Fit as a fiddle
Get in shape in the months to come with the latest in freehand exercises, bodybuilding machines and diets.
What is it: It’s the latest buzzword in gyms, and not without reason. Functional fitness exercises are all about training your body to handle real-life situations.
Why it's hot: What good are those biceps if you can’t lift a suitcase without hurting your back? For these “real-life” benefits, functional exercises use multiple muscle groups in an integrated fashion. Functional training challenges the body as a whole, firing up the muscles in a sequential pattern.
Strength Training in the Form of Free Weights
What is it: With functional fitness being the new fitness mantra, it hardly comes as a surprise that experts are laying increasing emphasis on free weights instead of gym machines. The reason: a vast majority of tasks that we do don’t comply with the fixed movements of machines. Free weights such as medicine balls are considered better training devices for sports and for life.
Why it's hot: Research has shown that free weights promote quicker strength gains and they require more balance and coordination than weight machines. Free weights recruit more muscle groups than variable resistance machines, which tend to only isolate specific muscles.
THE MACHINES
The TREADCLIMBER TC 916
What is it: The innovative TreadClimber TC 916 from Nautilus
Why it's hot: The special feature of this apparatus is the two belts which, while moving separately, will induce forward and backward feet motion, as on a treadmill. This means that given the same speed, twice the number of calories can be burnt when compared to walking on a treadmill.
Price: $7,000 (Rs 2.8 lakh); not launched in India yet, but one can order it from Nautilus India.
Website: www.nautilustreadclimber.net
KETTLER TOUR CONCEPT 1.0
What is it: It’s the first GPS-assisted exercise bike from Kettler.
Why it's hot: The bike makes it possible to simulate training rides on the basis of data on real topographical features previously recorded during a real bicycle tour: a PDA device produces a GPS (global positioning system) recording of the course, which is then directly transmitted via the software to the Kettler Ergometer. Any desired course can now be repeated indoors in the training room.
Price: Kettler Ergo Racer costs $2,000 (Rs 80,000), and the matching software will cost $300 (Rs 12,000). Prices exclusive of import duties.
Website: www.sporttiedje. co.uk/kettler/tour_concept10.htm
What is it: Based on an old Japanese tradition, the Kushi Macro Diet is supposed to detoxify your system. As a result, it improves your overall health and helps you shed those excess pounds.
Why it's hot: The convenient heatand-eat five-day meal plan is made up of natural, organic foods that work together to remove toxins from your system, eliminate those constant cravings, change the way you eat over the long term and helps you lose weight.
Website: www.macro-diet.com
The DASH DIET
What is it: The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, aimed at people with hypertension or pre-hypertension. Why it's hot: The DASH plan involves eating lots of fruits and vegetables and low-fat or non-fat dairy products. It claims to lower blood pressure in just 14 days. The DASH diet is also known to reduce cholesterol and stress in people. It’s a great option for those who can’t exercise a lot.
Website: dashdiet.org
WHAT'S NOT (BOX)
STEP AEROBICS: This is reportedly on the decline. Reason: students advance quickly and progress beyond standard choreography routines. Becoming more ambitious with their fitness goals, they move on.
CRASH DIETS: As the name suggests, it could have extreme implications, with a near invisible line separating it from outright starvation. Meant to achieve rapid weight loss, they are usually unhealthy and can lead to malnutrition.
SLIMMING PILLS: Anti-obesity drugs are no substitute for a healthy diet and lifestyle for those who want to lose weight, scientists in Canada have found. Researchers at the University of Alberta reviewed the evidence from 30 trials involving nearly 20,000 people who took one of three anti-obesity drugs—Orlistat, Sibutramine or Rimonabant—for a year or longer. They found that in many cases, the pills achieved little in terms of weight loss
KICKBOXING: Being replaced by defensive martial arts like Jujitsu, which is more precise and involves the body as well as the mind.
