It is reasonable to assume that the years 2021-22 have deformed the shape of the body frame in the majority of citizens. Through this treadmill buying guide, I pledge to escort you to everything you need to know about treadmills so that you choose a relevant one and hence improve your physique at home.
Lockdowns and subsequently, work from home led to reduced levels of physical activity in the mass population. More and more people have become addicted to bed or sofa corners in their houses. The majority of families have tested their hands on new recipes leading to unusual eating habits. The following treadmill buying guide will help you to choose a perfect treadmill for your home to give you and your family the comfort of running at your convenience and safety.
This is just one of the activities that you can do in your isolation period. There are five other things too that you can do during your isolation period. Read More…..
Treadmills are not simple machines and are relatively costly. Subsequently, a wrong choice will not serve the purpose and burn your money. There are many specifications to look for while making a purchase.
Specifications Or Factors To Consider While Making A Purchase
- Maximum weight of the family member who intent to use.
- Configuration of belt surface.
- Motor specification
- Safety Features
- Space Consideration
- Control Features
- Smart Connectivity
- Atypical treadmills
- After sales support and personal training guidance.
Weight Consideration
Why this is important?
Weight is the foremost consideration in the Treadmill Buying Guide. If the motorized treadmill is bought without the weight consideration of your family members, it may have the following impact:
- If one or more of your family members exceed the recommended weight, it will give recurring problems in your machine. Basically, the weight will exert more pressure on the motor or circuit assembly and as a result it will concequently burn out. Most of the manufacturers do not cover this under warranty.
- The price of treadmill is directly propotional to weight capacity. If the maximum weight in your family is far less than the recommeded one, you will end up burning your pocket on more purchase price and subsequently power consumption
What is recommended?
When you walk on the treadmill, you exert some force on the deck through the belt on which you are stepping. Consequently, the frictional force between the belt and the deck comes into play. The motor of the treadmill is designed in such a way that it is able to overcome this friction and keep the belt moving. Furthermore, if you start running on the belt you will exert more force and hence more pressure on the motor. Scientifically, it goes like this
Force = Mass X Acceleration
Hence, the mass of the body remaining the same, if you accelerate your speed of motion, you will exert more force. So while making a purchase, you should check the maximum weight specified by the manufacturer and minus 20 Kgs (approximately 50 pounds) to come to the actual calculation of applicable weight. Accordingly, this applicable weight should be the maximum weight of your family member who will be using this.
For Example Fittyfy motorized treadmill model: FFTM 250 supports a maximum weight of 115 Kgs. Hence, this would be ideal for the family with a Maximum weight of 95 Kgs.
Belt Surface Configuration
Why this is important?
This is the next major factor to look for while purchasing a treadmill. The factors that affect the size of the belt are:
- Height of a person : The taller a person, more should be the length and width of the belt.
- Purpose of use: You need a longer belt surface in case you require treadmill for running.
Choosing the right specifications of the belt is important for:
- Running at an ease – You need ample space for running.
- Safety of the user – You need to be more careful if the belt size is lesser than required.
- Stability of treadmill – Running fast on shorter belt will imbalance the structure, as a result the machine will start vibrating.
What is recommended?
The recommended size of the belt is explained by a simple diagram below.
Though you may run on the up to 1200 mm size of the belt, you will not get ample space for it. It then poses a danger of toppling down. A person taller than 6 feet and running fast on a belt length of 1100 mm will find this difficult and uncomfortable. You will find most of the treadmills for homes in India in the range of 1100 mm to 1500 mm in length.
You may find different configurations in different Treadmill Buying Guide, but the range, if you notice, is more or less the same.
Durafit Royal gives you a belt surface of 1470 mm in length.
Motor Specification
Why this is important?
