In this post, you will learn about the fitness equipment made by Nordictrack for seniors. Are they a good option for seniors and worth the price?
Nordictrack is best known for their high-quality cardio equipment like skiing machines, treadmills, and rowers and in recent years they have digitalized their services with on-demand personal trainer software and even by combining their devices with virtual reality.
All this comes with a price, of course. Nordictrack machines are generally a bit pricier than your average treadmill or exercise bike.
The main selling point is their quality and the iFit interactive personal training service that’s integrated into their devices. Services like these can be great for motivating you to exercise.
But are Nordictrack exercise machines and iFit service a good option for seniors? Let’s find out!
What Is Nordictrack
Nordictrack is an American company that manufactures exercise machines for different uses.
Nordictrack was founded in the 1970s and originally their main products were ski machines which explains the name of the company. They made these machines in-house in the USA during a time when exercise machines and exercise weren’t that popular.
During the 70s and 80s NordicTrack managed to grow a following with their high-quality products, branched out, and expanded their business.
After a couple of acquisitions and a bankruptcy NordicTrack has thrived and they have expanded their product line to include treadmills, exercise bikes, ellipticals, strength machines, and rowers.
Their products have won several recommendations in consumer reports and they are generally thought of as a high-quality manufacturer. Likely partly because of the very high-quality handmade ski machines of the past.
I couldn’t find a conclusive answer to where their machines are manufactured these days, so if it’s important for you to buy domestic, I recommend you ask the retailer before making a buying decision.
More recently NordicTrack has focused on digitalized services, especially in the form of the iFit personal trainer program which we will talk more about next.
iFit
iFit is probably the most interesting feature that makes Nordictrack stand out from the competition.
It is both a training platform and an app that you can install on your phone and tablet. iFit offers professionally made workouts that can be synced with your NordicTrack device.
What makes this technology really interesting is that the workouts are completely automated with your iFit compatible NordicTrack equipment.
This means that iFit will adjust things like incline, pace, and resistance automatically based on your selected routine and fitness level.
I can see the benefit in this. They are essentially selling a personalized but automated service that allows you to focus on the workout.
One of the main reasons people give up on regular workouts is the fact that they take planning. People often overdo their workouts in the beginning and end up resenting them.
Or they don’t plan their workouts long enough for them to become a habit and thus forget all about them.
An automated fitness routine that plans everything for you so all you have to do is get on the machine and start following the given workout.
iFit For Seniors?
But is iFit suitable for seniors? Well, it seems it is. Mostly. The workouts are scaled to suit any fitness and experience level so it should work for most seniors as well.
That said, there don’t seem to be workouts that are planned specifically for seniors or the elderly. So it’s a better fit for generally healthy and active seniors.
Of course, if you have any medical conditions that affect your ability to exercise it’s very important to plan the exercise with your doctor and/or physical therapist.
iFit is a subscription service and it currently costs $180 a year for an individual license, so the service comes with a price. NordicTrack machines also are on the more expensive side.
But if you can afford them, they are a great option for helping you maintain your physical fitness as you age.
That said, it’s completely possible to take care of your fitness for free by doing bodyweight training and walking for example.
NordicTrack Treadmills For Seniors
NordicTrack offers a range of treadmills especially for commercial use in gyms etc. but you can buy them directly as well. They also offer a consumer version with a more affordable price tag.
The commercial versions are presumably built a bit tougher to stand up for the much more continuous use in gym settings.
NordicTrack treadmills come basically in two variations, regular and incline. The incline treadmills include a mechanism that can adjust the incline of the belt, emulating hills.
What makes these incline treadmills cool is combining them with the iFit software allows you to get a similar workout as running or walking outdoors in variable terrain.
All NordicTrack treadmills come equipped with high-definition touchscreens for controls and workouts and enough features to cover even demanding treadmill training for seniors.
NordicTrack Bikes For Seniors
NordicTrack also has a lineup of exercise bikes ranging from commercial studio bikes to recumbent bikes to regular upright exercise bikes.
The feature that sets NordicTrack apart from the competition is once against the interactive personal training features of the iFit app.
That said, their consumer bikes seem to be very well built, offer a lot of features like heart rate monitoring and a silent magnetic resistance system.
