For the past six months I’ve been testing the new Tanita BC100 Body Composition Scales. Now on the surface they appear to be your normal digital bathroom scale, and that is precisely what I used them for during the first two months. Well, that was until I RTFM’d them (Read The F-ing Manual!) and set them up for what they are designed to do – to be a complete body composition analyser.

How a Body Composition Analyser works

You stand on the scales and a low electrical signal is sent through the body (called a Bio Impedance Analysis or BIA). Your different tissues create a resistance based on the water levels, e.g. muscle carries a lot of fluid in it whereas fat does not. This nifty machine is able to differentiate your tissues based on this, namely, bone, muscle, fat, and water, and thus determining your body composition.

It all takes less than one minute, doesn’t hurt and is surprisingly accurate (+/- 1% accuracy if measuring conditions remain constant).

What the scales will tell you:

Your weight: Tanita scales are seen as the leader in accuracy which we know is crucial to our sanity come our weekly weigh-ins!

Body fat: Too much or too little body fat can put your health at risk. This highly accurate monitoring technique shows you in seconds if you are in the healthy range based on your age, sex and height.

Body water: Helps you keep track of your hydration levels and understand how your body’s composition changes as your hydration levels change.

Bone weight/mass: Indicates the weight of bone mineral in the body. The
development of muscle tissue has been shown to encourage stronger, healthier bones.

Muscle Mass: Displays the amount of muscle in the body. For every extra
pound (600g) of muscle gained the body uses approximately 50 extra calories a day. Because muscle is denser than fat, monitoring muscle mass gives a more accurate understanding of your overall composition and changes in your total body weight.

Basal Metabolic Rate: Indicates the number of calories your body burns when at rest. Unlike other methods of calculating BMR, Innerscan Fitness takes the amount of muscle in your body into account, giving a more accurate picture.

Metabolic Age Rating: (my personal favourite because it says I’m 16 years old!) Your BMR starts to decrease after the age of 17 and the metabolic age rating indicates what age level your body is currently rated at.

Visceral Fat Rating: Visceral fat surrounds the internal organs in the
stomach/trunk area of your body. High levels of visceral fat increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and type-2 diabetes.

Physique Rating: Describes your overall physique or body shape by examining
the balance between the amounts of body fat and muscle in your body.

Who should use body composition scales

Weight loss candidates:

It’s important to understand that while weight loss is the aim, there are other drastic changes happening in the body. For example, a weight loss client of mine recently hit a plateau for two weeks whilst on holidays. They told me they were training every day, but doing more weights. Normally I’d be very concerned about this plateau but when he returned and we analysed his results, he had actually lost 6% body fat and gained 4kg of muscle. As soon as I increased his heart rate through interval training, the weight fell off and he lost 5kg the following week (he weighed over 100kg).

Healthy BMI/less than 5kg to lose:

These people I feel benefit the best from body composition scales because they are accurately able to track the more subtle effects, thus being able to refine what they are doing based on results. An individual may lose 5% body fat and gain a few kilos of muscle with very little change on the scales, even though they look very different. It is very encouraging for this group.

Serious exercisers (more than 10hr week training and resting heart rate below 60bpm):

There is a special ‘athlete’ setting for these people to make the readings more accurate (although they do suggest that bodybuilders and professional athletes may have a less accurate reading, but it still remains consistent, showing trends). I find the scales particularly useful to monitor my hydration levels, muscle mass (and loss due to marathon running) and of course body fat (I am a vain girl after all!).

Factors affecting its accuracy

Hydration:

The more varied your hydration levels the less accurate it is. A full bladder, diuretics (e.g. alcohol), dehydration, recent eating or menstrual cycle all affect its accuracy. Around 5pm is apparently the best time of the day as you are most likely to be correctly hydrated. They don’t recommend weighing first thing in the morning or after exercising. I however, always weigh myself first thing before I train due to point two below.

Consistency:

Weigh yourself at the same time of the day, in the same manner. Hence morning is best for me. There are some more tips for accuracy here, such as having clean feet and wearing as little clothing as possible.

My Verdict

It’s a winner! It’s a bit fiddly to set up initially, but once you’ve taken the time to RTFM it’s really easy. I recommend keeping a chart or a book handy to jot your results down, and I recommend measuring 2-4 times per month. If you are committed to changing the shape of your body, and you want some accurate, raw hard facts; then the BC1000 is for you.

You can buy the scales at Amazon

Here are some more weird and wacky trends. Don’t try these at home…!

Check out some of the amazing Australian women and what they’re up to! Voting closes on 15th September so back your favourite chicks and vote for all your favourite fun fearless females!

Watch out for the finalists appearing in October edition of Cosmo Mag out in Early September 2010. Vote Now

Ever since October 2009 when Michelle Obama hula hooped 142 times without stopping, the world has gone hooping mad! Gyms and dance studios are including more and more hooping classes, and many celebrities are coming out of the woodwork saying it’s their workout of choice.

