An easy to use, heavy duty aid to personal fitness and well being
Disadvantages:
Initially costly but otherwise none
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
About a year ago I purchased the second piece of equipment for our home gym. Now that I have became comfortable with it in actual use, I can perhaps give a fair appraisal.
The Background
I have a busy life style (who doesn’t these days). I am aware – acutely as often as not – that desk based office work, staring at a computer screen for many hours, day in, day out is not conducive to long term fitness. I had noted the sense of breathlessness, taking increasingly longer to subside after a hurried walk up a hill or a dash up two or three flights of stairs. The leisure hours are always at a premium and while I do not smoke or eat a heavily fat laden diet, the appreciation of a good concert or an Estate Bottled 1997 is not the most athletic of pursuits.
In the past I have held membership of a gym. The prime aim was always to improve my cardio-respiratory function and to do some stamina training rather than to lose much weight or gain pounds of muscle. I have not sought the social aspects of public exercise or spectacle. At home at least no-one will be bothered by my lack of co-ordinated gym wear or designer labels. Such a membership comes at a price, not just in its actual cost. Each visit to the gym is a time consuming trek in itself: the distance travelled there and back, the changing, preparation and ultimate shower as well as the period spent with actual activity. This is compounded by the necessity of attending several times a week to gain the full benefit.
Much better, I thought, to look at installing some apparatus at home which would not only pay for itself in time, but would also be an always-present incentive to keep the regime going once started.
The Choices
As mentioned above, I was looking for general fitness and stamina activities rather than body building or major weight loss. I am otherwise reasonably fit, modestly overweight and in late middle age. Following my experience of apparatus at the gym, the most comfortable piece of equipment was the treadmill. It was logical that I should choose such a purchase. The static bike would have been similar, the cross-trainer was somewhat too strenuous and I never did get away with the stair type exerciser (too much like hard work).
Rule 1 of regular exercise: be comfortable and happy with the actual apparatus. Work with it and not against it. Get used to it and you will want to come back for more. Exercise should never be seen as a penance – you will soon stop doing it if it is.
I am aware there are many makes of treadmill on offer for home use. It is not possible to audition them all in your home environment. The gym I attended was equipped with Life Fitness machines, I liked the style and feel. I was used to its graphical display and so I chose that brand. This review is my experience of the specific model. I have been unable to carry out comparative testing.
The Life Fitness 4500HR Treadmill
This model is amongst the upper range of treadmills and is a heavy weight piece of kit. Alhough this is an American company they do distribute a European model (which affects the read-outs on the display screen) and we bought it via the internet (www.r2bf.com). With mat it cost £ 1722.49.
It was delivered from stock and set up by a technician in our garage. We had clarified this point prior to purchase and were assured that so long as there would be no great changes in temperature and that the atmosphere was relatively fume, dry and dust free there should be no problems in operation. The treadmill was placed on a heavy duty treadmill mat on the concrete floor.
The treadmill has a heavy duty motor and striding belt. It has adjustable stabilising legs and a patented ‘Flexdeck’ shock absorption system which is comforting over long periods of use. The frame has a firm construction and is covered in a thick foam. The display console is flanked by two convenient receptacles for notebook, drinks, pen, spectacles etc.
It is also compatible with the Polar Heart Monitoring system and an adjustable Heart Rate chest strap is provided.
The Display Console has two major areas. The upper part is an LED screen that provides a constant feedback of the fruits of your exercise program featuring ‘Pace’: the time taken to travel one kilometre at the current speed ‘Time’: the time elapsed in the programme cycle ‘Distance’: the distance travelled in kilometres ‘Total Calories’: the calories burned during the exercise ‘Speed’: current speed kin miles per hour ‘Incline’: the percentage incline of the elevation of the treadmill ‘Heart Rate’: current heart rate when using a cardiac monitor system ‘Calories/Hour’: The amount of calories that would be burned in one hour at the current speed and incline.
The lower part features a matrix of lights which graphically show the progress of the exercise programme. It also has the four control buttons ‘Programme Start’, ‘Stop’, ‘Speed’ and ‘Incline’. The function of these buttons changes with the various programmes available with the treadmill. Speeds can vary between 0.8 to 16 kilometres per hour (0.5 to 10 mph). Incline can vary from 0 - 12% in 0.5% steps. In some of the pre-programmed activities these speed and incline attributes are linked into graded levels (1 to 9) of exertion. The overall time of the regime is set at the beginning of the exercise.
The treadmill also has an emergency stop device which can be attached to your clothing. When this is pulled off, the string belt comes to an immediate stop.
The programmes
The treadmill comes with several pre-programmed regimes and a number of manual functions. It is advisable when first starting to exercise to know your weight.
The first two pre-programmed regimes revolve around fitness testing. By carrying out a graduated exercise programme monitored by your heart rate (Heart Rate Zone Training) the ideal heart rate response according to your age can be programmed for specific cardiac training or fat burn. The final regime is the ‘Fit Test’ which enables toy to measure your aerobic fitness level in comparison with others of similar age and gender.
The programmes are:
‘Manual’: The user can control speed and incline at will. ‘Hill’: an interval training workout consisting of warm-up, steady speed plateau, a graduated series of hills and valleys and a cool down period. ‘Random’: similar to the ‘Hill’ but after the warm up period each segment is randomly set by the treadmill. ‘Fat Burn’: (requires the use of the Heart Monitor) a low intensity regime which maintains the resistance level of the striding belt to keep your heart rate at 65% of its theoretical maximum. ‘Cardio’: (requires Heart Monitor) a higher intensity regime maintaining heart rate at 80% of its theoretical level. ’30-Minute Walk’: variable speed between 3.2 and 7.2 kph with variable inclines. ‘5Km jog’: sets speeds between 6.4 and 11.2 kph with variable inclines. ’45 minute cross train’: a combination of the previous two programmes.
The treadmill in use
It takes time to get the feel of any apparatus and exercise regime. After about six months I had developed and refined a series of programmes with which I was comfortable. My current schedule lasts for about 40 minutes which I carry out (most weeks) about five days a week.
My personal favourite regime. It is unpredictable. I increase the speed to a fast walk. The incline can be quite gentle at times but at others the programme can throw several 12% hills in succession and I feel quite stretched.
I can vary the last segment depending on the effort exerted on the ‘Random’ leg and on my current inclinations.
I tend not to use the heart monitor for regular sessions now but do use it occasionally to run the ‘Fitness Check’. I am quite aware of my reactions to the various programmes that I use. I have not had any major physical injury over the last nine months save a bleeding toe nail on one occasion.
I exercise to music. My choice usually provides a driving rhythm and a fair amount of aggression to keep me moving. Recent personal favourites have been The Who (‘By Numbers’; ‘Quadrophenia’ disk 1); Travelling Wilburys; Electric Light Orchestra (‘Zoom’) and Dixie Chicks (‘Fly’). Perhaps I should compile a Top Ten of albums to exercise by!
Other observations
My wife has a similar exercise regime. This has increased the offset in cost of membership over the last nine months or so.
Our teenage kids have sporadically ventured aboard but with only modest enthusiasm. Perhaps the most salutary lesson that they have learned is by watching the calorie counter and then equating the length of exercise that would have to be undertaken to burn off the Mars bar!
Will it fit? Well, it's vital dimensions are: Length 73 inches; Width 31.5 inches; Weight 171 pounds
Oh yes! I did say this was the second piece of equipment for the home gym. The first (and most important) was a Creative Nomad Jukebox (mp3) player and a decent pair of headphones to keep us supplied with a seemingly endless choice of musical accompaniment.
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