise vids on their site. Downside: $$$ If you can't afford a TRX, you could do a little DIY-project and whip up something similar with some nylon rope and handles.

4. Dove Ultimate Visibly Smooth Anti-Perspirant Deodorant($4 ish). Oh sure it'll look strange sticking out of your loved one's stocking ("Um, honey? Are you trying to tell me I'm hairy? Or stinky?" "Both, Love!") but as a girl with armpit issues, this is my favorite stuff. They say that it's supposed to reduce armpit hair over time and if it does, the effect is pretty small but it sticks with me through my workouts and doesn't leave white marks on my tank tops or those little white balls in my pits. Downside: what is the point of wearing deodorant to workout in? I sweat, literally, from head to toe so what's the point of making my pits the oasis in that swamp? I'm a slave to convention...

5. Cute-butt pants. You know I love my Fila toning pants (55$) but sadly they only come in 1 color (black) and one length (short-ish). But have you heard about Lululemon's groove pant's ($98) legendary butt-shaping abilities? It's all true. Plus they come in so many colors and patterns even a clothes-horse like me would never get bored. Even better, they're reversible so it's like two pants in one! Downside: Spendy! My tip - buy them on eBay or craigslist. I only own one pair (so far...) but I got them on eBay for about half the price and they were brand new with the tags still on and everything. I've seen the pre-owned ones go for as low as $15.

6. Weight lifting gloves ($12). Call me a princess but I hate ripping my hand open in the gym (Hi open wound! Have you met my friend MRSA?) and so gloves are a necessity. Having gone through several pairs now, I'm not really brand loyal but my current pair are Nike. Gym Buddy Megan bought them for us last Christmas and we all wear them on a nearly daily basis. So far nobody's gloves have ripped, stretched, torn or gotten that awful "weight glove" stank. Plus we get to keep all our callouses intact. My only tip is to look for gloves with mesh on the outside (your hands sweat too!) and no seams across the palm and thumb (those will really start to dig in after 6 or so reps!). Downside: Your hands will really hate you if you happen to forget them once.

7. The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life by Bethenny Frankel ($10.88). So help me I wanted to hate this. I hate the whole idea of a "skinnygirl" brand. And yet when I read it, it was... probably the best cookbook I've ever read. I assumed that Bethenny would be self-righteous and require crazy ingredients and the recipes would turn out awful because I don't have all the fancy chef's utensils but it was the exact opposite. She is totally down to earth, all about budgeting, not wasting ingredients and making do with what you've got in the fridge. Her recipes are simple enough that a cooking buffoon like me got them all to turn out wonderfully. It also helps that she follows the Intuitive Eating principles very closely in her food philosophy book Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting, which is also really good. Winner winner chicken dinner! Downside: I had to swallow my pride and admit I actually like Bethenny, baby onesie debacle and all. Crap.

8. My heart rate monitor. Are you working too hard? Is your sprint really "maximal effort"? How many calories have you burned? The Gym Buddies and I look like total geeks syncing up our watches at the beginning of a tough workout but there is something really motivating about seeing that heart rate climb. I've gone through several different models over the years but my current favorite is the Sportline Duo 1060 ($100 ish). Monitors come in every level from super-simple (but not super informative or reliable) to crazy-tricked-out (but require a PhD to read the manual and set the sucker up) and this one is a nice compromise. It has heart rate monitoring through a touch pad and a chest strap, a calorie counter, an interval timer (perfect for Tabatas!), a pedometer, a visual zone chart and lots of other goodies and it even looks really cute. Yes, you could go fancier (no GPS) but for what most of us do, it's perfect and for the price it's awesome. Downside: Can be expensive. You don't want the $30 heart rate monitor, I promise. You'll hate it. At least get one with a chest strap - they are way more reliable and therefore useful. Other downside: can be addictive. Gym Buddy Allison and I once wore ours for 24 hours straight just to see what our heart rates did over the course of a day and how many calories we really burned.

9. A BPA-Free Water Bottle($5-$20). No workout bag is complete without a water bottle and because we want your cellular structure to stay un-mutated you need to make sure it's BPA free. Water bottles can be as simple as the ones at the dollar store all the way up to this fancy model: the Sportline Hydracoach Water Bottles($20). This baby monitors how much you drink (yeah, that's a little computer on the front), how much more you need to drink and motivates you to meet your drinking goals. Anything that holds water without leaking will do the trick though. Downside: wide neck bottles spill too easily, straw bottles lose parts in the dishwasher and pop tops make you feel like a baby.

