Home gyms and personal trainers could be right for you
Who hasn't stared incredulously at the barrage of TV infomercials feature the likes of Chuck Norris and "childhood stars" - all of whom are trying to convince you to purchase the latest in pectoral-building and butt-tightening home gym equipment.
You're not the only one who doesn't trust the ads. Health reporters and other fitness experts caution busy executives seeking time-efficient workouts to proceed with caution before they pass up a gym membership for a home device.
"We don't recommend buying from infomercials because there's a lot of small print and loopholes," says Justin Leonard, owner of Fitness Infomercial Review.com, a Web site that reviews infomercial fitness materials. "It's almost better to go through a third-party retailer and buy through them. There's a lot of resources online that you can get good reviews from."
There are a few exceptions to this rule.
"The Bowflex is definitely top of the line," Leonard says. "They have several different models of the Bowflex, and they generally range from about $800 to several thousand dollars, depending on what attachments that you want."
On the other hand, Bowflex has filed numerous recalls with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Nautilus Inc., the maker of the Bowflex, took back hundreds of thousands of units and paid a $950,000 civil penalty for failing to report injuries and machine defects.
Companies that sell fitness equipment often allow potential customers to set up appointments to try out machines. What you're looking for in your possible new gym are:
- Stability - when you sit on an unstable machine, it will feel like the manufacturer cut corners on the way the weights work
- Good resistance - this means not experiencing any change in push through the full range of motion
- Ease of use - a good gym makes easy to switch from exercise to exercise
- Accurate weight - machines often show one weight but are truly another. Electronic displays are often false as well. A good way to test this is to try lifting a reasonable weight, then performing the same motion with a free weight to compare.
- Quality steel - the reason that many infomercial gyms are cheap is because they use low-gauge steel. This kind of metal gives an untrue weight reading and is hard to work with.
Even if you do own a home gym, you may not use it.
"A lot time when people get home they have a lot of distractions," says Rich Barton, a certified personal trainer and owner of Bodyrich Fitness Co. "Once you get home, you want to kick off your shoes and relax."
There are a few alternatives to the malaise of home workouts.
"If you have a home gym but you're not consistent, you need to hire a personal trainer. If you lack motivation, I suggest hiring a personal trainer. One thing that we're doing a lot of is not only selling fitness equipment and personal training, we're also sending a trainer on a regular basis to companies to accompany their installed gym. We see more activity in the gym because of the professional trainer. This helps increase the usage. Usage is the key to any kind of wellness."
Don't want to go to a gym, buy a piece of bulky equipment, or bring a personal trainer to your home? Perhaps your company should add an exercise gym to the office.
"We're seeing a lot of companies putting in gyms for their employees," Barton says. "A healthy employee is a good for health insurance. Working out at work is a better alternative to working out at a gym because of traffic. What's the purpose of jumping into that?"
>> Learn more: Subscribe to Consumer Reports magazine for more details on home gyms.
