My family’s move to yet another continent late last year entailed a lot of do overs in our day to day lives. Catherine and I had been working out at a gym on Malta and we wanted to get back into it as soon as we were settled in Tunisia. There was one complication. The gyms that we saw in our town had separate posted hours for men and women. Tunisia is a Muslim country and roughly half of the adult women choose to wear the hijab.
In between my efforts to find out about the possibility of co-ed workout space, I considered the possibility of buying some type of equipment to use at home. The Italian TV stations that are available here advertise a perplexing and somewhat erotic array of exercise gadgets, but I was thinking more along the lines of an actual elliptical trainer. Eventually, I managed to think of a question in French that got the right answer at a local gym. We are paying monthly for gym membership and working out as many mornings as possible.
Frugality and common sense were my main motivations for not buying my own exercise equipment but I figure it still makes for a good plasticless tip. I think the gym provides social pressure to seriously exercise. The cliché about exercise equipment gathering dust in closets and under beds is rooted in the truth. Consumer Reports recently did a survey and 40% of the respondents said that they use their home exercise machines far less than they had planned.
I want to suggest that people consider exercises that do not require equipment as the best choice for the environment. Walking and swimming are the obvious choices. If the weather or other factors make these choices undesirable, I think that joining a gym is better for the environment than buying your own equipment. That may not be true for the stereotypical soccer mom that drives her SUV across town to use the treadmill at her gym. We take the bus.
If I was living a more settled life, I would like to include things like chopping wood and gardening in my exercise routine. I encouraged my teenage daughters to do some gardening in the little patch that we are renting. The weather was unseasonably warm today and they got a start on it.
Here for your enjoyment are a few plastic rich exercise gadgets that you shouldn’t buy. Unlike actual professional exercise equipment, these gadgets are aggressively marketed to that 40% of people who aren’t really going to get fit using their product.
PowerBalls are more of a toy than a serious exercise tool. You can get them with a variety of different colored lights.
The Thigh Master is probably the most famous buy it and forget about it exerciser. The next time you are out at the yard sales and see one of these, check out the thighs on the other side of the table. Try not to be too obvious.
Push-up Pro is basically a set of plastic handles that you hold onto while doing push-ups. Gravity can be used as an alternative to the Push-up Pro.
The Ab Lounge should tip most discerning shoppers off with its name. Lounging is not a form of exercise. Lounge singing can burn calories if performed with enough feeling. I have to share this testimonial that I saw for this useless pile of plastic and aluminum…
wow what can i say? before buying this product i thought they’ve taken another ab product out probably just the typical one like normal. i’ve bought all the other ab equipment and to be honest they don’t work. bt the ab lounger is fantastic it is a great way of working out maximum 5 minutes a day and still get a great work out. i would recommend it to everyone. honestly! – Anonymous
But wait, there’s more! Act now and you also get a free plastic water bottle with your purchase. I am willing to bet 3 easy payments of $99.99 that the bottle leaches BPA.
