Fitness Infomercials

In recent years there has been the development of the ultimate commercial. They are designed to be 30 minutes long, sometimes 60 minutes. The infomercial grabs the attention of the audience with a hook and then it reels them in. There are infomercials for every type of product now such as vacuum cleaners. cleaning products, cosmetics, motivation tapes and learning how to buy and sell stocks.

I have to admit that on the weekends I often scan the channels for my favorite infomercials. I have seen them time and time again yet I still watch them when I see them. I am most intrigued by infomercials for makeup and my favorite fitness products. I have bought fitness products because of watching the infamous infomercial. I guess I am a victim of media. My younger daughter is going to be doing her masters degree in Media Studies and perhaps I would be a good study for her.

I do have favorite type of fitness infomercial. I love infomercials about workout videos/DVDs. I used to think that I had the biggest collection of workout videos until I started visiting Video Fitness Forums. The members of the forum refer to themselves as vidiots and I have to admit that I am one of them but from reading some of the posts I have realized that I do not have the biggest workout video collection so now I have to catch up. ( Just kidding).

I think that currently some of my favorite infomercials include the Turbo Jam workouts sponsored by BeachBody.com. I have purchased all of the Turbo Jam workouts that are available and I have to admit that these are probably the best workouts that I have purchased from BeachBody. I did not order them because of the infomercial though. Living in Canada we always get things later than in the USA so I actually only saw the infomercial a few months ago. I actually preordered these from BeachBody before the infomercial had been broadcast. Most of the the workouts that I have purchased from BeachBody were from reading posts on the Video Fitness Forum.

In case you are wondering what Turbo Jam is all about, it is a series of videos/DVDs that were designed by Chalene Johnson, who is the founder of Turbo Kick which is a syndicated fitness class offered all over the United States. Both the class and the videos involve cardio kickbox mixed with simple dance moves with an amazing soundtrack of funk and hip hop tunes. These workouts are fun and can provide the exerciser with their own motivation, in that the exercisers wants to do the workout because they are enjoyable. You can kick and dance your time away for 45 minutes and not even think that you are actually working out. The boredom factor in exercise seems to be missing here which is a good thing.

Another favorite workout available through infomercial is Kathy Smith's Project You. This again is offered through BeachBody.com although I did not buy it because of the infomercial. I guess I am really good at preordering workouts before they are actually released. I also read about this on the Video Fitness Forums. But there is an infomercial for this one so I felt I had to include it. Kathy Smith's workouts are always excellent and this program is designed as a 12 week program to get someone from a bieginner to low intermediate level back into shape. The program is a total fitness makeover with several cardio workouts, strength training workouts and some yoga and pilates to balance everything out. This is another excellent program.

Slim in Six is another personal favorite of mine, again a product by BeachBody. I guess I like to see the transformations of the people in the testimonials. Slim in Six is a 6 week program designed to do a total fitness makeover in six weeks. The workouts are very good but I found the boredom factor high.
If you have the dedication to follow it, the exerciser can achieve the goals promised by the workout. I did purchase this one from viewing the infomercial but I bought it from our Canadian home shopping channel at a much lower price. The Slim Series is a follow up workout to Slim in Six for the advanced exerciser. There is no informercial for this one but it is a very challenging series. Again. I found a boredom factor in the workout so I do it for special occasions.

Power 90 is another BeachBody workout that I bought because of the infomercial. The infomercial presents the workout in a very attractive manner. It also is a 12 week total fitness program. The workouts are solid but like Slim in Six you have to very dedicated to follow the program because it is also very repetitive and leads to boredom. But people have had excellent results from this program.

Tae Bo is one of the first infomercials that I saw for workout videos. Billy Blanks is very motivating in promoting his products. He is very spiritual when he speaks about his programs. The cardio kickbox craze stems from Billy. I owe him a big thanks because it was at the time when Tae Bo first emerged, that I was asked to design my own cardio kickbox program for the Rose City Athletic Organization. The original Tae Bo series did have some flaws, mainly too many repetitive motions that led to some injuries, but on the whole the workout was very good. There was definately a fun factor involved and a feeling of empowerment for the exerciser. I do have several Tae Bo workouts in my collection with Billy's Boot Camp and Boot Camp Elite now currently in my collection.

The Firm Body Sculpting System has some very exciting infomercials. There are currently four Body Sculpting System programs available. I have the workouts from the first three. The workouts are total fitness programs and they are referred to as aerobic weight training. I did the Firm workouts religiously for a time period. I do believe that I was in my shape ever when I used the Firm as my main fitness program. I am of the belief that the earlier workouts were somewhat more challenging than the current ones available today. I still believe that the workouts are solid workouts. The workouts involve cardio moves done with weights with many of the moves done on a step. The workouts are presented in a manner similar to a circuit so there are cardio segments and then strength segments. The strength segments are challenging so if you use the program I would follow a Firm workout with a cardio on the next day. Since most of the workouts are strength workouts, I do not recommend doing them every day. The Body Sculpting System workouts tend to have a new piece of fitness equipment with each system. I think that if you can purchase the videos with the equipment you can save money. Generally, the step is what is modified with the workouts. I did purchase the Firm Box, which converts to different heights and also to an incline box. I was not that happy with the Box and I wish that I had kept my old step which worked well with the other Firms. Watch for more workouts from the Firm. I heard that there will be another released this fall.