They seem to have a relatively small footprint making them a good option for home use. The cheapest model starts at $999 so the price is still acceptable considering the features.
NordicTrack Ellipticals For Seniors
NordicTrack also offers three types of ellipticals if you are looking for a cardio workout that uses the whole body. Elliptical machines, also known as cross trainers, are really effective and easier on the joints than running so they are generally a good option for seniors.
NordicTrack’s most innovative elliptical machines are what they call FreeStride Trainer Ellipticals. They are basically an elliptical, stepper, and treadmill in one machine.
They also offer more conventional front-drive and rear-drive ellipticals. Rear-drive ellipticals are specially designed with a space-saving design, so they are a good option if you don’t have too much space.
The ellipticals are of course equipped with the iFIT AutoAdjust technology that allows automatic adjustment of the incline and resistance by the workout app.
Once again, there are cheaper options on the market, but the NordicTrack ellipticals are packed with features, have a good reputation, and are still reasonably priced.
NordicTrack Rowers For Seniors
As if treadmills, exercise bikes, and elliptical machines were not enough to meet all your cardio needs, NordicTrack offers one more option: Rowing machines.
Rowing machines are a great form of exercise for seniors because they develop and strengthen the posterior chain, meaning your hamstrings, hips, and back muscles.
That said, rowing is mainly used for cardiovascular exercise but depending on the intensity it can help develop strength.
NordicTrack offers a range of rowing machines that are equipped with smart screens, space-saving design and pivoting pedals.
The feature that seems to change most with the premium models is the size of the screen. So if you can make do with a smaller screen, to starter model seems to be a pretty good rowing machine with the added iFit function.
NordicTrack Strength Machines For Seniors
Besides cardio machines NordicTrack also offers a line of strength training equipment. Probably the most interesting piece of equipment is the Fusion CST cable machine that offers the iFIT interactive training.
To be honest, considering the price and size of the Fusion CST in my opinion there are better strength training equipment or services for the price. I say this because in my experience machines consisting of pulley systems and try to train the whole body just aren’t that great. In my experience, you can get better results with bodyweight training so it’s hard to justify the price.
That said, they offer clear instructions and enough resistance for most seniors, they might be the perfect option for you if you like technology, have the cash, and the room.
NordicTrack also offers another very interesting, albeit expensive strength training product: The Vault.
The Vault is basically a huge smart screen with a personal gym instructor and a closet full strength training equipment like dumbbells, resistance bands and blocks.
While I think the whole virtual personal trainer is a great idea, once again the price is hard to justify. The vault starts at $1,999 and I feel like you are basically paying for a large screen, not for effective strength training equipment. For the same money, you could hire a trainer to make a program for you at the gym.
Once again, if you have the money and like the idea, I’m sure this can motivate some folks to exercise and the exercise equipment should be enough for seniors training for health.
Conclusion
I hope you found this article about NordicTrack useful. If you have any questions you can leave them in the comments section below and I’ll do my best to answer them for you.
Overall NordicTrack seems to be a high-quality exercise equipment brand with some innovative features like the iFit personal trainer app.
That said, the quality and features come at a price. A price tag in this case. So NordicTrack equipment are somewhat expensive and while the iFit service seems very nice, it comes with a recurring subscription fee.
If money is not an issue, NordicTrack offers a very good product line and service for staying fit as you age. But if you are on a budget, I can’t really recommend spending more than you can afford on an exercise machine.
When it comes to exercise and fitness, you are the most important piece of the puzzle. An expensive machine can motivate some people to exercise and they can help you plan your workouts but they are not going to do the exercise for you. That’s your job.
As you surely know, exercise doesn’t have to cost anything so please don’t fool yourself into buying expensive equipment you can’t afford in hopes for it to motivate you to exercise. The world is filled with exercise bikes turned into clothing racks.
You can keep fit simply by doing bodyweight exercises, walking, and being active. Actual productive work like gardening or carpentry are also excellent forms of exercise that can even be turned into an income if you are struggling financially.
Exercise machines can help, but invest in them wisely and only if you can afford them. If you can afford it, NordicTrack seems to be one of the best brands on the market right now.
Thanks for reading and see you next time!