Bowflex Home Gym Fitness Blog

Coming up with ideas for the big ticket items for your home gym is relatively easy. All it takes is money and the larger items can easily be found online. However; what you may not know is the complete home gym also includes several smaller accessory items that really don’t cost that much, if your willing to shop around and be creative.

A Better Padded Rubber Floor Mat

Take padded floor mats as fine example. If you’re like most people you might be drawn to mats like the Bowflex home gym rubber mat or another similar brand name mat. What you may not know, is that there’s a better option available right down at your local livestock feed and grain store.

Thicker – Heavier – Better

It’s thick and heavy sectional mats that fit together like puzzle pieces. These mat sections can be purchased as you need them and are a whole lot more durable then your standard brand name gym floor mats. Their made for the floors of horse stalls and are about an inch thick.

The Perfect Ergonomic Pushup

Another fitness equipment home gym accessory item that’s been getting rave reviews is the “Perfect Pushup”. What it is, is a set of rotating handles that cost only around $30 that are used to perform the “perfect ergonomic” pushup. Rather than your hands being stationary, they rotate as you push your body up. Worth looking into!

The Ultimate Doorway Pull-Up Bar

Another highly rated fitness equipment home gym accessory item in the $30 range is the “Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar”. It’s so simple. It quickly pops into a doorway for doing three types of pull ups and pops right out when you’re through. No screws or bolts because it’s your own body weight that keeps it snug in place. Great reviews!

See larger image Bowflex Revolution FT Home Gym (Sports) List Price: $2,199.00 USD New From: $1,299.99 In Stock Used from: $1,825.00 In Stock Release date October 12, 2007.

Over the course of the past two or three decades, the popularity of membership gyms has skyrocketed. However; through it all there still remains a certain segment of the population that prefers the privacy of their own home over the crowded gym setting . The reasons for this are many and all of them are perfectly valid, so if you find yourself grouped in with those who choose to shun gyms, there is always home fitness equipment.

So Much to Chose From

It’s pick and choose from a vast trove of machines and devices now. Of course there is the classic free weights that through it all, haven’t become even close to obsolete by any means. However; once you venture beyond free weights, the sky is pretty much the limit with regards that all that modern innovation and technology now have to offer. Home gyms, weight training machines, cardio equipment, running, walking and peddling machines and the list just seems to go on and on and on.

Exercise Hasn’t Gotten Any Easier

There are however, a few things that you should be aware of before you sign on the dotted line for any piece of home fitness equipment though and the most important fact being that no piece of machinery as of yet makes exercising any easier. That’s right! The old “no pain, no gain” rule still applies, so the first item to scratch off your list is any device that promise results with little or no effort and there are a few of them out there.

Beware of False Promises

If you haven’t yet heard of these type of devices then consider yourself fortunate. They’re an insult to ones intelligence and they generally consist of some type of electrical contraption that delivers a small shock to the body part it’s attached to. The result is muscle twitches and this is supposed to cause in increased strength and body mass and even weight loss. Believe it. If there was so much as an ounce of truth to their claims, every weight loss and fitness center on the planet would be out of business tomorrow.

Assessing Your Options

So then, just what are your options and how can you get the absolute best results from what you do finally settle with in home fitness equipment? The fact is that if you didn’t know it already, you do now and that is that while there are no guarantees there are however some valuable nuggets of wisdom that you can incorporate in your decision making process. Tips that those who have achieved success have passed along for people like yourself to use if you choose to.

Do What You Like to Do

“Do what you like to do”. Now that may sound very simplistic but it is really quite amazing how many people fail to take this simple bit of advise into account. The selection in home fitness equipment is so vast today that no mater what activity suits you best, you can easily find a machine or device that can replicate that activity in your home. Running, walking, riding a bike, rowing, stair climbing, weight lifting, boxing. It’s all there and I’m sure there are a few more that I left out as well.

Don’t Fall for Slick Advertising

The advertisers who promote home fitness equipment today are far more sophisticated than they ever were in the past. It’s not just the pictures of the perfect specimens of humanity that they show on their equipment that you have to worry about either. Easy payment plans are rife on the Internet for instance but without exception that will have interest rates up around 25%. Pay no mind to customer reviews that attest to astounding results or incredible weight loss either. Most of them are simply written up by web site owners themselves.

Buy Home Fitness Equipment You Can Afford

So stay within your budget and always go with top quality gear. If you’re not operating on a big budget then consider going with a nice set of weights for instance, rather than a lower quality piece of complex equipment that’s only going to break down in the coming months or years. Also don’t forget that there is a huge market in used and refurbished home fitness equipment now. Still yet, another thing that too many people have forgotten about is deals that can be found in their local newspapers classifieds.

See larger image Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells (Sports) List Price: $549.00 USD New From: $377.77 In Stock Used from: $378.99 In Stock Release date August 21, 2008.

It really is quite amazing how much a brand new treadmill can cost. Who on earth buys these things? You must know by now that you can easily find treadmills costing as much as $6,000 online and the fact is that too much time and energy is devoted to marketing them and not enough is spent informing potential buyers about cheap treadmills.

What About Cheap Treadmills?

After all, if you stop and think about it, a treadmill is just a conveyer belt for the home. Even so, in the end, no matter how many features and frills a high end treadmill has, it’s still you the owner who has to do all the work. So then just what are all the options available to day for the tight fisted shopper who’s only interested in cheap treadmills.

Can You Do Without a Motor?

To start off with, the very cheapest of them all run in the $100 to $300 price range and they don’t have a motor. This means that it’s you the walker who supplies all the energy to keep the thing moving. Do be aware however, that they are very poorly rated and most people who buy them find them far too difficult to use.

A Machine to Burn Some Calories on

Even so, it’s primarily heavy and light people who seem to have the biggest problem with them, so if you’re mid-range in weight and also determined enough, this type of cheap treadmill may in fact work for you. One thing is for certain and that is that you can expect to burn a lot of calories on a treadmill with no motor.

Cheap Treadmills That Have Motors

Next we move on to budget treadmills that do have motors and there are a lot of them to sort through. Stores like K Mart and Wal Mart will always have a few on display, so you’re in luck when it comes to trying one out. Don’t expect a heavy machine though and also don’t expect a whole lot of features.

A Critical Look at Warranties

Warranties can be deceiving on these types of rock bottom priced treadmills, so keep this in mind. Most of them will have zero to no coverage on parts, electrical and labor and a big sign touting perhaps a one or two year warranty on the motor. Don’t get too excited though because on low budget treadmills it’s the “parts and labor” that will fail long before the motor.

What About Refurbished Treadmills?

Now one new option that’s materialized recently, is companies that are marketing refurbished or rebuilt treadmills. Treadmills that have been completely dismantled and reconstructed to brand new treadmill specifications. Now the catch, is that this is only done on commercial grade treadmills that have been harvested primarily from member ship gyms.

There’s Always Used Treadmills

On the surface, at $1500 to $2000 they may not appear to be “cheap treadmills” at first glance but look a little deeper and you can find fantastic deals. This is because these very same treadmills cost upwards of $5,000 to $6,000 when purchased new. Also there is big market in used treadmills online, which is yet one more option to consider.