Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and if your mom is the type to pick an outdoor run over a decadent brunch, you’re in luck. We rounded up ten awesome fitness products for her, from a stylish gym tote she won’t be embarrassed to lug around to a flattering endurance dress that can be worn during a workout or while hanging with her girlfriends.
Celebrate Earth Day by rocking this eco-friendly fitness gear during your next workout.
There are lots of things you can do to celebrate Earth Day, including wearing eco-friendly gear to your next workout. We rounded up yoga mats, sports bras, tops, pants, and accessories made of recycled material or by environmentally conscious companies. Happy Earth Day!
The winner of our Well+Being fitness photo contest is Alicia Salmeron, who wrote, “Feeling good about bike rides in DC.”
We want to give a big thanks to all of our Well+Being readers who entered our Jillian Michaels contest! We received so many fitness photos from you, and there were some great examples of the awesome sights we see on our runs, bike rides, and outdoor workouts here in Washington.
Alicia Salmeron’s snapshot of her and a friend hoisting up their bikes in front of the Washington Monument was the winning photo. Salmeron wins two tickets to see Jillian Michaels at the Warner Theatre on April 24, plus Michaels’s Killer Abs workout DVD.
The runner-up is Patrick Benko, who sent us a great photo of a solitary runner among the cherry blossoms. He wins Michaels’s book Slim For Life: My Insider Secrets to Simple, Fast, and Lasting Weight Loss, plus her workout DVD Ripped in 30.
The winner of our Well+Being newsletter contest, who also won two tickets to the Jillian Michaels show, was Bill Thomas.
Congrats to our winners, and thank you all for participating and reading Well+Being!
Athletic companies have designed lightweight, water-repellant running jackets to keep you dry on your run.
For many gym-goers, the sight of one raindrop is enough to drive us indoors to the nearest treadmill. But when that’s not an option—or when you just can’t stomach another indoor run—a great running jacket can help. Athletic apparel companies have designed truly comfortable, lightweight jackets that won’t weigh you down and, most important, will keep you from looking and feeling like a wet dog.
Remember velour tracksuits? What about Crocs, which tried to slide into high fashion with its line of high heels? If you fell prey to the hype and bought them, they’re now gathering dust in the back of your closet (we hope).
The same goes for running shoes. Looking back on 2012, it’s pretty safe to say the minimalist running shoe fad was the talk of the fitness world. From Vibram FiveFingers to Nike Frees, those shoes were rocked by almost everybody at the gym. (In fact, our article on the best minimalist running shoes was, and remains, the most popular article on Well+Being.)
If you’re still at a loss for what to get the fitness lover in your life, you can breathe easy. We have lots of ideas, including a sweet running-themed iPhone case, padded socks, and even workout-friendly sunglasses. Here are 11 of our finds, with more than half of them less than $30.
These days, if you’re not tracking your caloric intake, heart rate, sleep cycle, and running mileage, you’re way behind the game. From a quarter-size wireless activity tracker to the highly touted FitBit One that records your every single move 24/7, these new gadgets will keep any fitness buff on track this holiday season.
It’s true that buying some sleek fitness clothes can help motivate even the laziest couch potato to work out. But the absurd price tags you find these days on sports bras or running spandex can make one say, “Totally not worth it.” Here at Well+Being, we believe that we don’t have to let expensive clothes prevent us from getting our sweat on. We scoured fitness stores and websites to find sweet clothes that come in at $50 or less. Whoever you’re buying for may not use the gear during the dessert-laden holidays, but at least it’ll be ready to rock come January, the biggest weight-loss month of the year.
The fitness lover in your life will thank you for getting a jumpstart on his or her at-home gym with this space-saving equipment.
The holidays call for delicious desserts, hearty meals, festive drinks . . . and weight gain. But for that relative or friend who can’t get enough of working out—while still enjoying a holiday cookie or two—equipment for an at-home gym is the perfect present. From a space-saving kettlebell set to Nike’s new personal training video game for Xbox 360, these gifts will keep the fitness lover in your life happily sweating indoors.
Gifts for the Fitness Buff |
Unique Gifts for Cyclists |
The Complete Washingtonian Gift Guide |
They look cool, but are minimalist running shoes safe to wear while cross training, too? Photograph courtesy of Flickr user rotterdamart.
Okay, people, we get it. You love your minimalist running shoes. You have a pair of Nike Frees in almost every neon color imaginable, and fingers crossed there’ll be a pair of New Balance Minimus Zeros under the Christmas tree for you.
But at about $100 a pop, minimalist shoes are not cheap, and are mostly geared toward one sport: running. But more and more these days we’re seeing regular gym-goers rock their minimalist kicks during personal training sessions or boot camp. Still, as the market grows, the research on minimalist shoes’ benefits for cross-training remains even more scarce than for running.
Here’s the good news, though, especially for CrossFit and P90X addicts: While the jury is still out, one local podiatrist says minimalist shoes work just as well for cross-training in general as for running. “The bottom line is, the minimalist shoes have become the shoe for cross-training,” says Dr. Howard Osterman, a spokesperson for the American Podiatric Medical Association and team podiatrist for the Washington Wizards and Mystics.
