When I moved to a small resort town in Colorado, I hit a barrier; hard. I had come for the snow; yet I was entirely unprepared for the way it could keep me inside for days at a time. In a place where “winter” lasts a solid six months (if not longer), running outside every day wasn’t very often an option.

As I wasted time, made excuses, and lost much of the lower body strength and endurance that had taken me years to gain, I knew I had to figure something out. I decided to make an investment in my health and sanity, and bought myself a treadmill. Im this article, I’ll tell you more about how to how about choosing the best treadmill for you and we’ll give you our recommendations too!

Our Current Recommended Treadmills:

1. Bowflex Series 7 Treadmill

2. Horizon Fitness T91 Treadmill

3. Merit Fitness 725T Treadmill

Convenience and Ease of Use

Treadmills are the No 1 Exercise Machine in the US Today!

Treadmills are the No 1 Exercise Machine in the US Today!

The ease and convenience of working out at home—any time at all—is better than I ever thought it could be. You know that having a quality cardio machine at your disposal can do amazing things for your fitness level and exercise resolve. Now all you need to do is find the right one.

Size, Space, and Other Considerations

Believe it or not, all treadmills are not created equal. Depending on your size, exercise goals, and available workout space, you will find that some machines are far more or less suitable than others. The good news is that by paying attention to manufacturers’ specifications, you can easily find the perfect fit.

Size Matters

Remember that home gym equipment doesn’t have to be one size fits all. But it does have to fit you. Consider the parameters of the deck (the part beneath your feat) and the length of the track. As with any workout machine, your body weight will also be a contributing factor in deciding which treadmill is best. Lighter machines usually work best for lighter people and less intense workouts. If you plan to be running sprint intervals on an incline, you’ll want something a fair bit sturdier.

To make sizing simple, just look for information like recommended user height and weight, maximum power output, and more on good retailers’ web sites.

A Folding Treadmill is a Great Choice if You Are Limited on Space - and You'll Still Get a Fantastic Workout!

A Folding Treadmill is a Great Choice if You Are Limited on Space - and You'll Still Get a Fantastic Workout!

Space Considerations
Unless you have an entire extra room designated as your home workout area (in which case, lucky you!), size and space will probably be important considerations when choosing a treadmill.

If you have the room to get a free-standing treadmill and leave it set up, I say do it! (All right, you can move it during the Christmas party, but then it goes right back!) Put it somewhere with good ventilation: windows and a fan are pretty much workout room essentials in my book. If you like watching television while you work out, or listening to music, choose a location with audio and visual accessories in place, or look for a machine with these options built in.

Your treadmill will be the heart of your home gym; so take some time to ensure that you’re going to enjoy working out in the space you choose for it.

But, if space is at a premium, there is a great range of folding treadmills to choose from so there really is every reason to fit one of these in to your home gym.

Options, Choices, and Decisions

Now that you have some things to think about, let’s focus on the features that will make this treadmill your new favorite workout partner.

The Basics

Treadmill basics include a deck or track with a moving belt, and some sort of control panel. Many versions also have hand rails along the sides, which can be helpful if you’re not used to the feel of the belt moving underfoot. (Just remember: you don’t get to hold on the whole time!)

The Must Haves

Many indoor running machines will keep track of your speed and incline; as well as time and distance covered, and calories burned. Some have built in heart rate monitors, or will show a readout measured by an external monitor that you wear on your body.

Even a visual readout of something as simple as your speed and incline will make it simple to see how you’re doing in a given workout. You can track your cardiovascular progress over time by checking your heart rate at a certain point within each workout (for example, just after a sprint interval), and note whether it peaks lower or comes down faster. The capability to easily monitor these aspects of your workout—both within a single training session and over time—is priceless for exercisers at every level.

Treadmill Options Are Endless With Some Offering Programs Designed By Celebrities

Treadmill Options Are Endless With Some Offering Programs Designed By Celebrities

Pre-set Programs
Moving up from the most basic indoor walking machines, you’ll encounter all kinds of choices. Digital features often include pre-set programs, which can add some variety to your workouts and keep your body from getting bored. Hill climbs and high intensity intervals are great ways to add some variety to your standard treadmill workout. Some models even let you create your own programs; so you can maximize calorie burn or train for speed with the perfect custom workout.

Bonus Features

If you don’t settle for the basics in other aspects of your life, you certainly don’t have to skimp when it comes to choosing a treadmill. Features like built in magazine or book racks, water bottle holders, and headphone jacks will all be available on the right model. You can even get a treadmill with a TV screen in the display! The options are nearly endless, so have fun shopping for bonus features.

