One thing I realized about the usefulness of any product is if you bring it home and you immediately start using it, you clearly have made a smart purchase. The first set of awesome products we reviewed had a more “baby product’ feel to it. These set of products have more of a “fitness” feel to it. As I stated on I got Purple on the Brain, my wife and I are getting serious about our health and now the time has come. So lets “carry on”, shall we?

Garlic Crusher/Press

There is something very magical about this press. Very similar to the apple corer/slicer, you say to yourself, “Something so simple can’t possible do what it says it does?”. Well it does and very well. Not only does this thing make mincing garlic a no brainer, but it peels the thin skin off the garlic too. No matter how many times I press I want to find more garlic to press. Sometimes I don’t want to take out the food processor and this makes for a quick chopping of garlic in less than 3 seconds. Like many products that have been around for ages, many companies have added ergonomic accents (rubber handles, hand shaped metal, etc) to make mincing garlic even more effortless. Press, crunch, your done!

2-in-1 Lemon and Lime Squeezer

My wife and I use a lot of lemons in our cooking and one of the most annoying tasks is squeezing lemons for lemon juice. Many times your getting sprayed in the face by rogue spurts of lemon spritzes and by the time you’re done squeezing, you feel like you’ve been peppered sprayed in the face. Not anymore. This tight little tool allows you to squeeze every single drop of lemon or lime with no rogue splatters from the squeeze. It has holes right in the bottom of the metal squeeze cup so juice comes out nice and neat. It’s a bit on the pricey side for a kitchen gadget of it’s size (Retails 19.99), but it’s worth it. Your eyes don’t have to sting anymore.

P90X

Welcome to the “mother of all workouts”. I bought P90x about 2 years ago and I was so out of shape that I failed the initial fitness test. Of course I tried to do the program at the time and ended up imploding my body. So I took a hiatus from P90x and now I’m back on the program. I have not had anything that has pushed me so hard as P90x. It’s a complete end to end exercise program that can slim you down or build mass. Coupled with a proper diet, you don’t really need to do anything else. I’ve been doing the program for almost 2 weeks and my endurance, strength, and stretching are up on all levels. If you are really interested in a true exercise challenge, this is it.

Extra Large/wide Yoga Mat

I bought this because my current yoga mat did not accommodate the space needed for P90x. I can do big moves and still stay on the mat. It’s wide, long, and is thicker than most mats so when I land on it, my feet don’t make a sound. I have hard wood floors so this mat is critical for my high intensity workout. Even if you don’t plan to buy P90x or some other intense workout regiment (i.e. Insanity) it will give you the needed space if you are tall or you just want ample space for your Tittibhasana pose (Firefly).

Over the Sink Grippboard Cutting board with Pop up Strainer

Yet another product that has transformed our kitchen. It’s like adding another counter-top to your kitchen. One of the most annoying tasks is washing and cutting vegetables/fruit. Usually I have to take out the strainer, then take out the cutting board while watching the water drip off of the veggies or fruit flooding the entire counter-top and sometimes rolling off the counter top then onto the floor. There are so many benefits to this “frankenstein” strainer/cutting board I don’t know where to start. First thing it’s rubber no-slip ergonomic handles/edges make it easier to grab and place right over your kitchen sink. It will fit most standard sized kitchen sinks. Obviously you get this nice big cutting board space (almost 1 3/4 ‘ feet of space). The icing on the cake is this nice rubber collapseable pop-up strainer that you can use to wash your fruits and veggies. Keep in mind that you can remove the strainer too. Sometimes I’ll use it as a temporary garbage collector. Like when I’m cutting strawberries and I can cut the cap/stems and dump them in the strainer. When I’m done, I just remove the strainer, flip it upside-down and dump the stuff in the garbage. This nifty tool will add a certain level of “Mickey deez” efficiency to your food preparation time.

Munchkin Powdered Baby Formula Dispenser

If you’ve ever tried pouring powdered baby formula from a plastic bag or the scooper that comes with the container in an opening of a baby bottle which is a little bit bigger than a quarter while inside a moving vehicle or subway, you’ll look like you rolled around in flour for about 15 minutes. The Munchkin Powdered Baby Formula Dispenser not only allows you to have some dignity while not looking like you’ve hung out with Tony Montana for 5 hours, but it allows you to safely get all the baby formula into the bottle. It has 3 separate compartments which allows you to carry the exact amount you need for each feeding. This has truly been a great buy.

