Whether you’re buying a new treadmill, elliptical, or simply looking for some advice on how to improve your health, it’s important to find a company that goes the extra mile for its customers and values their fitness.
That’s why we put together this quick roundup of the top 10 fitness company blogs, to help highlight the companies who continue to go the extra mile by producing regular content that’s both informative and interesting.
But beyond the content you’ll find on their blogs, they also produce some of the highest quality and most sought after fitness products in the world, ranging from personal fitness trackers through to full commercial fitness installations for your local gym or health club.
1. Bowflex
Bowflex have established themselves as one of the leading home fitness equipment companies in the world, with a product line that includes bestselling weights benches, dumbbells, and home gym systems.
One of the reasons Bowflex equipment has proven so popular is the company’s reputation for being an innovator, producing home gyms that rely on Power Rods and discs rather than cables and weight stacks.
But their passion for innovation extends beyond weight training equipment and into cardiovascular exercise, creating one of the most popular home cardio lines ever in the form of the Treadclimber.
Choosing to avoid the more conventional treadmill and elliptical designs, Bowflex created a single fitness machine that combined the benefits of a stepper, stairclimber, and elliptical. But although the original Treadclimber was first released 10 years ago, Bowflex continue to produce multi-award winning cardio equipment, most recently in the form of their M3 and M5 Max Trainers.
In addition to their home fitness equipment, Bowflex have also created an incredibly useful fitness and nutrition resource, in the form of the Bowflex Insider blog.
This is where you can find hundreds of articles designed to help you improve your health and fitness, on subjects such as diet, training, motivational success stories, and preparation.
2. Fitbit
As a pioneer in the wearable fitness tech field, Fitbit have gone from strength to strength in recent years with the release of several new fitness trackers and an incredibly successful listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Building on the success of their Everyday Fitness collection (includes the Charge, Zip, and Flex), Fitbit released the ChargeHR and their first fitness super watch in the form of the Fitbit Surge.
With thousands of reviews on Amazon alone, the Fitbit line of personal fitness devices is the most popular in the world, with over 20 million devices sold across more than 50 countries since it started.
The same passion that Fitbit holds for helping you improve your health and fitness also shines through in their blog, where you can find hundreds of articles dedicated to all aspects of healthy living.
The truth is we love everything about the Fitbit blog, from the clean, fresh layout that’s true to company colors, through to the photography, navigation, and responsiveness that makes it just as easy to read on your smartphone as it is on a desktop.
New articles on strength training, running, workouts, motivation, or nutrition are added on an almost daily basis, with plenty of success stories, fitness strategies, and product updates if you currently own or are thinking about buying a Fitbit.
3. Reebok
When we put together our fitness company blog guide for 2015, we were aware that Reebok had a blog, but it wasn’t being actively updated on anywhere near the same level as companies like Fitbit and Bowflex.
Fast forward 12 months and it’s a completely different story, with Reebok putting out over 200 blog posts in 2015 alone, compared with the 50 that were published in 2014.
But it’s not just the quantity that’s seen such an improvement, with much more varied content, high quality photography, and useful advice on everything from preparing for CrossFit competitions through to Yoga poses and travel workouts.
Reebok also do an excellent job of showcasing their product line, and regularly feature profiles of their athletes, including #TeamReebokUK. If you’re new to the Reebok blog and looking for training advice these can be a great resource to get started with, offering valuable training tips and motivational stories from experienced CrossFitters.
If you’re interested in fitness fashion there are also dozens of articles on Reeboks latest clothing lines, including seasonal lookbooks like this one for Fall/Winter 2015.
The blog blends in well with their main site, meaning that once you’re done checking out the latest CrossFit workout, you can jump straight over to their CrossFit products and pick out some apparel for your next training session.
A great all round fitness blog, with a strong focus on fitness apparel and CrossFit.
4. Precision Nutrition
Precision Nutrition has been featured by The New York Times, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, and LiveStrong, amongst others, as one of the fitness industry’s leading names in nutrition and health coaching, helping over 35,000 men and women lose over 450,000 pounds in the last 12 years.
What’s now become one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Fitness Companies in 2015, as rated by Fast Company, started in 2003 when co-founders Dr.John Berardi and Phil Caravaggio founded Precision Nutrition as a way of sharing their knowledge of fitness and nutrition with clients and fitness professionals around the world.
Today, the team is made up of world-class coaches, nutritionists, health scientists, and many more, who are helping make fitness an enjoyable part of life for thousands of people participating in their coaching and professional certification programs.
As well as their coaching, Precision Nutrition have also developed a nutrition program that’s been tested and perfected on over 30,000 of their clients, containing information designed to help you lose fat, gain muscle, and improve your health.
To find out more about the program and what’s contained in each of the 11 modules, ranging from diet guides to 5-minute meal ideas, it’s worth taking a look at their website.
In addition to the coaching, certifications, starter kits, and nutrition program, Precision Nutrition have one of the best health and fitness blogs online, with over 600 articles and infographics to help with clean eating, healthy meal ideas, and supplementation.
5. Oiselle
Oiselle is a running apparel company with a flagship store in Seattle’s University Village, whose name is a French word for bird, encompassing the feeling of weightlessness and freedom when running.
But as well as being a successful business and having a beautifully designed website, Oiselle also have a Professional Elite Racing Team with members who look to compete at the highest levels of the sport. To find out more about the athletes, upcoming races, and potentially joining the team, it’s worth taking a look at their athletes page.
The blog itself was started in October 2010, and is now home to hundreds of articles dedicated to all aspects of running, including everything from World Championship Racing to Marathon guides and cross country, all authored by members of the Oiselle team.
