ProForm, under the umbrella of Icon Fitness, offers a good solid Elliptical Cross Trainer as well as treadmills and other fitness equipment. For the price point and the many programmable adaptations, ProForm cross trainers offers a great deal, for its price range, in the heavily-saturated market today. ProForm Elliptical Cross Trainers are meant for use by the casual fitness guru rather than for hard training in the Olympic field. Other Icon subsidiaries include Reebok, Weider, Nordic Track and Weslo. ProForm is manufactured in mass production for sale in mass quantities.
ProForm prices range from 600-1000 dollars USD and anything below that is not generally recommended. The ProForm is built for use by the casual user as mentioned before and the Runner’s World categorised ProForm as a light duty machine. Their look is one of a more expensive and comprehensive trainer with all the gadgets needed by most.
There are many wonderful reasons to prefer the ProForm Elliptical Trainer and that is this- they fold up neatly for storage and do not demand a lot of storage room. Secondly, some models come with a CD sound system and a gaming system for your entertainment whilst exercising. So for the price range, which hardly reaches the 1000 dollar USD mark, it is a model highly recommended for home use.
The Reebok Industry of footwear begun in the UK in the year 1895 under the name of J.W Foster. The name of the company is derived from the South African gazelle called the rhebok. Now, the main headquarters of Reebok is located in Massachusetts in the USA. Reebok has been at the centre of sports, Olympics and fashion in offering footwear, accessories and sportswear. Today there are thousands of offices and plants all over the world and there is not a household which has not heard of this famous name.
Reebok UK now offers a Cross Trainer elliptical bike which is a piece of exercise equipment. When you use this cross trainer, you are getting an overall workout for your cardio health as well as for your leg and upper body muscle. You can easily assemble this unit and it will not take up much space in your home or office. It makes use of magnetic resistance to give you a great workout. It is great for people suffering from arthritis as it is a non weight bearing motion sequence which characterises the cross trainer and soothes the joints. It works in conjunction with 8 different elliptical motion sequences with the intensive climbing movement of a stepper unit.
There are many styles and colours from which to choose. There are different models and years to choose from if you want an older model. The climber plus elliptical bike exercise gives you the workout of your life. Whichever product you eventually go on to choose, with the highly respected Reebok name, you will be able to rest assured of the fact that quality will be guaranteed and you should have a piece of exercise equipment which will last you for many years to come.
The Tunturi Company began in the 1920’s in Finland, based on the concept of overall good health and wellness. In a small bicycle shop the beginnings of one of the world’s largest health fitness company began. Tunturi means highlands in Finnish and they have not looked back since the first factory line opened in the 1940’s.
In the 1960’s the Tunturi company began to produce mopeds and have since decided to try their hand at exercise equipment of every type including the incumbent bicycle, balancing boards and more recently in the elliptical cross trainers. The company is now globally operated and it offers many products for health and wellness.
The Tunturi Elliptical Trainer is most popular in the United States due to their quality construction and their reasonable price. They produce their models for the low to mid level market and produce several finely crafted machines at a most affordable price point. The cross trainers are also built with solid construction and on the green environmental policy. Due to recycling efforts and running a factory which is environmentally friendly to the Earth, they have proved that you can build a product with a conscience.
Not happy to produce just one item, Tunturi has made treadmills, stationary bikes, which are called cycle ergometers, and rowing machines. The warranty is very good with the solid company name to stand behind it. The elliptical cross trainers are made of tubular steel, with an enclosed rear flywheel and it offers all the upper body workout capability you can possibly want.
York has been a world wide trusted name in exercise equipment for many years. York started in the US in 1932, and then it branched out to Canada in 1936. The company grew to such excess that it has plants and offices globally, now including the UK. The Canadian plant offered the cross trainers while the American counterpart offered weight lifting and gym equipment.
The founder of York, Bob Hoffman, was the coach for the USA’s Olympic Weightlifting team from 1948 to 1964. He was renowned as the ‘Father of World Weightlifting’ by the Olympic Weightlifting Federation for his part in establishing weightlifting as an Olympic sport. Most gym and weightlifting equipment in the world today bears the name of York quite proudly.
