Elevate Your Fitness with Equalizer Bars

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Build Strength, Tone Muscles, and Improve Stability

If you’re looking for a versatile, compact, and highly effective fitness tool, the Equalizer bars might be just what you need. These portable bars are perfect for strength training, toning muscles, and improving your stability—all in the comfort of your home. Whether you’re a beginner or a fitness enthusiast, Equalizer bars are an excellent addition to your workout routine.

What Are Equalizer Bars?

Equalizer bars are simple yet powerful fitness tools designed for bodyweight exercises. They consist of two parallel bars that are lightweight yet sturdy, offering a wide range of exercise options for your upper body, core, and even your lower body. With Equalizer bars, you can perform dips, push-ups, rows, and so much more, all while working on your balance and coordination.

Benefits of Using Equalizer Bars

1.Build Upper Body Strength

The Equalizer bars are perfect for strengthening your arms, chest, shoulders, and back. Exercises like dips, pull-ups, and rows target these muscle groups, helping you build lean muscle and increase overall strength.

2.Engage Your Core

Many exercises on the Equalizer bars require balance, which activates your core muscles. This not only tones your abs but also improves your stability and posture.

3.Versatile and Portable

The compact design of the Equalizer bars makes them ideal for home workouts or even outdoor fitness sessions. They’re easy to store and transport, so you can work out wherever you go.

4.Low Impact on Joints

Bodyweight exercises on the Equalizer bars are gentle on your joints while still being highly effective. This makes them a great option for people recovering from injuries or looking for low-impact fitness solutions.

5.Adaptable for All Fitness Levels

Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned athlete, the Equalizer bars offer a range of exercises that can be modified to match your fitness level.

How to Use Equalizer Bars

Here are some ways you can incorporate the Equalizer bars into your fitness routine:

•Tone Your Arms and Chest: Perform dips to target your triceps and chest muscles. Adjust the depth of the movement to suit your strength level.

•Strengthen Your Core: Try knee tucks or L-sits to engage your abs and improve core stability.

•Improve Your Back Strength: Use the bars for rows to build a strong and toned back.

•Lower Body Workouts: Incorporate split squats or step-overs to work your legs and glutes.

Why Choose Equalizer Bars?

The Equalizer bars are simple yet highly effective tools that cater to a wide range of fitness goals. Whether you’re looking to tone specific muscle groups, build strength, or improve your overall fitness, these bars provide a fun and challenging way to stay active.

If you’re ready to elevate your fitness game, the Equalizer bars are a must-have for your home gym. Their versatility, durability, and effectiveness make them a smart investment for anyone committed to their health and wellness.

Disclaimer

I am not a personal trainer or a qualified fitness professional. This blog post is based on personal experiences and recommendations. Always consult a qualified expert or your doctor before starting a new exercise routine, especially if you have any pre-existing health conditions.

Final Thoughts

The Equalizer bars are a simple, affordable, and effective way to boost your fitness routine. Whether you’re focusing on upper body strength, core stability, or full-body workouts, these bars offer endless possibilities for improving your health. Click the link to get your Equalizer bars today and start seeing results!

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Jo Tricker Healthy Living Lady

How to exercise with a shoulder or arm injury

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How to exercise with a shoulder or arm injury

How did the injury happen?

Post Christmas I was clearing out some clothes deciding on what I was likely to wear again and what I wouldn’t. I put on a dress, most of my dresses Ive never undone the zippers and just sip them over the head. This time was different. As I slipped it over any head I realised my bust size had increased somewhat. I brought the dress over my chest and thought, ok that’s not going to fit. As I started to lift it off, I got stuck. In the panic of not wanting to call my older son to come and rescue me from being trapped, I took the drastic decision to “rip it off over my head”. Boy was that a mistake.

Ripping it off in more than one sense of the meaning..

As I ripped off the dress, I felt something “go” in my shoulders and arms. Oh the pain was pretty bad. I knew I’d done something pretty serious. The dress was off, but my arms felt like they’d been ripped out of their sockets!

Injured shoulder and arms prevented me from doing much

As the days went by I realised that my arms and shoulders were pretty damaged. My previous physio had now retired. After a while I decided to try an osteopath and after doing some research I went for a treatment. Id survived using ibuprofen to calm the inflammation. But I don’t like taking medications and avoided only but the essential to eep life flowing.

