KRANKCycle unveiled the latest innovation from Johnny G, the inventor of Spinning ‘Kranking’ for upper body rotational exercise at IDEA World Fitness Convention 2008 in Las Vegas, NV.

Cycling from the waist up, it produces significant cardiovascular and strength gains. Athletes with tired legs can continue to aerobically train by using the KRANKcycle.

Recommended Exercise Equipment:

Matrix Johnny G KRANKcycle 

One year after making its debut with the prototype that changed the world viewed upper-body exercise, Johnny G and the Kranking team return to the IHRSA tradesow to reveal the Johnny G KRANKcycle by Matrix! Whether you are a competitive athlete, or someone who has never trained in a gym before, the KRANKcycle has been engineered with your needs in mind. Following through with his life-long commitment to making exercise available to all, Johnny G and Matrix Fitness have designed a KRANKcycle that accommodates exercisers of all levels, with a removable saddle making it completely wheelchair accessible.

Recommended Exercise Equipment:

Matrix Johnny G KRANKcycle 

Showing up for your Workouts is 90% of success
TRUE. This is great news so do it! The rest depends on how hard you work. If you are having problems with accountability join a class, small group, workout with a friend or hire a trainer to get you on track. Many people only need a jump start to get them on a regular plan.

Aerobic exercise is all that really matters.
FALSE. A balanced fitness program includes aerobics, strength training, stretching, as well as exercises to improve balance and stability. Some activities give you more than one benefit, for example, walking increases your heart rate while helping maintain balance and building strength in your lower body.

If you want to lose weight go for the Cardio
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Functional strength training has become a popular buzzword in the fitness industry. Unfortunately, it is also subject to wide interpretation.

At the extreme, some individuals believe that by mimicking the explosive, ballistic activities of high-level competitive athletes, they are training in a functional manner. All too often, however, such training programs greatly exceed the physiological capabilities of the average exerciser, which ultimately increases the possibility that an injury might occur.

Most would agree that there is nothing functional about sustaining an injury due to improper training.

In many respects, functional strength training should be thought of in terms of a movement continuum. As humans, we perform a wide range of movement activities, such as walking, jogging, running, sprinting, jumping, lifting, pushing, pulling, bending, twisting, turning, standing, starting, stopping, climbing and lunging. All of these activities involve smooth, rhythmic motions in the three cardinal planes of movement-sagital, frontal and transverse.

Training to improve functional strength involves more than simply increasing the force-producing capability of a muscle or group of muscles. Rather, it requires training to enhance the coordinated working relationship between the nervous and muscular systems.

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Are you starting to think about the approaching spring and summer weather and getting into those shorts and tank tops or swim suits before long? Here are some excellent arm chest and back exercises provided by ACE (American Council on Exercise) to help get your body toned in time for summer!

Here is an example of a circuit workout that you can complete with little to no additional equipment.

Exercises:

• Hammer Curl
• Lateral Raise
• Push-up
• Triceps Dip

Optional Exercise Equipment: Dumbbells, Rubber Resistance Bands, VKR Dip Stations, and an exercise mat.

Contact your local HealthStyles Exercise Equipment fitness consultant for the best product recommendation to meet your personal goals, abilities, and budget.

Standing or Seated….. What’s your pleasure?

Health Clubs and Fitness Facilities and their members and media worldwide agree that Octane totally raises the bar when it comes to ellipticals, and clearly leads the category. In fact, surveys of health club members show that more than 75% rate Octane workouts as superior, and 95% want Octane ellipticals at their facility. (more…)

The New Upper Body Bike by Matrix

Upper body rotational exercise isn’t new. The first arm-cranking machine was patented 73 years ago, but despite almost 80 years of research on the physiology and effectiveness of this form of exercise, the idea of using the arms for cardio has never caught on. Why? Because the existing apparatus for this type of exercise, the Upper Body Ergometer (UBE), is viewed as something used for rehabilitation, not exercise. Many feel that performing upper body rotational exercise on a UBE is unexciting and the machine itself uninspiring and consequently, the benefits have gone largely unknown and under-appreciated. In contrast, the Krankcycle® is beautiful. Kranking is fun, intuitive, and easy to learn. It can be used on the cardio floor, with a Personal Trainer, or in a group setting. Kranking provides unprecedented physiological benefits, and is far more effective than the UBE. (more…)

Matrix is proud to be on the forefront of innovation and design. That is why Matrix is proud to be the recipient of the prestigious IDEA 2009 Bronze Award for commercial and industrial products. IDEA is the International Design Excellence Award, a premier international competition that honors excellence in products, ecodesign, interactive design, packaging, strategy, research, and concepts. The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) received a total of 1,631 submissions from many different product categories for this year’s award. (more…)

Recently, scientists in Germany gathered several groups of men and women to look at their cells life spans. Some of them were young and sedentary, others middle-aged and sedentary. Two other groups were, to put it mildly, active. The first of these consisted of professional runners in their 20s, most of them on the national track-and-field team, training about 45 miles per week. The last were serious, middle-aged longtime runners, with an average age of 51 and a typical training regimen of 50 miles per week, putting those young 45-mile-per-week sluggards to shame. From the first, the scientists noted one aspect of their older runners. It was striking, recalls Dr. Christian Werner, an internal-medicine resident at Saarland University Clinic in Hamburg, to see in our study that many of the middle-aged athletes looked much younger than sedentary control subjects of the same age. (more…)

It is well known that strength training improves muscle strength and function in men and women of all ages, but some new research suggests that resistance training in older adults can actually change the makeup of the body, effectively turning back the clock on muscle aging. (more…)

So you think hanging upside down to relieve back pain is some wacky, new-age idea? Think again. It’s documented that Inversion was used as early as 400 B.C., when Hippocrates, the father of medicine, first watched a patient have his knees bound and ankles tied to a ladder to be hoisted upside down for a dose of what’s come to be known as spinal traction. The Greek theories on inversion are still valid, but today there is a much easier way to relieve the back pains most people experience from time to time. The process is called Inversion therapy, and it can be the natural way to a better back and a better body. (more…)

Reduce muscle tension with inversion therapy and a Teeter Hang Ups.

Using pressure sensitive implants inserted into the third lumbar disc (L3) the effect of various activities on pressure of the spine was measured. Two people who have benefited from inversion therapy (which decreases spinal pressure) discuss the benefits of decompressing the spine.

Recommended Exercise Equipment:

Inversion Tables and Racks

Contact your local HealthStyles Exercise Equipment fitness consultant for the best product recommendation to meet your personal goals, abilities, and budget.

Increase flexibility with a regular program of exercise on Teeter Hang Ups.

Bert Marrow has been inverting for over 40 years and knows how beneficial decompression of the spine is. He credits inversion therapy for his flexibility and maintained functional fitness.

Inversion therapy helps individuals relax and regular sessions can be used to stretch and relax after exercise. Inverting on a regular basis helps decompress the spine and has many other benefits!

Recommended Exercise Equipment:

Inversion Tables and Racks

Contact your local HealthStyles Exercise Equipment fitness consultant for the best product recommendation to meet your personal goals, abilities, and budget.

Roger Teeter damaged his back in 1976 and in 1981 discovered inversion. He was so impressed with inversion therapy he started his own company (Teeter Hang Ups). Three women discuss their experience…

Recommended Exercise Equipment:

Inversion Tables and Racks

Contact your local HealthStyles Exercise Equipment fitness consultant for the best product recommendation to meet your personal goals, abilities, and budget.