So you’ve set your heart on having gym equipment in your home, great, Its one of the best moves you can make if you want to get fit, save time and be safe.

But what do you do now?

You are investing your hard-earned money and you want to make a wise choice that will help you achieve your health and fitness gaols.

You want great health, a great body and to feel awesome, we cannot think of better goals to achieve.

Congratulations, you are off to a great start, yet there’s a problem, which equipment should you trust and what should you look out for so you get a great del and even more importantly…you are getting great equipment that will last for a lifetime and equipment that will make you want to get out of bed in the morning to exercise at home.

We will answer all those questions and more.

Let me start this article with the little known yet vitally important benefits of exercise:

Exercise is the #1 booster of neuroplasticity. What is neuroplasticity you may ask, it’s the forming of new neurons and connections in the brain, basically its you getting more intelligent, this can happen even as you get older than 50.

Exercise boosts the body pump, the pump that creates piso energy that is a source of fuel for your internal organs, so when you exercise along with the million other benefits you are providing crucial energy to your internal organs like your liver and kidneys.

We believe that health and energy should be your #1 life priority, think about it, if it isn’t everything else will suffer.

Its like the first domino to topple, that domino effect that greatly affects everything else you want to achieve in life.

Let us dive into our guide of what gym equipment to buy for different goals, how to buy it and how much to expect to pay.

There is one especially important point to consider no matter what goal you are trying to achieve and that’s quality.

For smaller items like dumbbells it is not that important but when it comes to bigger items like home exercise bikes and treadmills quality is critical.

Pease believe me I have been a personal trainer for over 21 years and I have tried and tested the good the bad and the ugly and the last thing you will want to do is exercise on a machine that moves around all over the place, feel like it will fall apart any minute and one that the movement is not smooth.

 

Top Brands of Cardio Equipment

What are the best brands of gym equipment, here are our top list of brands to look out for:

(in no particular order)

  • NordicTrack
  • Proform
  • Sole Fitness
  • Precor
  • True
  • Lifespan
  • Horizon fitness
  • Cybex
  • Precor
  • Spirit Fitness
  • OMA

Just because a piece of exercise equipment is not on here does not mean it isn’t good, it just means you will have to spend more time researching the brand the quality and the durability and features.

Some pointer on what to look out for on each of the main types of cardio machines

Home Gym Bikes

Here again quality is important. Do you want to ride a bike that feels like it will fall over and break into 20 pieces, even if you think you are ok with that your subconscious wont be, you will stop using it and even if it wasn’t expensive you will have completely wasted your money.

In our expert opinion you would need to spend at least 2999 aed to get a great bike and ideally about 4000-5000 or more dirhams.

These are some of the benefits, features and design considerations you should look out for:

  • Ask yourself…how advanced does your bike need to be? If you get a great quality bike, it doesn’t have to be from out of the future, you will be surprised how little you use the ‘other’ functions on your bike. I’ve been in gyms for years and rarely see anyone using anything apart from the basic quick start function. There are some instances where you would require some cool tech, for example if you wanted a screen that connects to your virtual workout coach or you need to monitor your heart rate so you can gauge workout intensity and make your workout out ultra effective but generally you wont use much of the fancy programs and functions so focus on a quality bike but don’t go crazy after the tech.
  • Look for a bike with a good range of resistance levels, the increase from one to the next can vary with the brand but generally if you can test one and the maximum level is extremely difficult to turn around when you are standing and cycling then this is awesome.

There will be time when you want to do speed intervals, which by the way is an excellent way to boost fitness levels, burn a ton of calories and raise your metabolism (ie. Burn extra calories after your workout for longer).

  • Try to get a seat that is comfortable. However, don’t let an uncomfortable seat put you off, most are interchangeable and you can research and buy a seat that is comfortable for you.

Consider that you might spend 1 hour plus sitting on that seat each day, you want it to be comfortable.

  • I would say at the minimum you want a screen that is easy to see even if you are in a sunny room and that shows you your workouts progress and includes:
    • Speed (in revolutions per minute)
    • Distance covered
    • Your resistance level
    • Heart rate – although if necessary, you can get a separate monitor to show you this.
  • After that if the bike is over 50kgs then you can presume it is well built and sturdy and will be re-enforced in the right areas so it lasts a long time – the high quality piece of exercise equipment you are looking for. This isn’t an exhaustive test but it is a good one. There are a few exceptions like the cheaper Schwinn spin bikes which are still incredible and weigh less than 50kgs.
  • It’s a simple one but try to get a bottle holder built in, your workouts should be thirsty work. If there isn’t one built in you can go to a bike shop and get on that should be able to fit the frame or handlebars.

What are the other considerations to think about when you buy a home gym exercise bike?

  • Noise, belt driven bikes, especially the cheap ones can be noisy, if you will be exercising in a apartment before you kids wake up and you will be doing it in the spare room opposite them  you don’t want something that is too noisy.

This is key – check the weight limit of the bike, some bikes are good for people up to 90 kgs, others go to 140kgs.

Treadmills

Unless you have knee or ankle problems what better workout option can you choose in your home for a great cardio workout? Not much.

The reason treadmills are so effective…they activate the largest muscle groups in the body, the legs very effectively and when you activate the legs like you do on a treadmill you burn A LOT of calories and increase your fitness levels quickly.