Think of your new treadmill as an investment in your own health. Look for the kind of lasting quality that will be with you for years to come. Most importantly, make time to use your treadmill, and you won’t be able to help but see results. A leaner, fitter, faster you is just steps away, and you don’t need to let anything keep you from your workout!

Our Recommendations

1. Bowflex Series 7 Treadmill

Bowflex Series 7 Treadmill

Bowflex Series 7 Treadmill

The Bowflex Series 7 Treadmill receives a 4.5 star rating on Amazon with a truly amazing number of customer reviews which now numbers into  the hundreds. In fact when we last checked, this treadmill has the highest number of customer reviews & discussions which just shows how popular it is.

Its quality is reflected in it being consistently in the top 10 treadmill bestsellers and that’s not really surprising when you read the number of satsfied customers who leave comments on Amazon. It was also selected as a top fitness product by a leading consumer magazine.

The Series 7 has a very high build quality – from the running deck which has Bowflex’s unique Strike Zone deck cushioning system so it’s easier on your joints, through to its fold-up design which will give you more space in your home gym when you want it.

The range of programs (15 including 2 custom) and the easy-to-use controls make this one of the most popular treadmills and when you see that the frame comes with an amazing 15 year guarantee you know you’re talking about real quality here.

We check prices regularly and have always found the best price at Amazon. With their reliability and  customer service you can feel safe in the knowledge that you’ll have a good buying experience – plus it qualifies for FREE DELIVERY using their super saver option which saves you a fortune!

Check out the full details and read the reviews at Amazon now!

2. Horizon Fitness T91 Treadmill

Horizon Fitness T91 Treadmill

With a solid 4 star rating on Amazon from over 40 customer reviews, the Horizon Fitness T91 Treadmill offers a quality treadmill at an affordable price. Horizon treadmills are made by Johnson Health Tech, one of the largest manufacturers of fitness equipment in the world and this is reflected in the great design.

The Horizon Fitness T91 is both great for beginners and for more experienced fitness enthusiasts. It’s not only a great entry-level treadmill; it also has the power and features to satisfy the most seasoned treadmill users and folds up easily for convenient storage.

Now, what we find truly amazing for a treadmill at this price is that it comes with a lifetime warranty on both the frame and the motor!

One reviewer rated the Fitness T91 as a “6-star on 5-star scale”!

For more details, including videos from Horizon about their product, click here to go to Amazon

3. Merit Fitness 725T Treadmill

Merit Fitness 725T Treadmill

The Merit Fitness 725T Treadmill comes in as our cheapest priced treadmill (OK, there are cheaper ones available but they tend to be very poor quality).

But don’t be fooled by its price. With a great 4-star rating and regular appearances in the top-10 at Amazon (and often at #1), this treadmill punches way above its price bracket.

Whilst it doesn’t have all the features of the more expensive models it certainly has all you’d need especially if you’re just starting out on your fitness program. And, of course, it can fold away for your convenience too.

With a lifetime warranty on the frame and a 2 year warranty on the motor, you can feel confident that you’re still buying a quality machine – even at this price!

As one satisfied customer put it: “I’ve been in the fitness industry for over 10 years and have always been leary about buying a “cheap” home machine. This treadmill works great for home use. I was thoroughly impressed. I’m 230lbs and I can run on it with no problems! Great machine for the money!”

As with all our recommendations, when you take into account the free delivery option and reliable service,  Amazon comes out top for us when considering where to buy this from.

Check out the full Merit Fitness 725T Treadmill at Amazon now!

It is very difficult to glean anything specific that applies to you and is tailor made to fit your needs. Having said that, there is a lot of information out there, and there is a lot of great information on this site on how to structure a fitness program, and more specifically how to structure a resistance training program. But sooner or later, you have to leave the nest and push off into the flight of your own program. How will it work, and what will happen? A program has to develop with you, at your rate and nobody else’s.

This series of blogs is meant to show you, warts and all, how a program can develop. It is my program of winter resistance training, and I will take you through it from constructing it, and the reasoning behind it, right through to execution of the exercises, sets and repetitions. I’ll talk about gains or losses in strength, lean muscle and loss of fat. Now, I’m not saying my workout program will be for everyone, far from it. But the principles I apply in carrying out the program can be applied to any program, including your own. The idea is that you share in my experience, and by doing so, benefit from the things that work, and if I make any mistakes, I’ll tell you about them so that you can avoid the same pitfalls.

