Best Gut-Busters for the New Year

Jan. 4, 2011 -- Just in time to shrink your fruitcake-laden gut comes Consumer Reports' list of the best in-home treadmills and elliptical machines.

The report, out today, ranks 10 non-folding treadmills, 25 folding ones, and 31 ellipticals.

Some come with such high-tech bells and whistles as MP3 docks, WiFi or USB connections that let you download your workout data onto a computer. Others offer a 'negative-incline' option, meaning you can run downhill as well as up or on the straight-and-level.

Author Jamie Hirsh, Consumer Reports' senior associate editor for health, tells buyers what questions to ask before making a selection, including: Will your elliptical smack your head into the ceiling? It could, if the path of the pedals is too high and the height of your ceiling is too low. You want to be fit, not unconscious.

Though both types of machine -- treadmill and elliptical -- can give you a workout as strenuous or as gentle as you want, there are important differences between the two. Treadmills, says Hirsh, are by far the more popular.

"I imagine it's because they've been out longer than ellipticals," she says. "And they're not very complex: Everyone walks and knows how to walk. There are many models and many price points."

The advantages of having a home machine of either type, she says, include "not having to worry about what you look like" when you exercise. You're spared the curious glances of fellow exercisers, which you'd have to deal with at a gym.

And you're spared their germs, too. Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night need interrupt your exercise routine. If all you want to do is walk, says Hirsh, you could do it indoors at a local mall. But running? "That's not an option. I tried it at my local mall and was stopped by security."

Consumer Reports divides its list of recommended treadmills into folding and non-folding, the former better suited to smaller homes, where they can be tucked out of the way in a closet or garage. The time and effort needed to fold and unfold them varies, depending on the model's weight and whether or not the unit comes equipped with an hydraulic lift.

Consumer Reports' highest-rated non-folding treadmill is the Precor 9.31, priced at $3,300. Its features include a chest-strap heart-rate monitor.