Thursday, August 13th, 2009
I used to own one of those big pulley system weight machines. It cost me a couple of thousand dollars and was really good quality. I sold it on Ebay for $150 last year.
Now I use low cost equipment and get heaps better results. I can go outside and train, or I can train in front of the television. I can train in the living room and watch the kids at the same time. Or I can pack it all up and take it to the park and train with friends and clients in a different setting. No longer am I stuck in the study. And as I said, the results have been amazing. So what do I use?
First off I would recommend a good set of adjustable dumbbells. You know the ones where you can add or remove weight plates as required. I actually have a couple of sets. One I keep quite heavy for use with leg exercises and one set that I change around a lot more depending on what exercises I am doing. These will probably be your most expensive purchase, but you will use them over and over. There are so many different ways to use them and you can easily work your whole body in any number of ways. Almost any exercise can be done with a set of dumbbells.
Another piece of fitness equipment I use a lot are my medicine balls. There are so many different ways to use medicine balls too. You can get them quite cheap at large sporting goods stores or from the internet. I use a 4kg one and a 6 kg one. I use these in every session with my Personal Training clients and Bootcamps too. They are great to use on your own or for partner work.
One of my most used pieces of equipment is a step. I had a friend build me one from some timber he had laying around. It is about 12 inches high and wide and about 4 foot long. Clients can get on either end of it and step up and down together. It is amazing how much harder they can go with someone else to keep up with. The step combines well with the dumbbells or the medicine ball for step ups, step downs, sideways step ups, lungeing off the box or onto the box or even dips off the side. You can also jump on and off the box or even use it to do push ups with. Put your hands on it to make them easier, or your feet to make it harder. Clients that find it hard to get up and down from the floor, can even do ab exercises on it and it doubles as a bench as well. To improve fitness, a step is invaluable.
Another cheap piece of fitness equipment is the humble skipping rope. Uses are obvious and you will be surprised how hard it is if you haven’t tried it lately. If you persist though, you will improve your fitness really quickly with regular jump rope sessions and they are great for weight loss too.
There are many other inexpensive items to include in your home gym set up. These can include resistance bands which are great to take on holidays and yoga type mats which come in real handy when training outside on hard surfaces. Kettlebells are a great item to have, but they can be quite expensive so search around for them. There are many suppliers on the net. I use them a lot in my training sessions and my clients love them too. There are many kettlebell exercises for either strength development, endurance improvement or fat burning, and they work really, really well.
These are just some of the inexpensive ways to equip your home gym. Don′t be fooled into thinking you need an expensive pinloaded weight machine. All of my clients, not to mention myself, have fantastic results without them.
Tags: Adjustable Dumbbells, Bootcamps, Dips, Ebay, Fitness Equipment, Heaps, Kg, Leg Exercises, Living Room, Many Different Ways, Medicine, Medicine Ball, Medicine Balls, Partner Work, Personal Training, Pulley System, Sporting Goods Stores, Thousand Dollars, Ups, Weight Plates
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Friday, May 8th, 2009
There are many different ways of celebrating a new baby on the way the options are endless. It is the holding of a shower party which is the most popular where guests bring along baby shower gifts for the mother-to-be. All presents are normally items that mother and baby need thus helping the new parent in raising the baby.
Looking for ideas on what to give will not be a problem but what you have to remember when buying baby shower gifts is, it is not about you and your likes and dislikes. The new mom-to-be may not have the same opinion on what you see as pretty or not. Stick with the essentials and you can not go far wrong. By doing this you know that your baby shower gift will be truly appreciated especially if it helps towards reducing the new parents cost allowance in raising the baby.
If you are not sure of what the essentials are then the list below may help you decide on what to bring as your gift to the party.
1. Diapers may not be the most fanciful of gifts to bestow but certainly the most practical. We all know that you can never have too many diapers of which mummy will find out a little later when baby is here. Diapers can be very costly so I am sure that this baby shower gift will not be snubbed. You have two types of diaper the deposable or cloth. A tip for the parent, if you receive cloth and dont intend to use them then why not cut into neat square strips and use for baby flannels you will need them come bath time.