Goal Setting

I Don’t Want To Look Like A Body Builder. I Want The Extra Lean Muscle That Will Help Me To Be Fitter And Stronger

I Don’t Want To Look Like A Body Builder. I Want The Extra Lean Muscle That Will Help Me To Be Fitter And Stronger

Here comes the next admission: I am a competitive cyclist. If you can put that aside for a moment, you will see that my goals are similar to those of many trainers. I am looking for increases in strength, power and lean mass. Like many of you out there, women and men, I don’t want to look like a body builder. I want the extra lean muscle that will help me to be fitter and stronger. The type of fitness that will be good for your overall health, as well help you in your everyday life, be it having a strong core, keeping your lower back fit and strong, or giving you an extra yard of pace and strength in your weekly local game of soccer. Improved lean mass, reduction in stored fat and enhanced metabolism. The program is designed to deliver results fast.  And if I look better into the bargain, so much the better.

My goals are specific to my sport in particular, but the program I will tell you about will be good for anyone with similar goals. That is improved strength and fitness that will be applicable to your life and sport, and not only good for building muscle or lifting more metal discs on a bar.

Incorporating Cardio

I will also be undertaking a full program of cardio, so you can see how that can be blended in with a resistance training program, including active recovery methods. Admittedly, that will be mostly cycling for me, but the principles will be equally applicable to whichever form of cardio you choose to carry out. Whether Rowing on the best Rowing Machine you can find, running on a treadmill or outdoors, cycling on an exercise bike or on the road or any form of sport. My program will include intervals, steady state cardio, and active recovery cardio.

So there it is – I am putting my money where my mouth is, and using myself as the guinea pig.

I’ll start in the next blog ‘Resistance Training For Lean Mass And Strength – Part 2: The Program’ by outlining the specifics of my resistance training program and the thinking behind it.

Bestselling Fitness Program - Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Bestselling Fitness Program - Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

As part of our commitment to bring you the best, most effective fitness plans and programs we can find, we put Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle through our review process. We have to say – we were impressed!

With many thousands of very happy (and fat-free!) users in over 140 countries, ‘Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle’ is so far reputed to be the #1 best selling diet and fitness ebook in internet history. In fact, it’s reckoned to be one of the best selling e-books on ANY subject in internet history!

So why has this book been such a fitness plan phenomenom? (try saying that in the middle of a high-intensity workout!)

Well, according to our research, it’s simply because by following this fitness program, thousands of men and women of all ages are finally  burning off  body fat – not muscle and certainly not just water weight – and they’re doing it in a natural way, without using dangerous supplements, dodgy pills or “magic potions”. Simply by using the well-proven, common-sense, and scientifically-accurate advice found inside this comprehensive fitness guidebook, people are achieving outstanding results.

The author – Tom Venuto -  a highly respected fat loss expert, personal trainer, and natural bodybuilder, has not just pushed out yet another “diet program” into an incredibly over-saturated market.

Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle can best be described as a “Fat Loss Bible.” It is quite simply one of the most  detailed, complete, and precise guides to losing fat that you will ever come across.

What makes it so different to other weight loss and diet publications on the market?

Well firstly, Tom doesn’t describe this as a “weight loss” program. More accurately, he calls it a “fat” loss program. Now, this might seem like wordplay at first, but once you’ve read even just the first few chapters, you’ll have no doubt in your mind that trying for “weight loss” is not only the wrong goal, it might actually be the reason you’ve failed to reach and maintain your personal ideal body weight.

Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle shows you exactly why it’s fat you must lose and not “weight” (as our regular readers know, weight includes muscle, other lean tissue and a lot of water!) and then it goes on to show you precisely how to do it!

Secondly, what makes this fitness program different is the amount of attention paid to each and every element of achieving successful, healthy, and (importantly) permanent fat loss (this program is definitely aimed at avoiding the yo-yo weightloss that many dieters experience).

Burn The Fat not only thoroughly destroys many of the lies, myths and fallacies surrounding what is a very confusing subject, it is simply one of the most detailed books about fat loss we’ve ever seen. By reading Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, you’ll learn more about fat loss than you could from an entire college course of nutrition classes or from an entire shelf of mainstream diet books from your local bookstore.

What Sort of Program is This?

Ok. So what sort of program is this? Is it a low carb diet? A high protein diet? Or maybe it’s a high fat diet? Well, and I know this might sound confusing but it’s actually none of these and all of them! That’s because with the information in the book, you’re shown how to determine your own personal balance of protein, carbs and fats in the optimum ratio for you and your body type – that is why so many people achieve such great results despite evryone being different!

