Cardio Fitness Equipment
Blast Fat with Exercise Machines
Exercise machines weren’t created to punish guys who eat too much. That’s what diets are for. But men spend hours, day after day, churning their arms and legs and waiting for the StairMaster or treadmill to make their bellies vanish. The result: They make it about as far as the average rat.
But your machine workout doesn’t have to be a road—or row—to nowhere. “By decreasing the duration and varying the intensity of your exercise sessions, you’ll get better results in less time,” says Chris Carmichael, founder of Carmichael Training Systems and coach to Lance Armstrong.
Try our guide to the five most popular exercise machines, with a high-intensity 20-minute workout geared for each. Your goals: Bust your exercise rut, and your gut, in record time.
Elliptical Trainer: The Knee Saver
Burn rate: 13 calories per minute
The benefit: Researchers at the University of Mississippi found that elliptical trainers provide the same cardiovascular benefits as treadmill running, without the impact on your joints. So they’re a perfect solution if you’re a runner who wants to stay in race shape without excessive pounding to your ankles, knees and hips.
Do it right: “Instead of holding on to handles, pump your arms as if you were running,” says Kerri O’Brien, C.S.C.S., a trainer in Phoenix. It improves your balance, which will help you whether you’re running 2.6 miles or 26.2.
The 20-minute fat-burner: Try this “alternating interval” fat burning exercise workout from Lance Watson, a coach of Canada’s Olympic triathlon team. By alternating between levels of high resistance and those of high speed, you’ll be able to work at a higher relative intensity for a longer time. Warm up, then increase the machine’s resistance level until you’re striding at 80 percent of your full effort. After 2 minutes, lower the resistance to the level you used during your warmup, but increase your stride rate so that you’re still exercising at 80 percent of your full effort. Continue alternating between a high resistance and a fast stride every 2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes.
Rowing Machine: The Total-Body Builder
Burn rate: 11 calories per minute
The benefit: “Rowing machines provide the best total-body workout of any cardio machine,” says U.S. Olympic rowing coach Mike Teti. This is because they require equal effort from both your lower and your upper body, which could lead to greater gains in overall cardiovascular fitness.
Do it right: On the back stroke, your knees should be almost completely straight before you squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull the handle to your sternum. Your back should stay in its naturally arched position during the entire movement. Got it? Record your distance online after every rowing session and see how you rank against more than 3,700 other club members. (Stay motivated by finishing your second million in less time.)
The 20-minute fat-burner: Try Teti’s routine. It’s designed to max out your muscles during each interval, while the recovery periods help increase the efficiency of this fat burning exercise routine. Set the rowing machine at a resistance of four. Then perform sets of 10, 15, and 20 power strokes—pulling the handle to your torso as fast and as hard as you can. Separate the power strokes with 60 seconds of easy rowing at about 50 percent of your full effort. Repeat the cycle until you’ve rowed for 20 minutes.
Stairclimber: The Health Master
Burn rate: 12 calories per minute
The benefit: Yale researchers found that men with insulin resistance—a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease—who exercised on a stairclimber for 15 minutes 4 days a week improved their sensitivity to insulin by 43 percent in just 6 weeks.
Do it right: The obvious: “Leaning on the handles can cut your caloric expenditure by 20 percent or more,” warns Mike Merk, C.S.C.S., director of the YMCA of Greater Cleveland. So, for a better calorie burn, pump your arms as if you were walking or running briskly. Or you can just turn around. A study in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that the retrograde version—facing away from the console—burned more calories than the traditional method.
The 20-minute fat-burner: Try this “escalating intensity” workout from Edmund Burke, Ph.D., author of The Complete Home Fitness Handbook. After you warm up, increase the resistance level by one unit while maintaining a pace of 60 to 80 steps per minute for 2 minutes. Then increase the resistance by one unit every 2 minutes until you reach your 20-minute goal. You’ll gradually work harder as your workout progresses, so you’ll be maxed out at the end of the session—which trains your body to finish hard.
