Smooth Fitness Blog

Memorial Day is right around the corner, and that means a long weekend full of friends, family and food. With cookout season upon us after that, the team here at your #1 internet retailer of home fitness equipment thought it might be a good time to reflect upon which common picnic and barbecue foods we should all try to avoid if we want to see real results from our home exercise regimens.

1) Hamburger or bratwurst. With up to 25 grams of fat each, a standard hamburger patty or bratwurst is one of your diet’s worst enemies. A veggie burger would be your healthiest choice, but if you’re craving real meat, opt for leaner turkey patties or dogs instead.

2) T-bone steak or ribs. Any meat that’s marbled with visible fat is going to wreak havoc on your arteries. Instead, choose fresh fish like salmon or shrimp, or veg out by grilling up some juicy Portobello mushrooms.

3) Fried chicken. This one’s a no-brainer, but that fatty breading isn’t doing your figure any favors. Grill your chicken breast instead, and marinate with chipotle seasoning or a light vinaigrette.

4) Buttered white bun. Skip the butter, and go for whole wheat if it’s available. And PS – you don’t actually need a bun at all. For an ultra-health-conscious choice, wrap your hotdog in a lettuce leaf. That refreshing crunch comes in a 5-calorie, 0-fat package.

5) Fatty sandwich toppings. Trade the sharp cheddar and greasy coleslaw for lettuce, tomato and onion – as usual, fresh veggies are your most valuable fitness accessory. Then, finish it off with barbecue sauce instead of ketchup or mustard.

6) Potato salad. A good rule of thumb is to avoid anything mayo-based. Obviously, leafy green salad is your best option, with your own health-conscious dressing made from extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and fresh herbs. Not a fan of greens? Try a zesty black bean and corn side dish.

7) Potato chips. Pretzels will satisfy your salt craving at a quarter of the fat content. For dipping, opt for hummus, guacamole or salsa over traditional ranch.

8 ) Lemonade. The artificial sweeteners that make kids love lemonade stands also work behind the scenes to make you pack on the pounds. If the healthier choice of sweet tea just isn’t your thing, it’s best to stick with plain old water, freshened with a lemon wedge or cucumber slice.

9) Beer. There’s nothing like a cold one on a hot summer day, but we hate to break it to you: beer is not the best of fitness accessories. If you can’t stomach the thought of a light brew, go for dry wine like chardonnay or white zin, or a low-cal mixed drink like a gin and tonic or vodka soda.

10) Rich desserts (blueberry pie, chocolate brownies, etc). With plenty of natural sugars and so many different kinds in season for the summer, fresh fruit makes the healthiest dessert hands-down. Try fresh fruit kebobs or a colorful fruit salad to satisfy all flavor palettes.

Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive! If you want your home exercise efforts to pay off, you’ll need to supplement them with a healthy and nutritious diet. For more tips on how to stick to your fitness guns during summer gatherings, make sure you check back frequently here on the Smooth Fitness blog. Whether you’re in the market for new home fitness equipment or just looking for tips on how to stay healthy, the Smooth Fitness team looks forward to welcoming you to the family!

When it comes time for Mother’s Day, coming up with new ways to express your love and appreciation can be tough. While mom is sure to love the sentimental card and bouquet of flowers, why not switch it up this year with a gift that keeps on giving?

At Smooth Fitness, we suggest nixing the Mother’s Day clichés and opting instead to give the gift of health this Sunday. Wherever your own mom lands on the fitness spectrum, she deserves a present that celebrates her life while keeping her happy and healthy at the same time. From cardio machines to fitness accessories, we are sure to have something that will fit your mom’s unique fitness needs here at your #1 internet retailer of home fitness equipment.

For the beginner: If your mom is a fitness newbie, she’ll want to start off easy. An elliptical machine is a great way for anyone to ease into regular cardio workouts, thanks to their low-impact nature and multiple program settings that can be customized depending on fitness level. Check out our Elliptical Trainer Buying Guide to determine which of our Smooth ellipticals might be best for your mom.

You might also want to consider purchasing a heart rate monitor alongside any fitness equipment you buy for a mom who’s just getting started on her personal fitness journey. Using a heart rate monitor will allow her to regulate her performance to ensure she’s pacing herself appropriately, as well as track her progress as she becomes more accustomed to working out on a regular basis.

