Home Gym Exercise Equipment

Home Gym Exercise Equipment : In Depth

By:  Cipta Jaya

A lot of people today have become “health-conscious”, meaning that they are more and more concern about their well being and fitness.   The 2 factors that come in people’s minds are exercises and nutrition (food).  I will not be discussing about nutrition, but I will try to explain more about fitness and exercises.

There’s only 2 ways that you can have a proper exercise, and that is either do them at home or sign up at a gym.  For a comparison between both, see my guide on exercise gyms.

I will explain more about home gym exercise equipment in here, since it seems that today people have a strong tendency of doing their exercise programs at home.

Goals

As any other exercise programs out there, the first and most important thing that you should ask yourself is about your goals.  Some of the categories below here might help you in determining what is it that you really want to accomplish by having a home gym:

1. Weight Loss
2. Build Stamina (Cardio)
3. Increase Strength
4. Body Sculpting

Depending on the current fitness level that you’re on, this will decide what sort of exercise equipments that you’ll need to get for your home gym.  If you are a beginner, you might want to start off from weight loss or building your stamina first (cardio).

Cost

Home gym exercise equipment that you’ll buy will be a long-term investment, and therefore you really should be considerate when getting one.

Read my guide on Fitness Exercise Equipment if you want to get a picture of how much it might cost you and how you should prepare a budget for it.

Space

Some of home gym exercise equipment might take up a large space.  You should measure up your available space to see if they would fit.  Length, width and height all play an important factor, don’t underestimate them.  If you don’t have enough space, find out if the equipment that you want can be folded or not.  I’ve seen people bought their equipment that fits the available width and length, but not the height!  You can guess what happens next…

Space is also about flooring support.  Remember that equipments like treadmills, elliptical, exercise bikes, and weight training machines are quite heavy!

Warranty

If you buy used home gym exercise equipment, warranty might not be available.  Check for any defects or wear and tear on the equipment.  If there isn’t any (or if it’s still acceptable for you), go right ahead and buy them.  That way you’ll save up your money for other things.

Equipments that has electronic or a computer system on it like treadmills and elliptical machines should provide you with good warranty, as these systems are easy to be broken.

Exercise Program & Nutrition

When people set up their home gyms, they get all fired up to do their exercises.  But after a while due to boredom, people started to stop their training.  Why?  Simple really.  They are not prepared in terms of exercise programs.

Look for good home exercise programs for you to do.  Gyms could set you up with exercise programs, but if you’re exercising at home, exercise programs won’t be available to you as easy as if you’re a gym member.

Another thing about boredom is about seeing results.  When people train for about a month or so and didn’t feel or see results coming from their regular exercise, they’ll surely stop training.  Remember that results will come not only from exercises, but also needs to be supported by your diet and nutrition intake.  If you burn 500 calories and then after the exercise you eat 700 calories, don’t be surprised if you don’t see results…

Kids Exercise Equipment

Kids Exercise Equipment at Home

By:  Cipta Jaya

Having your kids to do their exercises at home has a few benefits.  Certain areas of your home like the porch, living room or back yard would be suitable for them to have exercises.  Take a look at these benefits that you’ll get by having them to do exercises at the comfort of your own home:

1. You provide them with a positive activity for them to do.  No one can tell you that having your kids to do exercise at home is a bad thing, right?  It is always a good thing for them to exercise on a regular basis at home.
2. Exercise together with your kids.  This is a good opportunity for any parent to spend quality time with their kids.  Parents might run out of ideas of how to spend their time with their kids, and this is just another good idea that you might use.
3. Having trouble to put your kids to sleep at night?  Well, having them to exercise a few hours before bed time will help in this matter.  Not only that they’ll get to sleep easier, they’ll also have better sleep.
4. Avoid obesity for your kids.  Kids will become obese (fat) not only because they tend to eat junk food all the time, but also because they are not provided with enough exercise to burn the fat.

These are just a few of many other benefits that parents might have if their kids do their exercise at home.  But parents like you might ask, what sort of equipments do I need for the kids to do their exercises?  Let me explain about them right here.

Kids Exercise Equipment

Kids don’t need fancy equipment to do their exercise at home.  Equipments like jumping ropes, resistance bands, dumbbells, and workout balls should be more than enough.

Depending on their age range, kids should be allowed to have between 10-30 minutes workout period each day.  Remember that kids tend to get bored easily, and so you have to provide them with a variety of exercise routines.  Look for exercise videos from the internet will greatly help you in this.

Buying Kids Exercise Equipment

Always try them before you buy them.  Make sure that whatever equipment that you buy for your kids is safe and stable, and more importantly, it is fun to use.  Otherwise, your kids won’t use them.  And always make sure that your kids know how to properly use the equipment.

If you child is still quite young (under 10 years old), a jumping rope or workout ball might be the only thing that’s needed.  If you happen to have set up a home gym, exercise machines like treadmills and recumbent exercise bikes are suitable for kids age 10 and up.  Make sure that they are under supervision when they use them.

Treadmills

Choosing Good Treadmills

By:  Cipta Jaya

fitness treadmills

One of the most popular and valuable exercise machines around is an exercise treadmill.  We need to know some of the advantages and disadvantages before buying a treadmill because it is a very important decision.

There are three types of treadmills that I want to talk to you about, and they are manual treadmills, motorized treadmills and folding treadmills.  Some of the advantages and disadvantages of them will be explained here.

Manual Treadmills

The least type of exercise treadmills that you want to you is the manual treadmills.  But manual treadmills have an advantage of being light and easier to transport.  They are also easier to fold up.   And as it is a manual treadmill, the disadvantage is obvious: your feet and legs are the motor to get the belt moving.  Furthermore, most of them don’t have and adjustable incline.

I would not recommend for you to get a manual treadmill, even though it is the cheapest type available.

Motorized Treadmills

The motorized treadmill is my personal favorite.  Motorized treadmill’s most important feature is the horsepower.  For most people a continuous horsepower rating of 1.5 to 2.5 is probably the average amount and sufficient.   But you might need just a little more horse power if you’re planning to do a lot of running.

I would also recommend getting a DC electric motor if you like to watch TV while working out.  DC electric motor runs quieter than an AC one.

Folding Treadmills

Folding treadmill is also quite neat.  A lot of people might need this folding feature as it depends on your spacing.  Folding up your treadmill and slide it under your couch is very convenient.

I would recommend getting a folding motorized treadmill for you.

It is the most valuable exercise machine that you can have.