10. My book The Great Fitness Experiment: One Year of Trying Everything($8.03). I know, I know, you are so sick of hearing about my book but it's great for people just getting into fitness - it summarizes most of the popular workouts out there and tallies up their pros and cons - and it's great for more seasoned exercisers who are just glad to know that they are not the only one who has fallen off their step in Step Class. It's funny! It's heart breaking! It's a quick read! Plus, they've dropped the price again! Downside: Nothing!

Foam Rolling: Fitness Miracle or Fad?

"Hurts so good!" "Absolute must-do!" "MIRACULOUS!!" It was that last one that got me and not just because it turned exercise into a religious experience on par with seeing the Virgin Mary in a pancake. For all my professed cynicism (not really, I'm like an eager puppy), I'm as interested in the next fitness "miracle" as the next girl. Twitter schooled me today. As is often the case with me in social mediums I don't understand, I was randomly eavesdropping on other people's conversations and came across several people singing the above praises of the foam roller. Personal Trainer Deb Roby even tweeted, "I teach all my clients to foam roll before a workout," adding that it is "magical*." Magical! Yes, this thing:

My first reaction was, "Really?!?" We have used foam rollers before, both in stretching and in actual workouts. The Gym Buddies and I even dedicated an entire month during the Core Performance for Women Great Fitness Experiment to getting intimate with this cheap piece of plastic (made even more awkward by the fact that our Y only has one roller basically making all of us sloppy seconds.) We were, to a woman, unimpressed. The tennis ball produced more of a good massage and muscle release although Gym Buddy Megan broke my heart and refused to share hers. Did I mention I love the tennis ball to get deep into my glutes (a la the piriformis-beleaguered MizFit)? It's probably all for the best we did not share the butt ball.

My second reaction to all the hype was, "Clearly I'm doing it wrong." After all, all those Twitter folks are way smarter than I am. (And I'm not being facetious - they really are a bunch of smart sugar-free flourless protein cookies.) But after watching this video tutorial, from Ryan at No More Bacon, where a girl (whose hair I deeply covet) demonstrates how to use a foam roller, I realized: I've totally been using the foam roller right. And it hasn't done a thing for me. Stymied! By a piece of bike-helmet foam!

What to do? Consult the experts of course! The CrossFit Nor'easter blog commands you to repeat, "“I want to roll everything! Rolling is good! Rolling is our pal!” Which I did. And then snickered. A lot. Because I'm immature like that. They add,

"Foam rollers offer many of the same benefits as a sports massage, without the big price tag. The foam roller not only stretches muscles and tendons but it also breaks down soft tissue adhesions and scar tissue. By using your own body weight and a cylindrical foam roller you can perform a self-massage or myofascial release, break up trigger points, and soothe tight fascia while increasing blood flow and circulation to the soft tissues."

Well, now I see my problem. First, I have never had a sports massage. (Confession: I've never had any massage ever because I have an irrational fear of being naked alone in a room with a stranger. On second thought, that fear seems totally rational.) So I have nothing to compare the beautiful torture of the foam roller with. Second, I have no idea what a myofascial release is. But it certainly sounds like something I would want - especially because then I would only have to get naked with myself! Ahem. The Nor'easters to the rescue again, quoting about.com:

"Myofascial release is a body work technique in which a practitioner uses gentle, sustained pressure on the soft tissues while applying traction to the fascia. This technique results in softening and lengthening (release) of the fascia and breaking down scar tissue or adhesions between skin, muscles and bones. Myofascial release has also been shown to relieve various muscle and joint pains such as IT band syndrome and shin splints as well as improving flexibility and range of motion."

Now I definitely want a piece of that! Google tells me that a fascia is "band of fibrous connective tissue separating or binding together muscles and organs." Obviously you would not want those to get overly tight (except perhaps in the bladder region and then, you know, all of us moms would like them to cinch back up like a paper bag if you please) and I hope I don't have scar tissue either.

Rachel Cosgrove (of this month's Experiment fame) is totally on the foam rolling bandwagon as well. At the end of each workout she instructs us to do "15 minutes of foam rolling" even on off days. We've ignored her advice. First there's the one diseased roller issue (although they're not that expensive so I suppose I could invest in one - marketing opportunity: anyone want to send me one for free? Either that or I could sew a cloth foam-roller condom and instruct the Gym Buddies not to wear shorts.) and second there's the whole disaffected problem. But after today, I am resolved to give the roller a second chance. Especially because I don't want to get to the end of this Experiment and wonder if my results could have been better had I done everything she told me to (which, for the record, I am doing everything else she instructs including drinking a nasty protein shake after my weight workouts, on the stretching mats even!).