For the busy bee: Many of our moms have full-time jobs, or their hands are full carting the kids to and from school and soccer practice, paying the bills, volunteering, trying to find time for a personal life, or more likely, a combination of all that and more. For the mom who is constantly on the go, you need a gift that fits easily and conveniently in between the responsibilities of raising a family and the obligations of building a successful career.

Our collection of exercise bikes, including the all-new Smooth Fitness SitNCycle, offers the perfect solution: a cardio workout in a hands-free package that allows your mom to answer her emails, make a phone call, check her kid’s homework, or even catch up on some unheard-of leisurely reading all while staying in shape.

For the fitness junkie: If your mom’s already big into fitness, your task might be a little more difficult. Chances are she’s already found the best treadmill or elliptical for her and is fully equipped with all the fitness accessories she uses on a regular basis. But when it comes to health, there’s always room for improvement!

Since she’s been working out regularly for a while, your mom might need an upgrade to her “best treadmill” without even realizing it. Smooth treadmills come in all shapes and sizes, but an advanced runner needs an advanced machine, so check out the selection to see if your mom could use a sturdier belt or larger variety of programs. And to remind her to take care of herself after a hard workout, throw in a foam roller or exercise mat to help relieve any sore or stiff muscles.

This Mother’s Day, ditch the flowers and baked goods for a gift that will really show your mom how much you care. No matter how you choose to celebrate, the team here at Smooth Fitness wishes all our readers and clients a very happy and healthy Mother’s Day!

There’s only one thing worse for your home exercise routine than flu season: allergy season.

Spring is in the air, but so is pollen. That means all those beautifully flowering trees and plants are releasing tiny, annoying grains that infest your nose with irritants, sending your immune system into overdrive. Since your body is trying to protect you, it mistakenly labels the pollen grains as foreign invaders and starts attacking the allergens by releasing antibodies and associated chemicals, resulting in the runny nose and itchy eyes that slow you down every spring.

Of course, working out inside on your Smooth elliptical or treadmill eliminates some of the adverse effects of allergy season by allowing you to avoid direct contact with the pollen-infused air. But sometimes you just can’t get away from those symptoms. At Smooth Fitness, we feel your pain, and we’d like to share one of the best ways to fight off your allergies this spring season: eating healthy. Believe it or not, many natural foods contain nutrients capable of relieving your allergy symptoms.

1) Dark-colored produce: As if you needed another excuse to reach for the veggies instead of the potato chips, many naturally occurring plant compounds contain antioxidants that prevent damage to your airways. Try beets, berries, cherries, and red grapes for the best results.

2) Spicy turmeric: A yellow spice found in most Indian curries, turmeric offers anti-inflammatory benefits similar to many medicines. If you’re not into curry, you can also add it to soups, stews, or salad dressing – just be sure to avoid anything dairy-based, since it will reverse positive effects with its mucous-forming properties.

3) Leafy greens: For a great source of hesperidin, a phytonutrient with antihistamine properties, go green with veggies like broccoli, spinach, and romaine or red-leaf lettuce.

4) Black, green or white tea: Drinking tea might seem like a no-brainer comfort food when you’re feeling sick, but did you know that these teas also contain an important nutrient called quercetin? With antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antihistamine properties all rolled into one, quercetin is great for improving lung function during allergy season.

5) Tree nuts: Because they are high in magnesium and vitamin E, which alleviate breathing difficulties while boosting immunity, tree nuts like walnuts and pecans are a great way to fend off your spring allergy symptoms. Just don’t go overboard – nuts tend to be high in fat, so portion control is vital if you’re trying to lose weight.

Armed with these five allergy-fighting foods, you should be back on the home exercise horse in no time at all! Whether you’re increasing the resistance on your Smooth elliptical or running faster and longer on your new treadmill, your overall health and fitness can only improve when you incorporate a nutrient-rich diet into your workout regimen this spring.

With shorts suits, sporty dresses and low heels ushering in a new season for fashion, spring of 2013 is already shaping up to be an exciting time to splurge on some trendy new accessories. But here at Smooth Fitness, the #1 internet retailer of home fitness equipment, we invite you to invest in a new kind of accessory: one that can help you slip back into those high-waisted cropped palazzo pants you’ve been unable to squeeze into since Christmas, just in time for bikini season. They’re called fitness accessories, and they’ll help you pull off any new style that strikes your fancy this spring.

Find Your Center

• Ab wheel: Capable of providing one of the best core workouts of any fitness accessory on the market, the ab wheel helps you work muscles in not only your abdominals but also the oft-hard-to-reach lower back – improving your posture all the while.
• Stability ball: Supported by the Mayo Clinic as one of the best fitness accessories for strengthening your core, the stability ball is a staple in Pilates and yoga classes thanks to its emphasis on incorporating balance and spinal stability into every workout.

