Who here has bought a home gym doodad (Soloflex, TotalGym, NordicTrak, etc) and has gotten good results with it?
Either cardio or muscle toning types are acceptable.
The oinly thing in my expirience that wouldn’t eventualy end up in a corner collecting dust somewhere, would be a pull up bar . Those things are just so addictive for some reason. Every time I pass by mine I have to stop and do about five or six of them. And when I’m bored… forget about it I’ll be on that thing every ten minutes or so. And for the record its done me quite a bit of good too.
I know, I know proly not what you where looking for.
I really prefer my gym membership. It means that I have a much wider variety of machines available, so I can try different things and swap if I get bored. It also means that when it breaks, someone else makes sure it gets fixed.
For exercising at home, I choose things that don’t require equipment at all- running or walking for cardio, yoga for flexibility, and there are actually a number of strength exercises you can do either with your body or things you have in the house- I liked the book “Weight Training for Dummies.”
I know this isn’t really an answer, but when I explored this question, I decided that home equipment just wasn’t worth the money compared to the gym membership.
I second the gym membership. Some offer 30 or 60 day trial memberships. Go check out what they have. That way you can go from the treadmill to the stair master to the elliptical machine to the stationary bike to the rowing machine to the cross country machine…
That way you can get a feel for what types of machines you like and will use at home. For instance, after spending 15 minutes on the StairMaster, I determined that I’d not voluntarily get on another one. It is my personal vision of hell.
Well, let me qualify this by saying, “if you’re gonna use it”…
…then a good home machine would be best if it was for weight training…aka ‘resistance training’. Soloflex, bowflex - both have good reputations. I like the bowflex.
I don’t understand treadmills, bikes and other aerobic machines. Essentially, moving around is aerobic if you want it to be, so kickbox, ride a real bike or walk/jog/etc. But, if you like them, Reebok has a line up of awesome stuff.
I am fortunate to have a gym at the office, with plenty of machines and weights. However, I know that home equipment wouldn’t get used, and wouldn’t get me in the mindset like being in a real gym.
You need to be in the fitness culture, like at a gym, to really stay in the groove.
Abandon “Home Fitness Machines”.
Join a gym, & get periodic advice from a pro.
Go swimming for that over-all-healthy-good-looks kind of build.
Buy a bicycle. The real, mobile, kind. Use it. The mood-elevation you get from the wind in your face is worth it.
And, send me $100 per month.
For no particular reason.
I just want people to send me $100 per month.
Small bills, mind you.
After doing spin classes at the gym, I went out and bought a spin bike for my home. It’s great for days that are rainy, cold, windy, or otherwise make it hard to bike or run outside. I can’t say I use it every day, but between Mr. Athena and I, it definitely gets used enough to justify having it.
Another recommendation for going to the gym. You get a wider variety of machines there, as well as dumbbells and barbells, which are real tough to keep around the house. You get advice from personal trainers, you can take classes, and if anything breaks, they fix it.
Actually, I’ll go against the grain here, and say that I don’t suggest that joining a gym is right for everyone. Personally, I found that even though I had paid for it, getting the motivation to actually go to the gym was beyond me. While the treadmil upstairs was much easier to use on a regular basis. With that, I came home, changed right away, ran, showered, and was done for the evening.
Want to work on your muscles?..Sit ups, push ups, pull ups…and incline the treadmill. All those will build muscle just as well as lifting weights.
I have a Total Gym, and I love it. It’s really toned me up without the bulk.
Do NOT get one that uses a shock absorber to control the resistance. I have one of those and I couldn’t get cardio because it moved too slow, and I couldn’t get good muscle conditioning because it wasn’t designed for that.
I have a treadmill, and I like it. Plunk it in front of your TV and watch movies while you’re on it.
“so kickbox, ride a real bike or walk/jog/etc”
I’m a single female in Texas, and a night person. I am not getting up early to exercise, and by the time I get home and fed, it is either too dark or too hot to go outside. I take one class a week but I find that a classes tend to take up a whole evening. Gyms work for some people, but for me, it’s just extra time that I have to spend going back and forth, getting dressed, possibly waiting for someone else to finish at a machine. At home, I can get on the treadmill wearing anything I don’t mind getting sweaty (or nothing at all ) and anytime I need to work off extra energy, or right before I go to bed, or whenever it seems right.
I second getting a bike. For use in the summer.
Also, get a trainer that you can mount the bike on, for use in the winter.
Concept II Indoor Rower (‘erg’) - keep it in the TV room and watch TV while rowing. Does legs/abs/back/arms/pects all at once!
Pricey but worth it.
Here are my personal experiences (in order of use)…
Free weights. Still have them but never use them anymore. I found that aerobic exercise was more important to me than strength or sculpting.
YMCA. Great facility. Great equipment. Great investment for kids programs. Terrible investment for a workout if you have kids. It’s too time consuming, so I switched to home equipment.
Stair stepping machine. Lasted about 3 months of irregular use. It was hard on the knees. Sold it at a rummage sale.
TotalGym. My frustration with the stair stepping machine sent me back to muscle work rather than aerobic. Seemed to work well, but took up too much space and was too much trouble to continually fold up and put away. Tried to sell it. Nobody wants it. Still sits folded up in my basement storage area.
Nordic Track. Back to aerobic. Used this for awhile but it didn’t seem to provide enough aerobic workout. And even though I’m a cross country skier, I still struggled to feel comfortable with the motion. It too gathers dust in my basement storage area.
LifeFitness treadmill. Wonderful machine that provides a great aerobic workout. Gets regular use my me, my wife, and my son.
If you have the time, then the recommendations for a gym are probably the way to go. Then you have variety available to you.
If you don’t have the time, then I’d recommend a combination of free weights and a good treadmill.
And I’d also echo the comments of others to hop on a bike and get out onto a bike trail.
Welcome to the Dope, Tiptx4! Glad you got a deal on something you like & will use.
Just realize this is a 17 yo thread, or what we call a zombie. Zombies tend to not have good muscle tone with that decaying flesh & all.