Fitness Machine Reviewer

Archive for the ‘fitness’ Category

If you sell fitness machines,   would you think seniors are a good market ?     It seems they were not fifteen or twenty years ago,  but according to a very interesting article I came across yesterday,  this has changed in the last years.

According to this article,  these days the fitness offerings at senior communities:   “ seem more akin to resort offerings”.

In addition,  the article goes further:   “These days, potential residents are courted with senior-friendly exercise machines that have oversized handles and simplified dials, special aerobics classes, group dancing and martial arts.”.

There are many senior communities that have created some big fitness facilities.   The article says, for example:  “In Charlotte, Aldersgate Retirement Community just opened a new 1,200-square-foot fitness facility for its residents called The Body Shop. It includes 15 new fitness machines and space for weight training. The old fitness area was 500 square feet and had four machines.”

But not only selling this equipment for senior communities is a great business for these companies,  they do it for their personal pride.  “Helping seniors achieve more mobile lives is rewarding in its own right. It’s “a much different feeling in your stomach than helping someone bench-press 300 pounds”

To read the full article:   http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/22/544555/seniors-want-to-take-gym.html

Although I am a big fan of fitness machines and I use them in my training,  I agree that they are not compulsory to do exercise and get fit.  In addition, gym memberships can be considered in the same way,  you don’t need one as the only way to get fit.

I found a very interesting article about fitness without spending any money.   Many people find fitness equipment of gym memberships as the motivation they need in order to start doing exercise but according to the author of the article :

“I believe that thinking is putting the horse before the cart. Shouldn’t we first prove that we have the motivation and energy—and can make time in our schedules–before spending any money?”

It is undeniable that fitness equipment didn’t exist long time ago,  and people still did exercise.   The article says: “Exercise equipment (and the gyms they occupy) is higher level stuff; before moving onto them—and the money they cost—first prove that you’re committed to plain, old exercise.”

The article suggests five ways to start doing exercise without investing any money or spending very little money :  walking, jogging, biking, swimming, neighborhood fitness rooms or free fitness videos. For example:

“Walking. This is the most basic form of exercise and anyone can do it. You don’t need any training or special equipment, other than a decent pair of tennis shoes and you probably already have those. If you can’t at least walk regularly, any attempt at a more exotic form of exercise is probably doomed to fail.”

“Jogging. This is basically walking but with speed, with the one difference being that it may require somewhat better footwear since it’s more taxing on the feet. But you don’t need to start out jogging; you can build up to it by walking. Once you establish a walking routine, jogging is a logical extension. In fact short of competitive running, it’s an end game in itself and requires no complicated or expensive equipment, let alone a gym membership.”

Do you agree with them ?

For the full article you can see:  http://outofyourrut.com/blog/2010/06/06/fitness-for-free-or-close-to-it/