Build Your Strength

• Kettle bells: The main difference between a kettle bell and other forms of resistance training is that you only use one at a time, which offsets your center of gravity and forces your body to work extra hard at maintaining balance. That means you’re challenging all kinds of different muscle groups as well as your heart and lungs – all with just one simple fitness accessory.
• Medicine ball: Originally used during World War I as a rehabilitation tool for the elderly, the medicine ball has come a long way to develop into one of the most versatile fitness accessories available. Choose between six- and ten-pound medicine balls here at Smooth Fitness to round out your home exercise with a flexible accessory that serves multiple functions in the world of strength training.

Smooth Fitness offers a variety of other home fitness accessories, including balance toners, exercise mats, wrist weights, resistance tubes and more! If you want to achieve the best wellness possible for you, you’ll need a comprehensive collection of home fitness equipment, and a key component of that is fitness accessories like the ones described here. So do your health a favor this spring! New fitness accessories from Smooth Fitness might be just what your home exercise routine has been missing.

Ever heard that saying “anyone can be a runner,” and automatically roll your eyes in irritation?

We’ve all been there. It’s annoying because while it’s technically true – barring a disability, we all have legs and are capable of putting one foot in front of the other in a repetitive motion – it certainly doesn’t seem like it sometimes. Watching the confident, muscular athletes of a professional track team or the graceful, lithe participants of a marathon, it’s almost second nature to respond with a simple shrug and an accompanying “that’s not me, it’s never been me, and it never will be me.”

But as logical as it seems at the time, comparing yourself to other (perhaps more objectively “successful”) runners does nothing but hold you back from your own running potential. Sure, you might never finish a marathon or even enter a race, let alone win one. But you don’t have to be a pro athlete to make running a part of your lifestyle – especially if you ease into it with help from a treadmill.

Running on a treadmill is great for beginners for a few reasons. First of all, the cushion of the treadmill belt helps prevent those injuries that are all too common when you start moving your body in a way it deems foreign and unfamiliar. Second, running on a treadmill eliminates the potential for encountering pesky hills, wind, rain, and anything else the outdoors might throw your way, allowing you to focus on perfecting your stride and learning to breathe rather than conquering more advanced challenges.

Finally, the treadmill is your best friend when it comes to brutal honesty. Because running will inevitably be difficult at first, it’s easy to fall into the “I’ve been running FOREVER” trap when you’ve really only logged three minutes. The treadmill displays your distance, time, speed and heart rate right in front of you at all times, so it won’t let you fool yourself into thinking “mehhh, good enough” about a mediocre workout.

If you’re ready to enter the heart-pumping, lung-strengthening, fat-burning world of running, start by buying an affordable treadmill from Smooth Fitness. As your #1 internet retailer of home fitness equipment, Smooth Fitness can be trusted to sell you a quality product at a reasonable price – which must sound pretty good when the end result means a happier, healthier you.

It might not feel like spring with all the snow we’ve seen in places like New York over the last couple of weeks. With temperatures in the mid-50s in Washington DC and low 70s in California, however, it does seem like all that wintry weather might finally be behind us. Which means that many of you home fitness enthusiasts are probably considering trading in some of those evenings on the treadmill for mornings on the trails.

The team at Smooth Fitness is just as excited about spring springing as you are. But transitioning from the soft cushion of a treadmill belt to the unforgiving rigidity of concrete can mean harsh consequences for your body and your psyche. Before you hit the pavement, keep a few things in mind:

• Losing momentum: If logging 3 miles on the treadmill feels slightly easier than logging three miles around your neighborhood, that’s because it is. It’s not noticeable enough to detract much from your workout, but by propelling you forward, the treadmill belt does some of the running work for you – and that’s without taking into account factors like hills and wind. So don’t be a hero; start off slow and give yourself time to adjust to running outdoors.
• Problems with pacing: One of the best parts of a treadmill is that it keeps your pace for you. Whether a 5K or a marathon, everyone who’s completed a race knows that pacing is perhaps the most vital aspect of becoming a good runner – and often one of the hardest. Try running with a friend so you can pace each other, or plan a playlist of high-tempo running songs.
• Pavement pains: There’s just no getting around the fact that running on pavement is terrible for your joints, not to mention it makes you more prone to shin splints and muscle cramps. If there’s a shortage of dirt trails around your area, avoid pavement pains by taking a few minutes to walk, warm up your muscles, and stretch them out before you begin running. Stretching cold muscles is useless, so try to make post-run stretching a habit as well.

