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Frequently Asked Questions Frequently asked questions
American Home Fitness offers many interest-free financing options, from 3 Months Interest-Free to 24 Months Interest-Free. We also offer our everyday low monthly payment option.
American Home Fitness accepts cash, checks, MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, and The Home Fitness Card.
Yes. You can purchase the same health club models from our stores.
All equipment should be wiped down after being used. Simple Green cleaner can help to remove any sweat, dirt, or debris buildup.
Treadmills: Many of today’s treadmills are maintenance-free, though several still require lubrication under the walking belt. This can be performed once or twice yearly with a lubrication stick (sold at any of our stores.)
Ellipticals: Many of today’s ellipticals are maintenance-free. We would recommend keeping the elevation ramps, wheels, and wheels tracks clean and clear of dirt and debris.
Home gyms: Many of today’s home gyms are maintenance-free. Lubrication of the guide rods (where the weight plates glide up and down) should be performed once or twice yearly (lubrication kits can be purchased at any of our stores.)
Most treadmills and ellipticals will raise the user 6-12 inches off the floor. An ideal height is to allow for an extra 12” above the tallest user. (A 6 foot tall person would want a 7 foot high ceiling)
Should you ever need service on your fitness equipment, whether in warranty or out of warranty, you can count on American Home Fitness. We will send out a factory-trained technician to diagnose and repair any problem you may have.
Treadmills: Most treadmills, regardless of folding or non-folding designs, will need a usable space of 3 feet in width by 6-7 feet in length.
Ellipticals: Most ellipticals, regardless of folding or non-folding designs, will need a usable space of 3 feet in width by 6-7 feet in length.
Bikes: Most upright exercise bikes will need a usable space of 3 feet in width by 4 feet in length. Most recumbent exercise bikes will need a usable space of 3 feet in width by 5-6 feet in length
Gyms: Home gyms can vary in size, from as small as 3 feet wide by 6 feet long to as large as 10 feet by 10 feet.
Be sure to ask one of our fitness professionals for your free, in-home equipment demonstration. American Home Fitness works closely with Chicago’s top personal trainers to help you get started on a fitness regimen that’s right for you.
For an additional charge, American Home Fitness offers White Glove delivery service. Your new home fitness center will be delivered to your home, placed in the room of your choice, and completely assembled. Our delivery technicians will also remove all of the packaging and thoroughly test your new equipment.
Treadmills do not provide Watt readings but do provide MET readings. There is a formula to convert METS to Watts however that depends on body weight. Or you can compare calories per minute and Watts with this formula: 1 cpm = 69.77 Watts
RPM on a treadmill would equate to the number of strides per minute. You can measure the number of times that one foot plants per minute to determine stride rate.
The elliptical trainer does provide a "Watt" reading and the number of strides per minute. Cyclists find this measurement of power output useful as "Watts" are a common measurement for cycling.
-- Emily Cooper, M.D.
This can be precisely determined through gas exchange testing. However, as a rule of thumb, for lower to moderate intensity workouts, up to 50% of the calories may be fat calories depending on the individual's muscles ability to burn fat. Training in the lower intensity zones improves the muscle capacity to burn fat during exercise.
-- Lesley Mettler, CT, AFAA, USATF
Yes - it is safe to continue the exercise level that you were doing pre-pregnancy. The elliptical is low impact so may be more comfortable than running during pregnancy, especially in the third trimester. Be sure to check with your obstetrician before starting a new exercise program during pregnancy.
-- Emily Cooper, M.D.
Yes, the elliptical is a weight-bearing activity so, like standing and walking provides some benefit for osteoporosis while exercises such as swimming and cycling are non-weight-bearing and do not help with osteoporosis. However, because exercising on an elliptical is virtually no-impact, meaning that there are no repetitive compressive forces on the bones during exercise, it does not provide as much bone stimulation as running.
-- Emily Cooper, M.D.
Yes, on the elliptical, you have a lower rate of perceived exertion, so sometimes it doesn't seem that you're getting as intense of a workout on the elliptical as you are on the treadmill. Other benefits of the elliptical:
* The Precor EFX546 elliptical has an inclining CrossRamp that simulates hill training. You alter the ramp to target different muscle groups.
* There is virtually no impact, so less potential for impact related injury.
* Like the treadmill, you can vary courses and ramps to keep your exercises interesting.
-- Emily Cooper, M.D.
This sounds like a neuroma on the bottom of the foot which is an inflammation surrounding a nerve bundle. This is not caused by a specific exercise but rather consistent and prolonged weight bearing while exercising. Fortunately, this neurological nuisance can be alleviated by doing the following:
* Loosen shoelaces if numbness or tingling occur.
* Be sure your shoes have a wide toebox and that the toes have plenty of room to wiggle.
* Try a metatarsal pad insert in the shoe to take the pressure off the metatarsals. The metatarsals are the bones of the forefoot beginning atthe base of the toes (but not the toe bones) and extending towards the heel.
* Use toe spreaders (used in pedicures) daily for about 15 minutes to help stretch the ligaments between the toes.
* Focus on technique, keep the heel down and in good contact with the foot pedals on the machine.
* Keep calves stretched.
-- Scott Jurek, RPT
While neither free weights nor machines are better for every person and every exercise, they each have their advantages and disadvantages. Free weights, for instance, force you to engage your core and other muscles to maintain balance and postural control. They also more closely mimic real world activities and motions. Weight machines, on the other hand, force you to maintain a specific range of motion and are generally better at isolating specific muscles.
