fitness test drive

HALO TRAINER

What It is: Newly launched in the fitness industry this month, the Halo Trainer is a handy apparatus that you use with a stability ball, with other equipment like a BOSU ball or even on its own. You can put the Halo under the ball for better stability when sitting or doing planks. Or placing the Halo on top of a ball – sort of like handlebars – makes for better ergonomics when doing pushups and similar exercises.

What You Might Not Know: The Halo was invented by practicing physical therapist (and all-round nice guy) Bryce Taylor. You’re looking at a thoroughly thought-out tool designed and tested by a true expert, who developed more than 200 exercises to go along with it.

Feelin’ the Love: I was lucky enough to try out the Halo under the supervision of the inventor himself. He showed me how to do a bunch of common exercises using a stability ball but with a Halo twist. I was pleasantly surprised at how I could really concentrate on good, solid shoulder stability during planks when the Halo was under the ball. 

Then, when Bryce flipped the Halo out from under the ball and placed it, handle-bars up, on top of the ball, it was a whole new, well, ball game where planks were concerned (this time done with straight arms and beautifully neutral wrists, thanks to the Halo’s comfortably padded handlebars). Probably my all-time favorite exercise, though, was triceps dips with the Halo securely perched on top of the ball. It just felt so right compared to doing dips on a ball without the Halo, where hands sink into ball-squish, wrists all awry.

If I Could Change One Thing: Like with any piece of equipment that’s meant to “go with” something else, there’s a learning curve to using it and also it’s not as “fluid” going from one exercise to the next. You have to take a few seconds to re-position the Halo from time to time, which isn’t bad, just more challenging for those of us with Type A personalities.

Should You Buy It? Yes. It’s good for anyone doing rehab or in need of a better way to position wrists during most bodyweight exercises. And if you’re looking for a useful accessory to spruce up the stability ball, TRX, bodyweight or BOSU ball exercises you already do – or to take them to the next level – picking up a Halo Trainer just makes sense. HaloTrainer.com; $74.

FREESTYLER

What It Is:  A heavy-duty plastic platform shaped like a mini surfboard with two anchor points on either end for elastic tubing. One end of each tube has a cuff that you attach to your ankle and the other end has a handle to hold on to. Comes with multiple resistance tubes so you can adjust intensity.

Judging from this product’s website, the FREESTYLER seems to offer a little of everything: Pilates tool, platform for choreographed exercise-to-music classes, portable device for personal trainers, physiotherapy, rehab, stretching, sports, home gym … you name it.

What You Might Not Know: I’m told that the FREESTYLER is huge in Europe and is just making its way to North America now. I love this promo video for the product – it’s like a very exciting fitness/Broadway musical mashup.

Only, can someone explain to me the folks in costume with those skull-hugging Spiderman hoods? Seriously, please leave a comment and let me know what that’s about. It’s awesome.

Feelin’ the Love: I test-drove the FREESTYLER at a recent fitness conference and when they first strapped me in, I felt like it was pulling me off-kilter. But with instruction from a patient FREESTYLER trainer, I soon realized that the pulling effect was part of the FREESTYLER’s benefit and charm.

I could feel right away how the tubing’s resistance was hitting my muscles from multiple angles as I moved my legs and arms around – it felt like I was getting a better hip, abs and shoulder workout compared to traditional exercises like squats, planks and dumbbell lifts.

If I Could Change One Thing: The idea behind the FREESTYLER is to provide “functional multiaxis movement” (according to a document from the company). It makes you use lots of muscles all at once with training that “emphasizes the body’s natural ability to move in three anatomical planes of movement.”

All that multi-dimensional movement choice is great – really great – but it also complicates how to actually use this thing from the exerciser’s point of view. Since my arms and legs aren’t normally attached to resistance tubing when I move around, I didn’t find exercising on the FREESTYLER to be immediately intuitive.

I think you’re supposed to bust out with your own freestyle “flow” of moves. But I didn’t know how to do that. Luckily, FREESTYLER offers 285 free video clips on its website for guidance.

Should You Buy It? Depends on what you’re looking for. With all the movement variables and adjustable equipment options available with the FREESTYLER, you’ve got everything you could wish for in a piece of portable fitness equipment, except maybe ultra-simplicity.

Since the FREESTYLER is more than 200 bucks, maybe see if you can try it out first at a fitness conference or fitness supply store. And it wouldn’t hurt to check out a few video clips, as well.

