Workout Equipment at Home? Does it help or is it just a clothes rack?

[Meatball Mommie]

I'm thinking of buying a (used) treadmill but DH thinks it will just become a glorified clothes rack ;)

Here's my situation: I can only workout between 4 and 6 am. DH leaves the house at 6 am after waking the boys. I can't trust that my kids will actually get ready for school vs. watching tv and they need to be out the door at 6:50 am. I need to be out the door myself at 7:20 am. Currently, sunrise is at 6:15 am, so my options are to (a) run in the dark; (b) do nothing. Hence the treadmill purchase.

So, please humor me and make a choice in my poll :) Thanks!

[Binkandabee]

We have a treadmill that gets used regularly. Not a single piece of clothing has ever been put on it :) I've seen a GREAT number of treadmills that are covered in clothes, though, so I think we might be the exception.

[lhafer]

We have a treadmill and it gets used all the time as well. We have a dedicated workout room (gameroom) where we keep ours - so clothes can't end up on it!!

[123LuckyMom]

There is no way to know until you take the plunge! I would go ahead and buy it if you can stand to lose that money if you end up not using the equipment. When it comes to exercise equipment in the home, I like to stay cheap! I use my staircase, bottles filled with water, the couch and chairs-- makeshift equipment and my own body weight. It's effective. I do also have a stand for my regular bike that allows me to use it indoors. I would LOVE to have a treadmill, but I'm not willing to make the investment, because I know I'll be upset if I don't use it.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Voted have (had), didn't use. Here's the thing- it was a hand me down and just no where near the quality of what I was used to at the gym. I think that the gym quality ones are just way outside of my budget. I just hated using such a bare bones model so I never used it. Dh is a runner and rarely used it too.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

we've had an elliptical for a while...maybe 2 years? i never use it. i think i used it once in the past year. Dh uses it more, but not regularly..maybe he used it twice in the past 3-4 months. i have no excuse for this really..i just hate trying to exercise all cooped up. for me, i either need to run outside, or go out somewhere and do a class. but that's me...i have no self discipline for this kind of thing. i need to be shamed into doing it (LOL). also, as snugglebuggles said, it's not the same quality as the ones in the gym. i guess i'm kind of picky (lol).

but i get the need. DH will be gone for about a month next month so that means no more yoga classes, and i will probably need to break down and use it.

i admire you for getting up at 4am to exercise. i don't know how you do it. this morning i woke up at 5:30am to go to yoga class from 6-7am. after showering, stopping for breakfast and dealing with nasty traffic i made it to work at 8:30. it's now 4:30pm and i am so ready to go home! i was all proud of myself for waking up at 5:30. if you can get up at 4am, you are amazing!!

[wellyes]

I have a very nice Sole treadmill. Working out on it made me realize how out of shape I was and i ended up joining a gym which I find MUCH MUCH more beneficial than home workouts. So, never use it. It's a very heavy hunk of junk in our house. BUT, it put me on the path to better fitness, so it was not a waste of money.

If you have no way to workout with childcare, it's worth it.

[hellokitty]

I didn't vote, b/c you didn't have my option. However, in the last couple yrs, we've basically sold all of our at home workout equipment. We had a rowing machine, stationary bike, ab machine and treadmill. We would use it in spurts, but then we joined a gym last yr and the eqiupment there was nice, so we weren't working out much at home. We sold our stuff and dh just told me that the co-worker that bought his rowing machine mentioned that it's serving as a really nice clothes rack. I do have a few friends who are very good about using their treadmills regularly (When I ran, I didn't enjoy running on the treadmill, I preferred running outdoors), so if you get a good price on a used one and you have room for it, try it out. At least you are buying used and can probably turn around and sell it for about the same price if you decide that it's not being used enough.

[cookiemonster80]

I have an elliptical that I use sporadically- I much prefer to go outside when the weather is nice, but in the winter or if I just need a quick 20 minute workout I will use the machine. Some months I use it zero and some months I use it 20 times.

[sariana]

I use our treadmill almost every morning at 4:30 or 5:00 for at least an hour. It is a lifesaver! I have no desire to be out in the dark, and I love the incline feature because I hate to run. Walking on an incline is more comfortable for me and burns more calories than I could burn by running (because I can't run far at a decent pace). I also like that I can watch TV while I work out. I don't watch much TV otherwise, so it's nice to lose myself in old, syndicated shows.

