BN Fitness

For YOU or for someone you love!

Staying fit is easier said than done. Boredom and lack of motivation can kill your workout routine. Doing the same work out routine day-in-and-day-out gets old fast. And repeating the same workout may actually cause a plateau in your progress. Adding in a few different tools can make your fitness routine feel fresh again.

If you’re already part of BNFIT Bootcamp or if you’re a personal training client, you’re aware that our workouts stay innovative to keep you motivated. OF COURSE, our favorite thing for Christmas is a BNFIT Rewards Giftcard, but here are other items we suggest as gifts to yourself or a loved one.

A Pull-Up Bar

Most military branches use the pull-up as a benchmark — for good reason. In pull-ups, the body uses multiple muscle groups — your lats, shoulders, back, forearms, biceps, and core. Snap out of your typical workout routine with a Pull-up Bar. Iron Gym is a good brand because it attaches to your doorway with pressure alone –- no screws or bolts. Whenever you walk in or out of the room, crank out two or three pull-ups. Never go to failure. After a few weeks of consistently doing this, you’ll be surprised by the results. You’ll be significantly stronger and have honed that manly V-shaped torso that women find so attractive.

Vibram Five Fingers

I caused an uproar on a weekend trip to Las Vegas when I wore my Vibrams everyday. But they’re not just trendy; they’re running shoes. There aren’t any studies that show that shoes with a bunch of fancy features help you run better or ward off injuries. In fact, some researchers theorize that conventional running shoes may actually cause injuries by preventing you from running the way your body was designed to.

Of course our feet, having been pampered and protected since we were newborn babes, are too tender to suddenly be ground into the gravel. What they need is a covering that offers protection from glass and rocks while not inhibiting the natural barefoot running form. This is where Vibram Five Fingers come in. Vibrams are like gloves for your feet.  There’s no padding, and there’s a slot for each one of your toes. When you wear Vibrams, you feel like you’re barefoot. People who have made the switch to Vibrams have reported improved posture, elimination of lower back pain, and decreased running injuries. They also report funny looks from people at the gym, but they get used to that.

Heart Rate Monitor with GPS

Any kind of exercise is great; just getting outside and moving your body around for awhile has it’s benefits. But using a tool to track just how hard you’re working can take your fitness up to the next level. That’s why heart rate monitors are an effective tool in a man’s exercise arsenal. They let you know if you’re slacking off and if you’re really training at a high enough intensity. Men like competition and perhaps the best competition is with yourself, seeing just how hard you can push your body, willing it to beat last week’s marks. And knowing how many calories you’ve burned can be really motivating, not just because you can put a tangible number with your workout, but also because you realize how hard it is to burn even 600 calories and how easily you can put them back by stuffing a donut in your piehole when you get home.

Having a heart rate monitor with a built-in GPS is even more handy. It can track your speed and distance during biking or running workouts, so you don’t have to guesstimate how far you’ve gone. You can also create laps for yourself and compare your last 16 workouts. All of this data can be easily uploaded to your computer for creating reports on your progress, so you can see if you’re improving week to week.

Kettlebells

Barbells and dumbbells are a fantastic way to increase strength and muscle mass. But chances are you’ve been using them for years, doing the same old exercises over and over again. You need something to snap you out of your tired routine. Enter the kettlebell, one of the best training tools out there. What’s a kettlebell you ask? Imagine a cannonball with a handle. Awesome and awesomely manly.

Created by Russian weightlifters, kettlebells have been used for many decades by athletes and strongmen to perform high intensity workouts that provide strength, cardiovascular, and flexibility training. A short 30 minute workout with one of these babies builds muscle, burns  fat, and gets you in the best physical condition of your life. Become strong like bull. Start using kettlebells.

Medicine Ball

Weights. Treadmill. Crunches. Boooooring…

Medicine balls are one of history’s oldest pieces of exercise equipment. Ancient Persians would fill animal bladders with sand to create their medicine balls. Fast forward to the 19th century, and you’ll find physical culture enthusiasts and boxers throwing around medicine balls to invigorate and strengthen their muscles. Today the medicine ball is experiencing a revival with fitness enthusiasts across the world. They’re one of the best pieces of exercise equipment to help build functional strength, and they can be used to do exercises that are both fun and effective.

Yes, my life is given to fitness in many ways and I’m delighted with hurdles and heavy ropes as gifts. But you’ll be surprised at how a loved one will respond to you giving them a gift of fitness — as opposed to a sweater that they may not wear.

Alas…. BNFIT’s Favorite Things.