Cardio equipment for a home with limited space.

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  • davomcdave
    davomcdave Posts: 607 Forumite
    I've found cheap cardio gear like this to be terrible although I can't speak for these actual pieces you've discovered.

    Can you go for a walk or run instead of a morning or evening? It's cheaper and probably better for your mental and physical health.
  • elsmandino
    elsmandino Posts: 279 Forumite
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    Unfortunately not - we have a two year old.

    It pretty much has to be housebound exercising.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,092 Community Admin
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    One of the trainers i used at the gym said the best cardio equipment you could buy was a rowing machine. I'd go for a rower but buy the best you can afford cause the cheap ones are naff.
  • MallyGirl
    MallyGirl Posts: 6,610 Senior Ambassador
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    elsmandino wrote: »
    Unfortunately not - we have a two year old.

    It pretty much has to be housebound exercising.

    time for an all terrain buggy then - there are several that take part in our local park run
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  • culpepper
    culpepper Posts: 4,076 Forumite
    A skipping rope is fantastic cardio.
    You do really need to be in a downstairs room to use one but it doesn't really need that much room and is easily stored between uses.
    I've been using mine for years.
  • asajj
    asajj Posts: 5,123 Forumite
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    Another one for skipping rope. Just make sure you watch some videos (Sara Solomon is a great one) to ensure your technique is correct.
    ally.
  • Gloomendoom
    Gloomendoom Posts: 16,550 Forumite
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    Judi wrote: »
    One of the trainers i used at the gym said the best cardio equipment you could buy was a rowing machine. I'd go for a rower but buy the best you can afford cause the cheap ones are naff.

    I'd recommend a rowing machine too.

    My wife has a skipping rope but it's an outdoors or in a barn only activity.
  • andygb
    andygb Posts: 14,631 Forumite
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    I reckon that a good cross trainer provides the best all round cardio workout. A rowing machine is pretty good as well, but it doesn't exercise as many different muscle groups as the cross trainer, and the danger with a rowing machine is developing a bad technique and injuring the back. I watch lots of people in the gym, and very few seem to have been taught the correct way to row - keep the back straight and head up, drive back with the legs, and then pull the handle back in a straight line to the middle of the chest (not the chin or throat as I have witnessed), then release the hands before going forward to the bent legs position. Always remember to never lock out the knees on the way back.

    LEGS - ARMS - ARMS - LEGS
  • Gloomendoom
    Gloomendoom Posts: 16,550 Forumite
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    Cross trainers take up a fair bit of space in the average home.

    We had one, a big Vision(?) thing, but got rid of it due to lack of use. My wife sold it to a colleague who lives in a flat. It now takes up half her living room.
  • culpepper
    culpepper Posts: 4,076 Forumite
    edited 29 January 2017 at 11:36AM
    A skipping rope doesn't need that much space.
    I do it in our living room and it can also be done in the bit between the front door and the stairs in our house, the upstairs landing,dining room if I move a couple of chairs aside or just outdoors when not windy.
    If you lay the rope out with the handles either side of your feet you can see if it would hit anything.
    Obviously check above your head too.

    remember if buying a folding machine of any kind, you need the space it folds out into clear the whole time else you just wont be able to use it and it will become an expensive clothes horse.
    You can however have it fold out in front of drawers and cupboards without too much problem as it will fold back out of the way afterwards.
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