Do you really want home exercise equipment?

Just a minute ago I did a search for "used treadmills" on a popular auction site. I got over 350 results.

I'm sure everyone of those folks were selling because they bought better models or had to move to a smaller apartment or desperately needed money so they had to give up one of their most treasured possessions.

Yeah, right. Maybe a few sales were from reasons like that, but it is a safe bet that most are because the item in question has been sitting unused in a spare room for a few years and somebody finally got tired of tripping over it.

That won't ever happen to you, though. You will use that treadmill or whatever other piece of exercise equipment it is that you have your eye on right now. You'll use it faithfully - no doubt you will wear it out!

You aren't like all those other slackers, those weak people with no will power who can't stick to an exercise plan. You are different. Not just different, better! Where is that credit card?

Cheaper than the gym

That's a common rationalization, isn't it?

"A gym membership can run $400 a year or more. This will pay for itself in just a few years!"

Sure, a gym membership can run that much. That's a gym with perks, though, like tennis or racquetball or an inside pool or at least a vast array of very fancy equipment. A plain old jock gym with a bunch of weight lifting racks and a couple of creaky treadmills doesn't run that kind of money, does it? Are you seriously going to compare owning one piece of home gym equipment to having membership in a modern health club? Seriously?

It doesn't even really compare to the plain old jock gym. There are more benefits to a gym membership than just access to equipment. There are people there, people you can talk to, people who can help the time pass more quickly, people who can help you if you are having trouble with anything.

People who could administer CPR if you collapsed in the middle of your workout.

How much specialized equipment does the gym have? Even the grungiest $99 a year gym almost certainly has more variety of equipment than you could ever fit in your house. Variety is the spice of life, they say, and although that rowing machine certainly does give you a great workout, after a year or so, it just might be more than a little boring. At a gym you can switch off and do something different, which is good for both your body and your mind.

I'm too busy for the gym

It's a hectic life, isn't it? So much to do, so little time, and just getting to the gym is too much time, isn't it? It would be so much better to just get up in the morning and walk into your own home gym, wouldn't it?

Maybe. Please do go check again how many used rowing machines, stationary bikes and treadmills are for sale today. No doubt every one of those people envisioned themselves brushing their teeth in the morning and then bouncing into the spare room for an invigorating morning workout. Yet here they are, selling off the equipment because it became a place to hang towels to dry instead.

You are too busy for the gym? You'll be too busy to work out at home, too. Or too tired. Too something.

Speaking of the gym

What about those all-in-one home gyms? You know the ones - Bowflex is likely the best known, but there are others. The ads show incredibly well conditioned people exercising vigorously at the various stations the unit has to offer.

Doesn't the ad sound impressive? Bench press, leg press, up to 600 lbs of resistance (did they mention that is extra cost?), multiple positions possible and the smaller models even fold up for storage!

Take a look at the auction sites again - they are littered with this kind of thing.

One good point: there are a lot more places to hang towels!

Maybe that's not you?

Maybe you really can commit. Maybe you really will use the equipment.

I have a HealthRider. That's me on it in the picture. I bought it a long, long time ago and I still have it.

But I don't use it every day. In fact, for quite a few years, it lived at my daughter's house. When she got tired of bumping into it, I took it back and I do use it now and then. It's a good machine, I like it.

But if I didn't already own it, I wouldn't buy it.

That's not just because I get free membership in a gym that is just two miles from my house. It's not because there is plenty of other exercise I can do without any equipment.

It's not because I lack commitment, either. I've been a member of one gym or another for over 40 years and once even had membership at two gyms at the same time. I am committed to exercise.

No, it's because after all these years, I know better. I might like the HealthRider now and then, but I'm going to want to do other things. I'm going to want to row, to do dips, to walk on the treadmill or just go for a walk. I'm going to find someone who'll toss the medicine ball with me for a while. I'll get on a pushup kick for a few weeks and then decide that chin-ups are what I'm going to concentrate on for a few months. That elliptical trainer is great for a few weeks but then I like the StairMaster for a while. Gosh, it's been a while since I worked with barbells, let's do that today!

Exercise is important. Using different muscles in different ways is good for those muscles and it also keeps you from soul draining boredom. If all you have is that single piece of equipment, boredom is lurking right around the corner.

But again. maybe that's not you. Maybe you've been using the treadmill every day at the gym for the past eight years and that's all you do. You have your iPod or your MP3 and you don't know how that could ever be boring. Sure, maybe you really should buy that treadmill.

Everybody else? Maybe not.