The ostepath was lovely and soon I was doing a few exercises to help it heal. The worse injury was on the mend for sure and the exercises felt like they were helping. however after a couple of months one still wasn’t right and she asked if I would go and get a scan to see if there was more damage than expected. I booked it in and planned to see the guy in a few weeks as he was pretty booked up. In the meantime I was just walking to get exercise, doing squats and mainly leg exercises to keep going. I had to stop with my personal trainer as most things caused pain, shed already set me some great routines, so I was doing what I could if it didn’t aggravate the injury.

Looking forward to finding out what could be done

I was actually looking forward to the scan, as I felt that knowing what was the matter would be the first step to really getting back to my fitness and improving my health.

there had been a bin strike in the weeks before and I had a huge amount of cardboard recycling ready to go when it will got back to normal. I had flat packed the cardboard boxes and because I couldn’t actually move them anywhere (because of the arm injury I had left them ready to go.

As I walked to the fridge to get some veggies I tripped over the box which had fallen over and to save myself lifted my arm quickly. The pain was searing and I knew yet again that I had done a lot of damage. I turned to go back into the kitchen and tripped on the other side of the box, catching myself on the door frame to stop a fall.

Taking pain relief gave me no relief, I was due to see the osteopath the next day. I messaged her. I couldn’t even touch the skin yet alone have someone touch it for me. The day after was fortunately the day planned for the scan.

Ultra sound scan and passing out

The professor was amazing, he was looking at what had happened. I was in a lot of pain. he tested mobility of the arms and shoulders, I felt like passing out and had to have my feet raised twice during the appointment. He referred me for an MRI and shortly afterwards I contracted covid. So I was completely out of action.

After I tested negative I decided to walk to the shops to get some watermelon, I git half way there and thought I would need to get a taxi back. but having been in that place before I remembered that I had really improved when I slightly pushed myself and my aerobic capacity came back. So I carried on to the shops and walked home, albeit slowly.

the very next day I also had to go for a site meeting for work, it was actually better for me to walk as I would have struggled to drive with my shoulder. So I walked there and back. once again super hard to breathe, but I made myself do it and the next day felt better for it.

I continued to walk as much as I could manage and my breathing got easier and my aerobic health came back somewhat. however, my arms were still pretty much out of action, even carrying a small bag was painful. I couldn’t lift my phone and I couldn’t type!

What exercise I could do whilst my arms and shoulders were out of action

I realised that I would become much less active and fit if I didn’t find some alternatives whilst my arms were recovering, the professor had told me not even to try physio exercises until the MRI results and to rest the arms. Pretty tough when you’re trying to work.

So this is what I came up with:

Exercises that don’t use the arms

I did a lot of leg work, after all the bottom and the legs are pretty large muscles so I felt this would help.

  • squats

  • walking
  • trampoline but only shot times and holding arms crossed
  • stepping up the stairs (steps)
  • walking up and down the stairs
  • wall squats (with and without a stability ball)

  • clam shells

  • flutter kicks on the sofa/chair kick legs as if swimming

I’m not a personal trainer, just showing you what I am doing whilst my arms and shoulders repair. So if you have an injury or just starting out consult your physician first.

The future

Next week I am going back for the MRI results. I’ve seen them, lots of latin words about my anatomy but tears in muscle, tendon damage, inflammation and more tel me that I may be doing these for a while. Let me know what exercises or activity you do without using arms/shoulders. 🙂

Jo Tricker Healthy Living Lady

 

Exercises at the desk to prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT)

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Exercises at the desk to prevent deep vein thrombosis

If you’re still working from home during the cold pandemic, you’ve probably already adapted ways to keep healthy, I know I have.

Walking for healthy mind and body

I go for walks each day/evening, which are gentle on the body. At the beginning this was either alone or with a family member, but as the lockdown has eased, I’ve walked with a friend of mine who lives very close to me. Masks are a little restricting but a short walk with a friend can cure many concerns of the mind!

Day to day working from home hasn’t been too bad, it started off with working at the dining table, none of us knew how long it would go on for, but as time went on I moved the work into a spare room and set it up, gradually making it more and more office like. Like many though, although I’m lucky having the spare room and not having to use the dining table, share the internet with lots of children homeschooling and the sheer stress of trying to balance it all (which I know many parents have been through), the room is still not ideal and is cramped and I seem to be constantly sitting as the workload from covid just seems to get more and more and more. Risk assessments for each change in the rules, setting up teams and zoom meetings, working out how to train people less IT literate etc. However, as sitting working reminded me of being on a long haul flight, it also made me think about how I can help myself and take care of my own health. Particularly in relation to not getting static and risking a DVT.

