If you are undecided about which type of fitness equipment
 may be the most effective, perhaps this information may help.

Reports show that the treadmill is the exercise equipment that is least likely to be abandoned. For treadmills expect to pay $300 - $700 (walkers only), $800 - $1,800 (walkers and occasional runners), $2,000 to $3,500 (serious runners). Ellipticals produce no impact, so you are less likely to injure joints than on a treadmill or running. They are also less noisy because there is no motor. For Ellipticals expect to pay $500 - $1,000 (flimsier feeling models), $1,100 - $2,500 (approaching gym club quality). Often refurbished club equipment can be found at very reasonable rates.

The chart below compares the calories consumed by men and women using 6 kinds of exercise machines. The figures come from a study published in August, 2001 in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Nineteen physically active men and women, all in their 20's, exercised in each type of machine while researchers tracked heart rate, breathing, and the exercisers' perceptions of how hard they were working. Using a metabolic gas analyzer, researchers compared calories burned on each machine at similar levels of exertion. Men on a treadmill, for example, burned an average of 200 calories in roughly 12 minutes at a high level of exertion.

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