RainyDayGiftGuide 2020 : Fitness At Home

Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays!!!

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Carolyn Donovan and Wan Chi Lau in RainyDayGiftGuide, RainyDayHealth, RainyDaySports // 0 Comments

As in previous years, we have put together a series of RainyDay-tastic Gift Guides for this holiday, full of suggestions for our readers.

As with every one of our Guides, all of the items in this guide are: things we looked at, or things we reviewed and liked, or brand new things we haven’t reviewed yet but we think you would like. We have training gear, recovery gear, and miscellaneous gear for you this year.

Happy Holidays!

Fitness At Home

The pandemic has completely altered the workout routines of many. Even with the anticipated availability of an effective vaccine on the horizon, working out at home will likely be the norm until way after the new year.

Wow, I am going to be so fit…

To that end, we have put together an awesome collection of gift suggestions for the people on your list who are looking to keep the “pandemic pounds” in check.

Training Gear

Kaisa Mobility Bundle

This bundle by the inspirational Kaisa Keranen is an AWESOME collection of movements designed to increase flexibility, strength, and mobility. The movements are what comes naturally to a limber body (i.e., mobility) and Kaisa’s collection will be helpful to people at all fitness levels.

If we had to pick one recommendation from our 2020 Fitness Gift Guide, Kaisa’s Mobility Bundle is it! There also lots of other options for all levels…check it out here.

OYO Personal Gym

One weird-looking yet effective piece of equipment…

Effective exercise equipment doesn’t have to: take over an entire room; cost both an arm and a leg; or be too complicated to use.

We have been working out with the OYO Personal Gym since the Summer and can attest to both its effectiveness and that it is none of the above (costly or complicated, that is). What we really like is that as we got stronger and gained more control over the OYO, we figured out that we could increase the effectiveness of the movements by deliberately moving/working out slower.

A very space age (it was on the International Space Station, people!) and effective piece of equipment.

If we had to pick two recommendations from our 2020 Fitness Gift Guide, the OYO and Kaisa’s Mobility Bundle would be them!

Terra-Core Balance Trainer

Terra-Core: kind of a bouncy toy for grownups. With hand weights. If you want.

For those with room for something bigger, the Terra-Core gives a lot of bang for the buck. Aerobics, balance, strength training, they are all are possible with this one piece of fitness equipment.

Basically an oblong half-ball (a what now?), any movement you perform while standing/lying/kneeling on it—raising your arms over your head, lifting up one foot, doing a knee bend—is harder because your body is forced to make many small corrections to keep from falling off it. Kinda nifty, ay? If you’re new at this, use the Terra-Core on a rug. With a thick pad underneath 😉

We have found the Terra-Core to be especially helpful with balance training for martial arts and Tai Chi.

We also like that when used in combination with other equipment (kettlebell, OYO, etc.), the Terra-Core increases the difficulty of any training sequence within the same small workout space.

If we had to pick three recommendations from our 2020 Fitness Gift Guide, the Terra-Core, the OYO, and Kaisa’s Mobility Bundle would be the triplet!

Airofit Respiratory Trainer

Breathe in, breathe out; breathe in, breathe out…it’s harder than you think, but worth it!

Airofit strengthens the muscles used for respiration by requiring more effort than normal to breathe. By stressing those muscles (the diaphragm and the intercostals) over time, they will—just like any other muscle—get stronger and be more efficient.

We found the Airofit to be a great addition to our breath training regime, especially when training at the gym/outside is limited. With the Airofit, we don’t have to go for a run in order work out our breathing muscles!

If we had to pick…OK, you get the idea 🙂

Vent Filtration Trainer

No matter the conditions or intention, this will help you up your respiratory game.

VENT is a breathing trainer with three options: it’s a pure carbon activated filtration mask if you need filtration but not resistance; it’s a filter-free breathing trainer if the workout conditions are safe; and its a filtrated breathing trainer if you want both resistance and filtration.

While the VENT is designed for use outdoors, it can obviously up the cardio training indoors. What it doesn’t do is provide virus protection for the user or others…so wear appropriately!

If…we don’t have to keep going, right?

AKK Slip On Sneakers

Akk shoes are breathable, lightweight, and comes in a variety of styles. So whether you’re looking for a running shoe or just something for working out at home, Akk have ones which are designed for all day comfort!

Recovery Gear

Sitting all day attending Zoom calls is hard on a body. Not going to the gym or the dojo means some of us are not moving as much as we used to pre-pandemic. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that stiffness, aches, and pains are part of the side effects of being at home.

To help, we have a few suggestions which we think are useful in encouraging our muscles, fascia, and other bits to get back “in the game.”

Agility Massage Ball

Pummels out the knots without punching you in the face.

The hold-in-your-hand Agility vibrating massage ball, with four vibration levels, is meant to treat small muscle groups. The high intensity vibration penetrates deep into muscles for an effective tension release massage.

MyoStorm

It has been well established that high-penetrating vibrations that trigger myofascial release can enhance the body’s ability to regenerate itself and shorten the recovery cycle. The MyoStorm Meteor enhances this by adding heat to the mix. Yeah, it feels as good as that sounds!

My oh my, heat AND vibration! My muscles feel better already.

LifePro Pulse FX

The jackhammer of muscle recovery, but you’ll like it. Seriously.

The RainyDaySports folks are well acquainted with foam rollers, massage roller sticks, and cold therapy for reducing aches and pain, whether from a vigorous workout or from sitting on our @sses all day in front of the computer.

When we really need to “work out” that knot, the Pulse FX is what we reach for. This massager gun reaches deep into the muscles and percusses the pain and stiffness away.

Miscellaneous Gear

Suunto 5

No matter what you’re doing, it can tell you how you’re doing.

The Suunto 5 is a stand-alone, GPS-able watch that makes it easy to track both sport-specific workouts (swimming, tennis, etc.) and overall progress. The Suunto 5 also tracks basic daily activities such as steps taken, calories burned, stress level changes, and sleep patterns, all useful information for recovery and readiness planning.

Casio MOVE

A goodly amount of bang for a little bit of bucks.

While not quite a full-on smart watch, the value-focused, tough-as-nails Casio GBD100 is “smart enough” to get a lot of tasks done without breaking the bank. It has:

Bluetooth;
Step tracker, calories, intervals, etc.;
Two-year battery life.

This is the latest addition to the G-SHOCK MOVE lineup of sports watches, and have Bluetooth capability that allows continuous connection to a smartphone.

Nomader

No-mader where you go, this is a terrific water bottle (geddit?)

The Nomader Collapsible Water Bottle makes it easy to stay hydrated while out and about. Designed with a flexible BPA-free silicone body, this travel-friendly water bottle can be folded-up (or collapsed flat) to save on space, yet it’s as comfortable to drink from as a hard-sided bottle.

Any gift that keeps single-use plastic bottles from clogging up landfills is a good one, even when travel is COVID-limited!

CrazyCap2

A bottle cap that purifies the water in the bottle? That’s crazy!

The CrazyCap2 is a tiny, portable, UV-light powered purifier that fits standard cola-style bottles.

The CrazyCap2 is:

100% LED
278nm UV wavelength
Rechargeable
Rated for 500K uses (that’s half a million) (half a million!)

We have looked at a lot of filtration devices over the years (portable, countertop, under-sink, LifeStraw), but we have never seen anything like the CrazyCap2. It is perfect for these pandemic times.