-- Jessica Smith, Fitness Consultant
Although obtaining guidance from a knowledgeable professional is important, joining a gym is not a prerequisite for starting an effective weight training program. Resistance training can be performed almost anywhere - it just requires some creativity. Using props such as stairs, stability balls, resistance bands and tubing can be extremely effective, and used right in your own home. If you're really serious about resistance training though, investing in a versatile, high quality home gym is recommended.
-- Jessica Smith, Fitness Consultant
The ability to increase the size of your muscles is highly dependent on hormone levels - namely testosterone. And since men have 20 to 30 times the testosterone levels of women, men will tend to build more muscle than women. It's important to keep in mind, however, that the type of strength training you engage in as well as genetics and individual differences will all play a role in the rate and degree to which you build muscle mass.
-- Jessica Smith, Fitness Consultant
An important factor in exercising for weight loss is to be at the proper exercise intensity. You'll want to be sure that when you are on the stepper, in your spin class or running at 6mph, you are still in an aerobic zone, meaning you can carry on a conversation without being breathless. If you are above this intensity, you're not in the fat burning zones and over time, won't train your system to burn more calories during exercise.
Strength training can be very helpful for weight loss as it helps to build muscle which in turn helps you burn more calories throughout the day. Be sure to include a warm up and cool down consisting of very low intensity aerobic training, either on an elliptical, treadmill or bike before and after the weight training.
Try to increase your frequency of aerobic exercise to four or five days per week which is recommended for weight loss and general health promotion. Proper nutrition also can aid in weight loss by providing key nutrients needed for metabolism. Active women who restrict their caloric intake too much can actually lose muscle mass which slows down metabolism and can lead to increased body fat percentages and even weight gain over time.
-- Emily Cooper, M.D.
The elliptical is an excellent cross training tool for aerobic conditioning for all sports including running and cycling. It also helps to build leg strength for cycling. To build your aerobic base conditioning, use a lower ramp setting, a stride rate of 160-180, low resistance and a hands free technique and balance using core stability to simulate running. To build cycling specific leg strength, use varying ramp angles to target either the hamstrings, gluts or quads and practice intervals at higher resistance and lower stride rates. For leg speed drills, incorporate high ramp, low resistance and fast stride rates.
(For further information, please visit the Research http://www.precor.com/comm/tools/research/ & Articles Section)
-- Emily Cooper, M.D.
While the pressure is constant on the elliptical, it is much lower than that of running or walking on the treadmill due to the lack of impact forces. With running, the impact of landing applies much larger amounts of pressure due to the momentum and forces of the body weight traveling vertically and horizontally, distributed across the surface of the foot. This is why the elliptical can be safely used as a crosstraining tool for injured runners, including those suffering from stress fractures in the lower extremity.
-- Emily Cooper, M.D
Higher Cross Ramp settings emphasize the gluteals and mimic no-impact hiking. The gluts are the primary mover at this angle, with the quads additionally doing a lot of work. However, this angle also puts you forward on your toes in a plantar-flexed position and works the calves, as does any setting if you focus on toe push-off. Use these settings to really train for hiking and mountain climbing, even adding a weighted pack. There is no option to stimulate downhill, so you should do some lower angle work to teach the muscles to relax and then work again on demand.
Medium-high Cross Ramp settings recruit hamstrings and mimic cycling. Lowering the ramp angle to medium moves the burden to the hamstrings, but your quads still get worked fairly hard.
Medium-low Cross Ramp settings emphasize quadriceps and simulate no-impact running. The low ramp setting is by far the closest to running as long as you keep the resistance low. If the resistance gets too high it takes too much power to keep the cyclical movement. To maximize the quads, concentrate on the push-off of the calf as well as the swing through. If you really visualize running on this lower setting and swing the upper body while keeping the core tight you can get a great ab workout too. You won't work the lower legs as much unless you actually try to move your foot in a heel-to-toe running motion.
-- Emily Cooper, M.D.
The moving platform requires that the abdominals stabilize the torso. Some stability can also come from the hip flexors as they compensate for any remaining instability. Therefore, both muscle groups get worked. This is especially true at the lower ramp and resistance settings when you can really mimic a running motion.
-- Emily Cooper, M.D.
This is a great question that many people ask. It is important to realize that the body has two different fuels it converts to energy: carbohydrates and fats. The body burns these fuels in different proportions depending on your fitness and the intensity of your workout. Your body stores fewer carbohydrates than fat, yet it accesses the carbohydrates more easily. So the goal is to make your body more efficient at burning the stored fat while sparing the carbohydrates. Working out at higher heart rates will burn more carbohydrate calories in the short term, but it is working out in the lower zones that trains your body to become efficient at fat burning. In turn, this improves your endurance and aerobic fitness, eventually leading to a faster metabolic rate during exercise. This means that over time, you can burn as many calories at a low intensity as you were previously burning at a high intensity. With proper training this can happen in as little as three to six months.
Therefore, the best intensity for weight loss is one that seems 'fairly light' to 'somewhat hard'. Often people who cannot lose weight, or who even gain weight despite high intensity exercise and restrictive dieting, find success through a combination of slowing down their exercise, and improving the quality of their diet. This approach is not only more effective, but it's more fun and easier to stick to long-term!
-- Emily Cooper, M.D.
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