A Few of My Favorite [Fitness] Things

Happy Friday!  Here are some of my fitness favorites: the things that keep proving themselves useful and valuable, time and time again.  Bonus: they’re all under $30!  These would make great gifts or a little treat for yourself

RX Bars

Rx Bars have quickly become a favorite snack.  They’re quick and easy to grab and they provide a nice little dose of protein.  Their claim to fame is not really in what they are so much as what they aren’t.  Check out the ingredient list of most protein bars and you’ll often find sugar alcohols or fibers used as sweeteners.  Not necessarily a bad thing, unles it doesn’t sit well with you, in which case it’s a very bad thing.  Rx Bars don’t bother with that stuff.

Another thing I like about them is that they don’t pretend to be anything else.  Their flavors aren’t desserts like birthday cake, chocolate brownie, cookies and cream, etcetera.  Because let’s face it: they don’t taste like that.  They taste like fruit and nut bars.  I find them delicious and very satisfying!  And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been incredibly thankful for having a quick snack to fend off hanger.

My favorite flavor is Blueberry, followed by Chocolate Sea Salt and Chocolate Coconut.  Though I’ve tried 11 or 12 of their flavors and have yet to find one I really don’t like.

The Hip Circle

The SlingShot Hip Circle is a fan favorite at Eureka Kettlebell.  By that of course I mean that I’m a big fan of it and my clients suffer through its many and varied uses.  The hip circle is a soft, stretchy band that we position either just above or just below the knees.  When we perform an exercise with it, it provides resistance against which the user pushes, which activates and strengthens parts of the hip musculature that frequently under perform and go neglected.

When the external rotators and hip abductors don’t function correctly, the knees cave it towards each other and can get pretty beat-up in the process.  The Hip Circle essentially “feeds the mistake,” meaning it’s trying to pull the knees together, which creates extra awareness as well as resistance for the user to actively correct the mistake.  The best part about this products is that when we take the Hip Circle off, the effect of it lingers.

We use it for all sorts of movements: hip hinges (like Romanian deadlifts, and suitcase deadlifts), squats, hip bridges, and lateral movements like crawling and walking.

For Eureka Kettlebell clients thinking about buying their own, the Hip Circle we have is the Original in a size Large.

Running Belt

Ok, let’s be real: this is a fanny pack.  And I love it!  I really enjoy going for walks with my dog, Monty, and by the time I’m carrying a house key, a cellphone, and a doggy pick-up bag, I’m barely able to hold the leash.  This belt is adjustable, stretchy, and fairly sleek when compared with the fanny packs of the 90s.  It lets me go pretty much hands-free except for holding onto Monty’s leash and his Bag Of Shame.

Probiotics

I keep seeing more and more research and information become available regarding how incredibly important our gut health is, and probiotics play a huge part is gut health.  I’ve taken a few different types (ideally you will cycle through at least a couple different types in order to get a wider variety of cultures) and feel great from using them!  In fact, I attribute starting probiotics with being a key piece of the puzzle that allowed me to reverse my gluten sensitivity.

Fiber Gummies

Speaking of gut health, these Fiber Gummies are great.  I eat a lot of meat and veggies and some fruits and nuts.  Even when I’m eating a lot of whole, fairly-unprocessed foods (“clean” eating, for lack of a better term), I find it hard to get the daily recommended 25+ grams of fiber.  Two of these gummies gives me 5 grams of soluble fiber — the kind of fiber that’s been linked to all sorts of health benefits, from heart health to normalizing insulin levels.

Bonus: Phycox

This one is a bonus item!  I mentioned that I like to take walks with my pooch, Monty.  Monty is 8 years old now, and he’s got hip dysplasia (in fact, he’s had surgery on one hip).  Normal activity, even going for walks, doesn’t usually bother him, but I want to be as proactive as possible in keeping my dogs healthy!  Phycox is a joint supplement that’s helped tons with that!  These are little nuggets that I give to both Monty and Buster the Boxer every morning.  They love them, and every time they hear me shake the bottle, they come running and sit themselves in front of me for Treat Time.

Both dogs move a lot better when they’re on Phycox, and their coats are gorgeous and shiny, with supple skin underneath.  The only downside is that I think their nails grow faster when they take it, and nobody in our house likes nail trimming time!

Any Recommendations?

I hope you’ve found these Fitness Favorites helpful, and if you’ve got a product you’ve been loving lately, make sure to comment and share the deets!