The motor of the treadmill is the heart and carries most of the load of the machine. These are designed robustly to cater to the high friction between deck and belt and keep the machine running smoothly for years. Use of the treadmill over and above the rated capacity of the motor would lead to overheating and frequent burnout of either circuit or motor itself. Consequently, you will have a bad impact:
- You will ultimately end up using the machine less than your capbility or after certain period of time may not increase your strength.
- More downtime of the machine means no excercise or larger breaks.
- Manufacturers void thier warranty on motor in case it is overused. Hence you will have to pay it from your pocket everytime machine is repaired.
- The life of machine will reduce due to high wear and tear on stressed parts.
- Continuous workout would be restricted, subsequently you will need to break in the small workout regimes.
What is recommended?
Treadmills use DC motors. The power of these motors is measured in HP (Horse Power) Treadmill motors are rated on three modes:
- Continuous Duty: This is the amount of power that is maintained throughout normal workout continously.
- Peak Duty: This is the maximum power that a motor can go upto during peak workout. Manufacturers usually keep this as 1.5 to 2 times of continous duty.
Recommended horsepower for various activities are:
- 2.0 HP : Ideal for walking
- 2.5 HP : Ideal for jogging
- 3.0 HP : Ideal for running.
Fittyfy FFTM 150 comes with a 3.0 HP motor
Safety Features
Why this is important?
Treadmills are electro-mechanical machines. There is a probability of accidents during workouts. Hence your machine should be able to stop itself immediately as soon as there is some trouble with the user to avoid serious injuries.
What is recommended?
This treadmill buying guide recommends watching out for the following safety features while purchasing the treadmill.
- Heart Beat Rate Sensor : Most people ignore this, but is a very important point. While doing a workout you exert a pressure on the blood vessels of your body as well. Heart beat increases but it should not exceed a certain level. If you are over exerting yourself and not monitoring your heart rate in between, you may end up with pain in your chest. This may be severe at times. This is seen more common in newbies. Though at times these sensors may not be calibrated to the exact values but atleast you get a fair idea from them.
- Safety Key : This is a small string type key that is connected to treadmill panel on one side and to the user on the other side. It may be insert type, pin type or magnetic type. In case the user topples down, the end connected to treadmill will be ejected and will force treadmill to stop immideately preventing the further injury to user.
- Emergency Stop Button : This is a prominent botton on the control panel or on the side rail. In case user feels uncomfortable or need a emergency stop, he can just press and stop the machine.
- Shock Absorption Board: It is a good if your treadmill has a double layer running board since that absobs any shock on the knees during running. Treadmill with hard board may cause a severe injury on your knees in a longer run.
- Anti- Slip belt: Belts with corrugated surface provides a better grip with the shoes and reduces the chances of slipping.
Besides the inbuilt features, I always recommend running a machine with an uninterpreted power supply system. There is a probability of an accident in case you are running fast and all of the sudden the electricity driving the motor of the belt goes off. In this case, since the user is in motion and the belt stops immediately, you may skid and fall down. This is an additional unit to be connected externally to your treadmill.
Powermax Urban trek series have all the 5 safety features mentioned above.
Space Consideration
Why this is important?
Where to keep the treadmill in your house is the next important consideration? This is important because:
- Unlike other appliances in the home, treadmills are bulky. They take considerable space in room. Besides its own area, you need to leave some space around it.
- The treadmill motors are bit noisy. So you can not place it in the silent zones of your house.
What is recommended?
You are the best judge for the space at your home. However, keep in mind the important clearances around the machine. You should keep 10″ from the rear end and 5″ on each of the sides. The front should also not lean against anything since there are ventilation vents that help to keep the motor cool.
Most treadmills at home have a foldable deck and wheels for easy movement around. So you can fold it and store it in a safe place when not in use. Also, you need a proper power- point near to treadmill
Lifelong Fitpro models are lightweight, fold at 90 degrees, and have wheels for easy movement.
Control Features
Why this is important?
This is important to get the best value for money. Your treadmill should have all the trending features in the market in the same range and awareness of these features are important.
