I’ll admit, I’ve gotten very behind in offering some of the most important home exercise equipment reviews that I wanted to when I first started this online fitness info magazine, but I’m trying to catch up and make good on some of those reviews now, so readers can get a better idea of what they’re looking for, especially if they choose to buy online.

Buying exercise equipment online can often be beneficial because many times you can get free shipping, and before you buy, you can often read reviews from other customers who have purchased the exact same piece of equipment, and see what their experience has been thus far with it so you know what you’re in store for, and what you want to spend your hard earned money on.

So, in keeping with my promise, very soon to come are recumbent bike reviews. What is a recumbent bike? Well, it’s the bikes where you kind of lean back in your seat a bit, and you can set the resistance to your liking. They’re actually fairly comfortable, and they’re not like the traditional “spinning” exercise bikes, because you can’t really stand up in them.

I like the fact that the recumbent bikes don’t seem to build up the quadricep muscles too much, which can be an area of concern for other women as well. So, read our new recumbent bike reviews when they are available if you’re in the market for one, and save yourself some time and a headache.

I think that I might buy myself a Christmas present this year with my annual bonus from work. I really want a suspended punching bag like professional boxers use, along with the little bag that suspends from the top of the contraption that goes back and forth as you punch it from the side. You can also do roundhouse kicks to the large bag, which is an excellent exercise for the legs and outer thighs, which you know I’m a big fan of.

It seems that most of the good boxing equipment and punching bags are made by Everlast, at least they are in the two places I’ve looked so far which is Dicks Sporting Goods and Sams Club. Sams Club has the huge contraption that has a body sized punching bag that stay put, and the little one at the top that you can do the quick punching with , as well as a set of boxing gloves.

Ok, I admit, I already bought the punching gloves, or boxing gloves. Funny thing is, I had to buy the kids sized ones since I have very small hands, and the larger ones were ridiculously large on my hands, and probably would have caused me injury instead of preventing injury since they are so big and bulky. There are woman’s ones, kids ones and men’s ones, but the women’s ones were still too large and bulky for me to use comfortably.

Boxing is not only good for anxiety relief and getting pent up anger out, but you can build yourself a mighty buff pair of arms pretty fast doing this, as well as train yoruself cardiovascularly since you are bobbing around a lot, working the waste, and getting the heart rate up throughout the whole workout. I can just see coming home after a long day of work and taking it all out on the punching bag. Talk about therapy!

I didn’t realize how important it was to purchase the right abdominal equipment until we actually purchased one - an ab-roller style piece of exercise equipment that was a simple C-shaped crunch machine that helped you stay in form when doing ab crunches, at a garage sale.

We had already purchased a “cheapo” ab roller type of machine at Target for about $30, and thought that this model, which looked a lot nicer and more intricate than the ab roller we’d purchased at Target (and mind you, cost only $1 at the garage sale), would work a lot better and be a more solid piece of home exercise equipment for completing abdominal crunches correctly and without lower back strain or pain.

However, boy were we wrong. This ab cruncher model did look a lot nicer and sturdier, but there was a reason the folks who sold it at the garage sale were getting rid of it. Doing your crunches on the thing actually made you lower and upper back kill you the next day. While it did feel like you were working your abs a little harder, the C shaped design had some kind of flaw in it where you lower back was not protected at all, and in fact it actually made you wrench you back a little every time you came into the crunch position.

I knew it wasn’t only me either, my boyfriend also said the next day his back was incredibly sore. So, for now, we’re sticking with our lower end Target ab roller, and may be on the look out for an even more back-safe model down the road. I do know that a lot of not getting a sore back from doing ab work is in your form and protecting your back by using your abdominal muscles instead of your back, which is a common mistake a lot of people make when doing ab work, but I consider my ab form pretty good, and I’ve been doing them for years, so I don’t think the form was my problem, I really think it was the machine.

I wish I could remember the brand name of the machine, I want to say it might have been Reebok, but can’t say for sure - it was a purple color though and did look to be an old model.

We all know that a workout and exercise is beneficial to our health. There are many apparatus and types of equipment we can use to maximixe the benefits our bodies receive from our workout.

An interesting and inexpensive workout intensifier is the use of resistance bands for our exercise routine. Some of the rationale behind using resistance bands would be, first of all, they are very little money. The price for resistance bands ranges from $6.00 to $20.00.

Another reason resistance bands are appealling is that they can be taken anywhere easily. This way you can workout readily when traveling. Also, resistance bands can be suited for any degree of fitness whether you are a novice at exercise or more advanced. The amount of difficulty depends on how the resistance bands are used. You can get more tension from the workout band by adjusting your hand or body position. If it still feels too easy, like there’s no effort to move, switch to a heavier band. Conversely, if the tension is too intense, switch to a lighter band.

