You can find exercise equipment or machines in gyms, medical facilities and many homes. There is a machine for the abdominals, triceps, biceps, chest and legs or any of your other muscles. Gyms promote them as part of your membership benefit and television infomercials say they will help you get the body you desire, but there are truths these businesses won't always tell you about their equipment.
Abdominals
If you are overweight, using exercise equipment to target your abdominal region is probably not going to give you a "six-pack". The American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit fitness committee says that spot reduction or exercising to losing fat in specific areas such as abs, butt or thighs is a myth. People who have visible abdominal muscles have little body fat, so the only way to see your abs is to lose weight all over.
Marketing
Exercise equipment probably won't make you look like the people from the commercials after only a short time. People featured in exercise product commercials have been doing it for years. They are in the business to sell their machine so they will pick the best-looking people to endorse and model their product. Before and after photos can also be deceiving because you can use software tools such as Photoshop to retouch images.
Need
Despite what the commercials on television or salespeople at the gym try to tell you, to get a lean muscular body, you do not need expensive exercise equipment. If the weather is good you don't have to buy a treadmill to take a run, just go outside. There are several body weight exercises you can perform at home such as push-ups, sit-ups, burpees and mountain climbers. Or, you can use minimal equipment such as a branch to do pull-ups on or rope to jump rope with. If your body weight exercises become too easy, increase the speed and repetitions.
Useful
Despite the negatives, exercise equipment and machines can be useful. They are inviting if you are a new weightlifter and often have a chair to help you rest between sets. An elderly person might have a difficult time doing body weight exercises such as push-ups or sit-ups but can handle a chest-press and abdominal machine set with 15 lbs. of weight. When injured, you can use exercise equipment to only target your healthy muscles and let your wounded areas recover. Exercise equipment can also help if you are doing therapy which requires you to exercise a specific muscle. For example, if your leg muscles have become weak from a car crash, you can use leg machines to build your muscles without fear of falling down.
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