The History of Hula Hooping

Hula Hooping originated in ancient Greek times when it was invented as a form of exercise. Although the name ‘hula hooping’ came about in the early 1800’s when British soldiers witnessed Hawaiian women performing hooping as part of a dance. The 1950’s was when hula hooping really took off, and while it has always been popular amongst kids, it’s only been recently when the adult world has rediscovered their love of the hoop.

Nintendo Wii Fit has a lot to do with the sudden popularity of hula hooping as do celebrities such as Michelle Obama. Wii Fit’s hula hooping game is a really effective cardiovascular  workout. Whilst standing on the Wii you have to rotate your hips trying to keep your virtual hoop from falling. In the meantime more hoops are flung in your direction and you have to lean your body whilst rotating to catch them (or you get donked on the head). I was embarrassingly puffed the first time I tried this, luckily I wasn’t the only one!

What are the Benefits of Hula Hooping

• Increased fitness
• Weight loss (you burn around 600-800 calories per hour)
• Improved muscle tone, particularly your core muscles
• Balance and coordination
• Increased energy
• Improves lower back flexibility
• Heaps of fun!

What Muscles does it work

• Upper and lower abdominals
• Obliques
• Lower and mid back
• Gluteus (butt)
• Upper Thighs
• Heart and Lungs – a great cardiovascular workout

How to Get Started

Watch this video to learn how to get started. It takes practise but you will improve faster than you think!

What is a Good Hula Hooping Workout

• Warm up for 5 minutes doing total body stretching and some walking on the spot
• Hoop for 5 rounds of 2 minutes, with a short (30sec) break in between
• Move to your arms and hoop with each arm for 3 rounds of 1 minute, alternating sides.
• Switch back to hooping with your waist for another 5 rounds of 2 minutes, trying to hoop faster and add a few turns with your body if you can
• For your final round count the repetitions and try to beat your last score. Can you beat Michelle Obama’s 142 reps?
• Drop the hoop on the ground and hop in and out of the hoop for 20 reps, turning around going the other direction for 20 reps. (do lunges if you prefer low impact)
• Finish with some cool down stretches, and a big drink of water
• Alternatively you can add hooping into your regular workouts a. Add it at the start and finish of your walk, run, or class. If you do circuit style workouts, make hooping one of your circuits.

Although you probably view hula hooping as a kids game, give it a go and soon you’ll realize it’s a solid workout that will leave you smiling and panting at the same time!

Go to http://www.hooping.org/ to find out about your local hula hooping classes.

If in Sydney Australia visit Hooping empire.

When was the last time you hooped? I’d love to hear your hooping stories!

Since the creation of Wii fitness, there has been an explosion of fitness based products on the market. EA Sports active is one of them, and with a newly launched More Workouts addition, they are proving to be leaders in the development of fitness based Wii products.

Recently I have been trying out the new addition to EA Sports Active Franchise, More Workouts.  They have upgraded their fitness program to include the More Workouts addition with a 6-Week Challenge and this is what I have been trialling.

How it works

The six week challenge is entire workout program based around your level of fitness. It works both cardiovascular fitness, strength, and flexibility. It has a tracking system whereby you can monitor your progress and compare your results to previous weeks.  It is set up, exactly as it says, as a 6 week challenge, designed to push your  boundaries. The exercises are similar to the original EA sports active, but with the addition of new exercises and more of an emphasis on your abdominals, all wrapped up into the six week challenge.

The accessories you need is the leg strap and some elastic resistance bands (provided) and of course the Wii nunchucks. You can also use the balance board on certain exercises (not mandatory).

My Experience

Being a trainer I was really trialling this out from my clients perspective. I wanted to see if this program could be something I prescribed and could feel confident that my clients were getting a decent workout.

The verdict: Yes.

Unlike other Wii games, this program had you moving from one exercise to the next in quick succession and some of the exercises were quite challenging! The squats and lunges I had trouble initially getting the nunchuck to register, which I have decided is a clever ploy by EA to get you holding your position for longer (gotta love that burn!).

There is a large variety of exercises keeping the program interesting and always challenging. I particularly loved the boxing, with ducking and weaving getting my heart pumping. In one workout you can expect to be going from lunging, to waterskiing, to skipping, paddle surfing and negotiating an obstacle course. This is all performed at the Wii Sports resort, which leaves me torn between feeling like I’ve just been on a tropical island to desperately wanting to go to one.

The abdominal component is very thorough, there were some new exercises I hadn’t seen before as well as some variations on the classics. I was surprised that some of the curl ups used straight legs, as opposed to bent, but I feel very confident that a lot of research and testing has gone into the exercises chosen.

Having a virtual trainer there to motivate me was a novelty, being a trainer myself, it was nice not to be in the drivers seat. She (you can chose male or female) was a big help in demonstrating the exercises, and providing motivational comments.

