Wellness Center Equipment Spotlight 2
In the 2nd edition of my series of blogs about Hegg Wellness equipment, I’d like to cover the cardiovascular equipment that we have! To truly define cardiovascular machines, it’s basically any piece of equipment that is “equipped” or designed to improve your overall health and conditioning but more specifically, your heart health. There are many pieces of equipment that help you get a good cardiovascular workout and get your heartrate beating, and I’m here to cover what Hegg Wellness has to offer to help you!
First off, there is the beloved treadmill. Currently, we have 6 treadmills and a self-propelled treadmill. Now, I know you might roll your eyes or scratch your head when you think of using a treadmill. However, a treadmill has so many good uses for all types of fitness levels! If you’re looking for a lighter walkout, you could opt for a nice walk at a speed from 2.0-3.0 miles per hour. If you’d like to push yourself while walking, you can opt to increase the speed to about 4.0 miles per hour, or increase the incline (some of our treadmills can get to 15% grade!). Lastly, if you’re looking for an intense cardiovascular workout, you can run at various speeds. Running is considered anywhere from 4.5 speed up to 10.0 speed (or more!). If you’re an athlete, you might even have a bit of an incline while running. Simply put, treadmills offer a great chance at getting a good sweat in.
Secondly, I’m going to cover ellipticals! In the gym, we currently have 6 ellipticals. We have a full motion elliptical, an elliptical designed to help hips, and multiple standard ellipticals. The benefit with ellipticals is they offer a chance to get a good cardio workout without having to worry about putting pressure on your knees, hips, and legs in general. An elliptical is a great option for those who struggle with knee or hip issues and don’t want to pound their legs on a treadmill. Ellipticals have varying degrees of intensity, as users can change the workload or resistance to make the workout more challenging. If you prefer a lighter workout, you can keep the resistance/workload on a lower number and slowly work up. Ellipticals can be used anywhere from 10 minutes to 60 minutes, depending on fitness level.
Lastly, I’d like to cover the Step mill! The step mill is a very challenging machine, and is used mostly by those with high fitness levels. The step mill acts as a revolving stairs that users constantly keep walking up. The step mill is a great machine for those who are training to do some hiking or climbing. It presents a constant incline, and gives users an incredible workout! As with the treadmill and elliptical, the step mill offers variety on workload. If you prefer to go slower, then you can have the speed set at a lower number (1-5 or so). If you prefer to challenge yourself, you can go 6-10 to get moderate exercise, or even higher to go to the extreme! Typically, step mills are used anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, and present the biggest challenge in our cardiovascular equipment at its peak.
To conclude, these are 3 different types of machines that all present great exercise for getting you in shape and improving your heart health! There are many other machines to help your cardiovascular health, which I’ll cover in my next installment! As always, if you’d like help with these machines, please set up a time to talk to me and go over what the gym has to offer! My email is jordyn.kleinwolterink@hegghc.org and my phone number is 712-476-8081!