Folding Treadmill - What To Know Before You Buy

Buying a folding treadmill? Buying any treadmill these days can be complicated - there are so many new brands and models contending for your attention it may get confusing. Here's what you need to know before you go out to buy a folding treadmill machine:

A fold-up treadmill provides both the luxury of the home workout as well as saves you useful floor space. Foldup treadmills are ideal for condos, apartments or even smaller exercise areas. They're also easier to clean around and below!

There are 2 main kinds of foldup treadmills:

1) Power-folding Or even Shock Assisted (where you get some help folding the treadmill). This helps to save the strain on your back. Power fold-up treadmills are few and far between but basically you press a control button and the treadmill folds and unfolds itself.

Shock assisted treadmill machines are a little more readily found and you do have to put out a little effort, but not a great deal, to get the treadmill in order to fold and occur.

2) Manual folding - This is where a person lift the treadmill itself to collapse it up (and hold it to allow it to down and occur it). If the treadmill machine is fairly light, this isn't so bad, but if it's a heavier device, it can be a pain, specifically for an older or health-compromised person. Most treadmills -- especially those under $1200 - are manual folding.

Regardless of what type of foldable mechanism is used, once the treadmill is folded, most treadmills possess a locking mechanism where you can lock it into place. Some treadmills even have wheels on the bottom in the base of the treadmill so that once it's secured, you can easily move this around into a closet or another room.

Some economy treadmills fold up, there are a lot of higher end treadmills that don't. The reason why? What's the difference between a foldable and non-folding treadmill?

Foldable units, by the character of their design, commonly are not as stable as non-folding machines. (That doesn't mean they are not stable, it just brings about not AS stable). This is an important consideration when buying. Based on Runner's World, stability is the most important quality of a great treadmill. For example, you wouldn't want the treadmill to shake or shake when you pick up your own pace.

While there are a variety of factors that bring about stability (like person weight capacity, unit weight, quality of construction, etc.) foldability is one of them. This is why, if you look at stability ratings for a number of treadmills, non-folding machines almost always come out on top. This is why most commercial or health club treadmills do not fold.

So runners or heavier users may want to consider a non-folding treadmill before buying. There are exceptions to this rule of course, but in common this is the case.

General, fold-up treadmills offer some good space saving and portability benefits. However keep in mind the various types of foldable mechanisms available (especially if you're buying the treadmill for an elderly individual who may not be able to lift a manual foldable treadmill) as well as the balance benefits of non-folding machines.

Article Source: articlemotron . com