2 Good ways to do cardio at home....

Today's post: Tuesday, 8-5-2008

Treadmills & stationary bikes can work well for getting in some exercise. And, you can watch TV while on them.

However, the good ones are quite expensive and take up a good bit of room. And, I’ve found them to be less conducive to the kind of self-paced interval cardio I now believe is best than the two alternatives I recommend in this post.

Many gyms have treadmills & stationary bikes & have them set up in front of TV’s. So if you belong to a gym and want to get some conditioning and calorie burning & you already go to the gym for strength training, that can work out well. And many people do this.

However, there are two home exercisers I’ve found that work better with interval cardio that cost far less that you can get at home.

1. The Urban Rebounder, www.urbanrebounding.com ,

This mini-trampoline which is much less expensive, well under $200, than good quality treadmills & stationary exercise bikes and most other cardio exercisers; gets excellent results due to the jumping motion, and gets good ratings from users.

2. Another is the Nordic Track cross country skiing simulation exerciser.

http://www.nordictrack.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product2_12401_10301_22051_-1_19554 (Or go to www.nordictrack.com & go to Ski Machine under products on the left hand side of the page.)

Or, you can often buy used Nordic Track ski exercisers which are still in good shape for a good bit less. I got my current one for $150.

I've found I need ChoPat knee straps to protect my knees and have had to cut way back on how much I use it each week now that I'm over 60 to protect my hip joints; but it produces better cardiovascular fitness faster than most other exercisers.

With many of cardio exercisers such as elliptical trainers or stair steppers or stationary bikes, your thigh muscles give out before you get to the upper level of your heart's workout tolerance. This is NOT a problem with the Nordic Track.

But you can do strength training for those same muscles if you want to target them. And, just doing regular sessions on the Nordic track will give you a good bit more thigh exercise than you realize while you are on them. But unlike the other exercisers, it doesn’t get in the way of a superb cardio work out.