fitness equipment

For the vast majority of ordinary bodybuilders, fitness equipment has never been a necessary prerequisite for fitness, but choosing equipment that suits their training goals and physical conditions can increase training efficiency by at least 50% and significantly reduce the probability of sports injuries.

I have been working hard in the fitness industry for almost 8 years and have been a coach for 5 years. I have seen too many mistakes made by people on the equipment. The one that impressed me the most was a young girl who just graduated last year. After getting an annual gym membership, she turned around and grabbed more than 3,000 fitness equipment in the live broadcast room. A large gift package, ranging from a 10kg kettlebell to an abdominal crunching aid to ten elastic bands with different resistances, was moved home and piled up on half a wall. However, in the third month, she saw that she hung these things on a second-hand platform with the note "only unpacked and folded in half, no time to practice."

In fact, the debate about equipment has been going on for almost 20 years with no result: one group is the "unarmed omnipotent party", who believe that as long as the movements are standard and the body weight can be exercised, buying equipment is purely an IQ tax.； The other group is the "equipment-oriented party" who believe that novices cannot practice without professional equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars. Even adjustable dumbbells must be imported with tens of thousands of dollars to feel at ease. Let me tell you, both of these views are a bit extreme.

I used to take care of a 40-year-old brother who had meniscus surgery on his knee. He wanted to train his legs but was afraid of pain. At first, he heard the saying that "hands are all-powerful" and he did bodyweight squats at home. After a week of practice, his knees were so swollen that he couldn't go downstairs. Later, when he went to the studio, I adjusted his foot position on the Hack squat machine and moved his center of gravity forward so that his knees did not bear any force. After practicing for half a month, the lines of his quadriceps muscles came out, and his knees were fine. Are you saying the equipment is useless at this time? That's impossible. But on the other hand, I have also seen people who have paid 50,000 yuan for a personal training card. They spend every day in the gym and use the best fixed equipment. After practicing for half a year, their body fat percentage has not dropped at all. When I asked them, I found out that every ten minutes of training, they sit there and check their phones for half an hour. They still eat a heavy meal of oil and salt. No matter how good the equipment is, it is useless.

Speaking of this, some people may ask, which one is better, fixed equipment or free weights? I have been asked this question more than a hundred times, and there is really no standard answer. The bodybuilding system also recommends fixed equipment, which can accurately isolate target muscle groups and control balance without distraction. It is especially friendly to novices looking for a sense of strength and people with old joint injuries. ； The powerlifting system prefers free weight barbells and dumbbells, which can also train core stability and body coordination. It is suitable for people who have a certain training foundation and want to improve overall strength. No one is more noble than anyone else, it all depends on your current training needs.

It’s funny to say that I myself have been in the trap of equipment before. I spent more than 2,000 on a folding treadmill two years ago. I imagined myself running five kilometers at home every day. In the end, I ran less than ten times. In the end, it turned into an exclusive clothes drying rack. Not only did it take up space, but no one wanted it when it was resold. Instead, I bought a pair of adjustable dumbbells for more than 600 yuan. They can be adjusted from 5 kg to 25 kg. They can be used for shoulder exercises, chest exercises, and leg exercises. They take up less space than a shoe box. They have been used for almost four years now, and not even a few pieces of paint have peeled off.

What I must bring with me when I go on a business trip is a 20-pound elastic band and a massage ball. Don’t underestimate these two gadgets, which cost less than 50 yuan in total. Put the elastic band above the knee to do the clam pose, which is three times faster than doing it with bare hands to find the feeling of the gluteus medius. When you can’t make it to the gym, you can complete a complete set of glute and leg activation in the hotel, which is much better than blind gestures with bare hands. But I have also seen people buy a complete set of elastic bands ranging from 5 pounds to 50 pounds without even unpacking them. They just want to practice at home one day. Even the cheapest equipment is a waste.

In the past few years, the shaking machines, fat-removing machines, and the abdominal slimming devices that claim to "make you lose weight just by lying down" have become very popular. To put it bluntly, they are all IQ taxes. Think about it, fat consumption depends on calorie deficit. How can you burn fat if you lie there and let the machine shake you without exerting any effort? I met an aunt before. She spent more than 2,000 yuan to buy a fat-removing machine. She stood on it for half an hour every day and shook her body. After three months of shaking, she did not lose any weight. Instead, she lost weight on her waist. It was not worth the gain.

Oh, by the way, don’t think that only equipment that costs money in the gym is called equipment. The horizontal and parallel bars in the community are also cost-effective fitness equipment. There is an old man in my neighborhood who is almost 70 years old. He does fifteen standard pull-ups every morning. His latissimus dorsi muscles are more developed than those of many 20-year-old guys who go to the gym every day. He has not bought any professional equipment, so he relies on free equipment in the neighborhood, and he still feels more energetic when practicing.

In fact, to put it bluntly, fitness equipment is just a tool in the end, just like a spatula in the hand of a chef. If you are good at cooking, you can use an ordinary iron pot to cook delicacies. If you can't even use a spoon, even if I give you an imported pot worth tens of thousands of dollars, you can't cook good food. You don’t have to worry about whether to buy it or not, whether to buy it expensive or cheap. First, think clearly about your training goals and whether you can stick to them, and then choose a suitable one. Even if it is an elastic band worth dozens of yuan, it is a good thing if you can use it. If you buy it and gather dust after buying it, no matter how expensive it is, it will just be garbage taking up space.