Fitness equipment is designed to work your muscles against resistance or weight. These are muscles that you may not otherwise be able to exercise if you did not have a piece of equipment. In today’s fast-paced world we all need to find as many ways of doing double duty as possible.
Fitness equipment is also meant to get you into shape faster, with less effort and showing greater results than if you try to isolate muscles on your own. The equipment allows you to improve your fitness at a more intense level while be able to pick the equipment that best meets your needs and goals. This way your level of fitness improves quickly and with less stress.
Doctors and researchers know that exercise increases your metabolism and improves your success rate at losing weight. Through exercise you can also increase your muscle mass which in turn burns more calories. Increasing muscle mass also improves your overall self-confidence and reduces your risk of developing osteoporosis. Exercise increases your energy level, improves your health and decreases your cholesterol.
And when exercise does all of this-the question isn’t IF you should exercise but HOW.
You might be interested in a specific sports and improving your fitness in order to increase your performance or you may be interested in just “working out”. Whatever your path the type of fitness equipment you choose must factor into your lifestyle and the particular regimen that is your exercise routine.
Fitness equipment has to fit your particular goals today as well as how you anticipate you may grow in the future. Purchasing a piece of equipment that meets your goals today may be shortsighted, so take a strong look at where you may want to improve as you grow older. You also need to consider where in the house you will use it and if it must meet a sports specific workout.
If you are using exercise to cross train for another sport talk with a fitness trainer or do your research to determine which pieces of cardiovascular and weight equipment will best meet your individual needs. These work outs are done on your “off days” of training and should not overwork muscles you are already training during regular workouts.
The two obvious choices are to workout in a gym or at home. There are pros and cons to either system. Working out at home gives you privacy and the flexibility to work out on your own hours as well as more time to work out. Exercising at a gym gives you access to personal trainers and top-notch equipment but you lose the flexibility and the privacy. Only you can decide which factors are more important to you.
Home fitness equipment should be able to withstand daily personal use without breaking the bank. Pay very close attention to space you have for storage, your goals and desires as well as the reliability and function of the fitness equipment you are considering. Talk about your options with fitness trainers at the gym and check “references” and reliability on the equipment with friends, family and reviews on the internet.
Look for equipment that is easy to set up, tear down and has satisfactory quality. If you can’t try the equipment out be sure the money back guarantee is long enough to ensure several weeks of use and time to ship it back if you must.
If you get bored easily be sure the fitness equipment has options to change the routine. DVDs are another popular way to workout at home and usually only include the cost of the tapes, weights, steps, or exercise mat or ball. These DVDs will also decrease boredom since there are usually several different versions of the same programs to use.
Standard fitness programs include strength training, cardiovascular workouts and flexibility. When you decide to purchase your own fitness equipment be sure that it includes 2 of the 3 pieces of a good program. When you own the fitness equipment space is usually an issue. Having a piece of fitness equipment that does 2 of the 3 important pieces will decrease your need for any other types of equipment.
Fitness equipment comes in all shapes and sizes. Take a look at the late night/early morning infomercials and you’ll see fitness equipment built for cardiovascular work, strength training, target trouble areas, overall weight training; all with the promise of fitness that is faster and easier than anything else you might try.
Don’t be fooled. Although they may promise a great physique in 20 minutes 3 times a week it usually takes longer time and more dedication to achieve the results of the fitness models in the advertising. Like anything else in life that is worth the effort, fitness comes at a price. Your time, your effort and your interest will all determine your results.
