Cardio may be something that you know you should do, but also a thing that you mostly avoid like a pest. But cardio shouldn’t be something that you dread each day and something that bores you to death. Cardio exercise can be fun, it can make you look and feel better and it can also improve your fitness levels. The trick is to find a cardio machine that you really like doing (there is such a thing). In order to help you to find your favorite cardio machine, I will share with you my 4 favorite cardio machines and I will also tell you what their benefits are and which body parts they tone.

So without further ado, here are my 4 favorite cardio machines:

1. The Elliptical

The eliptical machine is my top favorite machine. This is because I have to spend less time on it and because it exercises my whole body. It is also low-impact, so it won’t put too much strain on your joints. The elliptical also combines the effects of walking, running and skiing. If you prefer exercising at home, an elliptical machine will be a great investment – no more sweaty gym machines for you.

2. The Exercise Bike

The exercise bike is one of the best cardio machines because you can sit on your butt while exercising. It strengthens your whole lower body and tightens and tones your legs and buttocks. You can even watch TV or listen to your favorite music while using it. If you want an exercise bike to use at home, the mini exercise bike is a great investment. With the mini bike you can also exercise your upper body.

3. The Stepping Machine

The stepping machine will ensure that you get a rear-view to be proud of. It is also excellent for strengthening your whole lower body and you get a cardio workout from it. The stepper can also be used while watching your favorite TV show or listening to music. If you need a portable exercise machine, there are mini steppers available that will give you the same workout on the go.

4. The Pilates Machine

Although Pilates is more a toning exercise than a cardio exercise, it does offer light cardio. But Pilates still remains one of the best exercises there is – it tones and tightens the whole body and it also builds a strong core (the muscles of your lower back, abs and hip flexors). Have a look at the pilates reformer machine to see what it is all about.

If you search diligently you will find your favorite cardio machine – it is just a matter of time and some research. But when you do find a machine that you like exercising on, make sure that you use it often, playing your favorite music or watching a TV show might help. And just remember…warm up before your workout and to stretch afterwards.

Today, I will be talking about a couple of additional elliptical exercise equipment machines. We will start with a discussion about the LC-990 elliptical machine and then we will follow that discussion with a short talk about the NordicTrack ASR 1000 elliptical exerciser.

The LC-990 elliptical machine is a heavy duty machine that is well constructed, and ideally created to help you target your ideal cardio zone. While the LC-990 is in fact, very sturdy and well-made, it is also put together in such a manner that is very compact and will fit easily into your home workout area. Additionally, its small compact frame may lead users to believe that it has a minimal ability to support heavier users, but this is not the case. Given the durable construction of the machine this eliptical exercise equipment is rated to handle users up to 350 pounds. Furthermore, this piece of equipment comes with a lifetime light commercial warranty on the frame and pivot joints and a five year light commercial warranty on all of the other pieces.

The LC 990 comes equipped with an onboard computer that is smart enough to identify your optimal cardio zone and continually monitor your heart rate in real-time. It then takes this data and compares it back against what your heart rate should be based on your cardio zone. If at any point during your workout your heart rate exceeds your optimal zone. This piece of elliptical exercise equipment is smart enough to scale back the resistance during your workout to bring you back to a safe range with regard to your optimal cardio zone.

As with any decent exercise equipment the LC 990 comes with a full complement of features that are designed to enhance your workout time and help you maximize the benefit from your time spent on the elliptical equipment. Below is a listing of the features this piece of home gym fitness equipment has.

