Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Elliptical trainers - what to look for when buying one?

By Amanda Jocks

Exercising is beneficial for anyone's health - that's what people started to pay attention to lately. As they have no time to go to a gym and follow an exercising routine there, they start to look out for other options, like home fitness equipment. This explains the growing demand in the last years for such equipment, and especially for elliptical trainers.

An elliptical trainer will certainly help you reach your fitness goals from the comfort of your own home; however, not any elliptical trainer will do that for you. Since today's market is full of great offers, you should look very carefully at each and every one's features before making a purchase decision that you might later regret.

The budget is a very important aspect of your decision - and with prices ranging from $300 to $3000, you are in front of a pretty tough choice. Forget about the myth that the most expensive one is the best one, because it's not always like that and because you might not need all those expensive features the 3K one offers you.

However, there is a set of minimum recommended features - for example the stride length is never to be neglected, since it gives you comfort in your workout; if you're not comfortable, you're not attracted to it and in time you lose the desire to do it. A cheap machine will offer a 12-14" stride, but that's not good enough even for a medium sized person(which would need an 18 - 20" stride). A tall person will need a at least a 20" or sometimes even a 21" stride.

You should think about your progress from the very beginning, and anticipate that at some point you're going to need more resistance levels - so choose a machine that has many. The incline degree is also an important feature, since it gives you the help needed to work more muscle groups then in a normal position. Also, if you want a full body workout(and that's desirable), you should pick a model that has the upper body workout arms. Finally, you should think about the two most important features - the weight capacity(which practically tells you how strong your machine really is) and the warranty(usually the producer's opinion on the product's quality).

You should also consider some more "refined" features(offered by most quality machines), such as the display - that shows you the speed, the time elapsed, the distance and even the burned calories. In the end, you're the one making the choice based on your priorities - enjoy your benefits! - 15995

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