Treadmills- whats important?

[Yael]

Ok, we have a cross trainer rather than a treadmill, cos i have shocking knees and ankles, so i wanted something less impact, but i'll tell you what i looked for when buying it:

1) Good Quality, not the cheap junk. We ended up going with a York brand, we did buy it 2nd hand from trading post, but as it was one of the higher models, we were saving around 50% and it was only a few months old. We went there and tried it out before buying it. We also foudn out that York has a place when you can get it repaired about an hour from us if we needed to.

2) consol display - this was really important to us.

I wanted one where you could set different times and programs (fat burning, cardio etc), because i found tht if it automatically changed the resistance for me i would cope with it, but i probably would have just stayed on the bottom one if i was controlling it.

I also found the little bar graph display really good for keeping me going, i knew i only had 1 or 2 more lines to get through and i found it really motivating to finish it right to the end of the set time, rather than thinking "this is so hard i need a break". Instead i would say "just one more line, one more line".

It also tells you how far you have gone and Cal burned, along with monitoring your HR, so you cna try and have it in the optimal zone for exercise. Also when i was preg it was great, i could still exercise and keep my HR below 140 to be safe to the baby.

We love having it here - you just just jump on for 25 mins, and then have a shower etc when the kids are down... so my easier then all the time it takes to go to gyn, get changed, exercise, get re changed, come home, have a shower etc.

[*becstar*]

So did you get the treadmill? Is it working for you? I've just joined the mum-of-three club and its difficult to get any beneficial walking in.

[rosehannah]

Thanks for asking Bec.
Not as yet I keep finding other things to spend my money on now that I am a full time SAHM, it is still at the top of my wish list, but as they cost so much I feel guilty for wanting to spend the money, I have been doing more exercise though, walking and hockey but as yet I haven't seen any weight move. I do feel fitter though. With winter comming I would really love one so that I can exercise at home.

[Phteven]

Make sure it's mouse proof!!
A mouse got into ours while we were on holidays and when I turned it on after we got back there was abang and a spark and a burny smell and it doesn't work so we'll have to pay for repairs now. I bet the warrenty doesn't cover acts of mouse.

I blame the cat!! He bought the mouse inside a couple of days before we left and then let him go!! What kind of cat introduces mice into the home instead of erradicating them?

[rosehannah]

Thanks for the heads up Dach, we are having a bad time with mice here at the moment, no funny stories to tell yet touch wood. My SIL had one decomposing in the dishwasher and a friend found one in her bed YUK!

[Phteven]

OMG the worst mouse experience I ever had was when I was getting a lift somewhere with one of Dad's freinds and he told me that the car had been smelling funny because a mouse had died in the A/C somewhere but he thought it was ok now. Then he turned on the A/C to test it - I got decomposing mouse fur blown all over me. I nearly vomitted
I feel a bit ill now just thinking about it.