Best Fitness Equipment

Fitness industry is ever evolving and innovative products keep coming to catch everyone's attention. Depending on the body type and fitness goal a particular equipment is useful to an individual. So there cannot be any single product that can suit everyone and termed as the 'best.'

Instead what we can do is list out the most popular and effective equipment for home use.

The equipment can be broadly categorized in cardiovascular (cardio) equipment   and Strength Equipment. 

Cardio exercises are those that increase the heart rate, so every exercise involving running, swimming, cycling, skipping are cardio exercises.  Thus the equipment that enable running, cycling, stair climbing etc. are cardio equipment, most popular being Treadmill and stationary bikes.

Strength exercises as name implies are exercises that needs strength to perform, such as lifting, pulling, pushing etc. So the equipment that helps in this regard are strength equipment such as dumbbells, barbells, home gym etc.

It is also imperative to bear in mind that commercial equipment are  for heavy use by 100's of people and  domestic equipment are used for home use. The basic difference is the make of the equipment itself. just like commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles.

For example a commercial treadmill other than its size will have AC Motor  and domestic treadmill will have DC Motor. Here we are dealing only with domestic products.

Some of the best equipment and brands available around and their price range can be seen below:

Cardio Equipment:

Well Known Taiwanese/Chinese make brands are Probodyline, Fitking, Fitness world, Viva, Aerofit, Afton and US/European brands are Bowflex, Precor, Nautilus, Norditrac, BH fitness, Addidas, Startrac

1) Treadmill: It is by far the most popular and largest selling fitness equipment. The DC motor ranges from 30K to 60K for Chinese/Taiwanese make machines and 75K - 300K for US/European make machines.

2) Elliptical Cross Trainer: These are machines which incorporates hand movement as well as leg movement thus forming an elliptical motion. As it involves whole body movement the cardio exercise is twice as fast as running on a treadmill. Moreover this machine has far lesser impact on joints and lower back than a treadmill.


3) Upright Bikes: These are stationery bikes which has magnetic resistance system instead of redundant chain system. The position of seating defines its name. It is the most popular cycling equipment.

4) Recumbent Bike: These are bikes which has a back rest. Basically its cycling sitting on a chair. It gives all the benefits of cycling without straining the back and neck.

5) Spin Bike: These are for high speed cycling. It is basically for group exercises but lot of young people prefer high speed cycling.

6) Vibro Gym: These are machines which has vibration plates on them. The effectiveness of these are debatable but it is certainly useful in instigating blood circulation in body and is particularly useful for people who have difficulty in walking. 

Strength Equipment:

In a commercial gym set up these are of utmost important equipment to have, comprising of a wide range of machines. For each muscle workout there is a different set of machines, thus ideally there would be at least 20 different machines in  a gym catering to each and every major muscle group of the body. 

But in a domestic setup due to space constraint all muscle exercises are clubbed in  a single Multi Gym

The most popular brands in this category is Body Solid. The Body Solid Benches are most preferred in the Industry in home as well as commercial gyms

Strength equipment also also comprises of free weight as in Dumbbells and Barbells

The weights will cost anywhere between Rs.90 per KG to Rs.200 Per Kg depending upon the quality and barbells  will cost between Rs.150 to Rs.300 per ft.