Smooth Fitness Blog

The summer is the best time of year to get outside and get active! Working out at a gym club or in your home is great, but there is nothing like getting outside once in a while and enjoying all the benefits nature has to offer. There are a lot of great outdoor activities that provide a fun experience coupled with a healthy workout.
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Whether purchasing a piece of home fitness equipment or working out at a gym, chances are the question of “elliptical or treadmill?” has crossed your mind at one point or another. Both elliptical trainers and treadmills can be used to burn calories and get into shape, but they are two very different machines. Each offers a unique set of workout functions. Making an informed decision when it comes time to start your routine or purchase a piece of home fitness equipment is very important; therefore, we have outlined some key differences and similarities between elliptical trainers and treadmills.
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Father’s day is just around the corner and with the summer months upon us, we thought it would be a great idea to go over some tips and strategies to insure you and your father have a healthy heart. Heart disease is a leading cause of death, and many adult males suffer from it. The best way to prevent the onset of heart disease is with a healthy diet and exercise routine. By eating the right foods and getting the right amount of exercise, anyone can significantly lower their risk of having heart disease.
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Smooth Fitness has always pushed fitness technology further to offer customers the highest quality treadmill and elliptical machines possible. Smooth Fitness is now offering the same great innovations and quality standards in the new S490 Home Gym. Home gyms are a great way to get into shape and tone muscle without membership fees or crowded fitness clubs.

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Elliptical bikes are a great way to get into shape with versatile workouts that offer real-world intensity and calorie burning benefits. With the new Smooth Fitness V2300 Semi-Recumbent Elliptical Bike, these fitness benefits are available from the comfort of your home. What separates elliptical exercise bikes from traditional elliptical machines is the user position. On a traditional elliptical machine the user is standing. On an elliptical bike the user is seated in an upright or semi-recumbent position. Because of this positioning elliptical exercise bikes offer two primary benefits, low impact training and a total body workout.

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With summer right around the corner the Marathon and Race Circuits have kicked into full effect.  All across america there are tons of Marathons, Half-Marathons and other race events you can participate in.  We decided to do something fun and pull together a listing of Marathon events spanning from Maine to California, Hawaii to Alaska and all the in betweens.  For the laughaul trucker driving from Maine to San Diego California it takes approximately 3,327 Miles.  We have pulled a combination of Marathons across the US that if you were to run all of them you could literally have run across the whole continuous united states.  Through the course of this Trek you would touch 22 states and it would take you 127 days if you were to run continuously 26.2 miles every day of the week.  Starting this weekend May 14th it would take you until Sept 17th to complete the 3,327 miles. In the Average Marathon there is an attendance of 35,000 participants and doing these 127 races that would equate to a total of 116.5 Million Miles run in these races during the course of the summer.  Adding all that up that is enough mileage to run around the Earth 4700 times.  For all of us runners out there image if we were to run a consistent relay race each person taking a 26.2 Mile leg of the race it would take 950 people to run their own Marathon to complete a full rotation around the Earth over the 2 1/2 years. 

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Most people will never run a marathon. Some will do it just to be able to say they’ve done it once, and cross it off their bucket list. Others will run a marathon once a year, or less frequently, sort of making a hobby out of it. And then there are those who are more serious about it, and who make running marathons a part of their very existence, running several per year.

But one Belgian man decided to take it a step further, and to break the record for most marathons run in one year. Over the last year, he has run 365 marathons—one per day.

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Marathon runners are unlike most people, even other runners. They have a certain determination that drives them to push themselves beyond the physical limits that keep most people from even attempting long-distance races. Marathon training—whether outdoors or on a treadmill—is intense, and not to be undertaken lightly. It can cause injury if you’re not careful, more so than just running a mile, or even ten. But if you’re up to the challenge, running a marathon will give you a feeling like nothing else. It’s not a race against the other runners. It’s a competition with yourself and your own body, to see what you’re capable, and to gain a sense of accomplishment and pride. Training for a marathon also provides many benefits to your health and well-being.

Whether you’re a seasoned pro, or are considering running a marathon for the first time, this 2011 United States marathon calendar will give you an idea of some of the great marathons out there, just waiting for you. Marathons have become big events that involve much more than just running. Many of them include entertainment, or present unique challenges not found in any other races in the country. If you really want to test your limits, consider trying an extreme marathon. How many of these marathons have you already run?

As winter rolls in, many people abandon exercise. I encourage my clients to use the winter as a time to switch up their workout routines and reap the benefits of cross training.  If you already workout indoors, the winter months may not threaten your workout schedule. However, if you’re an outdoor runner or walker or participate in other outdoor activities, the change in weather may put a strain on your fitness regimen.
 
My blog post titled “Tips to Keep Your Family Active and Unified This Winter” offers some great ideas for winter fitness activities.  Please check it out for various cold weather workouts.  In addition to these suggested activities, I have put together an effective and efficient indoor winter exercise circuit.  This routine utilizes Tabata Training.  Tabata Training is based on 4 minutes of intense interval training. During those 4 minutes you alternate between 20 second high intensity intervals and 10 second rest intervals.  This method has been proven to be more effective than traditional interval training which alternates longer rest periods with shorter high intensity periods.  Tabata Training can be done with any type of exercise including squats, sprints and pushups.  I use this training method periodically for many of my long time clients and it shakes up their routine every time. 

When I use the Tabata Method, I like to include it as part of a full circuit workout.  Try the following indoor exercise circuit which utilizes Tabata Training for an outstanding winter indoor workout blast.

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My home is in the North East.  As you may already be aware, we’ve been hit with a major heat wave.  The effect of this heat on the body has been multiplied by extreme humidity.  This oppressive weather has affected anyone attempting to exercise outdoors, including my outdoor fitness boot camp classes.  The participants in my class have had a difficult time keeping up with the recommended activities due to their bodies’ inability to cool itself.  My solution to this problem was to offer an alternative to the outdoor classes.  On days where the weather makes it difficult and unsafe to exercise outdoors, I move the class inside.  As you may imagine, this creates a different exercise experience.  In some ways, this change of focus makes the workout more effective.  By challenging your body with new things, you are cross training.  Cross training utilizes different workout techniques and philosophies.  In the past, many people thought that cross training was something only associated with athletes.  Now fitness enthusiasts recognize this as the method to help everyone get the most out of their exercise routine.

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