This treadmill buying guide helps you with features and their utility
- Inclination : In market, treadmills come with the manual or auto inclination. In manual inclination, you need to pause the workout, get down and adjust the inclination manually. Whereas, in auto it can be done with a press of button on the control panel.
- Preset Modes : Many treadmills offer preset programmable workout modes. These modes, as per the programme, decides the duration, speed and inclination intervals automatically. These are provided basically for weight loss and endurance training. You just need to input your weight and hieght and it will give you the program as per your need.
- Calorie Meter: For effective use of treadmill, the first step is to set a target for youself. Next step is to work in the direction of target. In this effort, you will certainly require a calorie meter to find out the calories burnt.
- Special Housing arrangement: Just look for bottle and mobile holder arrangements on the control board.
Proline Fitness treadmills have a classy control panel with spacious slots.
Smart Connectivity
Why this is important?
This feature makes the workout interesting, entertaining, and informative. How about listening to music while workout through BlueTooth enabled mobile and treadmill or having an instructor live for you and instructing on a TV set just in front of you through WiFi connectivity.
What manufacturers are offering?
Technology just keeps getting smarter and so the treadmills.
- Now you can connect the treadmill with the smart devices through technology like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
- You can also connect the treadmills with the Apps that monitor your workout and tons of other benifits.
- These can also work on your voice command through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
- Intresting part is that you can also play games during workout. Virtual games like marathon or race can be fun along with running on treadmill
Maxpro treadmills connect with their App- “Fit Show” and can be connected to other devices
Treadmill Buying Guide For Atypical Treadmills
These are unconventional treadmills with changes in design and technology. These are helpful if the budget or design (like space) are not matching your requirements.
Treadmill Buying Guide For Manual Treadmill
The manual treadmill does not have a motor. Instead, they have a flywheel assembly that keeps you going with a little effort. Here are the Pros and Cons
Pros
- These machines are compact.
- It does not consume any electricity.
- It has a very less noise since there is no motor sound
- These are relatively cheap
- To give more value to customers, the manufacturers are building them as multifunctional machines with treadmill, pushup bars, stepper and twister all build in one.
CONs
- These machines are not suitable for running due to compactness in size.
- These have manual inclination.
- These do not have smart tech. features.
- Installation of these machines are bit typical.
Inalsa FittyfyManual treadmill is one such example
Treadmill Buying Guide For Walking Pad Treadmill
These are motorized treadmill boards. Here are a few pros and cons of the same
PROS
- These are light and compact and can be easily carried from one place to other like a suitcase
- These have all the features of conventional motorised treadmill.
- These have smart connectivity.
- These are very easy to install
CONS
Being small in size, it is not recommended for fast running.
Sparnod boards are an ideal example of these machines
After-Sales Care
Why this is important?
You invest a considerable amount in buying these treadmills, so proper maintenance is an essential part of its upkeep time. Moreover, these are electro-mechanical machines and require periodic servicing and care.
What manufacturers are offering?
- Fittyfy: It is an Inalsa company and has a powerful service network of more than 300 service centers. Besides, they provide you with online support through video call or webchat.
- Fitkit : Fitkit is providing a gamut of free offers for customers through its FITPLUS HEALTH App. Right from workout instructors to doctor consultation, it has many services to offer .
If you are really serious about losing weight, treadmills alone can not help you. You need to control your eating habits too. To get back those sexy looks again, you need to limit the amount of fat intake. But you still have craving for fried foods? No problems! Along with the treadmill, bring home Air Fryers that take care of your Healthy Diet plan too. Click Here to know more about Air Fryers and the best buys.
Still have doubts?
Conclusion
To conclude if you really want to bring hidden sexy back in you, start with a running routine. It not only improves your physical energy but also mental energy. Involve everyone at home with no extra cost and lead a healthy family life. It should go without saying at this point, but to say it again: Be sure you’re practicing safely.