Kranking is fun, intuitive, and easy to learn. It can be used alone on the cardio floor, with a Personal Trainer, and can be performed in a group setting. It represents an unprecedented opportunity for physically challenged individuals and welcomes a wide range of “special populations” with open arms.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.– Interactive Fitness Holdings® (“IFH”), announced that it has delivered a summer package of new software features to all networked Expresso bikes worldwide.

“IFH has upgraded the systems and servers connecting the bikes”

The summer package includes wild new terrain and motivational community-oriented features for Expresso riders. The terrain, in four new courses, is more surreal than most current Expresso courses and offers the best animation yet. Enhancements to the “ghost rider” feature now allow riders to race themselves or any other rider. The summer package also includes “My Facility” leaderboards, allowing rider to see where they stand among their local peers.

“No feature has been requested more than local leaderboards. Riders love both supportive and competitive interaction with their immediate peers,” said Mark Urlage, Vice President of Global Sales at IFH. “I’m already hearing about the positive energy this feature is creating among club members.”

The summer package is available to all users who log in when they ride a network-connected Expresso bike. Owners need not take any steps beyond making sure their bikes have network connectivity. IFH has committed to provide network services (called “expresso.net services”) free of charge to all Expresso bikes through the end of 2010.

“For thirty years, people who exercise indoors have been seeking distraction from the boredom,” noted Bill Stensrud, Chairman of IFH. “The Expresso bike changes that completely by delivering an experience that engages and excites the rider. Expresso further motivates the member by automatically tracking, displaying and reinforcing the individual rider’s progress.

Darcy Conover test drives the Expresso Bike at Jean-Robert’s Gym with JR as her personal trainer. She is "chasing her ghost." The ghost is her from her previous ride and she shows how powerfully competitive she gets when she is chasing herself.

With over 20 different rides the Expresso Bike is an amazing piece of equipment for cyclists and workout enthusiasts alike. You will push yourself to new limits and never you believe you were on a stationary bike.

Chain drive: Using a chain means we don’t have to compromise on bike performance. A properly treated chain can last as long as the bike frame doesn’t slip and allows more resistance with less component stress.

Belt Drive: belts require a greater amount of tension than a chain does. This can create stress on the bike components and add significant drag to the system. While they are quieter, they also can stretch become brittle over-time, and have a tendency to slip under heavy loads/resistance. Belts are gaining ground and will only keep getting better.

Click here for a feature comparision of Schwinn, Livestrong, Vision Fitness, and Lemond Indoor Cycles.

At the USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Leland McPhie, age 96, competed in the shot put, discus throw, javelin throw, long jump triple jump, high jump, and 100 meter dash. He won all events in the 95 and older division because there were no other entrants.

His 37.16 second finish in the 100 meters was a new American age-group record.

Bob Fulton, a 70-year-old multi-event athlete from Ft. Collins, Colorado told the Sacramento Bee, "He’s 96 and he’s not sitting in a chair somewhere. … I’d love to see more people do what he does. I think it’s going to catch on.”

Click here to read the full Sacramento Bee article about Leland McPhie.
By John Schumacher
Published: Sunday, Jul. 25, 2010 – 12:00 am, The Sacramento Bee newspaper | Page 1C

Too much of a good thing isn’t always such a good thing. Your body needs a well-rounded exercise program to stay in optimal health.

Here are some ingredients the experts at Life Fitness recommend for workout success:

Cardio. Cardiovascular exercises increase your heart rate for a sustained period of time. This is a necessary part of being fit because it strengthens your heart muscle, which in turn helps you breathe easier and helps your heart beat more efficiently. But just like anything, your body gets used to your daily cardio routine. Next time you’re working out at home or in the gym, try using the interval training program on the treadmill or cross-trainer for an extra boost of heart-pumping intensity.

Strength. For first time strength trainers, adding weights to a workout routine can provide impressive results on your body and on the scale. But it takes regular updates to ensure your training routine keeps your muscles guessing. Circuit training is a great strength workout as it follows a series of strength and/or cardio exercises that offer a great way to work all the major muscle groups in a short amount of time. Many gyms offer specialty circuit classes, or you can create your own circuit at home with a piece of cardio equipment and one of the new functional home gyms or a bench and dumbbells.

