Gym membership is on the up, but the trouble is that, in today's sedentary world, the numbers actually using their membership do not match up with the numbers paying for the privilege of being part of a fitness club.

There could be a solution, and one which is not tantamount to flushing hundreds of euro down the toilet every month. Home fitness equipment is one of the growth industries in the wellbeing sector, and its success is based around a number of factors.

A prime consideration is the time element. With all the best intentions, it is sometimes not practical for people to take time out of their busy lifestyles to attend a gym. "But it's only a halfhour workout", say the righteous. Unfortunately, it is not always that simple. There is the time taken to travel to the gym, find parking, change, sometimes wait for equipment to become free, shower, preen, find your car, and drive home. Which is a lot longer than the actual workout itself.

Another reason for people to opt for home fitness over gym membership is the self-consciousness factor, which is particularly prevalent amongst women. Some people can feel intimidated by the atmosphere in a gym, and may prefer not to have the eyes of the public on them as they work out. A home system can serve this purpose, and often at a fraction of the cost of a prolonged gym membership.

But what should people be buying?

"Not everything will be for everyone, " said Tony Kelly, managing director of Star Fitness, a leading home fitness supplier. "People have to tell us what it is that they want, although, often, they do not know why it is that they want a certain piece.

So, as well as listening to our customers, we try to give them some advice on what is best for them."

Sometimes what is best will be as simple as a treadmill, a cross trainer, a rowing machine or an exercise bicycle (although Kelly states that the bikes are the least beneficial in that they exercise the lowest number of muscles). Sometimes it will be resistance equipment, and Kelly usually steers people towards a multi-station rather than free weights, where technique and safety are greater considerations.

Usually it will be a combination of both cardio-vascular and resistance exercise solutions. But whatever the decision, Star Fitness will look to educate people in what they need, insofar as a short consultation will allow it.

Still, as with everything, a final consideration will be price, and Kelly claims that people are often surprised at the prices of quality equipment - firstly because they would expect to be paying the sorts of prices that would be appropriate for commercial gyms, and secondly because they have been put off by the "cheap and nasty" equipment that they might have seen advertised through certain media. Obviously, nothing in this world will come particularly cheaply, but when people actually experience what they can get for their money, it might be enough to make them reconsider shelling out vast sums of money for a membership that they rarely use.