Don't Let the Machines Take Over

Do you own this absolute best results-producing workout machine?
by Joie de Vivre

I bet you do?  Know what it is?  Your own body.  Now, I should warn you that everything I am about to proffer comes as the distillation of all that I have been reading on the subject over the last year.  Unfortunately, since I never intended to write on this topic, I don't have a single link or source handy to document my findings.

Life is a Workout

I recall a line from the 1920's era play TAMARA where one of the characters, an aspiring ballerina, was trying to get a maid to exercise with her.  The maid tacitly declined, with a response something along the lines of, "I don't need exercise. I work!"

Suffice it to say, as anyone who has children, cleans their own home or does physical labor for a living can attest, just getting your body moving and having a healthy active lifestyle can get you fit for duty.... maybe not in super model shape... but definitely fit enough to carry the groceries up the stairs, stroll the farmer's market with friends and maybe even keep up with the grandkids.

Then why the heck are we not in better shape?  The obvious -- our sedentary computer-based lifestyles, which show no signs of changing.  What to do about it?  We know we need to be more active, and want to maximize that effort.  But what activities work best ..... and fastest?

It's good to miss a spot
Scores of fitness experts point out that 'spot reduction' does not work.  So it stands to reason that equipment geared towards just one area can be a colossal waste of time and effort.  Much for time-effort-effective are physical activities that work several muscle groups at once -- such as swimming, Yoga, walking and my favorites: hiking, tai chi and dance!  Engaging in these forms of exertion that are so natural to the body use body weight, gravity, and in the case of swimming, water, to provide the resistance that increases stamina and strength.  And they do so with far less chance of injury than is afforded by unforgiving, unthinking machinery.

For those who feel the need to strengthen a specific body part or section, again, your body has everything needed to give you a fantastic injury-free workout.  Planks, push-ups, pull-ups, lunges, dips -- these age old exercises may go in and out of vogue, but they really can't be beat.  Then again, even these do more than work just one muscle group.

Be Afraid
In the absence of data to back up my claims, I gave into the urge to find the worst workout machines out on the market.  Here is a site listing all manner of mechanical atrocities into which you can pour your savings: Worst Workout Equipment

Included on the list, and perhaps most entertaining of all.... the Hawaii Chair.

I think I'd rather put my money towards a trip to Hawaii and take a hula class there!