2. Bottles and Pacifiers are fabulous gift items but need to be chosen with care e.g. colours, pacifiers in blue dont suit little girls or vice or versa. This sort of gift picking can be a nightmare because baby can be picky on what they are comfortable and content with.
3. If you choose to buy baby clothes as your baby shower gift always go for a size bigger or bigger again as babies are not babies for long. Selecting what clothes to buy will be a lot simpler if the sex of the baby is known or the month baby is due. By having this information under your hat your choice regarding colours and which outfit for the season will make your task easier.
4. Toys make ideal presents but once again the sex of the baby is definitely a plus to know. You can help boost babys mind with self educational stuff, things like classic story baby books, video and music CDs even cuddly bears which often becomes babys companion at bedtime.
5. Bath time and babies, they either love or hate the water. For babies that love to splash then perfect gifts are baby shower bath toys. For infants who are dubious in taking the plunge you have to make this experience as enjoyable as you can by giving little excites like cute rubber ducks bright and colourful. Scented bath rubs like lavender cologne or even bubble bath may help baby relax more. Towels/flannels are among other gifts warmly welcomed for help to easing bath time pressure, mopping up splashed water. This is a time for wetsuits believe me.
If all fails at bath time in keeping the agitated baby content and the baby shower gifts are not helping to overcome the fear then you have no option but to play clown for a while. The more action around baby at this time e.g. a mad mummy and daddy dunking their head under water may just help baby to forget why he/she made all the fuss in the first place.
Tags: 2 Bottles, baby clothes, Baby Diapers, Baby Gift Essentials, Baby Ideas, Baby On The Way, Baby Pacifiers, baby shower gift, Baby Shower Gifts, Bath Time, Cuddly Toys, Cute Toys, Fabulous Gift, Flannels, gifts, Ideal Baby Clothes, Little Girls, Many Different Ways, Mother And Baby, Mummy And Daddy, new baby, New Mom, New Parents, Pacifiers, Party 1, Perfect Gift, Perfect Party Gifts, Showers, Time 2
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Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
Every grandmother and grandfather will tell you hilarious stories of their children when they were first born. And for every funny and touching story they have, they will be able to tell you another for every hardship they encountered. Parenting is something that is done in many different ways by each parent. The following are four general styles employed by parents.
Authority: Authoritarian parents rule on just that: authority. Commands are given to children that they must follow regardless of the circumstances. If these commands are not followed, harsh punishment will ensue. These parents do not welcome feedback from their children. In fact, it is met with severe punishment. The children tend to be quiet and unhappy. They have more of a fear than a love for their parents. Male children have trouble dealing with anger and female children have trouble facing adversity due to their heavily structured life where nothing ever changes.
Indulgent: Indulgent parents tend to be described as lenient. They allow immature and childish behavior. These parents expect the children to learn from their mistakes and to fend for themselves in most times of need. These parents tend to be democratic and allow for feedback from there children on issues. They will hear both sides of an argument and usually make a compromise. Indulgent parents usually avoid confrontation with their children by all means, but do tend to be more involved and emotionally closer to their children.
Authoritative: Authoritative parents are a combination of the two styles previously mentioned. They are the happy medium. While expecting proper behavior from their children, they welcome feedback and questioning on certain issues. They’re able to demand things of their children but are also able to respond to what they’re child says, questions and requests. These children tend to be the happiest, most confident and self assured of all the mentioned parenting styles. It is very difficult to be a purely authoritative parent.
Passive: Passive parenting is being completely uninvolved. These parents may never be home due to immaturity, work or the like. These children are usually raised by grandparents, older siblings, babysitters or themselves. There is no parental involvement at all.
We wish you many happy stories!
Tags: Adversity, Authoritarian Parents, Authoritative Parents, Childish Behavior, Circumstances, Combination Of The Two, Compromise, Confrontation, Dealing With Anger, Fear, Grandmother, Happy Medium, Harsh Punishment, Love, Many Different Ways, Parenting Styles, Proper Behavior, Severe Punishment, Welcome Feedback
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