Product Review: Empower Fitness 2lb Pair Walking Weights

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{Disclaimers: 1) I am not, not do I claim to be a doctor. Before you attempt to use this product, check with your primary care physician and/or specialist health care professional to be sure that it’s right for you. 2) I received this product for the purpose of testing and was allowed to keep it as a courtesy for posting a review. I received no other compensation for this review and was specifically told, “Write whatever you want.” In other words: this is MY opinion and not a company-paid PR piece. Take that for what you will.}

Seeing as how I’m trying to find ways to kick up my workouts by a notch or so, as I get closer to the next marathon, it seemed only fitting that I try out workout weights. I’d been intrigued by them before, since they seem to come in so many flavors – things that wrap around your ankles, things that wrap around your wrists, things that wrap around your waist, etc. So, when I was offered a chance to try out weights that you hand-carry, I was definitely interested in seeing how well they worked.

The product I tested is a 2lb pair walking weight set from Empower Fitness; the set is 2lb total (1lb per weight). These are supposed to be designed specifically for women, and the softness of the sand inside them certainly did make them comfortable to hold. They’re enclosed in a bit of neoprene, with a neoprene strap to go around your hand – again, all quite comfy stuff. According to the Empower Fitness web site, the set retails for $9.99.

Empower Fitness 2lb Pair Walking Weights

Empower Fitness 2lb Pair Walking Weights

 

The tests:

I did a bunch of walks with these, both indoors and outdoors, ranging from as little as a half-hour to just over an hour. Distances covered were anywhere from 1.5 – 4mi, with my pace ranging between 17-20min/mi.

Typically, I was walking holding my arms parallel to my body with my forearms approximately 90 degrees off from my upper arm. Holding the weights seemed to force me to have better posture and hold my core muscles tighter than I typically would without the weights.

The results:

I liked them! They were comfortable to carry and they were light enough to be easily carried in one hand if needed, yet heavy enough to give me just that little bit of resistance I needed to make my walk a bit more of a workout than it was previously. The straps made it easy to hang onto them, and the squishiness from the sand meant that they had plenty of give for me.

If I needed to put them aside so I could get a drink, if I was indoors and on a treadmill, it was easy enough to put them on the shelf in front of me. When I was outside, they were light enough to transfer to one hand and carry as 2lbs on one side while I got my drink.

It’s a handy thing that you can wipe them down if you need to, although I will say that no matter how sweaty my hands got from wearing them during walking workouts, they never got stinky (big plus!). They  never slipped off my hands due to  sweat; they really seemed to fit my hands perfectly with those straps, and I appreciated the comfortable, tight-but-not-constrictive fit of the straps.

If you’re interested in spending short dollars to add a little oomph to your walks, I’d recommend giving these a try. I’ll definitely continue using them, and don’t be surprised if I purchase a carabiner to allow me just to clip them to a belt-loop for much longer walks when I want to alternate using/not using them. For my walks around my neighborhood, I often eschew wicking fabric in favor of my boy cargo shorts; they just make it a ton easier to carry stuff (granola bars, iPhone, etc.). Hence – a carabiner + these weights (or two carabiners, so I can clip one to each side) is a VERY likely outcome for future walks.

Where to buy:

You can purchase these at various places online, including Amazon.com. Check out the Empower Fitness web site for full details on purchase options.

Time to get your CSA on!

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Having had a really fun time getting into a CSA “veggie box” program offered through work last year (and blogging about that for several months), I’m definitely looking forward to getting going with this year’s CSA options. Since the veggie box program at work won’t start for another several weeks, we’ll likely jump on the bandwagon with our local farmstand earlier. They offer a full season package or, for a couple of dollars more per box, you can pay by the week only for the weeks that you actually want to get a box. Going with the latter is a fantastic way to check out what the farm has to offer and see how they run their program.

For those of you who aren’t in a CSA and who would like to learn more, you can find your nearest CSAs through a fantastic search tool offered at the LocalHarvest web site.

Last year, I found that the veggie box program at work ($20/box) was a deal for the Fall boxes until we got to the late Fall ones, where the bulk of what was in them was apples, potatoes and onions. Those items, it seems, are pretty much priced fixed all year at low enough prices that it didn’t save us money to get the veggie box versus buying the same type of produce at the grocery store. I will note, though, that I was typically pricing the “regular” versions of the produce, not the “organic”, which often have higher prices attached.