The York Cross Trainer comes in many styles and price options. The York Platinum 360 HRC Elliptical Cross Trainer offers many options some of which include dual action push and pull handle bars, 15 training programs with the HRC which include a fat burn hill, a recovery mode which measures one’s overall fitness on a scale of 1-6, magnetic resistance and it is computer powered by an AC adaptor which is supplied.
The York Cross Trainer measures your pulse, heart beat and let’s you know when your exercise time is up. The hand grip pulse sensors come with additional pads and the overall cardio work out with the body read-out measurements on the LCD panel are just a few of the brilliant adaptations of the York Cross Trainer.
The Tony Little Gazelle Elliptical Cross Trainer is probably best known by its infomercials and home shopping network advertising. Tony Little is an exercise guru who has brought his own style and product line of exercise machinery into the public forefront. This particular brand is difficult to find any information about its inception, but it is readily available at most good retailers, Shopping Channel or other online shopping programmes. The Gazelle Cross Trainer was built to be ergonomically correct and to relieve any weight bearing problems for people who suffer from arthritis.
Tony Little personally produces a video or DVD to be watched before you even set up the machine. It shows you how to use the piece of equipment and how to count the calories on the LCD panel and all the other gadgets which come with it. The machine itself comes delivered to your door in a large flat box and it takes about an hour at most to put all the pieces together.
It is very comfortable to use and the handle bars are great for an upper body cardio workout. The foot pads are great too for stepping and you can change the intensity of your work out. The only problem with the Gazelle is that it requires a lot of room for its size. The arm bars stick out front and the rest of the body requires wall clearance. For the price and for the package, it is a very good deal.
The Horizon Fitness Company has been owned by Johnson Health Technology, which is a Chinese manufacturer, for the past 25 years. It is the same company which owns the majority of Vision Fitness, Matrix Fitness and AFG. The Horizon Fitness Company, which is headquartered in Wisconsin, manufactures products in the Johnson factory in China.
This is the same factory which makes the Vision elliptical trainers. So the two trainers are made in conjunction with each other, not an uncommon practise. Horizon manufactures nine different front drive elliptical trainers which are virtually the same design. They are the fourth largest suppliers of the trainer industry and they have global offices throughout Europe, Asia and North America.
These trainers are sold at Sears and a variety of sporting goods and discount stores such as Dick’s and Sports Authority. The elliptical trainers have self-levelling pedals which provide added comfort to the user and most of the models have built in fans. Some models now come with iPod docking stations as well. The Horizon Fitness Company has received many awards for Best Choice in 2006-07 and it has been featured in many newspapers and magazines in the US. Their product is competitive in price and offers many of the same features as do their competitors.
The front-drive design of the elliptical trainer made by Horizon is easy to access, keeps you properly aligned and reduces stress on your back and shoulders. The space between the pedals, the stride length and the pivotal motion combine to create the most ergonomically correct movements possible.
The Octane Company is the only company in the world which produces and sells elliptical cross trainers as its only product. It is an exclusive company dedicated to the well being of its customers and by selling and servicing only their elliptical cross trainers they stand behind their word. The company was founded by two health and fitness experts and it has gone global in the past few years.
As a result of their product diligence and customer service, Octane has won several prestigious awards lately, including those from fitness magazines such as Health, Consumer Guide, Prevention.com and Today’s Health and Wellness. The founders won the prestigious Ernst and Young Award as Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 in the USA for their region. Most sport stores and gyms prefer to use the Octane elliptical models due to their ruggedness, ease of use and excellent work out capabilities. The have both a sit down and stand up style which is optimal for both sets of fitness gurus.
The XR6 Series of the seated elliptical cross trainer warns you that you are about to take the ride of your life. You will enjoy its smooth elliptical motion and the invigorating push/pull action of the moving handlebars as you pedal and push your way to an exhilarating total-body workout experience. Of course, this model offers all sorts of programmable work outs with pulse and heartbeat read-outs, and boosters such as the Muscle Endurance, Chest Press and Leg Press to test your capabilities.
