Pump Up The Action

Sun Herald

Sunday October 15, 2006

DAVID WILSON

Make sure you're not a dumbbell when setting up a home gym, DAVID WILSON writes.

You KNOW the feeling - you pay $15 for a gym visit only to have your ego mashed. Guys, doesn't it make you squirm when you need to halve the load on every resistance machine as you trail in the wake of some ironman? Girls, don't you hate it when the other females in the room collectively weigh about the same as your left leg?

The solution to the embarrassment could be to set up a gym in the secrecy of your own home. But the question is, which, if any, machines should you invest in? And what frills are worth having?

TV treadmills

As a closet gym rat, I favour machines that have "cardiogrip" sensors and oodles of digital training options. In my book, any feature that helps distract from the inherent agony of exercise is good.Well, almost any feature. I'd steer clear of those upmarket contraptions equipped with flat-screen TVs. If you've ever tried to squint at a tiny LCD picture while running a marathon, trust me: it's no fun unless you enjoy a car sickness-style pre-vomit headache. A solid, conventional rowing machine may serve you much better.

Total workout

Personal trainer Howard Chang, who manages the Broadway-based gym, Tiaki, recommends the rowing machine, which will give you a total workout, exercising your legs, arms, back and shoulders and raising your heart rate faster than other machines.

Chang ranks rival apparatus - exercise bikes, stair climbers, ski machines and treadmills - as less effective but still good, underlining how handy a stationary bike can be on a rainy day when you can't run.

Try before you buy

Go for the machine you enjoy the most, but try it out first, Chang says. Physiotherapist Scott Wilson, who runs Leichhardt-based Bounce Personal Training (www.bouncept.com.au), also advocates caution: "If someone really, really wants a piece of equipment, I recommend they rent it first - see if you're really going to use it."

Renting a rower from a firm such as Concept2 (www.concept2.com.au) will set you back about $500 for three months. You may then be able to offset that money against the full purchase price - if you want to commit.

"I discourage people from purchasing gym equipment," Wilson says.

Raising the spectre of the exercise bike relegated to the role of a clothes horse, he describes the typical domestic gym machine as "a real waste of money, because in most cases it gets used for a very short time and then sits there gathering dust".

Beware buying cheap

Clearly, a home gym isn't quite the slick solution it seems. Worse, it's impossible or inadvisable to set one up on the cheap.

Beware paying much less than the benchmark prices given below, gleaned from ringing around Rebel Sport and Workout World. You will only flip that bargain $20 exercise bike over the first time you ride it - if you ever take it out of the box.

The damage

* Stationary bicycle: $500-$2500.

* Stair climber: $1300.

* Rowing machine: $1200.

* Ski machine (cross/elliptical trainer): $800-$1500.

* Treadmill: $1400-$6000.

© 2006 Sun Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home