If its fitness and fat loss you are after a home treadmill is one of your very best choices.

 

What to look out for in a home treadmill:

  • First and very importantly you want to get an idea in your mind of what you are looking for.
  • Do you want fancy tech? do you want to run on the treadmill, or only walk? Do you want something that is foldable because the space you have inside your house is limited? And are you over 90kgs?
  • These are key questions to ask before you venture online or you rock up to your fitness superstore. If you don’t do this, your head will be spinning and you will come away with a new pair of trainers!
  • Then you need to decide what type of running belt you need, how long and how wide should it be, here’s a guide for width and length: 
  • What price range is advisable?

Generally speaking treadmills that are under 3000 aed are something we would NOT advise, they have problems from day 1, including a wobbly frame, they can be super noisy and often break down – what’s the point.

Then if you want great quality and something that will last for a lifetime you are looking at a price of 4995 aed to around 11,000 aed.

We’d have to say that there is a sweet spot at the 8000-10,000 aed mark, for that you can get something like the Sole Fitness F85, which has a retail value of 9400 aed.

With this treadmill you get a bullet proof treadmill with tons of function, it will last a lifetime, you have a great running track, even for talker runners and it also folds so you can save space. On top of that it has a maximum user weight of 181 kgs.

Ellipticals

Ellipticals are a wonderful way to workout and at the same time avoiding impact on the knees and ankles.

And again these are brilliant to workout on, some have just resistance some have resistance and varying incline as well as different stride lengths.

Ellipticals are similar to treadmills in that the full load of your body is on the machine for your full workout, on top of that you are pushing to add more load so its wise to get a good machine so it feels good to use and it doesn’t break down.

The movement of an elliptical is a little different from a treadmill and therefore it adds that element of fun to workouts, that added to the different programs that are available on a typical machine adds up to a force to be reckoned with when it comes to having a smashing workout!

What should I look out for when buying an elliptical?

  • Budget

Again, don’t buy cheap, pay peanuts get monkeys as the famous saying goes and its no where truer that when it comes to buying an elliptical.

We recommend you pay over 3500 aed for an elliptical, this is where the good ones start to be sold, it will be a solid machine that unless you use it for 4 hours a day wont break down anytime soon.

  • Space

Usually you can’t fold an elliptical so make sure you have the room for one, they vary from 2 meters long and about 60 cm wide and you’ll want to have space either side to step off and on.

  • The type of drive system

Don’t get scared, this is just a term to describe how the machine is made and where the part that gives the resistance is based, here are the different types:

  • Font-drive: This is one of the more common types, you will have the big cylindrical looking cover at the front that the pedal arms attach to. You’ll see this type on some of the cheaper cross trainers.
  • Center-drive: These tend to take up less floor space so a handy optin if your room isn’t too big. Here’s how these look:
  • Rear-Drive: Here the housing for the resistance is at the rear, these are typically more expensive ellipticals (but not always)!
  • How long should the stride length be?

It depends on how tall the people in your house are that plan on using the machine. Some cross trainers are 35 cm and this can be too short for even average people. If you can find one with a stride length of 53cm that would be awesome of people up to 6ft 4 inches.

There is a hot new trend and that is virtual workouts.

Virtual workouts are awesome, its like riding or running alongside one of the best trainers in the world, trainers who know how to get you motivated.

You can adjust the speed or level you go at so don’t worry, you wont have to run a marathon in under 2 hours!

There’s amazing scenery from the deserts of Africa to the beaches of Hawaii and typically each virtual workout program has over 500 workouts to choose from. They usually have at home, body weight and weights-based workouts to follow for every level of exerciser.

Here are some of the top options:

  • Amazing cycling, rowing and running virtual workouts led by some of the top international trainers.
  • Mirror (an actual mirror that turns into a virtual personal trainer).
  • A weighted rope for skipping, don’t overlook this because it seems old fashioned, it’s a wonderful workout, easy on the knees, incredibly effected and made even better by an app and guided workouts.
  • Le Sweat. Super awesome body weight workouts and routines with free weights.
  • And there’s more, you can use your friend Google to find them if the ones above don’t seem to fit your needs.
  • What equipment might I need for virtual workouts?
    • If you are going to do the running, cycling or rowing you’ll need those machines but if you are doing body weight and or resistance based workouts you will be able to find a guide of what equipment to get on your apps FAQ’s, however, this is a short guide to what to buy.
      • Dumbbell’s, typically for your average user, unless you have been doing weights for a while then pairs of 3,5,7, 10 and 12kgs will usually be enough for most circuits.

A TRX, a great home workout companion, make sure you buy the one with an attachment so you can hook it between your door and door frame, if you don’t have that you’ll need a wall attachment but they are not very easy to put on the wall so try to avoid it unless you plan on getting a handyman in to do the job properly.

  • An exercise matt
  • A fit ball is very versatile, you can do so much on these as well as use it for a bench

So there you have it, we have covered some of the key points you need to know before choosing which type of workout you want to do at home and what gym equipment you should buy for it.

 

We truly hope you have found this article useful and we sincerely hope you stay fit and healthy.

 

Love, the Gym Equipment team.

 

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