You’ve seen or heard it before. It looks like a great deal. Soon you’ll have your very own exercise equipment in your home. A month later, it’s collecting dust in the corner, taking up valuable space - broken, or maybe just not ‘nice’ to use. Should have known it was too good to be true.
Savvy consumers are discovering what health club owners and operators have known for years - not all fitness equipment is alike. There is a broad spectrum of products on the market: from quality equipment with programs and features that almost guarantee results, to inferior products sold in discount stores and television infomercials. To help you select durable products that will help you reach your goals, here’s what to look for when buying fitness equipment:
Easy Enough So You’ll Use it Consistently: Consoles should be self instructing, that are easy to understand and use. Lighted prompts make it easy to enter data and ‘guide’ you through the process. Should have a ‘quick start’ feature.
Motivating Feedback to Keep You Going: You should be able to see instant feedback on elapsed time, distance, calories burned, speed, elevation and maybe heart rate at the very least. The display console serves as a personal coach and motivator by giving continuous performance feedback.
Comfortable Enough For Even the Longest Workouts: Ever used a bike and had to get off it was so uncomfortable? Check the seat (big enough to be comfy?) and its position in relation to the handlebars. Treadmills should have some form of shock absorption below the deck. Cross Trainers should have a narrow gate (distance between left and right feet when using the machine).
If you are a member of a health club, does the machine you are thinking of buying feel like the one at your club? If not, don’t buy it - no matter how cheap it is - after the initial curiosity has dropped off, you won’t use it.
Built to Be Used Without Breaking Down: If it doesn’t appear solid, it probably isn’t. When you get on it, does it ‘sway’ beneath your weight? How does the manufacturer test machine reliability?
Quality Backed by Warranty: The warranty period will show the quality of the equipment (assuming you can get your warranty call answered). Buying better quality equipment will give you peace of mind.
Complete Support After the Sale: Here’s the real clincher. If you have a problem, how long does it take to get a technician to check it out. Will the sales company commit to the time period? Assuming they do answer, how is their inventory of spare parts? If you can’t get these questions answered, better to spend your money joining a health club.