BETHENNY’S SKINNYGIRL WORKOUT  

What It Is: A yoga DVD – released this month – from Bethenny Frankel, reality TV star best known for her appearance on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City and her Skinnygirl brand, which includes books, DVDs and her famous Skinnygirl Cocktails. The DVD contains 15-minute, 30-minute and 45-minute yoga routines plus a bonus 12-minute stretch.

What You Might Not Know: Bethenny is pictured solo on the DVD cover and she’s in the DVD, but this “housewife” is not the instructor – whew! That distinction goes to Mike McArdle, Bethenny’s NYC-based yoga teacher, who, according to the DVD’s cover, is certified in Bikram yoga and Pilates.

Feelin’ the Love: Both Mike McArdle and Bethenny Frankel are likeable on-screen workout buddies, and McArdle is clearly an experienced yoga teacher. I enjoyed the yoga routines and bonus stretch he put together for this DVD. Each yoga segment balanced toning poses with stretching ones. And I liked how McArdle frequently brought my attention back to engaging specific muscles – like inner thighs, abs and back – in each posture.

Plus, I got a giggle out of a surprise celebrity sighting on set – Bethenny’s dog Cookie scampering across the floor. I’m a dog person, so any cute canine automatically scores bonus points with me.

If I Could Change One Thing: Someone forgot to point out that cues for “right” and “left” sides should be according to how the viewer will experience the poses. Instead, McArdle cues directly to Bethenny, who’s sitting right beside him, facing the same direction as he is. I played this DVD on my computer and was facing the screen, of course, so my right side was their left side and vice versa. Since I like to close my eyes while holding a stretch, or when I didn’t have a good vantage point of the screen in poses like Downward Dog, this backwards cueing mixed me up.

The routines and bonus stretch helped release muscular tension, but the frequent chit-chat between Bethenny and the instructor distracted me from toning down my mind’s clutter. I just couldn’t mentally “let go” to achieve true inner calm with all the yammering going on … (Breathe … relax … did I just hear Bethenny refer to menstruation as “lady holiday”?)

Should You Buy It: I’m not a huge fan of aligning fitness with skinny girls or reality TV stars making fitness DVDs, but I warmed up to this DVD quickly. Still … all that chit-chat! If you’re more “Zen” than I am, you might not be distracted by the running commentary throughout this DVD; in fact, Bethenny fans might love it! In that case, this one’s definitely worth a try.

Sold exclusively at Target and Target.com (at time of post); $16.

AMY DIXON’S BREATHLESS BODY & GIVE ME 10 MORE! FITNESS DVDs

What It Is: Two new fitness DVDs from celebrity master trainer Amy Dixon: Breathless Body and Give Me 10 More! (the sequel to one of my fave fitness DVDs Give Me 10!).

Breathless Body is a Tabata-style workout, where you exercise intensely for 20 seconds and then recover for 10 seconds. Do that eight times and you’ve completed a sweaty four-minute Tabata drill. Breathless Body includes eight separate four-minute drills for a lot of intense exercise (and sweat).

Give Me 10 More! tosses in a little of everything with six 10-minute segments: cardio, total-body training, lower-body conditioning with dumbbells, upper-body conditioning with dumbbells, core exercises and a stretch.

What You Might Not Know: DVD instructor Amy Dixon is a former world competitive power tumbler. I’m not clear on exactly what that is, but it sounds extremely fun. She’s also got a degree in exercise physiology and two kids.

Feelin’ the Love: These two DVDs complement each other well. With just 30 minutes to work out today, I zipped through two four-minute segments from Breathless Body and two 10-minute segments from Give Me 10 More! Killer cardio. Check. Total-body conditioning. Check.

In Breathless Body, every four-minute Tabata segment focuses on the same exercise, done eight times total. You might think, “Who needs a fitness DVD if you’re just doing, like, 20 seconds of jumping jacks and 10 seconds of standing around over and over?”

Trust me, you want the DVD.

Tabata training is hard; Amy’s motivation and encouragement helped me stick to it even when I really just wanted to kick off my Nikes and call it a day.

I loved the dumbbell exercises in Give Me 10 More! because they weren’t the same old ones you see everywhere. Each set lasts just long enough for you to feel the burn without feeling bored.

If I Could Change One Thing: Amy cues when each Tabata drill is about to end in Breathless Body. But I’m a control freak, so I would have liked to also see an onscreen timer counting down from 20 seconds and again from 10 seconds.

Should You Buy It: Yes to both DVDs. I think they’re best for people who like exercise already, get bored easily, don’t have a ton of time and aren’t afraid to challenge themselves. I get a lot of fitness DVDs to review that I never look at more than once – these are two DVDs that I’d definitely do again.

Both DVDs are $19.99 at www.AmyDixonFitness.com