Stationary Bike: The Mood Lifter
Burn rate: 14 calories per minute
The benefit: Researchers at the University of Northern Arizona found that cycling on a stationary bike for as little as 10 minutes reduced fatigue and negative moods, while improving energy levels. The stationary bike is also the perfect vehicle to prevent chunky guys from hurting themselves as they lose the chunks. That’s because cycling is not a load-bearing exercise, says Kate Heelan, Ph.D., an exercise researcher at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Do it right: Many cyclists develop lower-back pain because of their semifetal posture. “Stand up every 5 minutes and pedal as if you were climbing a hill for 60 seconds,” says Robert Morea, C.S.C.S., a trainer in New York City. “It’ll take the pressure off your lower back, force you to use different muscles and break up the monotony of your workout.”
The 20-minute fat-burner: Try this workout from Carmichael. It varies your sprints to challenge your cardiovascular system and muscles in different ways. Following your warmup, start cycling at an intensity that’s about 95 percent of your full effort for 90 seconds, followed by a 90-second recovery interval at about 40 percent of your full effort. Then, using the same intensities, perform 60-second and 30-second intervals. After the final 30-second recovery period, cycle at 70 percent of your full effort for 4 minutes, then repeat the entire set of intervals.
Treadmill: The Energy Guzzler
Burn rate: 17 calories per minute
The benefit: A 2001 study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise determined that the treadmill burns calories at the highest rate of any exercise machine.
Do it right: If you want to mimic road running, raise the incline of the treadmill to 1 percent before starting your run. Researchers in England found that that’s the degree of treadmill elevation that most closely approximates outdoor running. Read more
Life Fitness Equipment
Life Fitness Equipment – Understand the Concept
Life Fitness Gym
Once you initiate a fitness training program, a bodybuilding program or any other training regimen to amplify your health and physical fitness, you have the option of registering in a local fitness center or gym, or setting up your home gym. Home fitness equipment are currently very popular due to their convenience and easy acquisition. It is in this acquisition process of home fitness equipment that the concept of life fitness equipment accrues.
Introducing Life Fitness equipment
The phrase life fitness equipment refers to the lifetime fitness equipment acquisition whereby the fitness equipment you buy is warranted for their life duration. In short, therefore, life fitness equipment refers to lifetime fitness equipment. Those who have encountered the term may not be totally familiar with the concept. If however you are intent on setting up a home gym for your physical fitness training of bodybuilding, it is important that you consider the importance and the essential meaning of lifetime equipment.
Purchasing lifetime or life fitness equipment means that the equipment you purchase come with a lifetime warranty. That is just about the best deal available in your local fitness equipment store.
Why Life fitness Equipment is a Viable Choice
The following are some of the reasons why you might consider buying life fitness equipment:
- Fitness equipment are very expensive and not the kind of investments you would wish to be buying every now and then if you can avoid it
- With regular exercises, common fitness equipment usually break down and become dysfunctional such that they hinder beneficial workouts unless you buy a replacement
- Insurance covers for your home fitness equipment is a more expensive option when it comes to break down, wear and tear
- The convenience of knowing that your equipment will be serviced or replaced anytime it stops working efficiently, instead of having to carry out another odious shopping
In short, life fitness equipment might end up saving you a lot of time, money and trouble. Almost all types of equipment will and do break down with continued use. Whether it is furniture, cell phones, vehicles, machines or whatever else, breakage and wear and tear is a norm in the use of machines.
Your fitness equipment is also as prone to breakage and wear and tear. You therefore need the assurance of a lifetime guarantee that the fitness equipment will always be replaceable and or repairable at no additional cost. That is the essence of lifetime warranty carried by life fitness equipment.
Conclusion
Fitness equipment is a formidable investment. Setting up a home gym is something that should be covered by a warranty or insurance of sorts. In this regard, life fitness equipment is just about the best available option. Ideally, the lifetime warranty is offered by manufacturers and extended by fitness equipment stores and other retailers within your local setting. Ensure that you check for such provisions when buying your home fitness equipment and specifically ask for the equipment that carries with it a lifetime warranty. Additionally ensure that:
- The price is acceptable in comparison with the normal pricing of the equipment i.e. It should not go beyond 20% of the normal price
- The condition of the equipment while at the fitness equipment store should be brand new and functional
- The lifetime warranty documentation properly signed by the fitness equipment store as provided for by the manufacturer
- The terms spelt out in the lifetime warranty to include replacement and repairs without excluding your typical usage of the equipment i.e. Some contracts will exclude electrical-fault-caused damage from warranty cover which is a trick you must avoid
- The reliability and or dependability of the local store or manufacturer to follow through on their word based on their track record, customer support and customer satisfaction history. Read more
