Exercise Equipment

Learning about Exercise Equipment

Once you have increased your physical fitness level by engaging in light to moderate exercise three to four times a week, it’s probably time to take your fitness regimen to the next level. For many of us, this means either purchasing some home exercise equipment or joining a gym.

There are benefits and drawbacks to each of these two plans. If you own the equipment yourself, you don’t have to compete with others for time at the machines. However, unless you have unlimited cash to spend, you’re likely to not have as great of a selection of equipment as will your local gym. Also, unless you’re very motivated, a lot of that equipment is likely to sit around unused. If you wish to purchase exercise equipment for yourself, make sure that you set aside specific time in your schedule to use the equipment. Otherwise, it’s easy to keep trying to “get around to it”. Meanwhile, that fancy new piece of equipment that you bought is sitting around collecting dust.

If you decide to join a gym, chances are that they will have better-quality equipment than you will have at home. Of course, the gym will also be more crowded. A good time to go to the gym is on the off-peak hours, such as between eight and five on weekdays. The advantage of joining a gym is that you’ll have a reason to get up an go work out every day. Knowing that you’re paying for a membership can be a powerful motivator. Also, many gyms have exercise clubs that you can belong to, where you set goals and exercise, either by yourself or together in groups, to meet those goals.

There are many different types of exercise equipment, but they fall into two basic categories: weight-based and aerobic.

Weight-based machines are machines that force you to lift a certain amount of weight in a repetitive motion. These are great for building and toning muscle. Aerobic exercises are those which, although they don’t specifically build muscle, increase overall conditioning and fitness. Treadmills, elliptical trainers, rowing machines and exercise bicycles all will fall into the category of aerobic exercise machines. The best workout strategies are those which combine aerobic exercise with weight-bases exercise programs.