5 Great Home-Workout Gifts for Runners
Use this guide to give your favorite athlete more speed, stamina, and strength courtesy of Horizon Fitness.
Whether it is cold and slushy, or hot and humid, or hotter than the sun and arid, the environment can drive even the most loyal runner inside…or make a loved one wish the athlete in their life would stay home. Well, if you’re in the latter camp (and perhaps the first), here’s your guide to making your domicile a workout haven for the runner in your life.
Featuring Horizon Fitness products, it is created on the building blocks of strong running: speed, stamina, and strength. To help build pace, treadmills take center stage. For endurance and strength, it’s cross-training tools to promote stamina and flexibility, or to place muscles under tension. And once you’ve created a workout-friendly environment from these selections, they’ll never need to take a deep breath before heading out for a run in oppressive conditions again. Let’s start shopping.
This top-of-the-line treadmill will remind you of the ones you log miles on in the gym. It has a 22-by-60-inch deck with three-zone cushioning that provides flex and support in all three phases of your running stride. The integrated Sprint 8 HIIT program with QuickDial controls for speed and incline will help you increase your pace and your cardiovascular fitness alike.
If you’re not training for a marathon but simply run for fitness, this budget-friendly version could make more sense. Like the previous treadmill, it has a 60-inch-long deck that will give you the room to increase your pace, as well as an automated incline (but only up to 12 percent, compared to 15 percent for the Studio Tread).
There are various forms of cross-training that can increase your running endurance and leg strength while helping decrease your risk of injury; cycling is one. Some add it to their training to help increase their leg-turnover rate, as well. And for those who have the space, this stationary bike is an ideal complementary piece of equipment. It has room for your phone or tablet, so you can follow your favorite classes online, and its display helps let you know that you’re keeping up.
In the absence of other activities, running can make an athlete unbalanced and injury-prone. Core, flexibility, and strength training are all foundations that make for a healthy runner, and this bundle provides the tools to achieve all three. The four-pound coated barbell can start you on your weight-training journey, and the accompanying plates will help you continue to make gains as you become stronger. There’s also a 65-centimeter anti-burst fitness ball to train your core with balance and stability moves, and a yoga mat for flexibility exercises.
If space is really tight, this Horizon option might be the best choice. Its frame folds easily, and it has a 20-by-55-inch deck. And it’s light on the pocketbook but still offers an incline of up to 10 percent, and speeds of up 10 mph.
Carey Rossi is the Senior News Editor for Prevention and Prevention.com. You can follow her @CareyRossi.
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