If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives): exercise

You can finally throw away those gross velcro ankle and wrist weights, those toe breaking heavy steel dumbbells that sit on your floor, or god forbid, the ones whose spongey coating is peeling off, in favor of any of these. These hand weights or dumbbells look so great, that even when not in use, they can be left out as sculpture or a conversation piece.

Philippe Starck's ergonomically designed Dumbbells come in silver aluminum with metal inserts or in an anodised gold finish . The gold set weighs 2 kilos, the silver set weighs 3. Both are fabulous and come in a nice XO starck designed case.

Buy them here.

Another great looking set of dumbbells are the stainless steel magnetic dumbells designed by Henriette Melchiorsen. Each way a kilo and are as stunning as a sculpture.

buy them here.

Another pair of sculptural dumbbells are the Vita stainless steel hand weights

buy them here.

This set of polished “Zimbabwe” granite dumbbells on solid oak stand by Big-Game was made in a limited edition specifically for 20ltd.com. No. of editions 15. Price: £2,700.00

buy them here.

The design firm, Greece Is For Lovers, makes these fun all brass dumbbells called Build your Myth in the shape of Greek columns. They come in weights of 1.5 and 3 kgr.

buy them here.

Even Chanel makes a pair of hand weights, available in pink or yellow, they are made of neoprene and cost $760.00 bucks a pair.

Inquire about them here.

Spotted on Yanko Design are these Orrefors crystal dumbbells designed by Alex Undall. Unfortunately, as far as I know, these are a concept and not available for purchase:

The Wellness Rack is an innovative, yet stylish, weight rack for strength training. Contains eight 2kg discs, eight half kg discs and two high-tech handles with a unique locking mechanism, all contained within a clear acrylic container. Maximum load per handle is 12kg.

buy it here.

Don't want to work out with weights? Dumbbells and free weights aren't the only workout gear to get a modern makeover. Jumping ropes or skipping ropes are fast becoming fashionable as well.

Two beautiful examples are the Seletti leather skipping rope with gold handles and the Philippi Vita skipping rope with nickel plated handles:

buy The Seletti skipping rope here.
buy The Philippa skipping rope here.

Being a blogger, or any job that keeps one 'tied to the computer', is a very sedentary lifestyle for the most part. Big butts, hemorrhoids and a lack of a social life can be some of the side effects. But now, with the advent of the Walkstation, a collaboration between The Mayo Clinic's Dr. James Levine and respected office furniture manufacturer, Steelcase, bloggers and computer geeks can actually get a work out while typing away.

Above: Dr. James Levine with his Walkstation

The Walkstation is the fully integrated combination of an electric height-adjustable worksurface with an exclusively engineered, low speed commercial grade treadmill. And it’s the first product in the entirely new FitWork™ category of products from Details designed to bring healthy habits to sedentary workers while they are actually working

Five years ago, Details, a subsidiary of the office-furniture manufacturer Steelcase, introduced a height-adjustable desk that allows people to stand while they work. Taking the concept a step further, the company recently unveiled the Walkstation, a height-adjustable desk connected to a treadmill. Office employees can now conduct meetings or peck away on their keyboards while using a specially designed treadmill that tops out at 2 miles per hour. The goal, says Details president Bud Klipa, is not to replace a trip to the gym, but to promote movement in the sedentary office environment, in turn creating a healthier workforce.The company developed the product in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic’s Dr. James Levine, who studies energy expended during routine daily activities. The curved desk comes in five different sizes, with a height-adjustment range of 241¼4'' to 52''. Priced at about $4,000, it is only available commercially.

The treadmill plugs in to a standard 110-volt outlet and features a noise-reducing belt, a high-torque motor designed for low speeds over long durations, a safety key, and a console that displays pace, time, distance, and calories burned. Klipa says first-time users are often surprised they can work while walking. “People tend to look at it and scratch their heads at first,” he says. “There really isn’t anything else like it on the market.”