The whole reason I didn't think much of the roller in the first place was it never felt like anything. People talk of screaming pain and crying and whatnot and all I got was a little shaky from having to hold myself up on my already-worked out arms for so long. Why don't I feel anything? Should I add weights? Help me to love the roller! - how can I make the foam roller work for me? Do you love the foam roller? Do you use it before or after a workout? Both? What benefits have you seen from it? Do you have to be injured to benefit from it?

Toning Clothing - Fitness Fad or Wave of the Future?

Truer words were never spoken. Take note Nicki Minaj.

Every day before I write a post, I ask myself, "How can I uplift my readers today?" Well today I get to uplift you in a whole different way! As in, your butts! And no, no TSA employees will be involved, I promise.

You've seen the ads:

"Think like a work in progress... Look like a work of art!" (Fila)

"Recover quicker, perform better." (SKINS)

"A better body with every move." (Reebok)

And my personal fave: "Underwear and a workout in one!" (Shapercise)

You can't swing a kettlebell these days without hitting an ad for "toning clothing" - fancy workout duds that claim to activate more muscles, burn extra calories, improve posture and make you look better while doing it. Sounds great, right? Who wouldn't want a workout in their underwear?? (I can't even keep a straight face typing that.) But the (multi)million dollar question for this burgeoning industry is: Do they work? While the toning shoes have been thoroughly discredited - not only do they not work your muscles but they also put you at a higher risk of injury- you might be surprised by what I discovered about the clothing.

How (Not) To Use a Sandbag [Gym Buddy Workout Videos!]

fitness equipment

Daria and I model our sandbags. Hers is leaking black coal dust down her back and yet she's still smiling. What a trouper!

Ever had your butt handed to you by a piece of fitness equipment? Well I sure did. Our very first day of the Sandbag Experiment ended with sandbag: 20, Charlotte: 0. One of the first moves we attempted is a clean and press. I've been doing those for years with the bar so I figured it wouldn't be too bad with the sandbag. I was so so wrong. The shifting of the weight really threw me off (literally). Lest you think I'm good at everything I try, behold the blooper reel:

Making Your Own Sandbag

While I got my nifty sandbag (best part: all the handles!) from Ultimate Sandbags, we need more than one bag between all the Gym Buddies. So today Allison and I both attempted to make our own. I took an old school backpack and filled it with 30 pounds of wheat poured into smaller sacks and sealed off. Any of you who are Mormon will immediately understand why I happened to have 30 pounds of wheat lying around my house but for the rest of you, you can fill it with whatever you have handy: kitty litter (unused!), rice, beans, a wiggly toddler, gravel... very small rocks. Allison made hers by filling a duffle bag with an old leaky sandbag the Y happened to have and wrapping it in a garbage bag. Two free sandbags, 10 minutes! Now you have no excuse for not doing this Experiment with us!

Extra Credit: The Crazy TRX Move You Must Try!

This is what we do to bad Gym Buddies - we hang them up in a TRX and leave them. Just kidding! Megan's demo'ing a crazy move I found on the TRX website. You know you want to try it!

Budget Friendly Tips For Exercising in Cold Weather

Ummm... this would be the advanced section of outdoor exercise.

I do not like being cold. Also, I am cold all the time. Knowing these two facts will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about me. It why I hate swimming (also known as controlled drowning). It's why big fuzzy socks are my go-to gift (both for others and for myself). It's why I avoid Black Friday like the plague (Cyber Monday however did some wallet damage). It's also the 3rd main reason I married my husband - in addition to loving and honoring, he promised to let me put my ice-cube tootsies on him until I fall asleep; it's in our vows and everything. (In case you are curious, reason #1 was he is the smartest, kindest, handsomest man I have ever met and reason #2 was he proposed with a Cracker Jack ring - how do you say no to that?!)

So if I won't venture outside of my toasty house for even the lure of the best sale of the year, it goes without saying that outdoor running, biking, hiking, swimming and frisbee are out of the question until I can breathe without snot-cicles forming. But a girl's still got to get her sweat on, even if she does live in the frozen wasteland of the north. (Dear Global Warming, Can you please move a little faster? You are awesome and I love you. Kidding. Mostly. Please don't write me irate environmental e-mails.)

