fitness equipment treadmills

Fitness is on the minds of everybody today. People want to remain healthy to live longer, to enjoy most of the things that can be done only when your body is healthy. Catering to this aspect, manufacturers have flooded the market with never ending options in the field of fitness regime.
Consumers have been given a plethora of options that help them in achieving their fitness goals. This sometimes lands up the consumer in a confused state of mind in deciding, which equipment will suit him the best. The recent buzz created in the fitness equipment market calls for treadmills, exercise bikes and elliptical trainers. All these machines are capable of providing instant and consistent benefit to your health. But which one is best for you? Here is your guide on these 3 basic fitness equipments.

Treadmills
They are the most widely used fitness equipments in the market. Tread machines are mostly used to increase your cardiovascular activity, to maintain an appropriate bone density and to loose weight. As per studies, while comparing it with the other two machines, it was found that it is better than the other two equipments. It was established in the study that treadmills help in burning more calories.

Besides this, it also offers you the best opportunity to tone each and every muscle of your body. A treadmill exercising session can help you burn around 50-250 calories in an hour.

The best about a treadmills structure is: they are built to absorb all the pounding that is generating while you are running or walking on the machine. Most treadmills have electronic settings that help you customize your workout programs. Treadmills are built such that they can be programmed according to individualistic needs.

Due to all these reasons, treadmills have been rated as the best training options to attain impeccable fitness.

Elliptical Trainers

They are built to offer you a unique range of fitness benefits. Elliptical trainers provide you with low-impact workout programs that are very easy on your joints and lower body. The only disadvantage that this machine carries is that it burns fewer calories as compared to a treadmill.

The in-built workout programs that elliptical trainers’ carries have such an affect on your body that you will lose weight without affecting much of your knees, hips and back. It also helps you build an appropriate bone density. The machine can be programmed with the help of its in-built electronic setup. All in all, elliptical trainers are full body exercisers that help in toning your leg, thigh muscles to giving strength to your hands. And, all this can be done without stress and pounding.

Exercise Bikes

This machine has been rightly termed as a machine with low impact yet high performance. The workout programs that it carries are of easy intensity that works affectively on the joints and the body parts. The best part about exercise bikes is that they are the most economically priced fitness equipments. And the bad part is that they have a very low calorie burning ratio. Thus if you are planning to use a bike to lose weight then you must put in some extra hard work.

Exercise bikes are the most ancient in the fitness industry. But with technological innovations, their dying numbers have consequently geared up in the market. The machine caters to the aspect of fitness by allowing the user to maintain their heart rates without putting stress on knees, feet, hips and ankles. The exercise bikes come with built-in resistance features that help you achieve your desired goals. Now a days, there are several models that offer you electronic setups.

Comparing your health needs with the above mentioned features of treadmills, elliptical trainers and exercise bikes, you can make your health equipment pick. And enjoy your workouts for a healthy life!

How To Buy The Best Treadmill

Before going into the specifics of how to choose a treadmill, you need to sit down and think about the following questions:

1. What is the reason for getting a treadmill? If you want something to do your daily walks at a pace that raises your heart rate, you can opt for a treadmill with a low maximum speed and no incline. However, if you are planning to get in shape for a vacation where you will be hiking and biking, then you should opt for something with higher maximum speed and incline functions.
2. What is your budget? There are many good models you can purchase for $2000 or less. I suggest $2000 because most people cannot afford $3000+ for a treadmill and I know you can get a good treadmill for less. There are great deals online so shop around.

Once you have decided on the reason and budget, you have to do the following before you go shopping for your treadmill.

1. Measure the floor area you have to position your treadmill.
2. If you want a treadmill that folds, measure the storage area you have for the folded treadmill.
3. Measure the weight of the heaviest person that will be using the treadmill. Each treadmill has a maximum weight limit. If you weigh between 45kg – 90kg (99lbs – 198lbs), a treadmill with 100kg (220lbs) weight limit will be sufficient.

Standard features that should come in a treadmill for your home. These are features that will be important to you.

1. Foldable – As a home user, you never know if one day, you will have visitors to your house or need to move house. A foldable treadmill on wheels will make repositioning the treadmill a breeze.
2. Electronics – Heart Rate monitor, Time read-out, Distance read-out, Speed read-out, Calories burned. An electronic “track” lighting up to show my progress. At least 5 preset programmes and 3 more programmable slots for you to define your own workout routine.

3. Belt – Try out your shortlisted treadmills. Take note of how long and wide it is. Bottom line: you must be able to run comfortably on it.

4. Horse Power – Most people do not pay attention to the horse power of the motor. Look for the term continuous duty rating. Look for something between 1.5 to 2.5 horsepower. Some have horsepower of 3. You do not need one that powerful but if you do not mind the extra cost you pay for a model with a horsepower of 3, that is fine.

5. Make sure the treadmill counts down when starting and the speed increases progressively when you start it. I have been on treadmills that start at the speed I set without counting down and have to immediately lower the speed manually. All treadmills should allow you to change your speed at any time using the arrow keys. Do not buy it if it does not allow you to do that.

6. Water Bottle holder – This should be a standard feature on most models. This is especially important if you do long walks or runs lasting 30 minutes or longer on your treadmill.

7. Speed Range – Look for one that goes up to 15km/h (9mph). An average person will not need more speed than that. A power walker walks at 7km/h to 8km/h (4.3mph to 5 mph). You will be jogging above 8km/h (5mph) and at 12km/h (7.5mph), you will be running.

8. Safety Key – This is a feature that will allow you to stop the treadmill immediately in the case of an emergency.

9. Warranty period – Look for a treadmill with 1 year or longer warranty periods. Do not purchase if the warranty period is less than 1 year. Do not be deceived by “X years warranty on frame”. Ask about the warranty on ALL parts, such as belts and electronics.

Optional Features you may want. These are features that will cost you more but if you feel that they are important to you, please go ahead and choose a model with these features.

1. Incline – Running at an incline, even at 1 degree, allows you to burn more calories as compared to running with no incline. Look for one that inclines at least 10 degrees and if you can afford, go for one that can incline 15 degrees or more.

2. Speakers – New treadmill models now have speakers where you can plug in your Ipod or MP3 player to play music from the built-in speakers while you run.

3. Fan – A few treadmills have a built-in fan. This will limit your choice of treadmills as there are not many models around with this feature.

Before heading down to your nearest fitness store, do your research online so that you do not waste too much time talking to salespeople who will try to sell you their latest models with the highest premiums.

You may want to check out my other articles on: Sports Fitness Equipment and Workout Video