The simple flat out answer to this question is that you don’t need exercise equipment but the main reason that exercise equipment is so popular is because of its convenience.  Most people just won’t exercise without a machine.  Think about it-you can go in to your treadmill turn it on and have an intense workout as you’re watching TV or as you are listening to music through your Ipod.

I have heard some people put a negative slant on exercise machines because they think it isolates you from social interaction.  My answer to this is that when I work out I want to concentrate on my workout and not socializing.  If I want to socialize I will go to church or join a country club-but when I am ready to have an intense workout  I don’t want any distractions.

So I think it all comes down to each individual.  Even though exercise equipment, like a treadmill, costs a good bit of money, if it does its job and keeps you fit how can you put a price tag on your personal health.  Personally I have belonged to various gyms and I found it to be too time consuming.  Now I have four different exercise machines and love them — they have kept me tone and fit.

I believe that you need to diversify your exercise routine. For example you might have an intense aerobic exercise, then switch to AB exercises mixed in with some light weight training.  So it is really up to the individual to choose what he is comfortable with. I personally love exercise machines because they do their job, they are convenient, and I can go in to the other room and do my exercise in private. Believe me it is much quicker than changing my clothes, jumping in the car and going to the gym.  But the main thing is your health and fitness

Have you ever noticed when you slip on the television right before you go to bed how all the late-night infomercials are filled with the newest and latest revolutionary forms of exercise equipment. Whew! I mean it is all over the TV. Not only that-I also noticed that the shopping channels are cluttered with things like treadmill machines and elliptical machines. They are really popular.

The message they are broadcasting to the viewer is “yes you can get that beautiful figure back ladies;” and yes man you can have six pack abs and bulging muscles in a matter of days. It is all very appealing because we as human beings are endowed universally with a sense of vanity aren’t we?

Not only the commercialism on TV but there are gyms all over the place that are packed with exercise machines and rows and rows of treadmills with sweaty bodies striving and agonizing to get through their 45 minute exercise program. In fact that is why all these people are agonizing at the gym-they have a plethora of machines..wall to wall exercise machines.

Yet with all this national craze centered upon exercise machines it begs the question “is all this equipment necessary for losing weight and being fit?” Someone might answer “people have been slim and trim for hundreds of years without all these machines that are at out disposal-why do we need them now?”