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Many people are buying their own exercise equipment and home gyms, driven partly by affordable prices and the notion that the sight of a new cross-trainer will get them moving.
Americans spent about $4.3 billion on exercise equipment in 2002 -- up more than 11 percent from the previous year, which saw almost $3.9 billion in sales, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.
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With chaotic work schedules, 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 tips for making intelligent equipment buying decisions: 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.
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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.
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