Although most of the articles are based around aspects of racing, training, and nutrition, there’s also a number of features on the Oiselle athletes, as well as a collection of articles showcasing their line of running apparel that are perfect for anyone needing the latest trends for the current season.
6. Precor
Precor are perhaps best known for their commercial cardio and strength machines, which is the fitness equipment of choice for health clubs, hotels, spas, and universities around the world. This includes their innovative AMT elliptical trainers, high-spec Precision series treadmills, and wide range of upright and recumbent bikes fitted with the latest in fitness entertainment technology.
Established in 1980, Precor developed the first ergonomically sound rowing machine in the form of the Amerec 610, and continued their innovation in the fitness industry for the past 35+ years. This includes their AMT machines, EFX Elliptical Crosstrainers, and Integrated Footplant Technology (IFT) which is built into many of their recent treadmills.
There’s also a consistent focus on improving your fitness experience, which in recent years has led to the integration of an advanced workout tracking tool (Preva®), and display consoles with a variety of entertainment options.
But as well as being one of the biggest names in home and commercial fitness equipment, Precor also have an excellent blog filled with useful resources for a range of topics, including fitness tips, personal training, and workout ideas.
The Precor blog is definitely the best option to follow out of our top 10 if you currently operate a commercial gym, or are interested in growing your personal training business. However, for many of the business oriented guides you do have to fill in a short form to gain access to the full article.
7. Hello Healthy (MyFitnessPal)
MyFitnessPal joins the MapMyFitness collection of apps to form part of the Under Armour Connected Fitness family, which together are designed to improve your overall health by helping you keep track of your exercise and nutrition.
By signing up for a free membership you gain access to a searchable database of over 1,000,000 items, or you can even add your own and specify the portion size and level of macronutrients, such as protein, carbs, and fats. This makes it easier for you to quickly log the same food next time.
Because the food database is driven by community submissions and includes supermarkets and restaurants, you can often check the macronutrient distribution (find which supermarket has chicken with the highest protein), by using their free app.
As well as being able to log your food, you can also record your exercise. With hundreds of exercises already stored in the database, you can quickly record your activity and the duration, as well as the number of calories burned.
In addition to their hugely successful app, MyFitnessPal also has an excellent blog, called Hello Healthy.
Started in the summer of 2013, Hello Healthy has quickly built up an impressive collection of articles covering all aspects of health, nutrition, and fitness, from listing affordable protein-rich foods, to ways of burning more calories while walking.
8. Atlas Wearables
The Atlas Wristband started as a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in Spring of 2014, around the same time as the Atlas Wearables blog was created.
In recent years there’s been no shortage of personal fitness trackers from the likes of Fitbit, Jawbone, Misfit, and Garmin amongst others, but they all focussed on tracking your cardiovascular workouts rather than resistance training.
What made the Atlas Wristband stand out is that it’s designed entirely around tracking your weight training, including the number of reps performed with a given weight during each set.
Because the Atlas blog was started towards the beginning of the project, it’s a great place to track the different development cycles, updates, and testing that goes into a product like this.
The best part is that the summer of 2015 saw the first orders being shipped, meaning that you can follow the blog updates from the very beginning, right the way through to a finished product.
At the current time the trackers are still being sent out on a quarterly basis, but the blog itself has been expanded well beyond project updates. It now includes a wide range of health and fitness articles, as well as training updates from people using the Atlas Wristband and how it can be used as a tool for planning better workouts.
9. Horizon Fitness
Another of the big names in home fitness equipment is Johnson Fitness, which is the name behind the Horizon Fitness and Vision Fitness brands.
Specialists in creating equipment that’s packed with easy-to-use features, both Horizon and Vision each have product ranges that include treadmills, rowing machines, exercise bikes, and elliptical trainers. There’s even a virtual room planner by Icovia, similar to the one we’ve seen used by Precor.
As for the blog, the articles cover a wide variety of health and nutrition topics, but with a trend towards motivation, equipment reviews, and meal preparation.
But one of the best features is their coaching articles, which offer advice on how to train for challenging fitness events and improve your personal best race times.
10. Life Fitness
For over 45 years, Life Fitness has been developing innovative fitness solutions for both home and commercial gyms, releasing their first treadmill in 1991 before moving into strength training solutions in 1995 after acquiring High Tech Professional Strength Systems.
Just 2 years later Life Fitness also acquired Hammer Strength, which continues to be one of the biggest names in plate loaded strength training equipment today, based on their high level of build quality and wide range of exercise options.
In 2003 Life Fitness also released their own line of strength equipment with the Signature Series selectorized equipment, which went on to become the most popular line of strength training equipment in the world.
Continuing their talent for innovation, Life Fitness integrated iPod compatibility into a number of recumbent and upright bikes, as well as treadmills and ellipticals to form their Elevation Series in 2007, just 1 year before the launch of the Virtual Trainer website.
Virtual Trainer was a predecessor to LFconnect.com, and was designed as an early way to track your workout progress, as well as for creating and downloading custom workouts.
Since 2011 Life Fitness have continued to increase their focus on group training, releasing their award-winning Lifecycle GX group cycle and SYNRGY360 group training system. Most recently there has been a significant progression towards more engaging and connected workouts through the Discover Tablet and LFconnect app, as well as a new extension of SYNRGY with SYNRGY BlueSky in 2014.
As a company, Life Fitness continues to launch new, innovative cardio and strength training equipment lines, including Hammer Strength Select, and the PowerMill Climber.
The Life Fitness blog is also noteworthy for its collection of articles designed to support you with your fitness goals and living a healthy lifestyle. This is regularly updated with their latest innovations, advice on choosing the best cardio equipment and workout apparel, getting the most from HIIT training, and much more.
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