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Treadmills | Equipment For Great Cardio

We spoke with Rick Allen, owner of Midwest Commercial Fitness, a company that sells reconditioned fitness equipment, and asked him about exercise, treadmills, equipment in general, and what someone who's considering buying a treadmill should look for.

Paul: Rick, could you tell us about this particular exercise equipment's benefits?

Sure Paul. The first thing to look at is the immense popularity of treadmill equipment. Exercise that enhances or re-creates a natural walking or running motion is very appealing because our bodies are very comfortable with it, as opposed to say, cycling indoors, which is certainly not unnatural, but not nearly as popular. I mean, everybody knows how to walk. So the first big plus is the fact that you were meant to do this exercise.

Second is its versatility. Though there are a lot of runners who use treadmill exercise equipment, you don’t have to run to get a good workout. For the serious athlete into conditioning or sports, treadmill equipment is of course a great way to train and can be cranked up to some very challenging speeds. So definitely for the runner it's a near-perfect fitness machine, equipment that can mimic nearly any road workout.

But not everybody is a competitive athlete. There's the average exerciser who just wants to keep a certain level of fitness. She may want to use the very same piece of treadmill equipment for walking, and she can do that. Then if she wants to push herself a little, she simply pushes a button and starts walking uphill. So yes, the versatility is one of the very big benefits of treadmills. Equipment manufacturers recognize that and try to build as much versatility into a sports treadmill as they can.

The final big advantage that treadmill equipment exercise offers is cushioning. Versus walking or running on the road for fitness, treadmill equipment gives you a much more cushioned experience- shock absorbers are built into them and they're softer. So like elliptical fitness machines, they're better for your joints. Compared to pounding on a hard surface, especially on the higher end treadmill equipment, exercise is much more pleasant. You can find that benefit pushed to extremes with hybrid products like water treadmills or a buoyancy belt that work in a pool and eliminate any impact at all.

Paul: I know that many people interested in buying treadmill gear may be wondering what to look for. Can you give us some tips on what they might want to consider?

Sure. The first thing I'd suggest is to be wary of a lot of the cheap exercise equipment out there. If it's cheap, there's a good chance that you're buying crap. Fitness equipment's whole purpose is to give you a higher quality of life and that's not going to happen if you go out and buy a piece of junk. Life Fitness exercise equipment, Precor Fitness equipment, Universal Fitness Equipment, Star Trac - those are good names, and you want to be looking at the name. Yes, I know it's hard to pass up a treadmills sale that offers some ridiculously low price, but fitness discounts that leave you with a crappy treadmill in the center of your home gym are not going to do you any good in the long run.

My business is selling reconditioned fitness equipment - which includes treadmills, equipment that originally came from health clubs, and I can tell you from breaking these things down that there's a huge difference in quality between the cheap exercise equipment that a department store sells at a so-called treadmills sale and a quality treadmill.

If you want a treadmill deal well, we sell the very best treadmills in the world - reconditioned, for about 50% - 60% below what you'd pay new at gym supply or fitness equipment stores, so there are ways to get real value for your money, but I'd urge people to not sell themselves short with cheap fitness equipment. There's a lot "under the hood," that I can talk about, too. Maybe we can talk about that next time.

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Treadmills | Equipment For Great Cardio