Home Fitness Gear : Preview

Posted on June 27, 2020 by Carolyn Donovan and Wan Chi Lau in RainyDayHealth, RainyDaySports // 0 Comments

Gyms and other workout spaces have been shuttered for more than ten weeks because of the pandemic.

Irregardless of the more cavalier members of some political class, the virus has not “just disappeared,” and the folks who actually know what the f*ck they’re talking about are warning that maybe it’s not advisable to hang out right now in a sweaty, enclosed space with a bunch of sweaty, straining strangers.

RainyDaySports was looking for at-home workout options before the lock-down, but with the Corona mo-fo rearing its ugly head over and over and everywhere (put on a g*dd@med mask, people) they ~~got off their duffs~~ upped their search, and we offer you their findings below.

Our sporty (and mask-wearing) colleagues have assembled a collection of kit which make training at home space- and time-efficient. We’ll dive deeper into each individual item in their respective FirstLook articles, but here is a quick preview of the RainyDaySports at-home workout collection.

Strength Training

Muscles get stronger when stressed aka worked. Gyms have lots of options (free weights, machines, people to lift up and put back down ) for working most parts of their anatomy to exhaustion. Replicating that at home can be tough because you’d need a lot of space for both the equipment and the workout.

When RainyDaySports went looking for strength-training gear, space considerations were paramount. Happily, they found two pieces of equipment that really stood out, both in maximizing the workout and minimizing the space required.

Terra-Core Balance Trainer

Balance
Strength
Cardio

We have had the Terra-Core in-house since mid-March and have found it to be the best balance trainer we have used (BOSU, Devebor). A detailed FirstUse write-up is in the queue, but the short version is that the Terra-Core is an excellent piece of home fitness gear: compact (fits under the bed), built to last, and a lot more versatile than we first imagined. If we had to choose just one piece of home equipment, the Terra-Core would be it.

OYO Personal Gym

Strength
Cardio

“The SpiraFlex resistance technology used in the OYO Gym kept me in shape during my 6 months on the International Space Station – and I returned stronger than before I left.” — Dr. Leroy Chiao, former NASA astronaut

If it was good enough for NASA astronauts on the International Space Station, it is good enough for us self-isolating-at-home-nauts. It is very out there in terms of design, but very clever in creating resistance in (at?) multiple locations on the body. Amazingly compact for what it provides, with increases in resistance coming from pulling further/pushing closer, and the FlexPack disks which changes the amount of resistance of any given exercise. We are eager to give the OYO a full workout.

Breath Training

An untrained person can typically hold their breath for 30-60 seconds. With the proper training, though, many people can do it for much longer. Two minutes, anyone? Three? Five?

Breath-training is not new, exotic, or esoteric. Martial arts partitioners have known for centuries of its importance in power generation, endurance, and performance enhancement.

The difficulty in exercising the “breathing muscles,” though, has always been figuring out how to gradually increase resistance while still being able able to take a breath—you gotta breathe in order to breathe, you know? We have found three pieces of equipment to help with expanding one’s lung capacity.

Airofit Breathing Trainer

Cardio

Airofit is the “Cadillac” of the collection. It is a device which generates resistance on the respiratory muscles (mainly the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles). By stressing those muscle over time, they will—just like any other muscle—get stronger and be more efficient. This is something totally new for us. The Airofit app will tracks ones progress over time. We are super excited about this!!!

Vent Filtraion Trainer

Cardio

Sooner or later, even in the middle of a pandemic, we’ll have to venture outside. And since masks are now highly (highly) recommended when we do, why not wear one that offers not just filtration but can regulate air flow so we can get some breathing training? Now that’s multi-tasking.

There is a lot more to the Vent. We’ll have a full rundown in the FirstLook.

Sport Breathing Mask

Cardio

While not as sophisticated as the Vent, this Sport Mask does have two one-way valves and a replaceable, 5-layer filter. By opening/closing the value, the wearer can turn off/on the air flow resistance. This mask is the lowest cost option, but the principle is the same as the Vent. Is it as effective? It will be interesting to compare the two to better understand the trade-offs.

Recovery

Aches and pains are often the price of making muscles stronger (but sometimes euphoria is the price, so don’t go thinking that getting fit(ter) is nothing but pain and distress—it so totally isn’t). Faster recovery means those muscles can be worked again, but the negative aspects of muscle growth (stiffness, pain) can slow down that recovery phase. One way to shorten recovery is to use high-penetration vibrations that trigger myofascial release and enhance the body’s ability to regenerate.

Pulse Fx Massage Gun

Recovery

We took a FirstLook at the Pulse FX in May. The Pulse Fx Massage Gun is one powerful ~~mutha-f~~ tool, with 16mm of penetration (that’s more than half an inch, people) into your muscles. The curved, easy-grip handle further increases the leverage, and the head can be set to multiple angles. This massager gun reaches deeper and goes harder than any other massage gun available on the market today.

Agility Massage Ball

Recovery

The hold-in-your-hand Agility vibrating massage ball is meant to treat small muscle groups. The high intensity vibration penetrates deep into muscles for an effective tension release massage. This, in combination with the Pulse, should pretty much cover our workout recovery needs. More on both in the coming weeks.

Links to items mentioned: