In the past, it was difficult to purchase multi-station home gym equipment that would truly resemble lifting with free weights in a health club. These days, there are over a dozen “home gyms” that provide users with the same smooth bio-mechanical movements and heavy-duty structural integrity that premium quality, health club caliber home gyms offer. Complaints used to mount by the thousands by consumers over the fact that there were no gym quality home gyms on the market. Traditionally, home gyms light-weight and flimsy, therefore they could not withstand heavy usage by professional weight lifters. The fitness equipment market today is much different. There are plenty of heavy duty, multi-station home gyms in today’s fitness equipment industry, that can maintain their structural integrity, even after intense, hi-impact, body-buildingesque workouts. For example, the BodyCraft X4 Gym has 4 weight stacks of 200 pounds each. Additionally, the cable/pulley system on the BodyCraft X4 has the ability to double the 200 pound resistance to 400 pounds. So here we have a home gym with 800 pounds in weight plates and has the option of lifting up to 400 pounds at once!

In the past, exercise equipment for the home may have felt like the reserve of the rich and famous who had the necessary funds to invest in the apparatus and the space in their properties to fit it.

However, those days are long gone and today you can get a wide range of reasonably priced gym products designed specifically to be used in your house or flat.
All of this can be great news if you are keen to workout regularly and stay in shape but are worried that your leisure centre membership is eating into your household budget, particularly at a time where many people’s finances are tight.

Indeed, maintaining a gym membership can be expensive – especially if you find you do not have the time to go as much as you would like or at a frequency that would justify the amount you pay.

For example, if you are putting in longer hours at the office then you may simply not have the necessary hours in the day left to go to your local fitness centre after work, or it could be that you have other responsibilities that keep you away from your place of workout.

And as well as this meaning you are wasting money, it may also lead your normal exercise routine to suffer – which could have a negative impact on your health and even your weight.
Luckily, with the range of home gym equipment available today, keeping fit has never been easier or more convenient and you are sure to be surprised at the range available.
In addition to the weights that you may normally expect, you can also get exercise bikes, rowing machines, treadmills, vibration plates and even ellipticals for your home – all you have to do is choose the one that will best help you to achieve your personal goals.

If you want to improve your overall health levels then an exercise bike or running machine could be the best choice. Both of them are great for beginners, while they are also good pieces of cardio-vascular equipment that help you improve on the inside as well as the outside.
Furthermore, the easier you find working out on them the more you can increase the intensity or incline to ensure that you are always challenged.
To give every part of you a workout an elliptical – or cross-trainer – is a safe bet as it gets you moving your arms and legs simultaneously. This is also a great piece of kit for beginners as it is a low-impact exercise.

And to improve your muscle tone you may wish to use a rower alongside your weights, which will see you strengthening your legs, arms and abdominals, among other muscles.
If you really want to banish any wobbles you could round off your session by standing on a vibration plate, which is designed to firm up your body despite you doing very little work – which could make it the perfect piece of kit to use if you are too tired to fully exert yourself.

Once you have finished your workout, many of the pieces of equipment can be folded into a smaller size to tidily store away, meaning you don’t even have to worry about them taking up too much space.
Whatever you end up getting, you will soon find that exercising at home has never been easier.

source:http://www.inthenews.co.uk/associate-article/what-exercise-equipment-can-i-buy-for-my-home–$21386673.htm

About 40 women line up in rows of about 10 each. They watch as teacher Thomasenia Johnson demonstrates a few steps of a hustle called “Vanilla Swirl.” But they don’t stand and watch long. Johnson turns on the Luther Vandross song “Shine,” and every student attempts the moves.

“Up on the left foot; cha, cha, cha. Up on the right foot. Cha, cha,” Johnson calls out the steps . “Now when I say twirl, act like you have an imaginary lasso, and twirl it high and round.”

Before the dance is over, most of the students have caught on and are stepping, cha-cha-cha-ing and twirling to the beat in a hustle class at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit.

A group of women make similar moves to some saucy salsa numbers in a Zumba class at Henry Ford Hospital West Bloomfield.

“You’re exercising, but unlike running on a treadmill, you’re having fun,” says Mary Fischioni, 58, of Farmington Hills after the one-hour class.

They’ve discovered what growing numbers of people are finding: Dance is a fun way to step, shake, sway and shimmy your way to fitness.

Not only does dancing improve physical well-being, it delivers a three-pronged fitness punch — a mind, body and spirit boost. It helps with everything from cardiovascular fitness to memory, say proponents and participants.

The benefits of dancing for fitness are becoming more evident in the scientific community as well.

The American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine this year became the first American medical academy to dedicate an entire conference to performing arts, which includes dance.

“This is significant because it shows the increased importance of performing arts medicine,” says the organization’s president-elect, Dr. Steven Karageanes, sports medicine physician and director of Performing Arts Medicine at the Detroit Medical Center.

“There’s a ton of evidence on the benefits of dance,” Karageanes says. “Dance helps increase muscle tone, flexibility and, in some types of dance, aerobic capacity. It’s also easier on the joints than something like running or jumping. And almost anyone can do it.”

Interest in dancing for fitness jumped 26% from 2002 to 2010, according to a survey on exercise trends from the IDEA Health and Fitness Association based in San Diego.

There’s anecdotal indications of growing interest, too.

“I’m always getting calls and e-mails asking me to teach more classes,” says exercise physiologist Shawnita VanHook-Williams, who teaches Zumba at Henry Ford West Bloomfield, and at parks and recreation programs for Lathrup Village and West Bloomfield.

“People get such a euphoric feeling from dancing,” she says. “You feel good from accomplishing the class, but it also releases endorphins that help reduce stress and relieve tensions in your body.”

Some people say the classes have helped them with serious health challenges.

Lasandra Ross, 51, of Ferndale is diabetic and says her doctors were on the verge of putting her on an insulin regimen because her blood-sugar levels were too high. She started dancing — at least twice a week — about three years ago and now her blood-sugar levels are normal.

“My doctors told me my next step was insulin, but I could avoid it if I ate right and exercised,” she said after a two-hour hustle class at the Wright Museum. “I like to dance, and this doesn’t feel like exercise.”

Toure Finley, 47, of Southfield dances five times a week — attending Zumba and hustle classes all over metro Detroit.

“Since I started in March, I’ve lost 10 pounds,” she says.

Hustle instructor Thomasenia Johnson, who teaches classes at the Wright Museum three to four times a week, says she dropped from a size 22 dress to a size 12 in six months. “Once I realized I was losing weight, I stopped eating potato chips, and potato chips are my thing. Now, I eat whatever I want when I want.”

Denise McLaren, 48, of Detroit, says going to hustle classes has eased her arthritis pain. She dances about four days a week at various locations. “When I work out it doesn’t hurt as much. Dancing strengthens your muscles. If I miss coming here today, my whole body knows it tomorrow.”

Another benefit is that dancing has no age limits.

Just ask Josie Gentry-Huyghe, 84, of Detroit. She’s a regular at the Sunday evening hustle classes where she knows routines people a third of her age struggle to learn. She also enjoys square dancing.

“When I was growing up my parents didn’t allow us to dance, so I guess I’m making up for it,” she says with a laugh.

She says she likes it because it keeps her moving. “Dancing is something that age doesn’t define you. If you’re able to do it, you do it. And with hustling, I don’t have to sit and wait on a man to dance. When a good hustle song comes on, you get up and dance.”

Terry Klenczar, 65, of Farmington Hills, believes dancing helps with memory as well.

“You can’t let your mind wander. You have to focus on what you’re doing to keep up,” she says after Zumba at Henry Ford West Bloomfield.

Her contention is backed by scientific research, says the DMC’s Karageanes.

“For instance, a 2003 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that ballroom dancing at least twice a week made people less likely to develop dementia,” he says. “Research also has shown that some people with Alzheimer’s disease are able to recall forgotten memories when they dance to music they used to know.”

Others find it’s just a good stress reliever.

“If you had any stress, it’s gone by the time you leave here,” says Mary Fischioni after an hour of Zumba.

BY CASSANDRA SPRATLING

SOURCE: http://www.freep.com/article/20110529/FEATURES01/105290346/As-workout-dancing-helps-develop-muscle-tone-flexibility-aerobic-capacity?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cp

The topic today is going to be the different ways to get in shape through using various pieces of exercise equipment. People tend to get stuck inside the box and let their workouts become dull and mundane over time and once exercises become more like a chore than anything else, the mind becomes disinterested and the body becomes disengaged. Daily exercise is like most things that are good for you. Not fun. Running miles on your favorite Precor will be fantastic for your health, however it will be the furthest thing from fun. However, there is a way to have some fun when you lift on your treadmill home fitness equipment, or lift weights on your home gym and that is by keeping detailed statistics of your exercise sessions. By tracking your workout and carefully watching the amount of miles you are running and the amount of time it is taking you, it becomes easy to set goals for yourself  when you exercise.  When you set goals, using your home fitness equipment becomes fun because you are so curious each and every day as to whether or not you are going to surpass your previous highs.

