Fitness Equipment Advice

What are the types of fitness equipment?

If you have decided to improve your health and fitness at your home or office, but are not sure where to start, then this guide is perfect for you. When you choose to buy gym equipment and setup your own gym, the variety of equipment on offer can be daunting. When doing research, it can also take a long time to understand the specifications and benefits of each machine, especially on new equipment that you may not all be familiar with.

Here, we present a guide that can provide the right information: what sort of fitness equipment is best for you?

There are essentially two major categories of gym equipment: "Cardio equipment" and "Strength training equipment":

Cardio Equipment (Cardio-vascular training equipment) allows you to improve your fitness level. By doing so, you improve the capacity of your heart and lungs (aerobic activity). This may help you lose weight and improve your overall health and fitness. This is the recommended type of equipment for home use.

Strength Equipment (Strength Training equipment) allows you to improve your strength and condition, especially in your skeletal muscles (major muscle groups). This also can help you to lose weight, but may not improve your overall fitness levels.

A combination of cardio equipment and strength equipment can provide the best results you may be looking to achieve. Also, having a variety of equipment can provide you with a more interesting workout routine.

Cardio Equipment

Treadmills

A treadmill is good option if you like to walk, jog, or run. You can increase or decrease the speed of the running belt, and increase or decrease the amount of steepness on your "run". Treadmills are also the most popular form of home fitness equipment, because of their ease-of-use and don't require a lot motivation to use. Our most popular treadmills are:

For more detailed advice on treadmills, refer to our Treadmill Buying Guide.

Elliptical Cross Trainers

Elliptical cross trainers are body supporting, stepping exercise machines that provide a leg and arm workout. The primary benefit of an elliptical is cardiovascular exercise. Elliptical cross-trainers make a good choice for people who have trouble with joint pain, as the machine carries your weight without a jolting impact (compared to a treadmill). Both elliptical cross trainers and treadmills are good for toning your body and building strength, especially in the legs. Our most popular elliptical cross-trainers are:

For more detailed advice on elliptical cross-trainers, refer to our Elliptical Cross-trainer Buying Guide.

Exercise Bikes and Spin Bikes

Exercise bikes and spin bikes are two types of equipment that provide a cardio workout. The design of their frames are similar, but the flywheels in spin bikes are a lot heavier and exposed, allowing for smoother motion while you pedal. Bikes are good for low-impact training, and warming-up to a full workout. They are quiet, and require very little maintenance. There are three different forms of stationary exercise bikes:

Upright exercise bikes,
Recumbent exercise bikes,
Spin bikes (also upright).

Each type of exercise bike can provide a slightly different workout and comfort. For further details, refer to our Exercise Bikes Buying Guide.

Rowing Machines

For a full body workout, the best choice is a rowing machine. One of the nice things about a rowing machine is that you get to work all of your muscles at once, but you can work at your own pace. There is no limit to how slow you can go - you can take your time and pace while working on a rowing machine. They are quieter than a treadmill, and require no maintenance.

For more detailed advice on rowing machines, refer to our Rowing Machines Buying Guide.

Strength Training Equipment

View our large selection of strength equipment

Exercise Benches

A fundamental option for all strength training is an exercise bench. While some benches can simply be used as a basis for normal calisthenics, to properly use an exercise bench, it's important to have weights. The point of an exercise bench is to give you a way to work on weight training while also giving you a supportive base with which to work with. Many benches come with lifting apparatuses for your legs and arms. The use of these is fairly simple; just add weight.

Home Gyms and Multi-gyms

One complete option for in-home weight training is the home gym or multi-gym. There are a variety of cabled home gyms available, but they are all similar in one fundamental way - they are compact and provide a lot of functions. The convenience of having a home gym is obvious, because they are small enough to fit in smaller rooms, like a garage or rumpus room, for instance. Most home gyms come with pulleys and weights, and the ability to set the home gym's resistance. Most come with the capability to perform several simple exercises, and are good for a complete training regimen.

Racks, Cages and Smith Machines

Power racks, squat cages, and smith machines are all fundamentally similar. They are built to both hold your free weights, and provide a safe frame to help you lift the barbell. Racks are mostly for holding free-weights, while cages give the weight-lifter an opportunity to do more active weightlifting, like squats and leg workouts.

A Power tower doesn't hold weight plates - it uses your own body weight as resistance. It's easy to do chin-ups, sit-ups, and other toning exercises using these versatile, compact machines.

Free Weight plates and dumbbells

Weights themselves come in many shapes and sizes. Dumbbells are weights designed to be lifted in one hand, while kettle bells are similar, but look like heavy, iron kettles with an iron ring attached. Longer weight bars are designed for lifting with two hands, and the weight plates that are designed for these are also can be used in many other types of exercises.

Boxing Equipment

Many home gyms feature fast bags or heavy boxing bags. In general, Boxing equipment can be a good way to relieve stress as well as build and tone upper body and arm strength. Boxing gloves and boxing supplies can be purchased online from us at unbeatable prices.

Pilates Equipment

Other possible home equipment systems include equipment for the Pilates method of exercise, which provide a total body workout by combining your own body weight and momentum with free weights. Equipment for Pilates is used for stretching, controlled movements and toning the muscles your body.

Expert Advice from a Specialist Fitness store

At Fitness Market, you can receive all the fitness advice you need. We are a specialist fitness store that has superior quality equipment designed for home, corporate and commercial use. Our staff are highly-qualified and know the equipment specifications, benefits and whether it's suitable for you. Ultimately, it is your decision to choose which gym equipment is right for you.

If you need further information, then visit us in our Brisbane stores or please give us a phone call on 1300 557 773