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Health & Fitness - Buyers Guide
 


Treadmills - Treadmills offer one of the most natural forms of exercise due to the walking motion and also one of the most effective. They can be used by the whole family and can be folded away for easy storage. Treadmills offer a whole body workout and encourage good posture.

Treadmills come in a range of sizes and have different sized motors, speeds and features depending on the price of the treadmill. Another popular feature is the incline level. This feature either comes as manual or automatic whereby the user alters the back of the treadmill to affect how high the user can walk or run. Most treadmills come with electronic incline where at the touch of a button the user enables the treadmill to go up a number of levels. This benefits the user as it gives the same effects as walking or running up the hill bringing a harder element to the workout.
Treadmills also have a range of programmes, which change the incline, and intensity of the workout automatically according to the programme. They are motivational as they give the user something to follow and work towards. Some example programmes are fat burn, interval, and endurance, random and target heart rate. Programmes are always explained in the user manuals, which come with product.
   

Ellipticals - Ellipticals have become increasingly popular in the fitness market due to their extensive health benefits. They are smaller in size than a treadmill but have all the associated health benefits that go with them and more. They offer an extremely low impact workout as well as working the upper and lower body. They are great for people with joint problems due to the low
intensity.

Ellipticals have many features including programme, footplate adjustment and heart rate sensors. They also have different levels of resistance - up to 16 levels, which change the intensity of the workout. This makes it harder or easier for the user thus offering a more varied and effective exercise. There are two forms of resistance, which are manual or electronic. Manual resistance is where the user screws a dial and this tightens a belt, which tightens the flywheel, increasing the resistance. Electronic resistance automatically increases the resistance at the touch of a button. This works by pulling the two magnets, which surround the flywheel closer together making it harder for the flywheel to turn. This makes it harder for the user to use the elliptical.

Bikes - These are a popular form of exercise. Bikes are the cheapest and smallest piece of exercise equipment. They offer a non-weight bearing exercise where the whole body is supported. They require little coordination and can be used by the whole family. They are a great lower body workout and are low impact so good for people with joint problems.

There are many features such as programmes and heart rate sensors for measuring heart rate. Bikes can either have manual of electronic resistance. Manual resistance is where the user screws a dial and this tightens a belt, which tightens the flywheel, increasing the resistance. Electronic resistance automatically increases the resistance at the touch of a button. This works by pulling the two magnets, which surround the flywheel closer together making it harder for the flywheel to turn. This makes it harder to pedal.
Bikes also have differing sized flywheels depending on the price and size. If you imagine the flywheel being a circular weight, starting from 4kg - 10kg. The heavier the flywheel the more intense the workout. Every time you do one revolution of the bike a heavier flywheel will make it harder to pedal. A heavier flywheel will give a better workout.

ROWER - Rowers have always been used in a gym environment but have only recently come to the retail environment. They are a great weight bearing form of exercise that fully supports the whole body. It is also great as it exercises both the upper and lower body meaning that all major muscles get a good workout. Rowers fold away which makes them one of the easiest pieces of equipment to store.

Rowing machines have different levels of resistance, which are usually altered manually. This happens when the user turns a dial and it alters the resistance of the pulling action making it harder to row. This is known as magnetic resistance as there are magnets which surround the flywheel. Another form of resistance on rowing machines is air resistance. This is usually present on expensive rowers and they work on the basis that the harder the user rows the harder the resistance becomes. In other words the user creates their own resistance.


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