Home gyms are great because in most cases, they have multiple workout stations, which makes it easy to work all of the different muscles on your body. When looking into buying a home gym, one should always take into consideration several factors. First of all, make sure that the home gym equipment that you are looking at is sturdy and not prone to breaking down. Clearly, there is very little that can be accomplished on a home gym that is out of order. Secondly, check out the weight stack on the home gym you are looking at. For example, the Body-Solid 1500s gym has a weight stack of 160 pounds. While that is perfect for many people, some athletes that like to life a lot of weight would prefer maybe a 200lb. weight stack like the BodyCraft Xpress Pro has, or a weight stack that provides up to 400 pounds of resistance, such as the BodyCraft X4. Other features to look for when purchasing strength equipment or home gym equipment is whether or not the home gym is a single, double, triple, or quardruple  weight stack. For instance, if there were 20 plates of 10 pund weights on a home gym machine, that would represent a single, 200 pound weight stack. If the home gym is for only one person, then a single stack will be great. On the other hand, if you have a single weight stack gym, then only one person can use it at a time. If you have a workout partner, and the two of you like working out at the same time, you will need a double weight stack gym, and so aon and so forth. Gyms with four weight stacks are typically commercially rated for health club usage, as they normally have thicker and heavier gauge steel framing than weight machines with one or two weight stacks.

Labor Day is here and hopefully you are not just getting fatter by the second and drinking lots of beer while you eat ribs and inhale greasy cheeseburgers. If you are one of those unfortunate souls, then you must exercise later so you can burn of some of the 10,000 calories you injested within the past hour. Seriously, are we just the fattest, groset nation on God’s green earth? I sometimes wonder if people do not have mirrors? Maybe they just do not have any self control or disciple at all. Let me tell you something and make it crystal clear, every single day of your life you either get better or you get worse. There is absolutely no in-between. Unfortunately, some people are sick/disabled/handicapped/unable to perform and therefore they can not control their own destiny. But for all of you who are in good enough health to exercise, have 2 arms and two legs, be ashamed of yourself if you are fat and overweight. Seriously ashamed, to say the absolute least. Is it that difficult to workout once every other day, or not eat 5 servings instead of 2? If your answer to that question is yes, than we feel for you, and you need to call us right away so you don’t waste your life sitting around liek a fat ass!

As we near July, it has become evident that I have not done all that I need to in order to look good in my bathing suit for the summer, and I am not ready to accept that. Every single year I promise myself that by the time summer comes around I am going to be toting a six pack and not weigh more than 170 (I am 6’0). The nor weighing more than 170 pounds thingn is only when I am not weight training really hard, if I was lifting weights every day and eating lots of protein and around 4000 calories, then I would be satisfied at like 180 pounds or even 190 pounds as long as my body fat percentage remained under 6.5%. But anyway…..back to the swimsuit thing and I am not totally out of shape, there has been some work done on my part, but you get out what you put in and right now I don’t have too much that I can take out, so I have to put a lot more work in and just pray that by mid-July, my swimsuit body will be ready, if not, I will consider myself a total failure….just kidding, kinda, sorta. Ha! Anyway, as I mentioned, I am 6’0 and right now I weight around, like, ummmmmmmmmm, 183 pounds. I need to get down to 170 pounds and I was looking for some good ideas from the KOC bloggers and bloggets as to what my best course of action is? Should I just go all out and exercise for like 4 hours a day? Different people have told me different things. I have heard that yeah, if you really want to look your best and feel your best, get some cardio and strength equipment for your home and just go crazy. Don’t let up, no matter how sore you are, just keep pumping iron and doing cardiovascular workouts and the rest is history. The counter argument to that, which I have heard quite frequently as well, is that if you try and push yourself too hard, through daily physical training, cardio and strength training, that you will become so sore and beat up that you will just burn yourself out due to exhaustion and just not want to exercise anymore at all.