Naturally, the price wasn’t the only consideration; I also wanted to branch out and try new fruits/vegetables, and I wanted to see if we were able to sustain using more fresh items in our weekly meal plan. All of our goals were definitely met the first time out, so now it’s a matter of keeping things going.

Once we get up and running with the next veggie box (wherever I get it), I’ll post about the value from what I got as well as, of course, any new recipes! In the meantime, feel free to revisit memory lane by looking through how last year’s Adventures in CSA went…and buckle up for 2012!

Injecting medicine back into vaccination decisions

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Puttering around on the interwebs, I came across this nice little opinion piece on CNN regarding the influence celebrities have on health-related decisions and why that’s not necessarily in your best interests. I’ll admit, I read Jenny McCarthy’s books while I was pregnant. Her book about her pregnancy, “Belly Laughs”, was recommended to me by a friend, and I got into reading her humorous, highly-accessible writing. I was also impressed that someone who made a career out of playing a ditz or a bombshell actually had the ability to write well. As I got deeper into her oeuvre, I saw her pain as she went through the nightmare of seeing her son change before her eyes, eventually to be diagnosed with autism, and what she went through to try to bring him back to some semblance of “normalcy”. (My term, not hers, and the definition of “normal” is really very much up for grabs.)

As I read “Louder Than Words”, I could tell that she was describing what SHE went through and what SHE thought, and it never seriously crossed my mind that I shouldn’t vaccinate my then-newborn dd. I took it for what I saw as “what it was worth”: here’s a person with (I’m guessing) greater financial means at her disposal and (I’m also guessing) a more flexible work schedule than those of us who work 9ish-5ish jobs. So, even if something happened with my dd and I needed to deal with it in the manner that Jenny had outlined from her personal journey, it’s not like my journey would map 100% to hers.

My memory’s a little fuzzy, so I can’t recall the specifics of the conversations I had with dd’s pediatrician about the vaccine schedule. I know that I did ask at some point about the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vax that Jenny McCarthy blamed for her son’s autism (on the basis of a scientific paper which has since been discredited). I also remember that the doctor told us that the vaccine was safe, and I trusted her.

Now, why would I trust the pediatrician in the face of the story Jenny McCarthy told? It’s simple: Jenny McCarthy’s story, in the world of statistics or market research, would be described as “an n of 1”. She’s one example. She could be an anomaly. If she were indicative of the norm, rather than the exception, one would think that parents would be coming out of the woodwork left, right and center saying that their child became autistic as a reaction to that 18mo MMR shot. But it just wasn’t happening. Plus, there’s also this really overwhelming thing on the pediatrician’s side: she’s actually been through medical school. She studied and stuff. She did a residency. She actually KNEW things from having learned on the job.

This isn’t to take anything away from Jenny McCarthy’s experience. I can’t imagine what a nightmare it was for her to find her son a boy transformed seemingly overnight from a happy boy to one who shrieked and had trouble eating and whose communication skills dwindled rapidly. I can’t imagine the strength it took to go through everything she did to try to restore her son to his former self. I do know that, as a parent, you keep going even when you’re at the point of exhaustion, so I can hazard a guess about how difficult that must have been for her.

I appreciate that she shared her story and I wish that more people would take it for what it is: an n of 1. I’ve seen too many news stories in the last few years about outbreaks of measles and other easily preventable diseases, clustered in areas where the parents were turning anti-vax. It just seems horrifying that the fear of non-fatal medical problems leads people to court the danger of potentially fatal diseases.

I realize that I’m no more a doctor than Jenny McCarthy, and I also realize that the decision to vax should be within the purview of a parent’s discretion. However, I like the idea behind the bill moving through the CA legislature right now that would require parents opting out of vaccinations for their children to have to consult with a doctor first. Now, before any anti-vax folks start to freak out, this bill DOES NOT say that you can’t choose to opt-out of vax. However, it does require documentation (a form) that shows a health care professional advised what the risks were of declining the vaccine.

I see this as a step forward and I hope that states beyond California adopt this type of legislation. We shouldn’t require people to act against their beliefs when it comes to vaccination – but for everybody’s sake, it seems like it makes sense to require that they don’t decline without getting a consult from a real healthcare professional. Until folks like Jenny McCarthy have earned their LPN, much less their MD or PhD, it seems safer to leave the practice of medicine to those who actually know it best.