THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 13, 1997 TAG: 9701110059
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY
STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 138 lines
A MANUAL TREADMILL sits smack-dab in the middle of Shirley Flumerfelt's Virginia Beach living room. On her front porch sits an exercycle. And in her garage sits a rowing machine.
And sit they often do.
While Flumerfelt and her husband, David, have spent more than $1,000 on home-exercise machinery over the past couple of years, their family of four seldom uses any of it.
Now the Flumerfelts are selling all but one piece - the dual-motion cycle, which they'll soon move to the family room in hopes of re-igniting their home-fitness efforts.
Recently, they gave away an expensive motorized treadmill to their daughter-in-law, who wants to get back in shape after having a baby.
Before Christmas, they sold a rider/glider machine through the classified ads. Before that, they sold a ``great big, huge'' stair-stepper and an exercycle ``with a fan on front.''
``We keep trying, thinking one of these things will be agreeable to us,'' Shirley Flumerfelt said.
But the equipment didn't get used, despite the family's best intentions to exercise at home, Flumerfelt said.
Some were noisy or difficult to maneuver. And most of them just weren't fun.
``It's not the machines' fault,'' Flumerfelt said, almost apologetically.
``I guess equipment just isn't our family.''
But the Flumerfelts may be more typical than they think.
Last year, Americans spent about $3 billion on home-exercise equipment, reports the National Sporting Goods Association. That's double what we spent a decade ago.
Convenience is the No. 1 reason for sales, according to a 1996 survey by the Fitness Products Council.
Americans like the idea of getting fit - fast, easily and in the privacy of our homes.
Machines can be a smart buy for someone who's highly motivated, said Dr. Janet Walberg Rankin, a Virginia Tech exercise physiologist specializing in fitness and obesity.
But overzealous beginners, spur-of-the-moment buyers or non-exercisers who think the equipment alone may motivate them, might benefit more from walking outdoors or joining a gym, she said.
While statistics don't show how many machines aren't used, local second-hand stores and newspaper classified ads carry a steady supply of not-so-new equipment, with price tags from about $25 to more than $1,000.
Many are remnants of good intentions gone awry, said Carl Burba, owner of Play It Again Sports, a franchise sporting-goods store in Virginia Beach.
``Most people refer to it as the most expensive clothes hanger they've ever had,'' said Burba, who's operated the Lynnhaven shop for about five years.
He's seen disappointed owners drag in everything from manual treadmills - ``your weight has to be positioned just so or the treadmill will come to a stop'' - to cross-country-ski contraptions with elaborate ropes and pulleys.
Only about 25 percent of buyers use home-fitness machines regularly, if at all, Burba estimates.
Often, we choose a machine or routine that's wrong for our likes and needs, he said. So we're more inclined to lose motivation than to shed pounds or inches.
Suzanne Broccolo of Virginia Beach bought a rider/glider about 18 months ago. Now, she's selling it.
``I didn't feel like it was doing a whole lot for me,'' said Broccolo, a nurse at Virginia Beach General Hospital who plays organized rugby in her spare time.
The machine was recommended by Broccolo's mother - ``who's trying to get rid of hers.'' Broccolo's sister-in-law in Florida sold hers, too.
``I thought maybe it would motivate me,'' Broccolo said. ``I like walking better.''
She continued walking outdoors and moved the rider to an enclosed porch.
``It's excellent for drying clothes,'' she said, chuckling. ``It wasn't worth the $250.''
Riders - relatively new on the exercise-machine circuit - are hot, reports the Fitness Products Council.
But motorized treadmills are the biggest sellers, mirroring the boom in fitness walking and a rise in exercisers over 45, the council says. In 1995, manufacturers shipped about $660 million worth of motorized treadmills to retailers.
``The motorized treadmills allow you to walk or run naturally,'' said Gordon Bingen, co-owner of Fitness Works, a specialty store in Virginia Beach.
Prices begin at about $400 in department stores and about $1,200 in shops such as Bingen's, where exercise devotees, heart patients and personal trainers account for a large number of ``premium-line'' purchases.
``Treadmills are by far the biggest-selling product in the fitness industry right now,'' Bingen said.
Even the demand for used ones ``far exceeds the supply,'' said Burba at Play It Again Sports.
Because the treadmills are easy use, Burba thinks people stick with them longer than they do other machines.
Lynn Pantelides, a nurse at Norfolk General Hospital, owns four pieces of exercise equipment but likes her motorized treadmill best.
Over the past three or four years, she also purchased a cross-country ski machine, a rider/glider and a three-station home gym - and tucked everything into a room over the garage of her two-story Chesapeake home.
``I used the treadmill a lot,'' said Pantelides, who also likes to walk outdoors. ``When the weather was bad, I'd hop on that.''
Now, Pantelides is selling the machines because she is moving to an apartment.
But she used the equipment three or four times a week until the birth of her son, Caleb, about 18 months ago. ``I get my exercise now chasing him,'' she said.
Sales of exercycles, stair-steppers and other machines are potent, too, reports the Fitness Products Council.
Riding a stationary cycle was the second most popular fitness activity in 1995, behind working out with free weights, it said.
Treadmills were fifth, resistance machines eighth, stair-steppers ninth, rowing machines 13th, and cross-country ski machines 14th.
``All of these things can be helpful,'' said Dr. Melvin Williams, an exercise physiologist at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. ``It all depends on whether you use them.''
Prospective buyers should consider what exercise they can and like to do, said Williams, who outfitted his home with a moderately priced cross-country ski machine, rower, bicycle trainer and a used rubber-band type weight system.
If you don't know what you like, Williams said, try a short-term gym membership and sample the equipment, borrow a friend's machine or just get out and walk.
Even Williams, an avid runner, sometimes lets his indoor equipment sit for weeks if the weather is good.
``If you can exercise outdoors,'' he said, ``you don't need to spend a lot of money staying fit.'' MEMO: Thinking of buying exercise equipment? Some questions to ask
yourself, and some shopping tips: Page E3 ILLUSTRATION: JANET SHAUGHNESSY
The Virginian-Pilot
[Drawing]
LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Sarah Flumerfelt, 14, uses the family's manual treadmill, which is
for sale. They gave away a motorized version that got little use.