Winston Salem Gyms:Exercise Equipment and Strength Training
May 15th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
Strength training has many benefits and it may be something we want to incorporate into our exercise regime, but we’re not quite sure if we should join a gym and use the machines or do our own free weights at home. I don’t think the ‘where’ really matters as much as just doing it. Again, with all exercise, it must be something that fits with our lifestyle. Let’s talk about the benefits first — why we’d even want to add something else to our already harried lifestyle.
Benefits:
Reduced Risk of Osteoporosis. Need I say more? When you lift weights, you increase your bone density so the less likely you will be to develop osteoporosis.
Reduced Risk of Injury and Faster Rehabilitation. Due to the increase in bone density and strengthening of bones, the chance of breaking a bone decreases. Ligaments and tendons are also strengthened, and stronger muscles help in all capacities in your daily life while reducing the risk of an accident. Our balance also improves which again increases injury prevention. And if we do have an injury, the best way to recover is to build that strength back up around the injured area, or in other words strength training.
Higher Metabolism. When we increase our muscle mass — substituting fat for muscle — our metabolism naturally increases so it’s easier to maintain our ideal weight. Therefore, even hours after a work-out, our metabolism will be elevated, allowing us to burn calories both before and after strength training.
Sculpting Tool. As women, we all know where our problem areas are — a main one being belly fat. Resistance training has been shown to burn more belly fat. This can be applied to any problem areas of the body — there are set exercises to help sculpt particular muscle groups.
Reduces the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease. When we’re lifting weights, our cholesterol levels and blood pressure can decrease.
A Tool to Enhance Your Life. We become more flexible and agile so carrying children or certain sports won’t be hindered by a lack of strength. You’ll feel younger with greater stamina and energy and life will be filled with experiences to explore. What’s that old saying? We’re as young as we feel.
So now we see the clear benefits of strength training and we’re ready to get going. This should be something we try and maintain on a regular basis, but to do so it must fit with our personal tastes and lifestyle. There are really two main options. Buy a set of dumbbells or resistance elastics and work-out at home, or go to the gym and use the equipment specifically designed to help build muscle. There are books and programs out there on both subjects to help tailor to you. And it’s never too late to start! So go do your homework and start reaping the rewards of strength training whatever stage of life you’re in.
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Tags: Exercise Equipment, gyms, winston salem gyms
4 Tips for Designing an Attractive and Functional Home Gym Room
February 14th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Exercise Tips. No Comments
Home gym and interior design is becoming a topic that is being discussed today more than ever. It used to be the case that a home gym was just some barbells, dumbbells, a rusty weight bench and maybe an exercise bike that looked like it was just taking up space inside your house. Today, however, with more and more emphasis on fitness and exercise, while having less time to do it, people are placing more attention to the design of their home gyms.
Designing a home gym to make it appear inviting makes it easier for you to workout at home. Not many people enjoy working out in a “dungeon”-like environment (such as a home gym located in a poorly lit, unfinished basement). An attractive looking home workout room filled with quality equipment that you will use can be easily accomplished with the following tips:
Select High Quality Home Exercise Equipment
The last thing you want in your home gym is a nice looking interior design with a piece of machinery that looked like it came out of the automotive junk yard. Select the best home gym equipment you can afford. Not only will this look nice, but chances are the gym equipment will last a lot longer than a cheaper variety.
Arranging Exercise Equipment
Construct a floor plan in order to visualize where your home gym and other exercise equipment will be located. With multiple exercise machines, it’s best to arrange the tallest and largest home exercise equipment along the walls, and the smallest shorter gym equipment in the middle. This maximizes the use of space in your exercise room as well as improves the appearance of your home gym. If you look at most health clubs, this is how their commercial gym equipment is arranged.
Add Colors to the Walls of Your Workout Room
A boring, egg-shell white color for the walls of your home gym will make it feel like a room in a hospital. Paint the walls with an eye appealing color to make the room more inviting.
Hang Up Pictures in Your Home Gym
Adding pictures and posters in your home gym will not only make the room resemble some of the designs of a health club, but with the right picture, it can act as a motivation tool as well.
The easiest way to gather ideas for designing your home gym is just simply to visit your local health club. Most of the time they offer a free trial or a tour, and what you can do is make notes of how they designed their fitness facility. Bring a notebook with you, and jot down anything that looks appealing to you that you could use for your own home gym. Take note of the colors of the walls, the positioning of the equipment, and the flooring of the gym. Also, look for pictures that are displayed on the walls. Theses are often designed to motivate members to workout.
Overall, with a sound plan and careful consideration of what equipment is needed and where to place them, you can design a home gym room that not only looks attractive, but is functional as well. Designing a home gym to make it appear more attractive may actually make you want to exercise more often too!
Tags: Exercise Equipment, Gym, Gym Room, Home Gym
All About Treadmills – Industry Expert Tells All
January 31st, 2009 by Winston Salem, under Exercise Tips. 1 Comment
You may know them as: Nordic Track, Pro Form, Reebok, Image, Healthrider, Weider, Body Fit, Weslo, Epic, Cadence, Freemotion, or Gold’s Gym Exercise Equipment…
What you should know about ICON Health & Fitness treadmills. ICON is a well known manufacturer of budget treadmills. ICON also has a commercial line made under the FreeMotion brand name. They have been around for many years. They are a private company with unreported sales in excess of 3 billion dollars per year. One of their largest distributors is Sears, Costco and other wholesale clubs. The ICON brand treadmills are sold under such brand names Epic, Nordic Track, Pro Form, Weslo, Cadence, Healthrider, Reebok, Image, Body Fit, Weider just to name a few. ICON is competitive in the lower priced treadmills that can be purchased from the above mentioned retail stores. ICON provides average quality treadmills in their price range, but ICON does not compare to the higher priced treadmills as far as durability and available features. ICONS are typically sold at discount retailers but they are also available on-line. For an infrequent user who mainly walks and requires only minimal stability and number of features, ICON can be a good value. My findings suggest that you get what you pay for, especially if you work out frequently. If you need more intense training, or if you are a runner, than ICON residential exercise equipment will most likely not be of sufficient quality to meet your needs.