[BabyBearsMom]

We had a treadmill and elliptical but sold it from lack of use. If you want a home workout have you tried the You Are Your Own Gym app? My DH is doing it and has lost a bunch of weight.

[Meatball Mommie]

I use our treadmill almost every morning at 4:30 or 5:00 for at least an hour. It is a lifesaver! I have no desire to be out in the dark, and I love the incline feature because I hate to run. Walking on an incline is more comfortable for me and burns more calories than I could burn by running (because I can't run far at a decent pace). I also like that I can watch TV while I work out. I don't watch much TV otherwise, so it's nice to lose myself in old, syndicated shows.

Yeah - this is what I was thinking. Going to a gym just isn't an option for me. We have 1 gym within 20 min of us - everything else is farther away - and that gym doesn't even open by the time I need to be back home. During the summer, I was able to run/walk outside, but now it's dark at that time of day! My kids are older so it's not really childcare I'm after - they'd be fine home alone, but it's more logistics.

Thanks for the input!

[pastrygirl]

Ours has gotten lots of use over the years. Neither of us does cardio anymore, so now I use it when I need to step up or lunge or something from a short height during my weight workouts. Today I even used it for an inverted row! Didn't know it could be that handy.

[cono0507]

I have a high quality treadmill I use when I can't run outside (too dark at the hour I need to run/snow/ice/frigid temps). DOesn't see much action during nice weather but sees a lot of me in the winter.

[codex57]

We have a treadmill (Precor) and a gym membership. Neither get used.

We got a dog to force us to do at least some minimal exercise.

[specialp]

I have a high quality treadmill I use when I can't run outside (too dark at the hour I need to run/snow/ice/frigid temps). DOesn't see much action during nice weather but sees a lot of me in the winter.

:yeahthat: The treadmill is so boring even reading/watching TV to me, but it is what works when the weather/time change kicks in.So ours is never used in spring/fall, a little in the summer, and heavy use in the winter.

[YouAreTheFocus]

We have a Precor Elliptical, DH & I use it everyday for about 40 min each. It is a lifesaver! There is no way we would both be able to get to the gym everyday. And I like being able to jump on for short sessions just whenever.

[ellies mom]

When we have the room for a good set-up (half of the garage for example), our exercise equipment (treadmill, weight bench and weights) gets used pretty often. For us, it doesn't work to have the equipment in our bedroom. I'm either tripping over it or it is pushed to far to the side to use easily and then things start to pile up on it. Unfortunately, we don't have a good set up right now so it doesn't see much use.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Meant to say before that I have had success with weight workouts and 30 Day Shred type stuff. I take a boot camp approach to my home workouts by doing a mix of cardio like jumping jacks, mountain climbers, skaters, burpees and jump squats alternated with weight training moves.

[arivecchi]

We got an elliptical and use it a lot. It's all about discipline. If you make the commitment to exercise it's so easy to do because you can just do it whenever and in whatever outfit you'd like. :) I wake up at 5 am every day to work out and try to get a workout it during the weekend too.

[div_0305]

I think it depends on the quality of the machine. If it's decent enough, you will enjoy using it and probably more likely to keep using it. If it's flimsy/shaky, you will not enjoy using it. We have a decent enough treadmill and elliptical. DH uses them regularly--me sporadically, as I also like to do some workout videos.

[BabbyO]

We have an elliptical. It has gotten anywhere from no use to regular use. Right now it is pretty regularly used by DH. It depends on our schedules what the weather is like, etc. When it got the least use we were DINKS and could do activities outside of our home...I ran - sometimes with a group, played kickball, etc. DH went to Martial arts class, it wasn't critical to be home. But with the kids...it is nice to have because we can work out while they're sleeping, or playing on their train table, etc. There has never been a stitch of clothing on it unless I took off my T-shirt during a work out (and just had my sports bra on). We actually have a small home gym with an elliptical, small weight bench and some free weights, a few balance balls and workout mats. All were items we acquired over a few years as mutual Christmas gifts.

[smilequeen]

I have a full exercise room set up. I use it all the time. Almost daily. I will use a treadmill or a DVD and free weights/kettlebells.
DH will.not.use it.
So it depends on the person. I prefer to work out alone (although I usually have a kid or two or three in there bugging me ;).