Of course, if you’re in the market for a new treadmill, warmer weather doesn’t necessarily mean you should put off buying one until November. April is famous for rain showers and other wet weather that’s less than ideal for a jog in the park, and the 100-degree-plus weather of summer isn’t always the most encouraging, either. Stay prepared for whatever the fickle weather throws your way by browsing through our Smooth treadmill selection for the home fitness equipment that keeps you fit, rain or shine!

Most of us have learned it the hard way. As much as we may hate to admit it, no matter how many hours we log on the treadmill or elliptical, we simply won’t shed those excess pounds without adjusting our eating habits. An exercise regimen can’t – and won’t, believe us – do its job unless you supplement it with a healthy diet.

But that being said, it’s time to clear up some common yet problematic black-and-white thinking about what it really means to adopt a “healthy diet.” Because let’s face it: Cutting “bad foods” out of your diet entirely is a nice concept in theory, but it tends to backfire in practice.

Now, it’s certainly true that not all food is created equal, which is why balance and moderation are key. Do we suggest gorging yourself on a family-sized bag of greasy potato chips every day for lunch, or wolfing down half a rich chocolate cake for most dinners? Nah. Do we suggest enjoying a handful of potato chips alongside your sandwich and fruit a few times a week, or savoring a slice of that chocolate cake after your healthy dinner of lean protein and sautéed veggies? Absolutely.

Here’s why: Completely depriving yourself of those fat-filled greasy potato chips or rich chocolate cake can actually make you gain weight. While this seems to defy logic, think of it in terms of physics. Every action requires an equal and opposite reaction, right? The pendulum will always swing back to the other extreme; the more you deprive, the more you will binge to compensate. Since you haven’t been allowing yourself to consume anything conventionally “tasty,” thoughts of doing so will probably consume you until you finally snap under the strain of your diet – and go WAY overboard in the other direction.

It might seem like magic, but indulging in small amounts of your favorite “unhealthy” foods every once in a while might actually help your weight loss plan in the long run – by preventing those feelings of deprivation from turning into enormous, pound-packing binges. So next time you need a little exercise motivation, it’s ok to break off a square of that dark chocolate bar hiding in the back corner of your cabinet.

Just don’t scarf down the whole thing.

Another year gone and another year of New Year Resolutions, so what’s the difference between this year and last? Last year most of our resolutions were long gone within a month. What can we do to make this year different, what are tricks of the trade to allow us to ditch that weight, save more money, go back to school or get that dream job? Statistics show that only about 8% of us stick to our resolutions. How can you become an 8 Percenter? (more…)

How many times have you seen someone not stretch before they work out? Maybe you’ve jumped on the treadmill yourself once or twice without loosening your muscles first. There are many benefits of stretching you might want to consider before skipping and hopping directly in to your exercise routine.

The first and most important benefit to gain from stretching is relieving of pain! Most of the stiffness and tightness you feel in your muscles after a workout can be prevented by stretching. Another important benefit of stretching is that it releases a lubricating substance from the cartilage within your joints; which allows your joints to move more smoothly, preserving the cartilage in your joints and keeping your bones from scraping. Stretching is also known to improve the circulation of water and nutrients through your body, which slows the aging process. Studies have also shown that stretching can lengthen muscles and, by doing so, can improve your posture.

Here’s the kicker. All these benefits are achievable, even if you don’t regularly work out. You can experience a healthier, more comfortable day, just by stretching.

In order for stretching to be effective, you’ll need to warm up your muscles first. A simple ten minute walk or jog will make a huge difference. Remember, cold muscles are tighter, and will make you have a harder and more uncomfortable time stretching.

However, there are times when stretching should be avoided. Don’t stretch before intense workout sessions like sprinting or other high-intensity cardio training. Also, some chronic health issues can be exacerbated by stretching. Consult a Doctor if you have an injury or other health issues that may cause problems.

While dieting is a very rewarding process, it can be a difficult one. Many individuals struggle with staying on track, weight loss plateaus, and resisting temptation. Sometimes it may seem as if you need to make a major dietary change, but in many cases small changes over time almost always lead to healthier and longer lasting results. Overcoming these obstacles and knowing what to change is difficult on your own; therefore, we have come up with some tips to keep your diet simple and easy.

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