I really enjoyed the cool down at the end of each workout. Some of my favourite stretches were incorporated here although I would have liked to see a bit more variety for next time.

The verdict

The More Workouts 6-Week challenge is a great program for people wanting to incorporate fitness into their life in a fun, convenient way. The program is easy to set up and use and is one where the whole family can get involved. The workout would be best suited to below average to average fitness levels. For above average users, you would need to supplement some other training in (such as a run prior) to get the full benefits.  Unlike other Wii games there is much less fiddling in between sets and this is definitely the ‘real deal’ when it comes to workout programs.

I am giving the 6-Week Challenge a big two thumbs up and recommend it to anyone wanting an effective workout at home, which will leave you smiling, sweaty and with some visible results.

You can order it here or for more information go to EA Sports Active

Have you done the 6-Week Challenge or used Wii Fit? I’d love to know your feedback.

What is the Benefit of Taking a Krill Oil Supplement?

It is known that less than 10% of Australians have the daily recommended amount of Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) which is approx 1500-2000mg per day. Yet it has been scientifically proven that EFAs have the following benefits:

• Less Pain and Inflammation especially joint pain
• Improved Cardiovascular Health
• Protection from Stroke and Heart Attack
• Better Brain Function and Higher Intelligence.
• Less Depression and Psychosis.
• Lower Incidence of Childhood Disorders.
• Reduction of Breast, Colon and Prostate Cancer

What I Like About Omega Gen Neptune Krill Oil

Powerful Antioxidant Protection: Unique antioxidants – including astaxanthin and a novel marine flavonoid – may protect you from damaging free radicals. There is 47 times more anti-oxidant protection in OmegaGen NKO than in most fish oils.

No Contaminants: As Krill are at the bottom of the food chain and harvested in the pristine Antarctic Ocean you don’t have to worry about unsafe accumulations of mercury, heavy metals or other toxins.

Sustainable Resource: Krill are a highly renewable source. They are the largest biomass in the ocean and there is minimal risk of causing them to perish from over-harvesting.

Stability: Omega Gen NKO is more stable than most fish oils due to the high anti-oxidant level. This means it won’t oxidize in your body due to rancidity.

Easy to Swallow: Sometimes I have trouble with swallowing capsules but I didn’t with these.

What I Didn’t Like

They smell fishy! This is probably a good thing as it shows they are the real deal, but I must say the first time I opened the container and inhaled, I thought I was at Sea world!

Conclusion

As a Krill Oil supplement I highly recommend Omega Gen Neptune Krill Oil. I am going to continue using this brand and recommend it to clients.

Click here for more information

Many people attribute the onset of childhood obesity with too much video game playing. There is definite truth to that as kids have gone from playing outside all day long to sitting constantly in front of the screen and playing video games without taking a breather. There is however a new evolution of video games that are actually good for you and/or your children that can help you to burn calories and ultimately lose weight. Who would have thought it? Here we look at the top video games that can help you stay active, burn some calories, and ultimately shed the unwanted weight.

1. Wii Fit:

This is like a whole new movement and nobody wants to be left behind! The Wii Fit is the hottest new game in town and this is the most enjoyable way to burn some serious calories. The Wii was already a popular gaming system with interactive games that made parties fun and kept people jumping. With the addition of the Wii fit, individuals can create customized workout plans or enjoy some excellent plans. You can get some serious calorie burning in on this enjoyable game that makes sweating it out actually enjoyable!

2. GameRunner:

This is essentially a treadmill tied to the screen of a video game, but the fun and the calorie burning are far beyond expectations. You take on a character and move along throughout the game in a rather interactive manner that helps to burn some serious calories in the process. This has gained in popularity so that people of all ages and walks of life that enjoy a good work out and a fun video game can truly have it all.

3. Exer-Station:

This is a big life-sized joystick that allows you to enjoy a workout right in front of your video game monitor. You get a full body workout due to the resistance that this device provides, so once you strap in you can enjoy some music and get a fun little workout in without even feeling like you’re breaking a sweat. This is an excellent way to burn some calories and enjoy a fun video game in the process-fun for kids of all ages!

4. Dance Dance Revolution: (see above you tube clip)

If you’ve always been a fan of dance or just want to enjoy some dancing in the comfort of your own home without anybody observing or judging, then this is a great option. You can participate in any one of the fun and exhilarating programs within this video game and burn the calories while you laugh it up at your results. This is a lot of fun and great for groups or regular physical activity that doesn’t need to feel that way.

5. Tetris Weightlifting:

This is definitely kicking it back old school, but that doesn’t lessen the effect of this game. You can sit at the monitor and decide upon how much resistance you want to enjoy the utmost in weight lifting through a virtual video game experience. Not quite sure if this one is meant to be taken seriously!

Who says exercise can’t be fun?  Certainly not the creators-or users-of these 5 video games; with them, you and yours can be well on your way to fit without ever feeling like it’s a chore.

Mary Ward writes about various health care career topics, including how to choose among surgical technician courses.