New fitness equipment!

PolkaDot88

Just bought my first pieces of fitness equipment - I'm starting small because I can't afford much and don't have any room in my apartment for any equipment. I bought a resistance band and a "Slim Olive Weight Ball", (http://www.ironcompany.com/2lbslimoliveweightballaeromatecowiseaeromat-eco-85722.aspx) which is similar to a dumbbell but you can buy them one at a time and they have straps so you can use them on your legs too. I'm so excited! What are some good exercises I can do using this stuff? Has anyone else heard of/used a slim olive ball?

fitterpam

With the resistance bands, you can do bicep curls & tricep extensions, shoulder presses. Stand on the middle of the band, holding both handles. For the bicep curls, hold your elbows steady and starting with your arms down, facing forward, just bend your arms (you've seen this one before :happy: ). Count your reps until you get tired - that's how you know where your starting point is. For the shoulder press, put your hands near your shoulders with your elbows pointing out on either side, then just lift the handles straight up until your arms are just less than straight (never lock the joints) Again do as many as you can to exhaustion the first time and then when you do it the next time, just do it in multiples of 8 or 12. For the tricep extensions, put your arms over your head and then drop your hands behind your head so your elbows are pointing straight up.Straighten your arms to the sky trying not to move your elbow too much (make the hands do the work).

For the olive ball (which I've never used, I would think that leg raises would be good (lie on one side with your bottom leg bent 90 degrees). Put the weight on the upper leg and just raise it as far as you can. Again, do it to exhaustion and then next time go up by a multiple of 8-12. You could also do all of the above exercises with it, but it's probably heavier than the resistance band.

MzBug

Here is a decent resistance band web site http://www.resistancebandworkouts.com/bandBack.php that I use. You can work up your own routine for areas you want to target. Google is your friend when it comes to finding exercise videos, lots of them out there.

Good Luck