Home Fitness: Things to consider

When does exercising at home not keep you fit? The answer is when you buy the wrong equipment. It's a principle that applies whether you're a professional athlete, or someone taking up fitness for the first time.

Your gym should suit your interests, and the equipment you choose should help you to achieve your targets effectively. If it doesn't, you'll lose motivation and ultimately stop using it. So to make sure that you make the right choices - and get the results that you want - there are a number of key areas that it pays to look at closely.

The first thing to do, naturally enough, is to be clear about your reasons for buying a home gym, and identify your requirements. Are you aiming to run a certain distance, burn calories, lose weight or reduce fat? Or simply trying keep in shape and tone up?

For all round fitness, toning up or losing body fat, a mixture of cardiovascular and
strength equipment should be selected. Many people, in particular women, don't use
strength equipment as the benefits aren't fully understood. But if you want to lose body fat, you do need to use strength equipment.

Another important issue is quality versus cost. The general rule is that you get what you pay for. If it's cheap, there's usually a good reason. But a carefully thought out home gym will last for up to fifteen years. So it's definitely worth investing in light commercial or full commercial products as opposed to those you can buy on the high street. They'll initially be more expensive, but will far cheaper in the long term, and will help you achieve your goals more quickly.

As well as looking at how easy the equipment is to use, look too at the quality. Is there a ten year manufacturer's warranty? When's the recommended service? Are delivery and installation included? Let's look now at some different types of equipment- starting with treadmills.

Running is a great form of exercise. It expends far higher amounts of energy than walking or cycling, increases heart rate and fat oxidant rates, and helps the body increase beta-endorphin levels that make you feel good. At the same time though, running does cause real stress on your knee and back joints and ligaments. When a runner makes contact with a treadmill deck, they're still in the front half of the treadmill as they finish their stride. It's therefore this front half where the suspension needs to be, with the back half having no suspension at all. The front suspension should take the impact away from your knees and back, and the back half of the deck should give a firm surface to push off against. Yet most treadmills
have suspension at the front and back of the deck, so the cushioning is not where you actually need it. This is what makes it feel artificial - almost like running through sand.

How about cross trainers? The Times recently reported that Nicole Kidman attributed getting back into shape after the birth of her new baby to using a specialised Cross Trainer. Unlike most elliptical cross trainers, it specifically targets the glutes as these are the most effective muscle for burning calories. It's also designed not to cause stress at the joints, so the user can work for longer or at a higher intensity. The result is that it burns 16% more calories than the leading elliptical trainers at the same rate of perceived exertion. These products are widely used by professional athletes, professional teams and home users alike.

If space or cost are an issue, it may be wise to buy a strength machine that can offer you a wide variety of exercise options. Functional trainers allow you to perform many exercises from replicating dumbbell curls to chest presses, squats, abdominal
crunches and much more. These cable-based machines offer complete safety when doing exercises, with the knowledge that there's no risk - unlike the risk of injury from dumbbells for example.

So where will you put the equipment? How high or low are your ceilings? Will the floor take the weight? Is the floor surface appropriate? Is the lighting good enough? Is there enough airflow, or do you need fans or air conditioning?

As a rule of thumb, allow 4m2 for each piece of equipment. We will work with you to provide a free fitting service and create plans if required. From these plans you can arrange where to locate power points, TV, music - and most  importantly, what equipment will actually fit.