You’ll quickly be able to analyze your body type (do YOU know if you are really an endomorph, ectomorph, or mesomorph?), you’ll be able to work out your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate, which is the total amount of “maintenance” calories your body really requires each day), and you’ll find out whether you are carb intolerant – a major factor why many people struggle with weight problems.

This truly personalized approach makes real sense when you thini about it because each of us is a unique individual. No two people are exactly alike with regards to their body physiology and their personal goals.

And it’s Personal Goals which make Chapter-1 one of the most powerful chapters in the book. The chapter is called, “How To Set Powerful, Compelling Goals That Will Propel You Forward and Charge You Up with Unstoppable Motivation.” Quite a mouthful and not the shortest chapter title in internet history! But, the title sums up what you’ll discover inside where you’ll learn what is possibly the ultimate secret for burning fat and getting in the best shape of your life… and it has absolutley nothing to do with dieting, supplements or even training programs! There’s also a fantastic quote in this chapter from  legendary Green Bay Packers coach, Vince Lombardi which says…

“The dictionary is the only place success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must all pay for success.”

That one line does a neat job of summarising the “no quick fix” philosophy behind this entire book. In the rest of the book, you’ll go on to learn the exact and complete mechanics of fat loss – explained on both scientific and practical levels (which you can easily apply to your own daily life by knowing exactly what to eat and how to exercise to burn the maximum amount of fat in the shortest possible time).

But here’s one problem we faced when reading this book. Truth is, the Burn The Fat ebook contains so much information, that some readers may find themselves getting into ‘information overload’.

So, if you’re looking for a sort of  “Cliff’s Note’s” type of fat loss program, you might find it a bit intimidating at first. But rest assured that it will be worth the effort to work through the book carefully because this could literally be the last book you’ll ever have to buy on the subject.

Who will benefit most from Burn the Fat?

In the widest sense, anyone and everyone who wants (or needs) to lose weight could benefit from Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle.  Men, women, fitness enthusiasts, bodybuilders, sportsmen and women, and especially motivated people will find this book to be one of the best things you’ve ever bought. And before you think otherwise, although the book was written by a bodybuilder,it is definitely NOT aimed at just bodybuilders. This book aims to teach you how to lose fat – and fast!

Whilst you’ll not find any “30 lbs in 30 days” miracles being touted here, the information if used properly can give very fast results. It’s all about intelligent eating decisions and choices, smart planning, a bit of hard work and really thinking about a lifestyle change. As Burn The Fat author Tom Venuto says,…

“Burn the Fat is simple, but it’s not easy.”

In terms of how the book is laid out, Burn the Fat is a clean well structured and professionally formatted e-book which is delivered in PDF format and, like many books you buy in your book store,  it’s a little on the plain side which makes it ideal for printing and reading in the comfort of a favorite chair (preferably not with a large bar of chocolate or a cream cake!). But if you’re thinking of printing it off, give some thought to maybe printing it double-sided as you’ll need a  good printer with a big stack of paper!

Value For Money

When it first hit the internet, some folks thought that Burn the Fat was priced a little on the high side. Let’s face it, $39 seemed like a fair chunk of change for an e-book at the time. However, once they saw the huge amount of information it contained, and the incredible depth to which Tom goes to help you achieve your goals within its 340 pages, along with a number of special bonus ebooks and reports that you get with it, people started saying that not only was it worth the $39, but actually many times that amount.

As with most how-to publications, you’re not really paying for the materials actually used to compile the book itself, but really more for what the information can do for you, and let’s be clear, this publication has changed many, many  lives and the hundreds of success stories and testimonials which can be found on the Burn The Fat website are proof of that ( we strongly recommend you have a look at that “testimonials” page on the Burn The Fat website because some of the before and after transformations which people have achieved are absolutely amazing – as well as inspiring).

So What’s The Bottom Line?

Let’s cut to the chase. If you’re  looking for an overnight solution to fat loss; if you like to believe in fairy-tales; or  if you’re  looking for a “magic bullet” offered by the likes of magic fat burning pills, diet shakes, or “fat-burning” creams and gels, then you should probably stay away from the Burn the Fat program

But, on the other hand, if you’re tired of “spinning your wheels” and getting nowhere, if you want the truth about fat loss and you’re ready and willing to put in some hard work and discipline to make the lifestyle changes required to get a fat free body, you’ll find Burn The Fat to be one of the best books you could buy, and one of the best fitness plans to follow.

Click here to learn more about Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle program.