Total Gym is very popular on the infomercial circuit. There have been several different designs and improvements to the Total Gym over the years. We bought a Total Gym from our home shopping channel about 10 years ago. When we built our fitness room we did order a newer model but the model we ordered was no longer available. There were some very expensive models available to us but we decided to go with a small corner home gym system with weights. What I like about the Total Gym is that it can be used like a pilates reformer as well as a strength training machine. You'll have to watch the infomercial to see what I am talking about.

Besides the infomercial products that I have mentioned here, there are several others that I have not purchased. It's not that they are not good products but sometimes you can only buy so much. I have heard good things about Core Secrets which utilizes a stability ball. I have several balls so if I do purchase this it will be the DVDs only. The Urban Rebounder looks like a fun workout. We have a small mini tramp in the basement already so I'll pass for now. Tony Little has the Gazelle which is a nice low impact glider. My daughter wanted one so we bought a used one which she has never used but we will make sure she takes it with her when she goes away to this fall. The BowFlex infomercials are amazing. We considered this for our fitness room but the dimensions were too big.

There are some products sold by infomercial that offer a lot of hope to people that really are a waste of money. Many of the ab machines, not all, are a waste of money. I think that the best ab machine is the stability ball so if you don't have one then I would consider Core Secrets. It will be less money and more versatile. Many of the electronic gadgets that are sold out there offer false hope so don't give the companies your hard earned money. If you see something that says there is no exercise involved, you can guess that it will not do anything for you.

As an aside, in my love of fitness infomercials, I must mention that I did appear in a very short lived fitness infomercial for Denise Austin's Power Zone Ultimate Metabolism Boosting Workout. The picture posted in the Support System post was taken there featuring some of my good friends who also appeared in the infomercial.

If you do not know what I am talking about with the term infomercial, turn on that television, after any late night television talk show or early Saturday morning. You will find them. Happy watching!

Be Safe

When you finally get to your big event, you will most likely be with a large group of people so the biggest safety issues will most likely be health ones such as avoiding dehydration and avoiding injury. While you are training for the marathon or the 5K, there may some other issues that you need to pay attention to.

Many people train alone and often they go to more isolated areas such as bike/running paths. Where I live some of these paths go through wooded areas which are somewhat secluded. It is always wise to know your surroundings. Be sure that you check what is behind you every once in a while. Be aware of what is ahead also. Some predatory people can be sneaky and try to trick you into believing that they have injured themselves. If you stumble upon that situation, it is best to tell the person that you will go ahead to get help, especially if you feel the situation is a suspicious one. If the injury is real, they will wait because they will realize that you are most likely not equiped to help them. If the person is scamming you, then you are already ahead and are most likely faster than they are. Whatever the situation, I would definately send someone to help, most likely a police officer or an EMS team. If they are no longer there then the police might have a description of the next potential crime perpetrater. Most people are honest but I would still approach strangers with caution while alone.

Another hazard could be animals. If an animal begins to follow you, it is best to ignore them. They can sense fear which can cause them to become afraid. If you keep walking in a calm manner, the animal will not become excited and will most likely continue on with what they were doing.

A lot of people like to exercise to music using a walkman or MP3 player. Make sure that the music is not too loud. You still want to be able to hear what is going on around you. You might not hear a bicycle come up behind you or hear a car on the road if the music is too loud with the headphones on. Again, it is a good idea to be extra cautious about your surroundings when wearing headphones. Check behind you and around so that you know what or who is nearby.

Now that I have scared you into not wanting to train alone, let me tell you that I have walked all over and at all times of the day. I have never encountered any of these problems. I have though, thought about all of these situations while I was walking and I do practice my own advice in being aware of what is in front of me and behind me. I have changed my route a couple of times when I thought that someone ahead seemed a bit suspicious.

This also brings to mind that it is a good idea to change your route often to avoid the situation where a potential stalker gets to know your routine. I have about 5 different routes that I take when I walk and I tend to not do the same one twice in a row.

I think that these are just common sense ideas and they are not meant to scare you but hopefully they will make you aware of potential dangers that could pose a threat. So when you train alone, please be safe.

Marathons and Other Big Events

Just to let everyone know, I am planning to do a short series on preparing for events such as marathons, 5K runs, walkathons and other big events. I want to focus on some of the training aspects as well as the nutrition issues involved. I want to include an article. written by a wonderful journalist, that has not been published as of yet. I would like to begin the series with the article so we will have to wait for it's official publication. There will be more posts during the time that we are waiting but there is something more specific to look forward to, especially with these events being so popular this time of year. So keep an eye out for this.