Features
• heavy steel frame (light-commercial weight)
• non-slip, fully adjustable, oversized pedals
• dual action arms
• hand pulse monitor
• optional wireless chest strap heart monitor
• 12 resistance levels
• reverse motion is possible
• LCD console
• heavy, rear-positioned flywheel
• reading rack
Console Features
• large LCD display (better than LED)
• 9 user personal data storage
• speed
• RPM
• distance
• time elapsed
• calories burned
• watts
• pulse
Console Programs
• 12 program profiles
• 4 HRC (heart rate control) programs
• watts dependent program
• recovery programs
• users preset program

The next piece of equipment I wanted to talk about today is the NordicTrack ASR 1000 elliptical exercise equipment. When performing a cursory review of this equipment on the NordicTrack website it appears to fare well with consumers. Out of a possible five star rating consumers gave the ASR 100 a 4.1. This piece of home fitness equipment starts out at about $699. As far as home exercise equipment does this costs seems to be about middle-of-the-road. If you are a fitness fanatic, you can go for equipment that is more expensive, but I would recommend starting on a lower and piece of equipment such as this until you’re sure that this elliptical exercise equipment is right for you.

Again, the site details a large list of features and benefits that their equipment has. The list below seeks to just summarize the high-level features that the ASR 1000 provides. If you think you would like to find out more about this piece of elliptical exercise equipment before purchasing it and would highly recommend visiting the NordicTrack website to read the full review and see what other buyers are saying about it.

The features for this piece of equipment include: CLEARVIEW™ BACKLIT CONSOLE, CLUB DESIGN HEART, RATE MONITOR, NORDICTRACK PREMIERE WARRANTY, IFIT® WORKOUT CARD TECHNOLOGY, INTERPLAY™ UNIVERSAL IPOD® DOCK, DIGITAL RESISTANCE, 4 GAME & TRAIN™ INTERACTIVE VIDEO GAMES & TOUCH SCREEN TECHNOLOGY, SMR™ SILENT MAGNETIC RESISTANCE, 18″ STRIDE LENGTH, UPPER-BODY WORKOUT ARMS WITH SOFT TOUCH GRIPS, 275-LB. USER CAPACITY, COMMERCIAL GRADE CONSTRUCTION, 30° STRIDEMAX™ POWER INCLINE™ RAMP

Now get out there and exercise!

TV Exercise

For those of you who are looking for a different type of exercise experience there are many options to choose from. If you were to go out on the Internet and perform a cursory search of types of exercise equipment the list would be overwhelming I’m sure. Even if you have spent any time looking through the pages of this site you’ll certainly know there are many different exercise equipment types available in the exercise equipment as seen on TV genre. Even for those of you that are partial to eliptical exercise equipment and have performed any research you will know that there are many different types of elliptical exercise equipment as well. Just from my initial research on the web I immediately came up with almost 10 different results on the front page of Google. Immediately noticeable are brands such as the Health Rider 8.5 EX cross trainer, the IronMan Ascender, and the Proform Perspective 1000.

With each of these many different types of eliptical exercise equipment machines there are varied prices, sometimes even having a large price range for the same model. As you begin to do your research on which elliptical exercise machine you would like you will need to make a determination about the basic functionality you need for it to have. Depending on which functions you select, a basic elliptical exercise machine can start in the range of a couple of hundred dollars. However, if you decide that you need an elliptical machine that has more accessories (such as a TV) you could spend up spending easily one to several thousand dollars.

So, given the potential expensive nature of the various types of different elliptical exercisers one should carefully consider specifically what their need is. If you happen to be a sometime exerciser or if you’re exercise interests change frequently I would recommend going with a lower end model first to ensure that using an elliptical exerciser is something that you enjoy. In so doing you will be able to evaluate the equipment, see if it meets your personal fitness needs, and only have invested a little bit of money if it does not. If you have used elliptical exercise equipment before and know that it is something that you enjoy using maybe you should just buy a high end and skip the investment in the low-end. Using an elliptical exercise machine is similar to using various types of exercise equipment rowing machines in that most people know quickly whether they enjoy using it or not. Given this conservative approach to selecting the exercise equipment you will choose to use in any event if you decide that you do not like it you will have extra money to go out and buy another ab exercise equipment machine to add to your collection.

Now get out there and exercise.

TV Exercise Equipment