Using Your Home Gym Equipment for Best Results
If you're ready to start losing weight and to get in better shape, you may be in the market for some home gym equipment. The idea of having your equipment where you can use it at your convenience and without having to worry about a long line or about people in the gym judging you for how out of shape you're can be very appealing, and many have found that the appropriate gym equipment can really get them back into a good routine of physical fitness.
Butt before you grab the credit cards and run down to the local sporting goods store, you should give some consideration to the following pointers to get the most out of your home gym.
For one thing, it pays to be honest about how good of shape you are in now and if you have any physical limitations. If you're very overweight, then some advanced equipment such as an elliptical machine or stair stepper might be a little ambitious. A better piece of home gym equipment to start with might be a treadmill or recumbent bike.
These machines are a bit less challenging and usually easier for those just starting out. Getting overwhelmed with home gym equipment that's too difficult for you to use or that's too advanced for your current level of fitness is just going to get you discouraged and keep you from using it altogether.
You should also ask yourself where you're going to store your home gym equipment. If you're thinking of adding pieces to the bedroom, how much room do you realistically have? If you keep it in the garage, will that make it inaccessible? Will it be too cold during some months or to hot during other months so that you decide not to use it? If you can, it's always recommended that you clean out a specific area of the living space for your home gym equipment. If you don't need to drag it out or fight your way around some things, then it can be much easier to use, and you'll be more likely to stick with your routine.
If you are unsure if you will really stick with a home exercise routing, perhaps purchasing some used exercise equipment would be a good first step. After you have developed a good routing that has lasted for several months, then you may want to invest in some newer and better equipment. There are many good buys available from people that had great expectations, but they were unable to stick with it for one reason or another.
Be sure to add some resistance pieces to your set of home gym equipment. By lifting weights and adding muscle tone, you will burn calories more efficiently and will lose weight faster as well. This doesn't mean straining yourself or overdoing it. Just lifting a bit of weight regularly can yield great benefits, so even some hand weights can be part of your home gym equipment and can be easily stored in any closet or under the bed.
Exercise equipment is costly and even if you appreciate that using it is an investment in health and longevity, it still can be very difficult to fit it into a home budget. But used home exercise equipment might be a way to go. Since most equipment last for literally decades and even with constant use will probably still have a lot of life left in them regardless of the age. But where to find some good used exercise equipment, and what should you look for before purchasing?
Before you start your search for used exercise equipment, you should decide on the type of equipment you think would be of the best benefit to you. Take a trip to your local home fitness center and check out the types of equipment available. While looking at the equipment be sure to inspect the exercise equipment for quality of workmanship and if you are looking at gym equipment in a gymnasium you should look for the normal wear and tare. This information will become vital when considering used exercise equipment.
Obviously, most people would turn to eBay when searching for used home exercise equipment, but keep in mind that there is usually a large shipping cost for this type of equipment if you purchase it from someone outside your immediate area.
However, eBay does allow you to narrow your search to a specific range of miles around your home so that you can pick up something. It's recommended that for something as expensive as home exercise equipment you'll want to arrange with the seller to inspect the pieces beforehand or pay in cash in person after winning the auction, if the piece is as advertised.
It's never a good idea to just pay for something this expensive without having inspected it first. Craig's List online is also a good place to shop for used exercise equipment, and some prefer it since it isn't worked around an auction but is more like a huge garage sale instead.
You may have flea markets nearby that sell exercise equipment. Goodwill, Purple Heart, the Kidney Foundation, and even the Salvation Army often sell good equipment from their donors. You can easily find them online or in the phone book.
It's important to inspect and try out the used home exercise equipment you find anywhere before you buy it. When it comes to treadmills, look at the belt carefully. It is curled or frayed at the ends? When you run the machines, does the belt have a tendency to drift to one side? This signals uneven wear. Of course belts can be replaced easily but if you intend to do this then consider the added cost.
Try out elliptical machines and bikes. Are the pedals securely fastened? Do they have a tendency to wobble? This might mean inferior quality. As for weight machines and other pieces of used home exercise equipment, check pulleys, cords, belts, benches, and every moving piece. Does it work effortlessly? If not, then something may be ready to break. Make sure the cords and pulley don't look frayed and worn.
For starters, you no longer have to manually change anything on a modern machine. Most models of machinery now have an electronic functioning that operates off brightly lit consoles that are effortless to use. For instance, you may be able to simply press a single button and allow the machine to change speeds or resistance levels for you at key moments in a preprogrammed workout.
Being able to program a machine and allow things like resistance, speed, and incline to change on your behalf is an extreme luxury many people just naturally expect today. It used to be that you had to get off the machine and pull out odd pins to change these settings, but that is not happening with our modern machinery.
Furthermore, you can entertain yourself right from the console of your chosen machine today. Many are now equipped with MP3 plug-ins with built-in speakers, where you can listen to your favorite music right off the console. You can also watch TV on your console or purchase separate cartridges with preprogrammed workouts by some of the world's top trainers.
You no longer have to keep pedaling harder and harder to get good resistance on an exercise bike, either. Today's machines do away with the huge turning fan on the front of older models for automatic magnetic resistance. This ensures that you can get the resistance you want simply by programming it into the console.
You also have some more effective options in the fitness bike market. You can go with a recumbent bike if you need less stress on your body, or a spin bike if you want a more intense workout that burns more calories and fat in a shorter period of time.
When it comes to today's market for treadmills, you can expect most models to have longer belts that accommodate a full running stride as well as natural-walking glides for most people. They are made more durable as well to ensure they can withstand these harder workouts.
Incline trainers are now becoming quite popular as well, maybe more popular than treadmills for consumers who want to really challenge their body at home. These machines can often go much higher than a treadmill can go, delivering a higher calorie burn and more intensive workout.
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