Oddly from a health point of view I can see a tsunami of various health issues for the future for this country, and I’m no doctor or expert.

Trying to avoid the risk of DVT

I try to do my best in keeping active but like on a plane, I’ve tried to make sure I keep my legs and feet are active and keep moving to avoid getting a deep vein thrombosis from sitting for so long in one place. (Im not so sure that would be on everyone’s mind though).

Some of the exercises I have done include sitting on my desk chair, raising my feet onto my toes and squeezing my calf muscles (as you might do on a plane).

Seated heel raise

Stretching my legs. Walking up and downstairs to keep the heart pumping when getting drinks and visiting the toilet. Sometimes on phone calls I stand instead of sitting, and do toe raises.

Standing Heel and toe raises

I occasionally do leg raises, one leg at a time, or both legs together, pointing my toes and bringing my toes back towards my legs, really stretching out my calf and hamstrings.

Seated straight leg raise

I’ve had to attend day and week long training courses, where you just watch the webinar. With these I just stand then sit as if to sit on the chair, like a seat squat.

Chair squats

I rock and move my body so my back doesn’t get stiff and my body isn’t in the same position all the time.

I’m lucky as I have a mini trampoline here too, which seems to be brilliant for moving the circulation etc.

Hopefully the videos help explain what exercises Ive been doing. Im not a dr but certainly they’ve seemed to help keep me active.

Let me know what exercises you’ve been doing during lockdown.

 

Jo Tricker Healthy Living Lady

 

Emwave heart rate variability (HRV) and heart breathing

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Emwave desktop, HRV Heart Rate

Variability and heart breathing…

Emwave Desktop

Today I was listening in a room on clubhouse about HRV (Heart Rate variability.) For a while I have had heart monitors and indeed have had some heart issues in the past and had a heart ablation(s).

Heart Rate Variability is a good way to see how your nervous system is doing and how stress and other things are affecting you.

I used to use the biofeedback on myself and clients suffering from stress and anxiety, as it was a great way to show them how the mind can calm the body down. The software I used at that time had great tools and games to play with. I recently bought the Emwave desktop (Heartmath) which is the latest version, as the old one wouldn’t work on my newest MacBook and I’d misplaced my finger monitor.

The Emwave is pretty much the same but an updated modern version and uses an ear clip to monitor (instead of the old finger biofeedback). (They also do an iPhone one called inner balance, but as Apple change their connectors frequently I decided to go down the USB desktop route instead.

What is HRV, how its measured and the Apple Watch

HRV is calculated by the gaps in between the heart beats. Apple Watch can also measure it on its app. You can press the crown on one of the caps and measure your heart rate and variability. I do this when I am stressed or feel my heart racing, and I can see visually the way the heart is behaving. The Apple Watch does have some flaws on this though, in that when my heart rate is so poor there is less rhythm, the watch just starts counting from the beginning again if it can’t pick up a sensible rhythm when it records and does this until it gets a regular pulse.

Where to find the more technical details of HRV

If you want to go into the technical details about the health benefits of HRV what’s a good rate and what’s not whoop.com has a great detailed explanation for you, but in brief, if your variability is high its a sign that your nervous system is fairly balanced and able to adapt to the stresses around you (environment). Low HRV indicates your body is finding it harder, possibly because of poor sleep, not drinking enough water, stressed or poorly.

Post illness, my current levels are still quite poor for my age 9ms-72ms but generally I’ve been measuring when I don’t feel particularly well. So I will be starting to measure this when I am well, well rested and more active too, to see whether the variability improves. On a side note, I have noticed that since being seriously ill (not sure if it was COVID or pneumonia but couldn’t even walk along the hallway as breathing was so difficult!) and after recovering my resting heart rate has started to improve again as that also dropped to low levels. Admittedly it does still have a long way to go.

Heart Brain connection

If you don’t know much about the heart – brain connection and you may want to find out more have a look at the video in Heartmath

Demonstration of Emwave desktop

The video below demonstrates the Emwave desktop, which I the one I use. Its a great way to FEEL when you are becoming calm and have heart coherence. Once you’ve learnt that its easier to calm yourself in stressful situations, as you know what that feels like and develop personal imagery to take you there quicker. I use heart breathing and that seems to get me to the best state very quickly. I imagine breathing in through my heart and back out through my heart in smooth slow breaths. try it and see how you get on.

