A while back I wrote about my fondness for new fitness equipment, and wondered about kettlebells and the Wii Fit. Well, since then, I've acquired both. They put the kettlebells on sale at Target, so I caved and bought two - a ten pounder and a 15 pounder. They are an awesome workout. The ones I bought said they came with a DVD, but that just turned out to be a very short demonstration of some kettlebell moves, with no indication of how you might want to string them together or how many reps you should do. The Amazon reviews favored Kettlebell Bootcamp with Angie Miller, so I got that, and soon discovered new muscles in my inner thighs. Two thumbs up for the kettlebells, although if anyone has any recommendations for other kettlebell videos, please leave them in the comments.

The Wii and Wii Fit were a surprise gift, and one that made me very happy. The Wii is so much fun! I particularly like the tennis game. The Wii Fit is not the toughest workout in the world, but I do think it is good for me, because my balance is terrible. At the beginning of the game they have you take a fitness test standing on the balance pad. You sort of wiggle around and have to keep a colored bar at a particular level. Well, I couldn't do it, to the point where the game actually asked me if I trip a lot. Which sadly, I do. I confuse the Wii though, because I'm really good at lunges and squats and the yoga poses. I have heard that the EA Active game is a harder workout, so I may try that next. If you've tried that game and have any feedback, let me know.

Let's see...I started going to a second kickboxing class each week, which really seems to be paying off. My teacher actually complimented me and said that I'm getting better. Who knew that day would ever come?! I do love kickboxing, so it is nice to hear I'm making progress.

Pilates and Pilates-inspired workouts are my other new obsession. I can't do proper pushups, and I've come to the conclusion that it is because my back and core need strengthening. Pilates seems to be the way to get there, and it has the added benefit of increasing flexibility. We'll see.

The other thing I'd like to do is get back to running. My knee still bothers me pretty regularly, so I'm not going to go do anything nuts like train for a ten miler, but it would be nice to regularly run a couple of miles. There's nothing quite like that feeling. I just have to find the time to fit it in to my schedule.

Posted by Bad Penguin at June 23, 2009 7:42 AM