For the upper body, some of the workout maneuvers done with resistance bands include alternating chest presses, the one arm chest fly and the tricep extensions. Working out the lower body, the legs and hips, may be done with resistance band exercises such as squats, lunges and side steps.
With the use of resistance bands, you can get a total body workout. You can vary the intensity of the workout by how many reps you do of each exercise motion and which type of resistance band you use.

We’ve all used regular stationary bikes and are familiar with them. There’a now a lot of attention about recumbent exercise bikes. The way they are different from the traditional exercise bike is that the rider is situated against a backrest with their legs in front of them. The advantage of this position is that many people find this to be more comfortable for a longer workout than the upright position.

Features to assess when selecting a model to suit your needs and expectations are weight capacity, stability, a variety of settings for levels of resistance, pre-programmed workouts and heart rate monitor. When shopping for a recumbent exercise bike, try it out, get on it and actually do some of your fitness routine. Make sure it is comfortable for you and nothing impedes the pedalling motion of your legs and feet.

When looking to purchase, price, as always, is a factor. However, it is true that you will get what you pay for. The higher the price tag, generally, the heavier the construction and stability of the recumbent exercise bike.

People who have problems with their backs often find the recumbent bike more comfortable than the upright style. Consumer Reports are a good source for reviews of recumbent bikes and other home exercise equipment reviews as they test items such as exercise bikes for ease of use, ergonomics of design, exercise range and safety of use.

The Nautilus NR2000 features 10 pre-programmed workouts, a heart rate monitor and a 300 lb. capacity. It comes with a lifetime warranty on the frame and10 years for labor and 1 year for parts. Approximate cost on this model is $1300. A weight lifter, Blake Bissailon has recommended the Cardio Trainer55 as one of the best for his use because it converts into a weightlifting bench and you can download workouts from the internet on this model.

Think of which options are of importance to you and what you’ll really use on a regular basis to decide what style you want to choose.

A newer concept that was actually pioneered at NASA as a way for their astronauts to stay in better physical condition while up in space, and to prevent the muscle atrophy that often goes along with being in zero gravity for prolonged periods of time is causing quite a stir in the fitness and exercise world, along with a hefty dose of criticism and doubt, as any new exercise fad does.

The “Power Plate” is a vibrating machine, and is one of the higher end options in the vibrating exercise fad, that one stands on when working out. The vibrations supposedly can decrease the amount of time your work out by up to two thirds, without dminishing results, and arguably even speeding your results up in less time. Ideal for the wroking parent of professionals who have a lot of time, right?

Well, some are claiming that one should use caution, since the technology is a fairly new one still, and long term side effects of using vibrations to tone muscle can possibly have a negative effect on the back muscles, causing cartilage damage, and also may have negative effects on the brain, as yet undiscovered of course, but hypothetically possible, nevertheless.

People who use it are fans though. They love the fact that they can still get a good, muscle sculpting, fat shaving workout in their day in only two thirds of the time, and they’re also grateful for the fast results, and some say better results that working out with vibration technology can bring.

Celebs are of course in on the trend too, because it is causing quite the stir in Hollywood. I’d say try it if you’re curious, but the thing that does bother me about this is that it uses shaking, and shaking is bad for the brain. Think of a boxer. A boxer’s head takes many traumas.

Granted, this is a swift blow to the head several times in contrast to gentler vibrations, but nonetheless, almost a similar concept, and boxers notoriously suffer from neurological disorders because of the multitude of times their brain has been “shaken”. Like I said, it’s a far fetched analogy, but it really makes you wonder if long term this might cause some sort of brain issues.

Well, since we bought a house, we’re aquiring quite a nice collection of home exercise equipment, so I thought it only wise to start including tons of exercise equipment reviews.

While eating right and health supplementation are important, I feel that exercising is one of the single most important aspects of maintaining a slim, trim figure as well as a healthy, clear focus on your quality of mental health, and that there really should be more focus on exactly that here at FitnessNewsMagazine.com.

So, with that, please make sure you take advantage of reading several new home exercise equipment reviews we’ve added. They include reviews on elliptical machines, treadmills, recumbent bikes, and even other suggestions if you’d like for us to find out the scoop on various pieces of equipment or even little accessories like medicine balls or yoga balls.

All of these reviews on my favorite, the elliptical machine, and other pieces of exercise equipment are important to maintaining health. Exercise not only keeps your body healthy, but research also proves it keeps your mind sharp, keeps you mentally happier and works to combat flu, colds and other ailments that are especially receptive to regular exercise as a combatant form of prevention.

So, enjoy, and if you have any honest reviews to share, please use this forum to do so! We especially need some recumbent bike reviews, since they are increasing in popularity and good reviews are scant on the internet, and they are also a very reasonably priced piece of exercise equipment for the home exercise enthusiast who wants to exercise for a good price.