best home gym equipment?

chocdonuty

I joined the gym last year and also was more carefull with my diet, in 9 months ive lost 3 stone :j
Thing is I can only go to the gym 1-3 times a week as I have no sitter and thats the most my work shifts will allow me to go in school hours, it costs £25 a month which isnt bad plus I get use of the pool and a variety of equipment I couldnt have at home.
So was wondering whether there was any point to either a cross trainer or exercise bike to use whilst on my days off?
If you have them do they get used much and are they worth it?

cleggy.

Have you thought about a real bike instead? You'll get fitter on one as you use more muscles (in balance and staying stable on it) plus you actually get to go somewhere and see sights other than your living room wall.

Bottleofrum

Punch bag works great for me .

Meadows

If those are your only choices then go for the cross trainer, the bike is okay but you will be fitter and burn more calories using the cross trainer.

notanewuser

We have a treadmill, cross trainer, rowing machine and free weights in our gym.

I just need to get into the habit of using them!!! :rotfl:

chocdonuty

I have recently got a 2nd hand bike, just waiting for tne weather to warm up a little lol, tbh theres not many places I can go safely, im not a fan of dodging the traffic and there are no cycle paths locally either but I will use it to pop to the shops ect, still have the same problem that I need to use it in school time as dd is more a fan of messing about on her bike than travelling far.

Oh ps, I need something that is fairly quiet as I live on the top floor of some flats, dont want to only use it when my neighbour is out lol!

Bottleofrum

chocdonuty wrote: »

I have recently got a 2nd hand bike, just waiting for tne weather to warm up a little lol, tbh theres not many places I can go safely, im not a fan of dodging the traffic and there are no cycle paths locally either but I will use it to pop to the shops ect, still have the same problem that I need to use it in school time as dd is more a fan of messing about on her bike than travelling far.

Oh ps, I need something that is fairly quiet as I live on the top floor of some flats, dont want to only use it when my neighbour is out lol!

Also skipping is great for your fitness.

chocdonuty

Yeah I sometimes borrow dd's not done it in a while though, again I have to be careful of downstairs bouncing about on my floor lol! Although hopefully losing the weight I may be a little lighter on my feet

Bottleofrum

chocdonuty wrote: »

Yeah I sometimes borrow dd's not done it in a while though, again I have to be careful of downstairs bouncing about on my floor lol! Although hopefully losing the weight I may be a little lighter on my feet

Yeah skipping is surprisingly quiet once you master it, as you only leave the floor by a few inches at most. Its the rope tapping the floor that might be loud. :eek:

Fire_Fox

For cardio take your children to the park: they need daily exercise as much as an adult. Or get a pushbike and use it for transport, save money compared to a car. You don't need to travel a long way, interval training (hard easy hard easy) is far more effective for fitness and weight loss than long slow distance. If you work at the right intensity you cannot do lengthy workouts.

Swiss ball, BOSU, Flexi-bar, foam roller plus instruction DVDs - latter two are easy to store, ball can double as a seat. Or dance games on the Wii if you have one, even a more 'old school' dance mat. A cross trainer is not a quiet bit of kit and you need to spend a lot of money to get a decent one.

Gloomendoom

Fire_Fox wrote: »

A cross trainer is not a quiet bit of kit and you need to spend a lot of money to get a decent one.

We have one that is reasonably quiet on a concrete floor. I would agree about about needing to spend a lot of money on a good one. However, there are bargains to be had on eBay as, like a lot of home gym equipment, people get bored with them quickly.

I find ours pretty useless as I am tall with long legs and the stride length is insufficient for me. It's just about right for my wife though.