Most ICON treadmills fold and will latch in the up position. While the latch is designed so that the walking deck will not fall while unattended, it is not recommended that you pull on the walking deck while in the up position. This could make the latch break loose. It is also very important that the incline be completely down at 0% before folding. Should you try and raise the walking deck when the incline is in the up position, it is possible to break the piston that is used to help reduce the load when lowering the walking deck. ICON treadmills offer an internet capable iFit.com connection. IFit.com was designed by ICON as a personal trainer interactive program which offers workout programs for CD and MP3 players, VCR’s and online connections. In 2008 they started making iFit.com with SD card capabilities in the exercise equipment consoles. You do have to purchase or subscribe to the service, but many users find it a convenient way to have a personal trainer while using their treadmills in the privacy of their own home.
On most models a tethered safety key is needed to start the treadmill. This key may have to be inserted, or on newer models it may be a magnet. It will also stop the treadmill when pulled out. This is an excellent feature for safety reasons. By attaching the safety key to yourself during your work out should you fall the safety will automatically shut down the treadmill. Anyone that you do not want to use the treadmill such as children cannot start the walking belt without this safety key in place. Most ICON treadmills have built in programs and some higher end models let you design a custom user program.
You may also be able to custom design a heart rate program. Higher end models usually offer one or two fans in the console. This is a great feature that you can only appreciate while using the treadmill. Almost all ICON treadmills offer an incline. This simulates walking up a hill. The incline is measured in percentages. You will find this could range from a maximum of 10% to 15%, all though ICON has manufactured treadmills with up to a 50% incline. This was a popular model for mountain climbers, but it also only had a maximum speed of 6 mph.
As you can imagine going up a 50% incline is hard enough, so trying to run at the incline would not be safe. Some models offer to monitor your pulse. These models will have a hand grip that you must hold with both hands to get a pulse reading. It also helps if your hands are a bit wet or sweaty to give a better pulse reading. Some higher end models let you purchase as an accessory, a pulse monitor that you would strap onto your chest. This would act as a transmitter to send signals to the console to get you’re pulse reading. Most ICON treadmill consoles offer a book holder, a nice feature if you like to read and walk at the same time. The down side of the feature is of course you block out the readout on the console display.
Some newer models offer TV screens and CD players. You may find that the DC motor that operates the walking belt may cause a bit of interference on the TV signal. It may be a smarter choice to purchase a treadmill without a TV screen and point your treadmill towards a TV. The consoles also will sometimes have several pockets to store a remote control or bottled water. ICON treadmills are easily assembled for the do-it-yourselfer.
One huge benefit that ICON offers their customers is a national service network. This network of service centers cannot be overlooked or undervalued. This is one area where ICON is above and beyond many others manufacturers. Your treadmill purchase is only as good as the service beyond the sale. Should you not be able to assembly your treadmill, for a cost ICON will arrange for a local service center to professionally assemble your treadmill for you. Something else to consider is that repair costs are considered high on all exercise equipment. Even in the most populated areas of the country it can be hard to find a qualified exercise equipment repair company. It has been my experience that the specialty retailers of high end exercise equipment will not even consider repairing these lower priced models. This being the case, when you do find a qualified service center they will expect top dollar to perform repairs or maintenance. I do suggest, as many consumer organizations do, that you purchase an extended warranty on all exercise equipment purchases, especially treadmills.
One ICON model is the Epic T60, it is one of the more popular models sold by this manufacturer. The Epic T60 provides users with reasonable quality in the $500.00 to $ 1000.00 price range. There have been some reported problems associated with the rollers and the key pads on the console, but for the price the Epic T60 is a good buy. Epic treadmills generally offer an outstanding 12 year warranty on the motor, but only 90 days on parts and labor. Once again I cannot say this enough you may want to consider purchasing an extended warranty on all ICON models and for that matter any lower end priced exercise equipment no matter who the manufacturer is. Epic does offer features such as the ability to design personal workouts and may include a stereo or a TV screen depending on the model you choose.
For the price, ICON treadmills are reasonably dependable and will last for a fair period of time. Before purchasing an ICON treadmill, investigate other brands and research the various models that are available to you. You may be able to find a superior treadmill for a similar price if you look for sales and online specials. ICON is not a poor choice in treadmills for many people, but if you are intent on a top quality, long lasting product, you may want to look further.
Some other considerations that you must address before purchasing any exercise equipment include number of users, maximum weight of the users, and frequency of use. Also know that all treadmills are rated for a maximum user weight. A user exceeding the maximum rating chances cracking the walking deck at worst and burning out the moving parts rather quickly. Lower end models generally are rated at a maximum weight of 250 pounds. It is also recommended that you purchase a treadmill with a CHP (Continuous Horsepower) motor as opposed to a THP (Total Horsepower) motor. Lower end treadmill will have a DC powered motor, while many commercial treadmills have AC powered motors. Also check the application of the treadmill. Most ICON models are labeled for “In Home Use” only and the warranty will be void if used in a gym or other commercial type setting i.e.: condominium or apartment workout rooms.
To find out more about Treadmills, visit Forests Wakefield’s website Exercise Equipment Service at tradmillmart.com and find out more about under $ 1000.00 treadmills, and about Epic, Smooth, Nordic Track, and Pro Form exercise equipment.
Tags: exercise, Exercise Equipment, Treadmills