:: Fitness - Exercise Equipment
How to Evaluate and Buy Quality Home Exercise Equipment
 You
are thinking about buying home exercise equipment. But...
much people has brought exercise equipment home, only to have
it end up gathering dust in the garage or doubling as a laundry
hanger...
If you take home equipment you will enjoy
using... and use regularly.
Today's home exercise
equipment is better constructed and more effective-and
offers you more options-than ever before. With choice, however,
can come confusion... especially since equipment now comes
in so many shapes, sizes and types, and is often marketed
through glossy direct mail packages and sophisticated infomercials.
Prices can range from $50 to $5,000 and up.
How to evaluate and choose quality exercise
equipment?
:: Determine Your Goals
Are you trying to lose weight? Do you want to get stronger
or both? Knowing your goals in advance will help you make
sure the equipment you buy will set you up for success, not
disappointment. Determining your goal will narrow your search
to far fewer options. There are upper
body exercise equipment, lower
body exercise equipment, cardio
fitness equipment...
:: Don't Forget About You
What activities do you enjoy most? Which don't you like? If
you avoid taking stairs at all costs, you probably will not
like working out on a stairclimber/stepper-decreasing
the chances you will use it regularly. If you love to take
brisk walks, a treadmill
will give you a similar experience any time of day or night,
in any type of weather. The more you enjoy the activity your
equipment provides, the more often you will use it.
:: Set Your Budget
How much do you have to spend? If you love that fancy, programmable
$2,500 stairclimber at the gym, the $199 blue light special
will probably prove a huge disappointment-but a basic, quality
$600-800 model might work great. A good strategy is to spend
most of your budget on one solid aerobic training piece, say
a high-quality
treadmill, then build around it with inexpensive strength
training equipment such as tubing and dumbbells.
:: Decide on Features and Functions
From televised displays to digital readouts, much
of today's equipment incorporates an amazing amount
of high technology. However, these "bells
and whistles" often come at a price.
Ask yourself if timers, heart
rate monitors, calories-burned displays and the like will
motivate you. If so, and you can afford them, great. If not,
rest assured that a basic, good-quality piece will provide
just as effective a workout. And you can often duplicate many
features by using kitchen timers,
keeping an exercise log with handwritten entries, even learning
how to take your own pulse.
Other considerations include a reading rack, ease
of adjusting variables such as tension, resistance
and seat height, water bottle holders, and whether
it folds up.
:: Using And Storing Your New Equipment
Many people anxiously await delivery of their new exercise
bicycle or home
gym only to find it does not fit in the space they had
planned to put it! Measure the actual footprint of your new
equipment, and consider ventilation, electrical outlets, and
noise problems for neighbors, even storage. Plus, consider
placing a rubber mat under the equipment to reduce noise and
absorb sweat and grease. Maybe a folding
equipment is solution.
:: Increase your motivation to exercise
What would it be like if you could maintain that initial enthusiasm
that gets you exercising again?
Imagine how good your fitness would be! There's no doubt about
the incredible health benefits of sustained exercise, quite
apart from how good you look when you're exercising regularly.
So what can you do when the urge to exercise flags and your
willpower seems to seep away?
If it gets to this stage, it may have gone too far. You need
to catch it before you lose your momentum.
Trick is in exercising without thinking! Download "Experience
the Keep Exercising" now and continue on your path
to peak fitness. The Download is sponsored by 
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