Schwin Spinner® FIT Bike

My wife Sarah is a spinner fanatic. She actually taught spinner classes in Saudi Arabia and from what she tells me, people hated her spinner passion. Not hate in a “I hate your guts, I wish I could smack you with a rusty screw driver” type of way, but hate as in “Oh no, Sarah is going to push us to the edge until our legs separate from our body and start running away from the spinner class”. I think I noticed a subtle change in personality when my wife talks about spinning. Her eyes light up with spin wheels of excitement. Kind of the same way I’m about P90x. You would think I was a spokesperson for Beach Body. However we just ordered the bike and it’s on the way. Sarah has been looking for an efficient way to get her fitness level up and rather than going to the gym (which is almost impossible with a child at home), we decided to bring the gym to the house.

Ottoman (not the empire)

My wife and I have three ottomans in the living room. It’s really a nice and stylish way of dealing with a space problem. One of the great things about ottomans are they come in a thousand different textures, styles, and sizes. With some proper digging, you can find the right style for the right price. I’m pretty sure we’ll be on our 4th ottoman purchase down the road. We’ll probably be looking for a ottoman to store our Saud’s toys and books.

Here is a bit of history about the ottoman: Traditionally, it is believed that the ottoman takes its roots from the divan, which is essentially a long, backless seat or padded bench with cushions to lean against. In fact, in some parts of world, the terms “divan” and “ottoman” are still interchangeable. The divan style of furniture was popularly used in the Middle Eastern council chambers of the government agency called Diwan, from which it got its name. The ottoman, at least as we know it today, is not believed to have been invented by Ottoman Turks, but was called so in deference to its exotic roots. In point of fact, the ottoman most resembles the Moroccan (North African) pouf, which is a thick cushion used as a seat. (word for word I copied all of this from here.

Multi-position pull up chin up bar

If there is one piece of exercise equipment that should be the center of your day-to-day workout, it’s the a door pull-up bar. The now popular Iron Gym Chin Up Pull Up bar has become quite popular but before the Iron Gym there was a long hot water pipe in the basement of my mother’s house that I wrapped with old t-shirts for each hand which I used to do pull-ups on when I was in high school. Also known as “Da Pipe” among my brothers, this was literally the first “Iron Gym” for me. The pipe cut across the entire length of the basement. It was very stable. One of the issues with “Da Pipe” is the circumference of the pipe was thick so you had to knock out your reps before your hand started slipping. I wrapped it with t-shirts for gripping and to protect my hands from the heat. Nowadays you have tons of different manufactures improving on the door pull up chin up bar. It’s perfect for strength training and is the ultimate upper body workout. Just about every muscle is used to do a pull up. Unlike pull up bars in the early days, you don’t need any screws. You just have to check the width of your door to make sure the pull-up bar of choice fits. In addition to this, I would chose a multi positioned pull up bar (in the picture). If you compare the Iron Gym to the Iron Gym Extreme you’ll see what I’m talking about. More positions equal more parts of the back you can work out.

Reebok Push Up Bars

I just got these push up bars last week and for years I’ve shied away from push up bars because..well…I thought they were short-cuts to doing real push ups. I said to myself “Nothing will be better than using your own hands to the floor, this is the real way”. Then the first time I used a push up bar I realize that it’s a lot more difficult to do push ups with a push up bar, not to mention you can get way lower because your hands are raised about 4 inches from the ground. The Reebok Push Up bars have 3 levels and this really spongey grip so you stay focused on the push up and not the discomfort in your hands or wrist. The position of the push up bar makes doing a push more natural and for those push up enthusiasts, know that your wrist can go through a pounding over the years. This is yet another P90x accessory but I use them even when I’m not doing P90x. What is also nice about these bars are they are sturdy and they don’t tip over if you want to go wide. There are a multitude of companies that manufacture push up bars but Reebok has clearly done their research and know what works.

Honorable mentions

Lawry’s Seasoning Salt

I’ve have been using this “secret” seasoning for years to spruce up the flavor of many my dishes. Mostly I use it as part of a collection of other seasonings to pre-season my lamb, beef, or chicken the day before I cook the meat. Other than some weird chemical called Tricalcium Phosphate (prevents caking) most of the ingredients of Lawry’s are stuff you already have in your spice cupboard. I want to send a shout out to Lawrence Frank and Theodore Van de Kamp for being so creative and imaginative with your spices. If you your interested in the history you can go here and if your that big of a seasoning salt fanatic you can join the fan group on Facebook then not have any more friends after they find out you are part of the Lawry’s Seasoning Salt Fan group. Amazingly they have over 600 members.

Other posts in this series

1. Part 1: 10 products we own that are awesome (January 4, 2010)
2. Part 2: 10 products we own that are awesome (This post) (March 15, 2010)
3. Part 3: 10 products we own that are awesome (November 9, 2010)
4. Part 4: 10 products we own that are awesome (August 17, 2011)

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