I have always tried to make time to workout but finding the time or energy to do so is nearly impossible. I usually carry my gym bag in the trunk of my car so I can stop by the gym after work. The thought of working out daily is always on my mind but hardly ever an action. There have been times when I am excited to go to the gym but after I get out of work and start driving in traffic my energy is drained and all I want to do is get home and relax. There have even been times when I get to the parking lot of my nearby health club only to find myself parking, getting out of my car, getting my gym bag, walking a few feet and then walking back to my car and driving off home. The times when I have actually managed to walk inside the gym, I find the machines busy, and that gets me frustrated. Since I usually like to workout to relieve stress and stay in shape I realized that the frustrations that I got from trying to get a workout where defeating the purpose of why I wanted to exercise. It wasn’t until about 2 months ago that I decided to buy a recumbent bike.

I now workout at home, usually right in front of the TV while I watch my favorite TV shows. Working out at home for me has proven to be the best most effective thing I could have done. It is not a hassle, and I usually find time to exercise at least 1 hour a day 5 days a week. I think that working out should be a life style that improves our overall wellbeing. Not only is exercising good for the body but it is also good for the min. After I workout, I find myself full of energy, relaxed, and I simply feeling good about myself. What makes me even more excited is that I have started to see results. Since getting a regular workout is no longer such a hassle for me, I do it regularly and I have dropped 5 pounds and my legs and my bum are starting to get a very nice, sexy, feminine definition, which I absolutely love!!

Jaylene Miller

HERE ARE THE TOP 10 THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN YOU ARE BUYING FITNESS EQUIPMENT FOR YOUR HOME

