Fitness equipment

The need for exercise has been increasingly recognized. Exercise programs and equipment are used by many people for a variety of purposes. Some people are interested in maintaining or improving body strength, and those persons may exercise with free weights or with exercise machines designed or programmed to develop particular parts of the body. In addition to the benefits of better overall health and fitness, the strengthening of muscles and bones reduce the risk of fractures of the spine and hips as a major consequence of osteoporosis. Medical science has established that enormous benefits can be achieved from regular exercise, such as reduction of in an individual's cholesterol level, reduction of overall body fat and stronger, healthier heart and lungs. Various exercises and activities have been devised to enhance overall fitness and to condition specific muscles and muscle groups. Resistance exercise, also called strength training, increases muscle strength and mass and bone strength and improves metabolism. Resistance training can employ free weights, weight machines, and calisthenics. Typically, the body part is challenged by using dumb bells, barbells, and other forms of weights. The goal of the program is to increase the muscle mass, and in bench pressing, the effort is concentrated on the upper body area. Resistance training is similar to weight training in that it requires a user to perform repetitions. However, instead of using static weights, the user typically pushes or pulls against a resistance force of an exercise machine which may be supplied by rubber or elastic bands. Resistance exercises, such as weight training performed in proper exercise motions, can tone and shape the body. Resistance can come in the form of using the body's own weight, metal free weights, metal weights in exercise machines, elastic resistance devices and pneumatic resistance devices. The benefits of weight lifting exercises in terms of building and maintaining strength, body toning, and general health and endurance, are well known. Barbells and dumbbells are known types of weightlifting equipment in which a weightlifting bar is used to support disk-shaped weights at its opposite ends. Barbells are generally long such that two hands are used when lifting, while dumbbells are shorter to allow lifting with one hand. Exercise equipment can be categorized into aerobic exercise machines and anaerobic exercise machines. Aerobic exercise machines include stepping exercise machines, treadmills and exercise cycles. Aerobic equipment, as compared to strength training apparatus, is typically designed to facilitate a substantially longer continuous workout, to increase the heart rate and burn calories. Aerobic training can be described as exercise for the purpose of increasing one's aerobic capacity. Aerobic training is typically categorized by exercising multiple muscle groups simultaneously with relatively low resistance, for relatively long duration and relatively high aerobic demands. Anaerobic exercise machines include a wide variety of weight-training or strength-training exercise machines. In recent years, increased recognition of the many benefits of cardiovascular and aerobic exercise and body conditioning, in combination with continually increasing time constraints of modern lifestyles, have resulted in a large demand for exercise devices which can provide maximum benefits of exercise with a minimum of inconvenience and minimum time requirement.