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It’s official – the Czechs love Chuck Norris!
Chuck Norris recently stared in a series of T-Mobile holiday commercials airing in the Czech Republic. The popularity of the commercials is spreading across Central Europe and more than 40,000 people have “friended” T-Mobile’s Czech unit since the ads started!
Check out one of Chuck’s Czech commercials here:
Read the full Wall Street Journal article “‘Brusli?’ No. Chuck Norris” here: http://ow.ly/3vQsF.
Wow! 2011 will be here in just a few more days. Are you making resolutions for the New Year? Share them with us in the Comments section!
If you’re like the rest of us, losing weight will be a resolution at the top, or near the top of your list! That’s great and we at Total Gym want to help you achieve your goals. But more importantly we want Health to be your focus, not an ideal pant size. Just a small increase in your daily exercise routine can make a huge difference over the course of the year.
This week Ginger Gunderson from Kings Mountain, NC, brings you our next GRAVITYStar video. Ginger created a challenging core rotation and leg routine. Add these Total Gym exercises to your repertoire and you are sure to see results.
As this year comes to an end, I’d like to take you all back in time with me to review the highlights of 2010 – from new product launches, to our GRAVITY Program’s continued growth in health clubs and physical therapy clinics around the world and finally, a global Summit in Italy. Seasons greetings to you and yours this holiday season!
Hello and Happy Holidays Total Gym gang!
Short blog today as I know we are all busy with holiday stuff. But I want to plant a Total Gym seed that I will follow up with in my next article.
As I mentioned in my “Core Golf Fitness” post this summer, I highly recommend the Leg Pulley Accessory for your Total Gym, even if you do not teach Pilates. You – or for fitness pros – your clients will LOVE it for the passive hamstring stretch alone, believe me! Another great reason is for the cable extensions that come with the leg pulleys. There are some creative and fun exercises you can do if you add some extensions to the regular cable pulley system.
I promised a short blog so I will challenge you to try it out and comment on this post – or email your video to TotalGymBlog@totalgym.com with a new exercise that you’ve tried with the leg pulleys. I was truly inspired by all the creativity displayed by GRAVITY trainers at the IDEA World Fitness convention with the “Be a GRAVITY Star” contest! You’ve been seeing some of the videos here each Monday. I will share some pictures and descriptions of my favorite exercises next time, so stay tuned.
I hope Santa is good to you all! Have gratitude every day – the best recipe for happiness!
Learn new Pilates moves, including Leg Pulley exercises, with this “GRAVITY Pilates :: Fresh Breath 3” DVD clip. Order the DVD at www.GravityClubhouse.com – it’s free to join!
Need Leg Pulleys for your Total Gym? See the links below to purchase a Leg Pulley System and other accessories for your Total Gym model:
Click here for Total Gym XLS, 2000 and 3000 Leg Pull Accessory
Click here for Total Gym GTS, PowerTower or 26000 Leg Pulley System
JayDee Cutting is a GRAVITY Master Trainer, certified personal trainer, Pilates instructor and founder of www.NiceDogYoga.com.
Jane Bright, a finalist on “Survivor Nicaragua” and named the “Sprint Player Of The Season,” is an impressive competitor. At 56 years young, Jane made it to the final five, competing against the 21-year-old Judson “Fabio” Birza. On the reunion show on Sunday, December 19, Jane proudly mentioned that she used Total Gym to prepare herself physically for the show!!! Jane shows baby boomers that it’s never too late to get in shape!
The Toronto Star “Reality Check” blog recently posted an interview with Jane where she mentions Total Gym:
Survivor: Nicaragua – Jane’s exit interview
Courtesy Toronto Star "Reality Check" blog
My guess is we haven’t seen the last of the “wrath of Jane.” In our interview late last week, Jane Bright didn’t want to say whether she was still holding a grudge against the castaways who had her ousted in Wednesday’s episode of Survivor: Nicaragua, but she did say somewhat ominously that she’s “a firm believer in what goes around comes around.”
The dog trainer from Jackson Springs, N.C., was clear about one thing: she hates to lose. The 56-year-old certainly went to great lengths to prepare herself for the rigours of the game. Right after the first audition call, before she knew she’d been selected, she started her physical training: working up to running three to four miles a day and swimming one to two miles; running the 68 steps behind her house 10 to 15 times at once; honing her upper body strength on a Total Gym; and spending 30 to 40 minutes after each workout in a sauna she got for a steal online that went up to 170 degrees F.
