If you are a novice to the wide, wide world of exercise this exercise machine choices made easy guide is what you will need to help you make a wise choice of the tools available for your personal health and fitness. The concepts are simple, but the choices can be daunting if you know nothing about how they work and if they will be effective in your particular exercise campaign. There is no way to explain all of the machines and tools out in the marketplace today, but some of the machine choices can be explained very briefly. Please be advised that you need to ask your doctor if there are any limitations on your health that would prevent you from using any of the choices described herein.
For a steady, calorie burning, safe workout there is nothing more beneficial than a good, crisp walk. In the safety and comfort of your home this is accomplished with a basic treadmill. You can burn about 100 calories an hour while watching TV, listening to music, or studying your surroundings to formulate a plan of action to combat the dust! Most good treadmills have a changeable incline option that can advance upward as you advance your exercise routine. Some of the upper-end types have small flat screen TV's built into the frame, and there are many other amenities you can choose for your machine to have. Walking is a very good cardiovascular exercise, but think twice about a treadmill if you have knee or foot problems, since walking on a treadmill can increase the joint stress to these areas over 3 times higher than the stress of a regular, easy walk will create.
The elliptical machines and stair steppers that have become so popular as of late are less stressful on the joints since there is no pounding of the feet on a hard surface. These machines are designed to simulate walking up a set of never-ending stairs, so you can guess that this is an excellent cardiovascular exercise as well! The calorie burn is still fairly high, but balance can sometimes be a problem with beginners. Also newcomers to the machine need to get a good grip on the leg action before trying the arm action on the machines, at least until you are a little more confident with the workouts. Trying to work on the machine can be more damaging than beneficial if you start a habit of using it incorrectly.
Stationary bikes are in just about every garage and storage room in every home in America. These bikes are easy to use, take up less space than some of the other machines, and are usually less expensive, although the more technical and multifunctional ones have costs that exceed a small subcompact car! These are good beginner exercise machines, but one of the greatest problems with them is the fact that they tend to not be fitted correctly to the individual rider. Most of the time the seat is either too high or too low, creating undue stress on the knee joints or making the exercising time less beneficial than it could be. The machine needs a good mileage meter since you will need to ride 4 miles to burn 100 calories.
Weight lifting accessories are not necessarily machines that most would consider a calorie burner or a way to lose extra weight easily. To be effective at weight lifting you need a good mentor or trainer to teach you how to do the exercises correctly. If you are inexperienced and try to use this type of machine on your own you could end up with not only sore muscles, but severe injury would be a distinct possibility. With this in mind, weight lifting is a great way to build muscle, and muscle is very effective at burning calories more efficiently! It is also a great way to shape your body in ways that it wouldn't normally be in.
The rowing machines give you the best full-body workout, combining cardiovascular exercise with a good muscle workout included. If used correctly the machine will use many more muscle groups at the same time than any other choice. It does tend to take a little more coordination to do the exercise correctly, so it is not a natural choice for beginners. Extra weight can make the use of the rowing machines terribly uncomfortable, and can require the user to use the machine ineffectively. You must coordinate the leg movement together with the arm movement for a smooth, gliding motion that takes practice to master. But the benefits with this type of exercise can be quite noticeable in a very short amount of time.
Again, always check with your doctor before starting any exercise program. The numerous choices on the market today means that nearly everyone can find the perfect fit in an exercise machine. From the beginner to the most advanced of individuals we can all make a change in our bodies for the better. A longer, happier, and healthier life is what we all strive for, and with the right choices we can do this for ourselves. Keep these things in mind and your exercise machine choices are made easy!
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