How to Shop for Exercise Equipment

We’re standing in a Sports Authority in West Covina, Calif., as the guy whose image is emblazoned on a million Wheaties boxes teeters precariously atop an elliptical machine. In between posing for photos and signing autographs for admiring fans, Olympic decathlete Bryan Clay hoists his chiseled 185-pound frame onto a Reebok 1000 ZX—only to have the machine creak loudly and sway back and forth. “This machine can’t hold me at all,” he declares. “I would never buy this!”

Who’d be pickier about fitness equipment than an Olympian who cross-trains for 10 different track and field events? That’s why we asked Clay, fresh from his gold-medal performance in Beijing, to help us find the most medalworthy workout machines. (A Reebok spokesperson expressed surprise at his experience with the 1000 ZX, calling it a “sturdy machine.”) Our timing for this testing couldn’t have been better. Even in a slow economy, Americans are willing to shell out serious money—about $5 billion a year—on some serious-looking machines to pump up. But this year the prices won’t be quite as painful; makers are trying to stay ahead of the tough times with the kind of discounting that comes around once or twice in a generation.

Certainly, the machines have more than their share of bells and whistles to try to keep consumers from junking them in the basement or hanging the dry cleaning on them. Some come with performance tools like wireless heart-rate monitors and downloadable personal-trainer voices. There are “exertainment” features like built-in mp3 docks and TVs to prevent boredom. Machines have typically run in the high three- to four-figure range, but that was before the price-cutting. At western specialty chain Busy Body Home Fitness in Pasadena, Calif., manager Zachary Goodson says the retailer recently offered some of its “deepest price cuts” and that, when bargainers ask, he’s authorized to slash some machines’ prices as much as $600. Still, this is a complicated field even for an Olympic athlete to figure out.

Since treadmills make up more than half the market for exercise equipment, we decide to start there. Models for home use range in price from $600 to $5,000, but experts agree: Don’t be lured by entertainment features in the console. They’re “a waste of cash—more bling than substance,” says Joseph Hughes, owner of Sedona Private Fitness in Cedar Grove, N.J. What you want from your console is health-related feedback (speed, distance, heart rate) and motivating features, like competitive games. But most important for a treadmill is a strong motor: 3 horsepower and up. Anything less might not hold up to frequent use—especially by anyone over 200 pounds—or go much past 10 mph, limiting your workout.

Clay, who runs the 100-, 400- and 1,500-meter races, knows a thing or two about the pounding that joints take, so when testing treadmills, the first thing he does is take several shallow jumps on each to gauge its shock-absorption capacity. He also looks for wide machines (to accommodate side-to-side drifting), extra-long belts (to accommodate longer strides) and minimal framing at the front (too much is a tripping hazard). Some features he deems worth an extra outlay: In addition to the usual uphill slants, the Precor 9.35 ($4,700) offers a 2 percent downhill angle, a great workout for the quadriceps. It even records your best time and lets you track yourself against it on-screen.

With more boomers nursing creaky joints, sales of low-impact machines are skyrocketing. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, consumers spent eight times more on elliptical and cross-trainer machines in 2007 than in 2000. After his unsteady experience on the Reebok, Clay reiterates that stability and durability are key: “I don’t want the machine jolting around under me.” Choose an elliptical, experts say, with a wide range of resistance settings (smaller jumps between levels is kinder on the body) and robust console features. The HealthRider H90e ($1,000), with its tiny portable hard drive, lets you track progress and download extra workouts—including audio coaching tips from a “virtual” personal trainer. It’s also one of the few at its price point with a front ramp that allows users to vary their stride length and work a variety of leg muscles. Clay loves that feature when trying it in a pricier model, explaining that “it really feels like you’re running uphill.” And while it may seem obvious, pay attention to size; many ellipticals come preassembled, and no machine will do you any good if you can’t get it through your door.

Just in time for the holidays, some companies are rolling out new low-impact equipment similar to elliptical machines but that offer users a lot more than just moving their legs in tiny circles. “People get tired of doing the same movement over and over,” says Kimball Theoret, founder of custom-gym consultancy PTFreeStyle. That explains her enthusiasm for Precor’s Adaptive Motion Trainer 100i ($8,000), a machine that lets users take big strides, make tiny up-and-down stepping motions and transition into a lunge, all without even touching the programming buttons. If the price leaves you staggering, FreeMotion Fitness’s new “strider machine” offers similar flexibility in lunge length for $2,375.

Upright or recumbent? When choosing bikes, that’s usually the first question. The latter takes up more floor space, says Theoret, but is particularly good for people with lower-back problems. Pay up for a midprice bike ($800 to $1,500) and you’re more likely to get a comfier seat and handlebar configuration and a smoother, quieter ride—especially if you opt for a Kevlar belt, which is typically quieter and less maintenance-prone than a bike chain. On upright bikes, you could even score a console that has built-in or computer-assisted workout programs (one lets you do every stage of the Tour de France) and heart-rate monitoring—crucial for pushing yourself to work in your “intensity zone,” says Theoret. Most midrange and high-end models come with a chest-strap wireless heart monitor, which tends to be more accurate than handgrip-based ones.

When it comes to versatility, it’s hard to beat those space-eating, 10-in-one, cagelike contraptions called home gyms. Between the pull-up bar, multiposition bench and movable weighted pulleys, many offer hundreds of exercises. But like all the other big, heavy pieces of equipment, safety issues rule. “You don’t want too rickety a weight-lifting machine,” says Clay, whose first move when testing the Gold’s Gym Pro Series GR 7000 Smith machine ($800) is to try to shake it side to side. (It holds firm.) It’s also crucial for these units to have built-in weight crutches and safeties to protect athletes who are lifting alone.

Of course, construction details matter too: While cushiness is nice with the GR 7000’s incline bench, Clay notes it’s more important that its surface area fully supports your body. But experts agree that, in this category, flexibility wins the day. Fred Hoffman, a Paris-based fitness consultant, says users get the most value with pulley-based machines that allow the cables to be easily repositioned at various heights. This lets you work muscles from a variety of angles and build strength while standing, stretching or lunging.

Clay’s eyes light up when he spots the Hoist Fitness PTS home gym ($5,500, fully equipped). Its cables slide up and down the length of the cage, and its modular system allows shoppers to buy part of the machine and add new pieces later. Clay likes the machine’s fat aluminum bars; he says the thinner ones found on most machines give him painful calluses. Of all the equipment we look at, this is the one our decathlete most wants to take home. “I’d come back and buy this,” he says, circling the machine and nodding approvingly.