Many of our personal training clients opt to exercise at home because they prefer not to train in a gym environment. Quite a few people fall into this category and if you are one of them, then it may be of assistance to you to know how to make smart choices when purchasing exercise equipment.
Before we begin with some tips, keep in mind that you don’t need to purchase gym equipment. To achieve nearly any health and fitness goal, you don’t “need” dumbbells, a bench, exercise machines and a treadmill. If you are on a shoestring budget, you can achieve goals without the initial investment.
However, exercise equipment can be of great benefit to you. Whilst not necessary, they can significantly enhance your results and provide you with many more exercise options to keep your training fun, safe and effective.
Establish what Exercise Equipment You Need
The first thing you need to do is work out exactly what you need. If you have plenty of exercise experience, this will be quite easy to work out. But if you have never exercised before and are now getting serious about losing weight, building muscle, toning up, improving your fitness, or any other goal, the gym equipment that is available can be completely overwhelming.
As a very (very) general rule of thumb, for most common goals, you can get by with some basic weight equipment including:
- An incline bench
- Dumbbells (hand weights) with adjustable weights
- A barbell (a bar), again with adjustable weights
- Weight plates to put on the dumbbells and barbell
- An exercise ball
Really, you don’t need any expensive machines if you are just starting out. You could effectively exercise all your muscle groups with just this equipment, which would be more than suitable for any muscle gain, toning or fat loss goal.
Meanwhile when it comes to cardio equipment, it really depends upon your preferences. Do you prefer to use a bike, recumbent bike, elliptical trainer, rower, treadmill, stepper, or something else? Pick the machine that is most suitable for you. This includes considering:
- Any injuries you may have
- What exercise machine you enjoy using the most
- Your budget
- The space you have available
- Your goals
Avoid purchasing the cheapest piece of cardio equipment that you can find. On one particular auction site, I have found so many extremely cheap treadmills – I wouldn’t touch them with a 10 foot pole! Even the best treadmills are known to experience problems from regular use; I wouldn’t like to try using one purchased for less than a thousand dollars new!
Cardio equipment can be quite expensive, so I would suggest to consider weight training equipment first, prior to purchasing cardio equipment. There are so many outdoor options for cardio such as sports, leisure activities, riding your bike or just going for a run.
Also with the cardio equipment, try picking an effective machine where you can adjust the level of resistance. As you become fitter, you will want to increase the level of intensity so you can continue to make progress.
I hope this provides some degree of assistance if you are considering to buy new exercise equipment for weights and/or cardio. You don’t have to go over the top to achieve phenomonal results!
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