I’m not and expert and not a doctor but I’ve been learning a lot more about how to improve it from some lovely ladies in the clubhouse room (look up Sandy Kruse and Zora Benhamou on clubhouse – biohacking for women 50+ and Ageing well room – HRV) they continue to broaden my knowledge in all things biohacking.

Let me know what you’re tried!

Let me know if you’ve tried the Emwave desktop, inner balance or other products like the Apple Watch, Oura ring that you might have used to measure HRV and how you got on with them. Have you used anything to alter and improve your HRV?

Jo Tricker Healthy Living Lady

 

Ganoderma/Reishi- Why I’m drinking it, why YOU might want to use it and what its supposed to do for you

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Ganoderma – why I’m drinking it

Why YOU might want to use it and

What its supposed to do for you

Cup of coffee from the top looking down

Over the last couple of years and covid lockdown in particular, I’ve gained a little weight and some of this was because at the beginning of lockdown I came down with something. Not sure if it was COVID, or pneumonia  or just a plain chest infection, (no testing available at that time), but whatever it was, for someone who rarely gets ill, it was horrendous and left me weak and unable to walk even to the top of the street!

Building back fitness

So the following months after “recovering” I have had to recover my fitness my health and start right from scratch!

I also got myself checked out and was told there were a couple of other issues that this illness and the weight had affected.

So, I started off by walking to the top of the road and back. Keeping my chest warm. It felt pathetic but they say a journey starts with a single step and in this instance, that was most definitely and literally the case. I progressed to round the small block, round the little block and then a few times and eventually I got back to walking for over an hour.

However, the weight never dropped back off, a tiny bit lower a tiny bit higher and my sleep became seriously disrupted and my stress levels shot through the roof.

I’m a very calm person, know how to deal with stresses and lockdown seemed to be piling these on. The lack of sleep didn’t help, as it was hard to function well on 2 to 4 hours sleep. 😦

Coffee containing Ganoderma / Reishi

Coffee cup on coffee beans in the shape of a heart

Then I came across a coffee (and tea) containing the super food Ganoderma/Reishi. I looked up what it was supposed to do. It claims to do a number of things but amongst these many many claims and testimonials it seemed to be very helpful towards sleep, cortisol/stress/anxiety and liver function. The coffee is not acidic and is apparently alkaline and for sure, the coffee and the green tea don’t give me heartburn (unlike my usual pod coffee). It taste great and does help with some of the things it claims to. I’m not a doctor, so I can only give you my own experience, but so far so good.

Heres a short video on the benefits of the mushroom itself.

A nutritionist speaks about benefits related to weight loss

in this clip below

I will keep updating this particular blog post, as I want to see if it helps with my weight, liver count, potential pre-diabetes, sleep, anxiety, stress and overall general health.

Let me know in the comments whether you have used Ganoderma/Reishi , either in coffee, tea or on its own as a supplement and if you’ve had good experiences with it, particularly if its helped with the issues mentioned above.

Jo Tricker Healthy Living Lady

NB This post is NOT sponsored or affiliated.

 

Product review – Sukrin Gold stevia

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Are you wanting a little sweetness but trying to avoid sugar? Try Sukrin Gold.

I was speaking to a nutritionist friend of mine about avoiding sugar and how Stevia doesn’t seem to affect blood sugars and has low carbs… so it’s good if you are doing low carb, keto or diabetic. I have heard of lots of different types of ways you can use Stevia, the drops fascinated me, but I haven’t tried them yet. But I wanted something that could be measured in the same kind of way.

So he told me about Sukrin gold. There are a few different types, and I have tried the white one too. that tastes fine, is a little more powdery. the gold version though is like adding brown sugar. It looks like brown sugar in the packet and behaves similar too.

So I ordered it (small pack to try) from amazon. It wasn’t cheap but I don’t use much sugar, so it was fine. I think if you use a lot of sugar and are going to replace it, you may want to buy in bulk as that would be cheaper than the smaller packs. If you want to try it the smaller bag (for someone who doesn’t use a lot of sugar was fine, and its sealable so it doesn’t go hard and stays fresh/moist.

What did I like about Sukrin Gold?