But of course, we know Survivor isn’t just a physical game…
Click here to read more of Jane’s interview.
Total Gym can have a dramatic impact for those committed to active aging. See how personal trainer Diane Cadinha helps Baby Boomers stay active and healthy through her work on Total Gym:
Get Total Gym XLS for 50% off, plus FREE shipping and 3 FREE Total Gym DVDs. Click here for details.
Here’s the latest from our mind/body contributor Valerie Paule. Consider adding a dance-based workout to your Total Gym routine to keep your workouts fresh and see results.
The title of this article is something you might have said to yourself had you recently attended one of my dance fitness classes. I’ve participated in a variety of dance fitness modalities over the years and I can’t recall the last time I took a class that added a different type of challenge by incorporating the use of weights in the dance routine portion of class. So that’s exactly what I’ve been experimenting with in my own classes.
There are a number of benefits to incorporating dance in your physical fitness regimen. Some of those benefits are:
If you teach dance fitness classes, consider challenging your participants by incorporating weighted resistance for a few repetitions of the dance. If you’re a participant, take your favorite dance moves from class and recreate them on your own with weights. I’ve challenged participants (and myself!) by incorporating dumbbells and weighted balls into the dance routines of my World Dance Funk and World Dance Boxing classes.
The weighted resistance adds a heightened level of focus and intensity to the dance. I especially love using the weighted ball because it forces me to figure out how to adjust my dance movements with both hands attached to an object. My dance moves often call for a variety of arm motions prior to adding the ball, motions I can no longer do “a la lettre” with the ball because both arms are no longer free.
If heightened brain activity helps stimulate you and keep you engaged during your fitness classes, then adding some type of weighted resistance to your dance fitness just might be for you! The added focus should definitely help you stay in your “zone.”
Tips for using weighted resistance while dancing:
1) If the dance routine is high energy and involves a wide range of motion with dynamic movements, I use dumbbells no heavier than 2 lbs and medicine balls no heavier than 3 lbs in order to maintain an intensity level and tempo as close as possible to what I’d achieved before incorporating the weights. You will increase your risk of developing an injury if you try to execute quick dynamic movements with weights that are too heavy so please, no fast movements with heavy weights.
2) If you do end up using slightly heavier weights, you should decrease your range of motion and “turn down the volume” of the cardio in the dance routine. For example, if a dance move involves bounces and high knees, as is the case with much West African dance, I may use a pair of 3 lb dumbbells, but I’m sure to lose the bounce and tighten my range of motion in order to control my arm movements, prevent recklessly flinging my weights and prevent risking injury to myself and others.
Watch the videos to see one of my high energy World Dance Funk class routines performed without weights, with dumbbells and, finally, with a medicine ball.
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Valerie Paule is a Los Angeles-based dance fitness instructor and the creator of fusion dance fitness classes World Dance Funk and World Dance Boxing. She is also a Life Success Facilitator who has a knack for combining inspiration and life success principles with fun physical fitness. For more information, visit www.FunLifestyleFitness.com and www.ValeriePaule.com.
It is one thing to eat nutritiously when you are in the comfort of your own home, but it’s an entirely different situation on the road. When you are pulled away from your routine, most people just throw up their hands and decide there is nothing they can do but to eat poorly. However, if you put a little thought into it, you can enjoy your travels and not pay for it through the first quarter of 2011!
In the Airport
Airports are notorious for overpriced, bad tasting and nutritionally horrendous food. We all know this yet there are still lines wrapped around the food court because people find themselves starving and unprepared. Here are some tips to avoid diet pitfalls in the airport:
On the Road
When preparing for a road trip, we will take an extra 30 minutes to update our iPods or make sure we have DVD’s for entertainment, but we often just hope for the best when it comes to food. If you do this on the road, the “best” that you are hoping for will most likely be a fast food drive-thru or a gas station smorgasbord.
I wish each of you a happy and healthy holiday! Enjoy time with your friends and families and I will see you in 2011!
Tara Coleman www.taracoleman.com
Tara Coleman is a Clinical Nutritionist living in San Diego, CA. She blogs for Total Gym Inside twice a month with “Tara’s Friday Bite.” Leave us your comments with ideas for future topics or email Tara directly at tara@taracoleman.com.
