Tag Archives: Equipment Guides

Fitness Accessories to Complement Your Daily Activities

Every day if we notice our daily activities, some of us may barely going for workout sessions to keep ourselves healthy. We can do the exercises every week, but there is some solution for those who think that is not enough.

Daily activity can be different for anyone, even at lockdown terms. We could choose to go out for some fresh air or stay at home, but for those who are often going to the gym for exercise, this can be a problem.

On the weekend, we have more leisure than on weekdays. The picture below gives us a sample of how a lot of people are conducting exercises on Car Free Day during the weekend.

Workout on Weekend
People exercises at Car Free Day

To keep ourselves healthy, we do not need to go on fitness every day, but we can wear some accessories to keep ourselves trained at all times. Though it may look weird at the office, at least it can compensate for our daily training.

Some accessories are designed to complement our training, but only a few accessories are suitable for daily life. To break it down, two accessories are best to fit in your daily life.

Ankle Weights

Ankle Weights

Ankle Weights is a fitness accessory that allows us to build up some muscles on our legs. When we try it for the first time, we will feel like the walk we normally used to handle at a normal pace becomes heavier than before.

You can pair it with Arm / Wrist Weights, practically if you want to train multiple sections of muscles at once (From Legs to Arms). But we have to take note that the challenges will be doubled when doing it.

A good reference is from Hajime No Ippo, where Sendo trains his legs gradually by adding weight as soon as he gets used to the Ankle Weights training. At first, he got tired by just walking around, but he gradually increases the weight on the ankle weights once he gets used to it.

Sendo advises for Ankle Weights – Hajime No Ippo Chapter 246

As Sendo’s statement, it is better to do this exercise regularly and gradually increase the weight. We may not see the result of the training until we can feel the difference between equipping ankle weights initially and once we add more weights.

Recommendations

Ankle Weights is best used to do daily activities since it was others may not notice it when you wear it, and the length of your pants, such as jeans, was enough to cover it.

Nordic Lifting publishes the recommendations about using Ankle Weights, but the writer wants to expand it further, so we can wear it once we understand how it works.

Anyone can wear it during their daily activities, regardless of where we are. The writer’s advice is to maintain safety when using it, especially if you are doing some important things such as driving. If the legs become too tired to handle, you need some rest and took off the weight to ease it down.

Arm / Wrist Weights

Arm / Wrist Weight
Arm / Wrist Weight

Arm Weights is a fitness accessory suited for any user that wants to train their arm strength, such as biceps and triceps. Unlike the Ankle Weights, the Arm / Wrist Weights are exposed, practically if we did not wear the long sleeve suit.

We can wear it anywhere they like, and Arm / Wrist Weights can be paired with Ankle Weights. However, we must be careful since there are many Arm and Wrist Weights types, and each of them has a different weight distribution. Arm Weights can cover your hand to the wrist, while Wrist Weights focuses on your wrist.

Recommendations

Arm / Wrist Weights are best used if you want to train when doing some job that makes them unable to do an exercise that can train your muscles. Since leg muscles are easier to train than arm muscles, it is best to gradually train your arm.

To make sure you can pick any brand that can suit your taste, it is best to wear arm weights that weigh up to 2 lb or 1kg instead of above it. That’s because our arm is more vulnerable to tiredness than the legs, practically due to gravity as a prime example. While we can take a rest or sit down, use this chance to take off the Arm / Wrist Weight to loosen up some muscles and relax.

Recommended Brand

Some of the products, such as Exercise Fitness, provides an accessory that can help you to train their arms and legs. You can find the exercise Fitness website here:
https://www.exercise.co.uk/fitness-accessories

While some opt to pick a fixed weight, the writer recommends a weight that can increase or decrease according to user needs. Sendo from Hajime No Ippo already gives an example about adding weight gradually, as it will give us the difference between wearing the ankle weights and not wearing them in the long-term.

Getting flexible Arm / Wrist Weights and Ankle Weights can be beneficial in the long-term training instead of the fixed weight. We may also ask the store whether they sell the equipment to adjust the weight they feel fit when they want to. Another thing to notice is the price itself, which can be more worth than what we can expect.

Another is to get an accessory that can fit both the Wrist and Ankle, although it will be difficult to acquire due to equipment complexity. The size of your wrist and ankle could be different.

Why the writer pick these two accessories? That’s because these two are the best accessories suited for our daily life. The benefit is we can go mobile with these weights equipped as we can just travel with these accessories equipped. The con side is if we took it off somewhere, we may realize that we lost something when we get back home.

Furthermore, if you don’t like going to the gym, these two fitness accessories can help compensate for your training.

Have an Idea but non of the gear? Check out these 5 essentials to start your hiking journey.

 

 

One exercise in particular that has been on the rise since the first lockdown restrictions in March 2020, is walking. People are enjoying the outdoors a lot more and spending their days exploring as lockdown rules prohibit gyms or leisure centres from opening.

Walking hasn’t just become one of the most popular forms of exercise, simply due to weight management. It also has many other health benefits.  It is proven to reduce signs of depression and anxiety as well as improve your mood overall which is something every one can find relatable during recent months. It is also free, it costs nothing to get yourself out and exploring nature.

As lockdown restrictions begin to lift, you may be thinking and planning of walking routes outside of town and travelling further a field. Before you make that trip, make sure you’ve packed these handy essentials  to ensure you have everything you need to make your adventure a successful one.

 

1.The correct footwear is vital for walking. Trainers would only last a certain distance and on particular terrain where as walking boots keep your feet supported correctly throughout different terrains and are hard wearing.  Walking boots can often be expensive but for good reason. They will last you a long time if you spend the money and treat them well.

2. Get yourself a backpack and fill it with water and snacks. If you’re not planning a picnic then at least make sure you have water with you to stay hydrated and high protein snacks. Nuts or energy bars are good for a quick fix and to keep your blood sugars up.

3.  Walking Socks – The amount of sweat created when walking, especially on long hikes, is excessive, therefore normal socks wont quite cut it and you will end up with very painful blisters. Walking socks help to regulate body temperature as well  as soak up excess moisture from the feet and help avoid blisters.

4. Waterproof Coat – you set off this morning and the sun was shining, the weather app said 15c and you thought to yourself, ‘I wont pack that, I wont need it’. You arrive at your destination, its clouded over and dropped to 9c. Wishing you had packed that coat now! Investing in a thin, lightweight, waterproof coat will never leave you unprepared for the unpredictable British weather.

5. A Walking App – always have a plan and know which route you are going to take. Walking Apps such as AllTrails and Komoot, keep you on track. You also know how long the route will take and can plan your day better.

Travelling and nature are the top trending subjects on Instagram right now so don’t forget to take pictures of your adventures. Hashtags such as #nature and #naturephotography are also the top trending hashtags for maximum exposure.