Health & Fitness at Home – 6 products that I couldn’t live without
Your health and fitness regime doesn’t need to be confined to the walls of the gym, beauty parlour or spa. Health and fitness start at home! From the food that we choose to nourish our bodies with, to home exercises that benefit our sports of choice when out of the house. Health and fitness at home doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive.
Regardless of whether I can get to a gym to train or not, one thing I always practise at home is yoga. Therefore, I see a good quality yoga mat and blocks as fundamental to my home health and fitness routine. Sports massages are undeniably an essential part of any self-care regime. But in those moments when a trip to the physio just isn’t an option, my electric shoulder massager and myofascial release kit help me to maintain my tissues healthy. Time spent on my balance board helps me to build strength and coordination for the many board sports that I do. And where would my tired and achy muscles be without the instantaneous relief of natural magnesium spray!
I have compiled a shortlist of affordable products from the Ocean Flow Fitness Shop that are simple to use and that can make a big difference to your health and wellbeing. All of the products recommended below are genuinely used weekly by myself and many of my active friends. So if you’d like to invest in your health and fitness and most importantly in yourself, then check out my 6 top picks for health and fitness products at home.
Health & Fitness at home: Top Picks from the Ocean Flow Shop
(I am a verified Amazon Associate seller and I make a small commission if you buy any products via the affiliate shop links. This helps towards supporting me as a hard-working and passionate lifestyle blogger. I endeavour to only represent products that I truly believe to be of benefit to the Ocean Flow Fitness community. Many thanks)
Eco Non-Slip Yoga Mat Yogi Bare
Keep a firm grip on your practice and your environmental ethics with this fantastic eco-friendly non-slip yoga mat. This is my favourite yoga mat and my recommended best yoga mat for beginners. The incredible grip that this sustainable rubber yoga mat gives, makes it an ideal choice for people who are still finding their yoga feet and muscles. With the addition of laser etched guidelines to help with your alignment in standing poses and boxes for your hands and feet.
This grippy non-slip yoga mat not only wins on performance enhancement, but it’s also the best high-quality yoga mat within the mid-range price bracket. Providing extreme grip and support in even the most sweaty of yoga practices and a thick base for comfort in floor work.
The best quality eco-yoga block
A high-quality cork yoga block can really make a difference in your practice. Cork yoga blocks offer much more stability than their foam counterparts, especially for challenging poses that require you to place all of your weight onto them such as arm balances. The surface of this high-quality yoga block gives you a non-slip grip, making them ideal for use in a hot yoga studio. And the heavily weighted nature of them allows you to stand on them without the fear of tipping off. This cork yoga block also acts as a sturdy mediation seat, giving you a supported grounded feeling under your sit bones.
This important yoga prop also scores high on the eco-credentials. Made from100 per cent cork; harvested under strict regulations designed to conserve the cork oak tree, and produced without toxic chemicals during harvesting and manufacturing.
No yoga practitioner should be without a set of yoga blocks in their kit. And by buying a high-quality cork yoga block you’ll ensure that you can benefit from its use for many years to come due to its durability. So you can spend less time worrying about your carbon footprint and more time focusing on refining your yoga practice. Whether you use the block to build strength, for stability, to support joints or to lengthen limbs, a cork yoga block will become an essential part of your yoga kit.
Shiatsu 2 in 1 back and shoulder massager
What is not to love about an electric massage therapy machine! This handy home neck and shoulder massager is a must-have for anyone who does a lot of upper body training, such as surfers or cross-fitters. It’s also the perfect home remedy after being sat at a desk all day. This shiatsu 2 in 1 back and shoulder massager is great for releasing tight upper back and neck muscles such as the upper trapezius and the scalenes.
it’s not always possible or financially viable to get to a sports massage therapist as much as we would like. And whilst there’s no substitute for manual therapy, this massage machine helps to keep the neck and shoulders released in-between visits. Pop the sling around your neck in the evening whilst watching TV and massage your back and shoulders while you wind down at the end of the day.
With infra-red balls that rotate to help stimulate the tissues of the cervical and thoracic spine and to help bring pain relief. This electric massage therapy machine will definitely be one of your most welcomed additions to your home self-care kit.
Self-myofascial release home kit
Self-myofascial release plays an important role in maintaining the health and mobility of our tissues. Myofascial release therapy helps to break up adhesions in the tissues which could restrict movement and the free flow of regenerative fluids. Myofascial release also helps with pain management as a myofascial massage helps to build proprioception in stagnant areas that may have been dulled by nociceptors, the body’s sensory receptor for painful stimuli.
This home massage kit has all the essentials to ease muscle soreness and improve recovery time after training. In your Myofascial release therapy kit, you have a hard roller for deep tissue release, particularly good for releasing tight backs and outer hips. The roller stick is great for working on myofascial release in the legs. The balls work with areas like the rotator cuff, scapula and neck and are also good for releasing specific trigger point problem areas.
Self-myofascial release can be done in as little as 5 minutes after your workout if you just want to target a problem area. Or you can dedicate one or two longer myofascial massage sessions a week to working through your whole body. Whatever approach you choose you definitely won’t regret integrating myofascial release therapy into your home self-care routine.
Natural magnesium spray for quicker muscle recovery
This topical magnesium lotion is one of the best ways to help ease muscle soreness after training. Applying magnesium oil to your overworked or tight muscles can help with pain relief, making it a natural alternative to pain relief tablets. PraNaturals Dead Sea Magnesium Oil Spray is a natural magnesium oil that is both vegan and soil associated certified.
The best way to use magnesium oil is to apply it to your dried body after a shower. This helps with the direct absorption of this important mineral into your system, meaning that you feel the benefits of the magnesium oil working instantaneously. You can apply natural magnesium oil by rubbing it gently into your whole body or just apply it to problem areas such as your neck or calves. Applying magnesium oil before bed is said to greatly improve the quality of your night’s sleep as magnesium oil aids natural sleep. Magnesium spray uses also extend to your hair as a product to relieve dry and itchy scalps and increase circulation at the hair follicles. You can even use natural magnesium spray as a stain remover on your teeth!
Magnesium oil spray is also said to help manage levels of stress and anxiety. Add a few drops of this relaxing oil to your bath just as you would with bath salts, to help you unwind and relax your body and mind. Be aware that magnesium spray can sometimes produce a slight burning or itchy sensation at first when your skin first starts to absorb it, but this normally settles down relatively quickly.
Wooden wobble board for exercise and rehabilitation
A wooden wobble board is a great little bit of kit to add to your home gym. Use your balance board for core strength training, as part of a bodyweight workout or to help with rehabilitation after an injury. Wobble boards are a fantastic way to train your proprioception as a board sports lover as they really wake up all of the stabilizing muscles that you might use when out riding. The Sportneer balance board is also very good for your joint health and can help to rebuild strength after an injury to the ankles and knees.
With 360 degrees rotation and 10-20 degrees inclination angle, this large based wooden wobble board has a grippy non-slip surface to help with stability. Use the wobble board by a wall at first if you’re working on improving your balance. In time you may find you can include a whole range of simple exercises into your balance board workouts such as squats, lunges, press-ups and twists. With regular use, you’ll see your coordination and strength greatly improve and you’ll reap the benefits in your complimentary sport of choice.