1. QUALITY of the machinery itself. Most of all, does the equipment allow its users to mimic natural cardio and strength motions, because without natural simulation, you will not want to use the equipment. Equipment that people don’t like to use gets an “F” in our grading of equipment. Its stability, reliability, durability and structural integrity are all very essential towards the quality of a machine.
2. WARRANTY is very important. What kind of warranty does the unit come with. If the stair climber you are buying breaks down in 3 months how do you get that taken care of? What happens when the keyboard on your Life Fitness 93x Elliptical goes out and the machine will not work? These kinds of questions must be figured out prior to purchasing equipment. You do not want to buy a product only to learn it is a lemon and there is nothing that you can do. Make sure you have stipulated in writing exactly what you warranty entails.
3. PERFORMANCE is sometimes overlooked. You would assume that the performance of the fitness equipment would be at the top of everybody’s list when it comes to what to look for when purchasing home gym equipment, but it isoften forgotten, and people buy into the glitz and glamor of superfluous gadgets such as fans and Mp3 inputs. Features that provide more glitz than substance such as those previously mentioned, do more harm than good, and do not have a positive impact on the performance of your fitness product.
4. LEGITIMACY of the company is key. Make sure you do not purchase from a company that gets bad reviews. There are way too many ripe apples out there to gamble on a rotten one just because the cost may be a little bit lower. You also want to make sure that the warranty you are promised is legit. The only thing worse than buying home gym equipment with little no warranty, is buying fitness gear that comes with an illegitimate warranty! Nothing is worse than assuming all will be well if and when something happens, and when it does, you get the run around from the company you bought it from. The Kings of Cardio pride themselves on making sure the customer is taken care of is a fast and friendly manner. We understand how important exercising  it is to our everyday lives and for some of us, if we miss a workout, then our day is ruined. That may seem a little over the top, but some people really do not function as well if they are used to working out when they get up every morning, and miss their training due to broken equipment. Actually, many people work out religiously either before or after work, and take great pride in their physical fitness, so we pride ourselves on making sure your equipment is always up and running. Our customer service operators are open 24 hours a day for any and all service problems. For that reason alone, we have set ourselves apart from every other fitness company on the planet when it comes to the speed and efficiency of our customer and technical support teams.
5. USER FRIENDLY pieces of fitness equipment are the way to go. The days of manual treadmills and air bikes are over. Not only that, but the days of loud motors, as well as noisy drive and braking systems, are over as well. We are not saying that the more technologically advanced your unit is, the better your results. If you have been following, we are not advocates of spending more money on superfluous electronic/gadget/accessory upgrades. What is important however is making sure you choose a piece of equipment that does cater to your needs. It is also helpful to have substantive programs on the equipment in order to keep your home exercise workout routines sharp and fresh. Certain Heart Rate programs for instance allow for users of cardio equipment to have the machine automatically adjust itself in order to make sure that its user stays within his or her target heart rate zone. Staying within desired heart rate zones throughout your cardio fitness training (your heart rate is equivalent to your pulse) allows you to perform at a higher level and increase your results by up to 35%. That is a perfect example of how to use a program  on your piece of cardio fitness equipment and turn it into a  real “USER FRIENDLY” machine. Programs that are actually beneficial when it comes to helping us get in shape are those that allow its users to set goals for themselves and that keeps your physical fitness training fun and challenging. We always like to remind people that you do not want to be one of those guys or girls that goes to the gym, wanders around for a while, says hi to people, drinks some water, does a couple reps her and there and then goes home. Properly using your user programs on your home gym equipment or commercial gym equipment will make it so you are never one of those social butterflies while exercising. Sticking to using your programs will allow you to  have a specific plan, with set goals and stay focused.
6. The Cost comes in the sixth spot in our 10 most important factors to consider. You will find polarized costs when it comes to buying all sorts of fitness equipment for your home. For example, there are treadmills that cost $6500 and there are treadmills that cost $165. Furthermore, home gyms, stair climbers, free weight equipment, abdominal products, upright and spinning bikes, rowing machines and all other residential and commercial gym and health club machinery have the same wide range of pricing. The trick is to find what is right for you  and not spend too much. You don not want to spend too little either. For example, there may be  a piece of fitness equipment such as a treadmill that you really like and the price is listed at $1150. There is also another treadmill for $785 that functions just fine, but you do not like it as much, but somehow you convince yourself that you do not need the nicer treadmill and that you will learn to love the less expensive model because it will keep some extra green in your jeans. Before you know it, you never use the treadmill because it is not stable and is very light weight. Not only do you not enjoy using it, but the times when you do, your workout is consistently interrupted due to mechanical failures and technical problems with the machine.So instead of getting a machine that you really wanted and knew was a sure bet, you tried to cut corners and paid for it, literally. It is hard enough to exercise as it is that the last thing anybody needs is equipment that compromises the fluidity of your workout. In the same breath, if you are 5’5 and weigh 150 lbs., the last thing you need to do is spend a zillion dollars on very heavy, commercial/industrial, health club fitness and exercise machinery because it would be more than you need.  For instance, people call the Kings of Cardio all of the time with the intention of starting their own aerobic and cardio routines in the comfort of their own home and we are exited, they are exited, but there is only 1 problem, they weight over 400 pounds and only want to spend $1000.00!!!!!! If you weigh over a certain amount the only kind of equipment that will be right for you is commercial exercize fitness equipment. The reason that you will need gym machines that are commercial is because not many cardio pieces of equipment have mechanical capacities over 300 lbs. Your best bet is to actually call and speak one on one with a fitness expert working with the Kings of Cardio LLC. 800-990-1108 is the phone number and personal trainers are standing by to help you in your quest to find exercise machinery that is right for you.
7. The REPUPATION of the manufacturer who produces the exercise machinery you are looking at is important as well. Try and do some quick homework on the brand name of the piece of home or commercial fitness equipment that you are looking to buy. Most of the time you will find that the company you are looking into is entirely legit and manufactures quality machinery (especially if you purchase with the Kings of Cardio) but sometimes you will find that the company in which you are looking into doesnt have a good reputation at all. Many off-brands and private labeled products come with illegitamate warranties and are prone to breaking down. It is absolutely a must that you not buy brands such as these. With all of the great fitness equipment brands such as Precor, Life Fitness, Star Trac and Cybex (some other too), why in the world would you ever gamble on a company that has negative reviews? It would make no sense. If you really want to be the guy who gets Georged by some sly fox salesman on some toy, they call a piece of cardio equipment, then by all means go for it! Maybe you can be the guy that gets a piece of fitness equipment that matches up with those of your friends that cost double what yours cost. I tried to be that guy with a stereo system once. When some slicksters came up to my car and offered me what looked like a $2000.00 stereo for $150 and some Tupac CD’s, I jumped at the opportunity, hahhahaha opportunity, and bought it ($125 and some CD’s….seriously). Then after I bought this sweet looking stereo from these sharks, I called all my friends and told them to meet me at my house to see the new amazing stereo I bought at a fraction of what they all paid for theirs and well we all know what happened…..unless your a… well…. any way it didnt work at all, and that is exactly what is going to happen to you when you buy some piece of exercise equipment called the Super Track by some freak who goes by the name of Super John the Fitness Don. But like I said, if you really want to give it one shot, then go for it and gamble! Good luck and remember we told you so. BUY A PIECE OF HOME GYM EQUIPMENT THAT IS MADE BY A REPUTABLE COMPANY!