With the alarming rise of obesity all around the world, more and more people are deciding to embrace and live a more healthy lifestyle. This doesn’t just mean eating better, it also means focusing on the body with exercise.
This means more and more people are joining gyms in order to get healthier, whether it’s losing a few pounds or getting in better shape to make daily tasks easier. Or even to live a more active lifestyle by being able to play sports or go on hikes, or whatever the case may be.
“When it comes to the gym, there are some pieces of gym equipment that are more popular than others” – according to Physique Sports
Some of the most popular gym equipment includes the following:
1. Treadmill
In many gyms the treadmill is the most popular piece of gym equipment there is. Running has always been a popular exercise for those that want to be more active. The treadmill allows people to run without having to find a good running loop outside.
Running on a treadmill instead of outside can also reduce injuries. With today’s treadmills you can also get a lot more variety in the type of running you can do than if you are outside.
Good treadmills allow you to select different types of runs such as with and without hills. With the technology available, for those that love to compete with themselves, the treadmills will keep track of all kinds of data for you such as distance run, speed, fastest speed, average mile time and more.
By having this data, you can use it as motivation to improve your performance over time.
2. Stationary Bikes
The popularity of stationary bikes is similar to that of the treadmills. You can bike in safety, no matter the weather. You don’t have to worry about traffic, or things like flat tires.
Just like with treadmills, most of the better stationary bikes being made today allow you to bike all kinds of different bike routes.
Some of the stationary bikes will even make the pedaling harder when the program says you are going up a hill. There are even stationary bikes that allow you to “ride” popular professional bike routs, such as stages of the Tour De France.
3. Elliptical Machines
Ellipticals have become very popular over the years for cardio enthusiasts. It eliminates the pounding that can happen on a treadmill (although that’s much better than outside running).
The elliptical machine has almost no impact on the joints and is very similar to a combinations of running and cross country skiing. Unlike treadmills and stationary bikes, an elliptical machine uses both the upper body and the lower body, giving you a full body cardio workout.
4. Weight Machines
Weight machines take up a big portion of the space in most gyms. With weight machines you can work different muscles with resistance in relative safety. You don’t have to worry about dropping the weights or possibly getting stuck under them, like with a free weight bench press or squat.
With a machine bench press or leg press, you can’t get stuck under the weight and you also don’t have to worry about balancing the weight either. This makes it a lot easier to focus on the exercise itself, instead of thinking about safety issues as well.
5. Free Weights
Yes, even those weight machines are popular, free weights, such as barbells and dumbbells, are still very popular as well. You are able to do some exercises with free weights that can’t really be done with weight machines. Also, free weight exercises can be more effective than their machine counterparts.
While the machine bench press could be considered safer, the free weight bench press brings other muscles into play because of having to balance the bar. This in turn can improve strength levels more effectively.
In fact, when it comes to free weights, the bench press is probably the most popular piece of free weight equipment.
By combining workouts that the above mentioned pieces of gym equipment, you can get very effective exercise sessions as well as lots of variety so you don’t get bored and quit.