There's no place like home ... for a workout
Source: Agencies |
October 5, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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FOR many fleeing noisy gyms and pricey membership fees, when it comes to working out, there's no place like home.
If your fitness is housebound, experts say your gym can be anything from a basement brimming with exercise machines to a towel spread on the living room floor.
"People need a workout space," said fitness expert Melanie Douglass. "It can be a treadmill, a weight machine and a stability ball, or a five-dollar set of hand weights."
Douglass, who is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States, said do what fits your space and your budget.
Despite the sluggish economy, home fitness equipment sales hit US$5.3 billion in 2009, according to the National Sporting Goods Association, even as US gym memberships remained flat.
"People are economizing and gym membership is a casualty," said Colleen Logan of ICON Fitness, which manufactures workout equipment.
"A piece of home exercise equipment is a one-time expense for the household."
That expense is usually in a treadmill. Despite a hefty average ticket price of around US$670, treadmills account for 56 percent of home fitness sales, Logan said.
Douglass said treadmills are great if you have the budget. If not, there are frugal ways to cardio fitness. "I've had clients who have really enjoyed jump-roping," she said, "or stepping on a step deck. You can get a great cardiovascular workout for US$20."
Fitness is not achieved by cardio alone. Experts agree that a well-rounded workout involves three components: cardio, strength and flexibility/balance.
"If someone puts a treadmill in their house and that's all they do for five days a week, they're more likely to cause some injury," said Dr Angela Smith, an expert with the American College of Sports Medicine and a Philadelphia-based orthopedic surgeon.
Much safer is mixing it up, said Smith, "something like 15 minutes on a bike, 15 minutes on a treadmill and 15 minutes in a Pilates class."
For her own workout, Smith, who is a competitive skater, is strictly no-frills.
"Frankly, at home I use liter water bottles as light weights for the upper body," said Smith, who does 45 minutes of dance and Pilates before work. "I use a towel on a rug."
She said it doesn't take a lot of expensive equipment.
"My husband has a treadmill, a bicycle and sit-up equipment in the basement, but those are gathering dust.
"What gets used is my towel and my rug and my water bottles," she said.
If your fitness is housebound, experts say your gym can be anything from a basement brimming with exercise machines to a towel spread on the living room floor.
"People need a workout space," said fitness expert Melanie Douglass. "It can be a treadmill, a weight machine and a stability ball, or a five-dollar set of hand weights."
Douglass, who is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States, said do what fits your space and your budget.
Despite the sluggish economy, home fitness equipment sales hit US$5.3 billion in 2009, according to the National Sporting Goods Association, even as US gym memberships remained flat.
"People are economizing and gym membership is a casualty," said Colleen Logan of ICON Fitness, which manufactures workout equipment.
"A piece of home exercise equipment is a one-time expense for the household."
That expense is usually in a treadmill. Despite a hefty average ticket price of around US$670, treadmills account for 56 percent of home fitness sales, Logan said.
Douglass said treadmills are great if you have the budget. If not, there are frugal ways to cardio fitness. "I've had clients who have really enjoyed jump-roping," she said, "or stepping on a step deck. You can get a great cardiovascular workout for US$20."
Fitness is not achieved by cardio alone. Experts agree that a well-rounded workout involves three components: cardio, strength and flexibility/balance.
"If someone puts a treadmill in their house and that's all they do for five days a week, they're more likely to cause some injury," said Dr Angela Smith, an expert with the American College of Sports Medicine and a Philadelphia-based orthopedic surgeon.
Much safer is mixing it up, said Smith, "something like 15 minutes on a bike, 15 minutes on a treadmill and 15 minutes in a Pilates class."
For her own workout, Smith, who is a competitive skater, is strictly no-frills.
"Frankly, at home I use liter water bottles as light weights for the upper body," said Smith, who does 45 minutes of dance and Pilates before work. "I use a towel on a rug."
She said it doesn't take a lot of expensive equipment.
"My husband has a treadmill, a bicycle and sit-up equipment in the basement, but those are gathering dust.
"What gets used is my towel and my rug and my water bottles," she said.
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