(On preview: This got kind of long. It’s really just asking if we’re making a mistake going with a home gym rather than freeweights for our modest fitness goals. Skim away to the end and you won’t miss much.)
In the next day or so, Mrs. Dvl and I are looking to get a bunch of heavy objects to repeatedly pick up and put down. We’ve been using the Super-Loopy-Walky thing regularly for about four months now, and are about to split our routines up into morning/evening sets (in the AM I’ll be on the huff-n-puffer while she’ll be levitating dense objects — reverse in the evening) so we’ll both get cardio and strength training in.
We’re both in our late thirties (some later than others), have never been particularly athletic — heck, have never been remotely athletic — and have modest goals: undo the damage we’ve done to ourselves in the past five years. Between general oldiness, moving out of the city and working from home (no more walking), and quitting smoking (good, but probably responsible for a good chunk of the fifty to sixty pounds of chunkiness we put on), we have a lot to undo. A slight side benefit of this much deterioration is that by the time we get close to where we were before the downward slide, we’ll likely be in the best shape of our lives — so if it takes us seven to ten months to drop fifty to sixty pounds, what’s another few months to go? Plus, the lifestyle change that we’re making should last a lot longer than if we just went all faddy on the carb bandwagon.
So, like I said above, we’re each doing about an hour or so a day on the trudge-mille (with a bit extra for cool-down and stretching). Our eating habits have gotten under control (relatively easy to eat healthy when you love to cook) and we’re averaging between 15 and 20 percent below our maintenance level of caloric intake. Next step: heavy objects!
We’re looking at spending between $350 and $450. Gym membership is not an option, as our lifestyle doesn’t take us out of the house on a regular basis. We’re leaning towards a machine, primarily because that’s what she likes — anything that’s more likely to get used is a plus. The relative ease of changing weights is a pretty big bonus. Another apparent —and sizeable— advantage is the machine-y nature of the thing. I’m not sure I’d know a curl from a flip or a bob. What’s the difference between a military press, bench press, and permanent press? I don’t know squat about squats. You get the picture. There’s lots of Youtube videos out there and I’m sure I could find out which ones show good form, but without a trainer or something like that to give us personal feedback, knowing whether we’re doing the right thing will be a mystery. Not only is it possible to spend underproductive time, it’s possible that we could injure ourselves. So the controlled nature of the machine’s movements is a big plus. Not a panacea, of course, but the restricted possible movements should take care of a lot.
Of course this means not building/working the balancing muscles and whatnot that freeweights challenge. If we’re just looking for general toning/in-shapeness, how much does that matter? We’re “serious” as in we’re committed to a year-long process at least, but not serious as in entering any competition or even strutting around the beach in a Speedo.
There’s also a limited number of exercises that can be done on a machine. I’m sure there’s a bunch of variations that can be done with the pull-down doohicky and lots of fun things to do, but all in all can we get more than ten to fifteen exercises out of the thing? Will we end up looking like Popeye, with huuuggggeee forearms but wee upper arms? Again, does that really matter in the first few years? Lots of places talk about changing up the routine after a few months, but will we have that kind of freedom? Looking at our basic goals, will we need such variation? Will it take us a couple years to exhaust ourselves on the machine?
So I put in a lot of the above in hopes of either reaffirming or challenging our assumptions (sorry if this is too long – I’m used to posting tech questions and the more background the better). In the end, the machine’s benefits of ease of use (that’s ease as in switching around from person-to-person and exercise-to-exercise, not ease as in those ridiculous ads that make exercising seem easy. Work is work.) and controlled form seem to outweigh (heh) freeweight’s benefits of working larger muscle groups and versatility. A lot of this balancing is with an eye toward or Very General Fitness goal. Granted, it will take a year or so to get there, and we expect to be in much better shape than we were five years ago, but that’s about it (not that we’ll be taking it easy, just that we’re trying to keep our expectations realistic).
Here are the two pieces we’re leaning toward. For machines there’s the Best Fitness BFMG20. If it turns out that freeweights are the way to go, we’re looking at a Marcy bench. Neither of us are fans of BowFlex (if for no other reason than we don’t like commercials) or other rubber-bandy-gadgety things. Of course, as above if you can shake our opinion, we’re open minded.
Well, I do believe I covered everything. Thanks a lot for all the past advice offered (even if not directly to us) and anything that is forthcoming.
Rhythm