Buying
Equipment for Home Gym
With
chaotic work schedules and expensive gym memberships,
working out at home can be a great value and convenience.
Many people would like to set up home gyms, but the
equipment choices, price differences, and space considerations
can boggle the mind.
ACE, The American Council on Exercise, recommends
these five steps for making intelligent equipment
buying decisions:
Identify
your fitness needs:
The equipment should suit your interests and fitness
level. Your chosen activities should be enjoyable
and yet challenging enough that your able to progress
to higher levels. For example, you should be able
to increase the resistance, incline or duration of
a given piece of equipment.
Every home gym should include basic components for
both aerobic training and strength training along
with a mat for stretching and abdominal work. Aerobic
training - jogging, stepping, or cycling, for example
- burns fat, raises your HDL (good cholesterol) and
strengthens the heart and lungs. Strength training
uses free weights, elastic bands, or machines that
resist your movement. It builds muscle, strengthens
bones, boosts your metabolism, and can lower your
LDL (bad cholesterol). Stretching keeps muscles and
joints flexible and helps prevent injury and soreness.
If the goal is an aerobic workout, then the equipment's
resistance should be low enough to maintain at least
20 minutes of smooth continuous motion. If the goal
is muscle strengthening, then considerably more resistance
is required. For this reason, it's difficult to obtain
muscle strengthening benefits and aerobic benefits
from the same piece of equipment. In most cases, machines
that claim to do both (riders for example) are inadequate
for strengthening beyond the initial level of sedentary
beginners.
Determine
your budget:
The number one rule here is that you get what you
pay for. Keep in mind that high quality equipment
that works reliably after several years of heavy use
can't be manufactured cheaply.
There are options available for every budget. For
example, if a pricey $1,500 electric stair climber
is out of your reach, you may be better off buying
a high quality step bench and a couple of great step
aerobics tapes for under $150. This might be a wiser
choice than spending $200 on a low-end manual stair
climber that's almost guaranteed to break after a
few months.
In some cases, the price range on a particular piece
of equipment can vary wildly. It's important to do
your homework and find out what the going rate should
be.
If a piece of equipment is priced significantly lower
than it's competitors, it could be for a variety of
reasons including: manufactured overseas rather than
domestically, cheaper components, less rigorous design
and assembly, lower profit margin taken by the manufacturer,
less overhead, or better engineering allowing for
less costly assembly.
By the same token, if a piece of equipment is priced
significantly higher than comparably models, you need
to ask why. Does it work demonstrably better than
lower priced models? Does it offer better features?
Is it likely to last longer? Is it likely to require
less service? Is it easier and less costly to service?
Keep in mind that it's possible to purchase used exercise
equipment. If you go this route, you may be able to
buy more equipment, or higher quality commercial equipment,
and still stay within your budget. Try to buy from
a reputable dealer and get a warranty in writing.
Determine
how much space is available:
Take into consideration the room usage, safety, traffic
flow, aesthetics, desired equipment, and future expansion
possibilities.
Plan for at least as much open space as equipment
space.
Use the following guidelines to determine how much
room you'll need:
Treadmills
- 30 square feet
Bikes - 10 square feet
Single-Station Gym - 35 square feet
Stair Climbers - 10-20 square feet
Multi-Station Gym - 50-200 square feet
Rowing Machines - 20 square feet
Free Weights - 20-50 square feet
Ski Machines - 25 square feet
Examine
the product:
Features, design, manufacture, safety, and serviceability:
Your body should move in a manner that is correct
and safe. The equipment should be adjustable, comfortable,
easy to learn, and able to fit users of various sizes.
Parts should be easily removed and replaced. The device
should be space-efficient, and the components should
be the highest quality in the price range.
Think about the advertising claims. They should be
backed up by solid research. Look for reviews by objective
consumer publications.
Moving parts should mesh well. Welds should be clean
and smooth and the frame should be thick and sturdy.
Check out the safety features. There shouldn't be
any design flaws or weaknesses that increase the risk
of injury. (For example skiers with skis that can
move simultaneously in the same direction, or a machine
with poor stability.)
Look for features that enhance safety. For example,
range-of-motion limiters on strength machines; weight-stack
guards or any guards that protect moving parts; safety
switches on treadmills.
Assess
"bang for the buck" using a checklist as a side-by
side
comparison tool.
Things to consider in your evaluation:
