I’m the first to admit that there are certain times of the year when I care more about working out—say, before a vacation that requires my extended exposure in a bikini, or during holidays that begin with feasting and end with my having to look hot in a tiny little dress. This year, both of these hit at the same time for me, so I really got to thinking about ways to get a little more bang for my gym time—without having to feel awkward navigating the weight room.
Luckily, there are a ton of multipurpose, easy-to-use gym accessories to choose from. From BOSU balls to foam rollers, I searched out creative ways to chisel my abs (and everything else) by vacation time.
BOSU Balance Trainer
Pronounced bo-sue, this half ball has become a staple in weight rooms and home gyms. For good reason, too—it can be used in enough ways to provide a full-body toning workout and a cardio session. According to the official BOSU Web site, the odd name refers to “both sides utilized,” since you can use the BOSU with the ball side either up or down to mix up your routine. The versatile tool lets people perform balance, strength, and power exercises together, says Chad Johnston, a Los Angeles-based personal trainer. In fact, when I bought one of these at a local sports equipment store, it came with a DVD of cardio and strengthening exercises. Potential cardio moves range from doing jumping lunges on top of or side to side on the ball; for balance, try doing the usual dumbbell curls while balancing on top. Feel easy? Flip the ball over so the round side is on the ground, and balance on that. “This really engages the core during what would normally be a single-muscle exercise,” says Johnston. For more creative BOSU moves, look online.
Body Bar
If you’ve been to a gym in the past five years, you’ve probably seen a pile of body bars in the corner of the weight room. “I work out at home with the Body Bar, and I really like the fact that they don’t take much room to store,” says Marilyn Kroner, the principal media representative for the company. The steel fitness bars are covered in easy-to-grip rubber, vary in weight from three to thirty-six pounds, and can work out just about every muscle group. For a lower-body challenge, try resting the bar on your shoulders, parallel to the floor, while doing lunges. Or use it like a big barbell for bicep curls and tricep skull-crushers, or hold it in the air while doing crunches. The Body Bar company recently made downloadable workouts for every muscle group—arms, abs, back, legs, and chest—available on its Web site.
Dyna-Bands
“This is a great piece of equipment for people who are recovering from injury or anyone not comfortable with lifting heavy weights,” says Johnston. “The resistance allows the body to work hard enough to gain strength and help flexibility.” These six-inch-wide latex bands come in sets of four with four different levels of resistance, from pink (the least resistance) to silver (the most resistance). Make your usual workout more challenging by looping a Dyna-Band over your back during push-ups, wrapping it around your legs for added resistance in leg lifts or pliés, or putting it under your foot and pulling it up (with your back parallel to the floor) for back pull-ups.
Bodylastics
Similar to Dyna-Bands, these are an alternative to traditional weights—and a great way to avoid those free-weight calluses while still working your muscles. “I brought these along when I lived in Europe for six months,” says Emily Faure. “They were light and compact to travel with but provided me with a way to ‘lift weights’ without a weight room.” These four-foot-long elastic tubes come in six color-coded levels of resistance—from five to thirty pounds—and can be twisted, pulled, and wrapped in over 140 different body-toning exercises (at least, according to a very enthusiastic write-up on the official Web site). The enthusiasm isn’t unjustified, though—these bands come with solid aluminum clips at the end and various handle attachments. Not only can you use them under your feet during curls and things like that, but you can tuck them into a doorframe to create a pulleylike move, too. The Bodylastics Web site provides a list of the huge array of exercise possibilities.