Flexibility. Flexibility is another key component to a well-rounded program and the part that most often gets overlooked. As your muscles get worked more often, they become tight, sore and sometimes leads to over-use injury. One way to prevent this from happening is by incorporating a good stretching routine. This will lengthen out those tight muscles and help stretch the connective tissue that surrounds them.

The Core. The core is the center of your body that holds you up and keeps you tall, much like the trunk on a tree. Strengthening your abdominals and back muscles will give you better posture, keep your body strong and tall, help you age more gracefully and help every movement you make easier. Try these balance props with free weights or a pulley-based system like the Life Fitness G7 Home Gym and feel the difference. Example: sit on a stability ball while performing the shoulder press reps. While your arms push the resistance, your midsection muscles engage to remain balanced on the ball, toning your core.

Before you get overwhelmed… remember, it’s not as hard as it seems. It’s all about cross training. A little bit of each is really all you need.

For More Information Contact:
Stephanie Weiss
Life Fitness
stephanie.weiss@lifefitness.com

Fit Tips are provided by Life Fitness, the leader in designing and manufacturing high-quality exercise equipment for fitness facilities and homes worldwide. For more information on FitTips and other fitness advice and expertise visit www.lifefitness.com or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lifefitness or join our facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/lifefitness.

1. Drink plenty of water. This may seem obvious, as we all know it is important to take in plenty of water and sports drinks whenever we exercise, but it is even more crucial on hot summer days. You should be hydrating before, during and after your workout. It is also important to replenish electrolytes and salt as well, since they are also depleted when you sweat. The delicate balance of water and electrolytes is crucial to keeping your body functioning properly, and failure to do so can result in light-headedness, nausea and far more serious problems.
2. Wear the right clothing. Light fabrics such as synthetics don’t retain heat and light-colored clothing reflects the heat. The new high tech running clothes are made from material designed to keep you cool and "breathe", allowing moisture to be released from your body and are well worth the extra expense.
3. Workout in the morning and evening. Avoid working out in the middle of the day unless you are training for an event that will take place in the daytime heat, and then you should adjust to the heat gradually.
4. Wear sunscreen even on cloudy days.
5. Listen to your body. If you start to feel nauseous or light-headed, take a break or stop your workout altogether. Failure to stop and hydrate could lead to heat stroke or worse.
6. Check the weather forecast. If the temperature is over 90 degrees, especially combined with high ozone levels or air pollution, you may want to take your workout indoors.

Kettlebells are essentially iron balls with handles, and they have been used in Russia for over 100 years to train athletes, military personnel, police, and students of the martial arts. The key to the success people have with kettlebells is due the types of ballistic exercises that they enable. Ballistic exercises are fast moving and work through the combination of a high number of reps and the integration of multiple muscle groups. This recruiting of muscle groups working together to complete the rep, is the reason for the success of this type of training. This allows the average person to work their entire body in a shorter amount of time than through traditional strength training, and you gain the benefits of a cardiovascular workout as well.

Some of the same exercise that have been traditionally performed with dumbbells are more effective when using kettlebells because of the way kettlebells are made. The weight of the kettlebell is not centered, which makes you work much harder to do the moves properly. In addition to giving you a more thorough, effective strength training exercise, kettlebell training also trains your body to produce sudden decelerations, essential in many sports as well as in daily activities. Kettlebell training also helps keep your back and shoulders healthy and allows you to build strength and lose weight without sacrificing flexibility.

Kettlebells come in different weights ranging from 5 to 100 lbs.

Check out the kettlebells and instructional booklet at the HealthStyles Exercise Equipment store nearest you.

Kettlebell Videos

Basic Kettlebell Circuit Video

Kettlebell Exercises for Women Video

Weight Loss Kettlebell Workout Video

Click here to shop for kettlebells online or visit your local HealthStyles retail store.