The thing I liked about it the most was that you really do use the same levels. It is much sweeter than sugar in my opinion, but sugar is so bad for your health generally that for me, it is the best option.

If you normally hate sweeteners, this is one to try. Even on amazon reviews there are loads of people who like the product for its taste and ease of use and I agree.

If you’re on any kind of weight loss or sugar restriction because of diabetes or weight training etc, this doesn’t seem to have any negative impact on that. A lot of the Stevia products leave a “cool” feeling on your tongue. This does, but not to the same extent. It feels like it evaporates. In texture it reminded me of brown sugar in some ways.

A couple of ways I’m going to try it next is in coconut yoghurt and on pancakes with some lemon juice… to see if if is ok as a substitute for that. Not sure if it will thicken things like sugar does yet either (like jam consistency).

Overall, if you don’t use too much sugar this is great, the taste (for me and many others) seems to match brown sugar, but it is very pricey.

Jo Tricker Healthy Living Lady

NB This is NOT a paid promotion. I genuinely use this product.

Additional comment. I tried in the coconut yoghurt and it was really nice. On pancakes though it wasn’t the same as sugar and that “cool” feeling is much more noticeable. It didn’t give that syrupy feel that lemon and sugar does.

What happened when I took 2 Garcinia each day for 3 days?

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What happened when I took 2 Garcinia each day for 3 days


Following my previous post on taking a small amount of Garcinia, I decided to take Garcinia each day for 3 days and find out what the results were. I took two tablets at breakfast time. I changed nothing else in my diet at all, just ate normally and healthily. Id dint do any extra exercise. In fact for that period of time, other than walking I did not “formal” exercise at all.

What were my results? On the first day I actually felt a little hungrier taking them, I’m not sure that it was because I started my day earlier and drank a lot of water to take them. The tablets were quite large and difficult to get done as I am not keen on taking tablets. The second day I took the two tablets with carbonated water, much much easier to take and I found myself not feeling so hungry. I had no other effects. I have heart issues (it races sometimes) and I had no issues with that at all either. Day three pretty standard. I felt less hungry in general but I continued to eat in my normal way. The results were quite good and different to what I expected. I had not eaten less than normal. I ended up feeling less hungry and thinking about food less generally during the day two and three. On weight in I had lost around 1.2kg which is about 2 ½ – 3 lbs so considering this was only three days and only taking two tablets each morning I was surprised (and pleased). I didn’t dehydrate so don’t believe its water weight. I was still eating carbs. I felt slimmer (less bloated maybe).

What is Garcinia then and why do I think it worked?

Garcinia is a tropical fruit (known as Malabar Tamarind). This interested me as Tamarind is a very sweet fruit that you put in curries etc to give it a sweet taste. Apparently the weight reducing active ingredient is HCA (Hydroxycitric acid). (I originally thought it was Synephrine, but that’s from bitter oranges – Seville). So the HCA is also supposed to be good for blood sugars and cholesterol. I have genetically high cholesterol but I did not check before hand to see what my levels were before and afterwards, so I cannot comment on that. I may do it again and see 1. If I have the same results and 2. If my cholesterol goes down significantly. The HCA is supposed to work by boosting fat burning and reducing appetite. It certainly did the latter, I am not sure if it did the first, but my body fat did drop by about 1% on my body fat scales. So that seems to add up. My results were better than before and from what I’ve read (studies etc). It seems that’s quite a common theme, losing about 2lbs more than control groups. The question in my mind as I only took it for those three days, is can I repeat the results if I do it again. Watch this space. I may have another update soon and give it a try.

 

Jo Tricker Healthy Living Lady

10 flat belly tips

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10 Flat Belly Tips and some bonuses!

1. Belly fat is one of the most dangerous types of fat you can have on your body

Having excess fat around your waistline is linked with an increased risk of a number of ailments including:

  • Sleep disorders
  • Depression
  • Cancers
  • Heart disease

and of course diabetes and obesity.

Continue reading 10 flat belly tips

Lose fat around my knees

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Lose fat around my knees, and waist and …

So…. I am fast approaching 50, yes 50 and I don’t look a day older than 49 haha. Over the past year I seem to have had a little weight creep up on me and it’s simply down to less exercise and sitting around a lot more than usual. I noticed at first that my knees were getting chubbier and I wanted to lose weight around my knees, and my waist. I’ve started on a couple of things to see what I could do to slim down before the big day.

Continue reading Lose fat around my knees