If you’ve ever stepped into a fitness center, you might have noticed numerous pieces of equipment available to assist with your workout goals. The opportunities are endless, from barbells and bikes to squat racks and rowing machines. However, one piece of equipment takes center stage: the treadmill.
You’ll often find a long row of these machines, and even if your fitness center is smaller, there’s typically one or two decent treadmills (which are busy most of the time).
There’s a reason why treadmills are so popular, both in commercial gyms and home settings – convenience. For example, do you need to log some miles or walk away some stress, but it’s raining outside? Perfect, then you can pop over onto your treadmill and knock out a good workout without getting soaked. Or maybe you need to focus on hill training for an upcoming race but live in a reasonably flat area. Excellent, the treadmill can provide incline and decline variability!
Regardless of the reason for needing or using a treadmill, they are very user-friendly and a fantastic piece of equipment to add to your arsenal to improve your health and wellness. With all the different brands on the market today, it can be overwhelming; that’s why we’re going to compare and contrast two of the most popular fitness equipment brands and their treadmills for you.
Let’s dive in and take a look at both ProForm and Life Fitness machines, and then from there, you can decide what’s best for you.
ProForm Treadmills
ProForm has five available treadmills to choose from; these range in price from $899 to $1,899. In addition, the Pro 9000, Carbon TL, Trainer 8.0, Sport 6.0, and Trainer 9.0 all come with a free iFit membership for 30 days after purchase, allowing you to access thousands of online and streaming workouts at your leisure.
From running programs and strength training to yoga and meditation, you’re sure to find a workout that fits your goals. As a bonus, you’ll join a like-minded community, with friendly competition and virtual trainers cheering you on!
Those virtual trainers can be viewed on multi-colored touchscreen displays that range in size from 5” to 10”, depending on how large and in charge you’d like them to be during your workout. In addition, depending upon the particular treadmill you choose, you will be able to adjust resistance and incline with QuickSpeed Control, which is helpful when you need to make changes quickly.
Lastly, the ProForm treadmills are designed with SpaceSaver, allowing you to fold the treadmill in half and move it away quickly when it’s not used. No more worrying about trying to fit a treadmill in a small space; just move it when needed!
Life Fitness Treadmills
Currently, Life Fitness has six different types of treadmills available; these range in price from $2,999 to $12,489. In addition, a handful of the cardio machines allow access to Life Fitness On Demand, a streaming service that will enable you to find motivating and encouraging workouts for everyone. In addition, you can track your progress over time and customize workouts, so they are specific to you and your workout goals.
Four of the six available treadmills have consoles built into the treadmill, while the other two give you a place to put your tablet or iPhone for the duration of your workout. Remember that the Hammer Strength HD Tread is self-powered, and the F3 is the only treadmill that will fold in half for easy storage. So if you have a dedicated area of your home to place a treadmill, one of the Life Fitness ones can undoubtedly work – just be aware of how much space they take up!
The Bottom Line
Both Proform and Life Fitness make high-quality treadmills for your home. Proform has a better selection for those on a budget that still want a commercial quality machine. Proform also makes treadmills that fold and store away easier than Life Fitness.
We love the iFit app and everything it offers, but Life Fitness has a workout app that is terrific too.
A Life Fitness treadmill may be the better choice for someone with a large budget and ample space, but for most people, Proform is probably the best.
