Training Equipment, What’s Really Necessary?

In plenty of gyms and training centers there seems to be an emphasis on getting the latest and greatest training equipment. Whether that’s spending thousands on high speed treadmills, splurging on a vertimax, or getting the latest and greatest pulley system. While every piece of equipment has its pros and cons and is be best used for certain situations, in my opinion this is putting the cart before the horse.

Call me crazy, but I’d rather put emphasis on coaching and proper technical knowledge of exercise physiology and biomechanics instead of on equipment. By gaining a deeper understanding of exercise science, every piece of equipment is just a tool to use and can be manipulated in any way to get the adaptation your looking for. Treadmills are great, but running on ground is better most of the time. Pulley systems allows you to do a lot of different things, but a set of resistance bands a harness and some creativity can accomplish a lot of the same things at a fraction of the cost.

Classical strength training equipment (barbells, dumbbells, etc...) a little bit of space and knowledge of biomechanics is a great combination to get an extremely versatile strength training experience, that can accomplish just about any goal a person has at a fraction of the cost of other more expensive items. And while this may seem like a hate article on expensive equipment, it’s rather a questioning of why would you purchase it in the first place? Are you able to safely and effectively accomplish the same goal with other means? Could that money be used elsewhere on upgrading your current equipment and getting higher quality weights that will last years if maintained properly, or even on furthering your education to gain a deeper understanding of how to use what you currently have?

While I have no problem with expensive equipment, but outside of one on one training and very small groups, it effectively creates a back log of athletes during training because getting multiple pieces often isn’t feasible, and the time spent funneled at one piece of equipment could probably be better used elsewhere.

Ultimately, the means and methods used to get a certain adaptations are up to the coach, but in my opinion, I think we should try to keep it as simple as we can, and always keep the goal the goal.