Of course working out in cold weather is easy if you have a gym membership and a car to get you there but there are lots of other options for the more frugal:

1. Go outside anyways. Some of you like this. For instance, Nitmos of Feet Meet Street loves running so much that the only concession he makes to the weather is in his choice of clothing. (Of course, this is the same man who measures the windchill by the amount of "nipple erectus" he is sporting so take his advice as you will.) Seriously though, there are lots of fun outdoor options like snowshoeing and cross-country skiing and snowboarding that are only available in the winter and even I will stop whining about my frozen phalanges once I break a sweat. Just make sure you wear gloves and cover your ears - no matter how warm and sweaty your core gets, your extremities will still be ice blocks.

2. Make a home gym. I know, I know, I said cheap tips and these can get pretty pricey but you don't need fancy equipment to get a good sweat! Do you have stairs? Run them. Yes, your cat will look at you like you're out of your freaking mind but that's what cats do. Do you have a long-ish piece of rope and a banister to run it through? (No, there will not be a knot-tying test you Boy Scout, you.) You can do pretty much every move from the TRX workouts with just a rope. Yeah, it's better with the TRX (man, I love that thing and no they're not paying me to say that) but you don't have to have one to use your own bodyweight against you.

3. Bodyweight exercises. You can do these anytime anywhere. Impress your boss by pumping out one push-up for every copy that comes out of the machine (just don't do this on annual-report printing day. Unless you're Chuck Norris.) Put your back foot up on a chair and do Bulgarian Split Squats (also known as chair lunges for those of us who can't find Bulgaria on a map with a compass and an East European field guide) while you check your voice mail. Do wall sits during conference calls (and if anyone questions why you sound constipated tell them you are and then just enjoy the awkward silence that will inevitably follow). You are only limited by your threshold for public embarrassment.

4. Online fitness tutorials. Hello, YouTube! There are free workouts doing everything from CrossFit to Pilates to Kettlebells and many are posted by professionals (that are then hoping you'll buy their books and DVDs, natch). Netflix also offers tons of fitness vids and you can even stream them instantly to your computer or TV! There are also free websites dedicated to just this kind of thing. My absolute favorite: Bodyrock.tv ! We talked about the fitness-porn aspect of Zuzanna's site before but I haven't told you (well now I have) how I have fallen completely in love with her workouts. They are hardcore! And frankly, if I had her crazy cut abs I'd probably dress like that too. (No I wouldn't. Not even six-pack abs can hide these stretch marks.) Want to start hard? Her Sexy Beast workout kicked the Gym Buddies and my butts. KICKED. Plus, she requires very minimal equipment. This workout only needs a broom and two chairs!

5. DVDs. They're kind of the go-to indoor workout but I have to be honest with you: I don't really get a good sweat from DVD's, not even with Jillian Michaels "shredding" me. (I know, it's blasphemy.) I don't know if it's the boredom factor or that I hate being able to recite their jokes along with them (you know I love you Tony Horton but I need P90X in real time) but I rarely do these. Yet I was recently reminded that they can be a fun change of pace when I tried out the Bad Kitty Sassy Fitness Bootcamp DVD. It's hip hop. It's boot camp. It... kinda defies description. But it was really fun! And decently difficult too. Plus, anyone that wears glitter studded cuffs and leopard burnout tanks is my kind of Gym Buddy.

Mini-Experiment: Using Vibrations to Intensify Your Workout

I have a disgusting confession to make. I went 54 hours without a shower. But wait, it gets worse - I did five workouts during that time period. So in addition to leg stubble that could cut a brotha and armpit hair that would have made me the envy of the Lillith Fair, I had the stank of five sweaty workouts slicked and then dried onto my skin. Normally I'm not this hygiene challenged but circumstances and a packed workout schedule (concerns about over exercising duly noted) produced a confluence of nastiness hitherto unprecedented. Which is how I came to be introducing myself thusly:

Man at Power Plate Gym: Hi, I'm James and I'll be your personal trainer today!

Me: Hi, I'm Charlotte from The Great Fitness Experiment and I stink!

James: Oh, well, um, really? I can't smell you.

Me: And you seem too nice to tell me if you did. But seriously, I reek. So, I'll just apologize in advance.

James: Ah, okay. No worries. We always wipe down the equipment after each client.

