A treadmill is a great way to perform exercises within the comfort of your own home.
These machines used to only be available for professional gyms and training facilities but they are now available for the home consumer electronics market.
Buying the best treadmill is simply a matter of knowing what you should be on the lookout for.
There are many great electronics companies that make these machines so popularity of brand is just a guiding factor and not a determinant.
Here are the factors that must be kept in consideration when buying your best home treadmill.
Treadmill motor's horsepower rating Manufacturers rate their treadmills based on the horsepower rating of their motor in two ways.
The first is continuous duty rating and the second is peak duty rating.
Ignore treadmills that focus on the second rating.
The treadmill motor does all of the work and therefore needs a good rating for continuous duty.
Peak duty rating is essentially useless because all it tells you is what kind of horsepower the machine can generate at its peak, it may not be able to sustain this for a reasonable amount of time.
Manual and folding variants Manual treadmills are a waste of time as they are difficult to get started and it is impossible to adjust the settings once you have started.
Due to space constraints, you may want to look into folding variants for easy storage.
Make sure that they are well built, stable, easily movable and foldable, and should have a large weight capacity.
If they lack any of these aspects they will end up being a waste of money late so avoid them.
Beware, it is only recently that the design of folding treadmills has gotten good enough to be worth the cost but they are still not comparable to the non-folding kind.
Stability and quality of ride To get the best home treadmill you ought to buy one that is stable under use.
It must provide a high quality ride when you are running at high speeds and with a steep incline.
The hand rails must be well positioned.
The best position is somewhere where they are easy enough to reach for support but not too close to hinder arm movement.
Make sure you test them to see how sturdy they are before purchase.
As for the quality of the ride, it needs to feel smooth.
If the ride feels like a bumpy road then that treadmill is of poor quality.
Enhancements Jogging in the same place quickly loses luster so pick a treadmill that helps spice up the training.
There are models that come with a variety of workout settings and allow you to download more.
This can be a good way to ensure you do not get bored on the workout.
Small enhancements such as a book holder and a bottle holder go a long way in making workouts more enjoyable.
If you intend to watch TV or listen to radio make sure the noise production is low.
Professional tip Stick to the basics first, do not get sold by additional features and forget to check the fundamental parts of the treadmill.