Workout Videos for your home

If you like a lot of variety and you would like to workout at home, I found a great website that will help you do just that. My Pypeline is a great website for accessing and downloading videos that you can use anytime you want. It is probably cheaper than joining a gym and you can repeat or select a new workout whenever you want. The great thing is that it is on your schedule. Use it whenever you want.

Sleep Tracker

Here is an interesting device. It monitors your sleep and tells you when to wake up. Personally, I think my alarm would normally go off before the device will tell me that it's time to wake up, but I guess that's why it's important to use something like this. Here is some information from the Sleeptracker's website:

How does SLEEPTRACKER® work?

SLEEPTRACKER® continuously monitors signals from your body that indicate whether you are asleep or awake. Because you wear SLEEPTRACKER® on your wrist like a watch, its internal sensors can detect even the most subtle physical signals from your body. SLEEPTRACKER® finds your best waking moments, so that waking up has never been easier.

When you sleep, your body goes through a series of sleep cycles. The average adult experiences 4-5 full sleep cycles over an 8-hour period. Each cycle lasts about 90-110 minutes and comprises five different stages, as illustrated by this chart.

No two people have the same sleep cycles, and nobody has the same cycle twice. Many factors can influence sleep cycles, including diet, exercise, medications, drugs or alcohol, stress, sleep disorders, and sleep deprivation. Age and gender can play a role, too: women tend to sleep more soundly than men, and as we age, we sleep more restlessly.

A typical sleep cycle has five stages and takes 90-110 minutes. During Stage 1 of your sleep cycle, you sleep lightly. At Stage 2, your sleep gets progressively deeper. At Stages 3 and 4, also known as "Delta Sleep," you sleep most heavily; this is when your body rebuilds itself.

Stage 5 of sleep, also known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, is marked by extensive physiological changes, such as accelerated respiration, increased brain activity, rapid eye movement, and muscle relaxation. People dream during REM sleep.

In the first third of the night, Delta sleep stages last longer than REM stages. As the night progresses, Delta sleep diminishes in length. By the last third of the night, Delta sleep usually ceases, while REM stages lengthen.

SLEEPTRACKER® may find multiple almost-awake moments within the sleep cycle. Almost-awake moments may also vary in frequency throughout the night.

By monitoring your sleep cycles for optimal waking moments during the preset ALARM WINDOW, SLEEPTRACKER® finds those almost awake-moments and gently wakes you when you're most alert. The result? You wake up refreshed instead of groggy. Waking up has never been easier.



They have 2 styles. One for $179 and one for $149. If you are interested, visit http://www.sleeptracker.com/

Cybex Trazer

I just recently watched a video on Traq 3-D, a clinic that uses a 3-D system to rehabilitate patients. They use the Cybex Trazer, a new system that makes video games where you are the joystick. It tracks your movement and records your heart rate as you play. Some clinics are using it for rehabilitation on patients. It's a great idea, especially for athletes, that gets the person moving in a controlled clinical environment. It is designed for the young to the elderly and has levels that can be varied by the clinician.

I don't know of any place around Katy that has this in their clinics, but maybe we will see this in the near future. This does seem to be the future of video gaming and maybe rehabilitation and sports training as well. Video systems like the Nintendo Wii and the Cybex Trazer will probably be the first of many more systems to come.

Exercise AND Video Games? No Problem!

I think this is just a great product. We all know that kids are exercising less and less since they are no longer going outside to play, but they do love their video games. Gymkids just released a product that will take care of that. Theyv'e launched two machines, the Cyberbike and the Step2Play.

As the kid is playing their game, as long as they keep moving, the controller keeps working. When they stop, so does their controller. You can control the speed they have to move at to keep it going, so it won't kill the child just because they are young and can't go as fast as their older brother and sister. It's not a flawless system, because you really don't want to force the kid to uses a stairmaster, but at least it's a better choice than the kids sitting on the couch the whole time.

I'm a big kid myself, but I think I'm a little too big for this. If you are an adult and love video games, but would like to find something that will force you to keep moving, try the Nintendo Wii. It has a controller that you can use like a tennis racquet, or a sword, etc... You will get to stand up, move around, and still enjoy your favorite games.

Vibration Exercise Machine - Haven't We Done This Before?

Vibraslim has just launched a vibrating platform for exercising. Other companies make it for around $5,500, but they have a version that sells for only $1,699. I don't know if this is trying to become a trend or not, but I am having flashbacks of another machine years ago.

Anyway, I'm sure this is totally different, or at least I hope it is. Their claims about the machine are:

This advanced technology allows you to burn fat and cellulite, increases Human
Growth Hormone, increases muscle strength, increase metabolism, build bone
density, and improve flexibility.

They claim that a ton of celebrities have used the machine, but that's up to you to determine what that's worth to the story. One last claim about the history of it.

History of Whole Body Vibration

Vibration Exercise technology is supported by decades of scientific research,
originating with the Soviet Space Program, which pioneered the technology now
applied in the fields of health and fitness. Russian scientists discovered that
cosmonauts that spent extended amounts of time in space experienced significant
loss in bone density and muscle tissue due to the lack of gravity. Russian
researchers were led to experiment with Vibration Exercise technology, finding
that by using this equipment they could not only stopped the loss, but amazingly
increase bone density and strengthen muscle tissue.

Using Vibration Exercise technology, the Russians were able to set a record
of more than 420 days in outer space. Our American astronauts, training on
conventional fitness equipment, were forced to return after just 120 days due to
bone and muscle degeneration. It wasn’t until after the fall of the Iron Curtain
that Vibration Exercise technology found its way to other countries. Today NASA
fully embraces Vibration Exercise technology with much success.

You can visit their website and order one at www.myvibraslim.com

If you have tried it, let me know what you think.