After that inauspicious beginning, I began my first workout on the Power Plate, a large-ish machine with handles and a rubber padded platform that you stand on. It's all very beam-me-up-Scotty minus the pointy ears. So I did my best William Shatner and stood confidently on the machine. Well, as confident as I could be standing on a very big, very expensive piece of equipment that I had absolutely no idea what to do with.

James stepped in to rescue me from myself. After pointing out all the buttons on the Power Plate and saying a lot of science-y things about megahertz and g-forces and actually using the formula Force = mass X acceleration properly in a sentence, he got to the point. "What makes the Power Plate unique is the vibrating platform. The vibrations engage 30% more muscle fibers."

I tried to nod but by that point the machine was quietly humming while I held a static 90-degree squat. Normally I can talk during a squat (heck, normally not much can stop me from talking as the Gym Buddies will attest) but the vibrations went from my toes to my head, causing a not unpleasant tingly feeling. The best I could manage without my teeth chattering was a "hummmooooooowwwwwaaaaa" that sounded exactly like when you talk into an oscillating fan. Which of course made me giggle. Which made me notice that even my cheeks were vibrating. Which made me giggle even harder.

James was a very good sport through all of this, pausing to let me say silly things like "Luke, I am your faaaattthhhhhaaaaaa" and even laughing good naturedly despite the fact that I'm sure I'm not his first client to pull such shenanigans. He patientely explained that the thing that makes the Power Plate unique among fitness gadgetry is that due to the vibrations you "feel like you are working less but your muscles are actually working harder."

"So you perceive your exertion to be less but you are really getting a better workout?"

"Yes, and in a shorter amount of time." The typical Power Plate workout lasts about 30 minutes.

More for less. Which, correct me if I'm wrong, is the holy grail of exercisers everywhere. But the question was, would the Power Plate deliver on that promise or would it end up like those vibrating exercisers of yore?

James led me through an entire workout focusing mainly on lower body and core. I did squats, weighted lunges, rows, bridges and even a plank all while vibrating at approximately 35 times a second. Other than making my fatty bits jiggle embarrassingly, it felt a lot like a traditional body-weight workout. It was hard to compare my rate of perceived exertion due to the fact that I was so entranced by the vibrating that I kept forgetting to focus on my body but I'm pretty sure I didn't work out as hard as I normally would have. It's also hard to measure something like "30% more muscle activation" but I did feel like I was using muscles to stabilize myself that rarely got used.

At one point James instructed, "Stop moving your foot."

"I'm not," I answered, trying to keep my teeth from knocking together.

"You are," he replied, pointing at my toes.

I looked down. Sure enough my foot was dancing around all of its own accord. How embarrassing. I tried to put a stop to it but I couldn't really feel it moving, leaving me with the dilemma of launching into a full-on softshoe or using my other foot to hold it down. Thankfully the machine stopped vibrating saving me from what could only end in further giggling.

James then instructed me to drink water telling me that the vibrations would cause a lympatic "cleansing." I had no idea that the lymph system could "cleanse" or what that would mean (more peeing?) but apparently you helped the process along by drinking lots of water.

"So how do you feel?" he asked solicitously when I was all done getting smellier.

"Tingly."

"And...?"

The owner of the studio interjected, "You might not feel sore tomorrow; we always go pretty conservative on the first workout."

But the thing was, I was starting to feel a little tight in my legs which from previous experience usually indicates that I will be sore the next day. In addition, I sweated (swote? swotted?) plenty so I know I was working something.

My Conclusions
Does the Power Plate provide a more intense workout than traditional weight training exercises? Perhaps, but I think you could achieve the same level of exertion without the fancy machinery, it might just take you longer. The real selling point for me about the workout was not that it offered the fitness equivalent of a proceed-directly-to-go-and-collect-200$ card but rather all the attention that came with it. Every time you use the thing, you get a personal trainer. The monthly fee was about what you'd pay for a membership at a nicer gym but when you consider that you are getting a personal training session every time you go in (and they do have other equipment like cardio machines to round out your workout), then the fee becomes a screaming deal.

So my recommendation is that if you have a Power Plate in your gym already, it's definitely worth checking out. It was one of the most unique workouts I've ever tried and definitely ranked high on the entertainment factor. Also, if you are interested in hiring a personal trainer long term then a gym like Fit U is a great deal. (Thanks to Dennis for the tip! And to Candice, Keith and James for the great experience!)