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 exercise 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, as well as commercial gym equipment, 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!

Tonight the Cleveland Cavs play the Orlando Magic in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals. Since I was born and raised in Cleveland I am a huge Cavs fan, so to say that I am stressed is an understatement. I beat the hell out of the stress that was beating the hell out of me….

When I woke up in the morning, I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and jumped on my StairMaster 7000PT. Exercising is the best way to beat stress. Period. I don’t care how many doctors think that medication is better than exercise, if there are any that do, because I know how great physical training makes me feel. I am totally convinced that Cardio Training and Strength Training are the best weapons to use as we fight stress caused in our daily lives from our job, economic situation, family issues and whatever else makes us tense. So where were we? Oh yeah, I jumped on the StairMaster 7000PT Step mill. When I work out, having the same exercise stair climbing machine that is seen in virtually every commercial gym across the country, helps motivate me to train. Actually working out for at least an hour 3 times a week is very difficult and the last thing you want to interfere with you getting in a great workout is the fitness exercise equipment itself. The StairMaster 4200, 4400 and 4600 all have stationary foot pedals versus the StairMaster 7000PT exercise stair stepper has what we like to call, escalator steps. The steps are constantly rotating so that you can’t cheat yourself!

You know is great for motivational purposes? Cardio exercise equipment digital programs! When you use the electronic programming options on cardio fitness equipment you are able to track your progress and push yourself in a way that it becomes fun as you set new goals and achieve them. For example, if I pick out a program on my StairMaster that is 40 minutes long, I am going to push myself to finish the forty minutes. Through the programming and feedback on the exercise equipments display console, you are aware of how long you have been working out for and how much time you have left. This is beneficial because you are less likely to quit exercising after 32 minutes if you have a 40 minute workout plan laid out and you can see that you only have 8 minutes left to complete your routine. On the other hand, if you have not set a goal for your exercise workout routine, you have no motivation to keep working out and pushing yourself like you need to in order to achieve maximum results.

When using a treadmill, the programming options are very important motivational tools as well. Different programming options such as Fat Burn, Weight Loss, Interval Training, Heart Rate, Heart Rate Interactive, Golf Course, Tennis Training and manual all allow users to keep their workouts fresh and inspirational each and every time they use cardio fitness equipment. As a runner, you will see results quicker and your workout will be more effective done if you are working out using programmability such as Mountain Training that automatically incorporates steep hills into your workout than you would if you arbitrarily picked out an amount of time and incline percentage for the treadmill to be set at throughout your cardio exercise routine.

In conclusion, if you are feeling stressed out for any reason, plan an exercise routine, jump on a nice piece of cardio fitness equipment and pick out one of the programs it has so that you do not get bored and feel inspired to exercise. You will thank us later – GO CAVS!