“Have I lost weight?” “How many calories do I need to take in order to lose 20 pounds in three months?” “Wow! I lost 10 kg!” We often hear such statements from our family members, friends and colleagues as these days awareness about being fit and healthy is increasing and people are becoming more fitness conscious — though not every one can easily achieve it!
Achieving a healthy and fit body is not a short term task — it needs long term dedication and extensive hard work. Almost everyone who is overweight seems to be upset about his/her physical state but not everyone is ‘genuinely’ willing to do something about it. Those who are really willing to get in shape not only reduce a reasonable amount of calories from their everyday diet but also put extra effort in workouts.
Besides aerobics and yoga, these days a daily workout has become a lot more fun with the advent of many types of exercise machines available in the market that not only make your workout routine fun and interesting but also keep you informed about how many calories you have burnt during that spell of exercise, your pulse rate at the time of exercise and other related details.
You can find all such exercising equipment in any gymnasium. However, getting a gym’s membership and going there every day or even on most days of the week is not easy for everyone. But still one shouldn’t lose hope as you can buy a couple of exercise machines and use them at home to shed those extra pounds!
The treadmill is considered to be the king of all exercise machines. It has the same benefits as walking and jogging — and we all know about the benefits of walking/jogging. A basic treadmill is available at all leading exercise equipment stores and costs around Rs35,000 with a year’s warranty of parts. During exercise, the LED (light-emitting diode) display on it will let you know all the relevant details including the calories you have burnt during workout, your pulse rate, your walking/running speed, etc.
Another useful and affordable fitness equipment is the exercise bike that costs around Rs20,000 and consumes less space as compared to a treadmill — thus more suitable for those who have space constraints. It also has an LED display that shows your input and output during workout.
Elliptical trainer is another choice that gives you the advantage of both upper and lower body workouts at the same time through walking or running — depending upon the load you put in — while decreasing the risk of joint-related injuries. It costs around Rs25,000.
Next comes the stepper, which is an ideal piece of equipment for those who want to tone their lower body. Workout on the stepper is equivalent to climbing the stairs; and we all know that climbing stairs helps burn more calories in less time as compared to just walking on a plain surface. A stepper helps you achieve that, i.e. it helps you burn more calories in less time and especially works to tone up your hips, buttocks, thighs and calves.
The above-mentioned equipment is used for cardio exercises. For resistance training, home gym is a good choice that gives you multiple options to exercise through just one machine. An average home gym costs around Rs18,000 and provides you with around 15 types of muscles training exercises.
Besides this heavy duty electronic and mechanical equipment, there are some lighter and much cheaper options as well — the ones that will help you in resistance training such as abs toning equipment, dumbbells, ankle weights, stand-up twisters and ergonomic sit-up benches. All these are much cheaper and easier choices.
But one should keep in mind that only purchasing a machine and keeping it at home will not help in reducing weight and getting in shape. To get fit one should make a disciplined routine and follow it strictly. This routine should not only consist of a workout plan of about 60 minutes most days a week but also a reasonable diet plan which must not contain deep fried stuff and junk food.
Remember, weight loss is 80 per cent diet and 20 per cent exercise!