Methodology

This page explains two things: how FitVilo researches and checks the guides on the site, and exactly how the interactive tools work. The short version is that the calculators are transparent models built on published figures. They are not physical tests, and FitVilo runs no lab. Every coefficient a tool uses is listed below so you can check the output against the source yourself.

How we research and check a guide

FitVilo is written by a small editorial team, not a single named expert. The work that stands behind a guide is the reading: manufacturer specifications, product manuals, building and acoustic standards, official statistics, and reporting from established outlets, read against how a piece of gear or a routine behaves in a real apartment.

Before a number reaches a published page, it gets checked against a primary or official source where one exists. Floor-noise limits trace to national rules and standards bodies. Floor-load figures trace to building codes. Equipment dimensions trace to manufacturer product pages. When a guide leans on documentation rather than hands-on use, it says so plainly instead of dressing research up as first-hand testing. Dates, prices, and specifications drift, so pages carry a last-reviewed date and get updated when the underlying figure changes.

How the calculators work

Each tool is a small, fixed model. It takes a few inputs, applies the published figures listed here, and returns a result. The math is deliberately simple and visible. None of the tools store your inputs or send them anywhere; they compute in your browser as you type. A model is an estimate, not a measurement, and the right use is as a planning starting point, not a guarantee about your specific building.

Apartment noise-risk estimate

This tool estimates how much an apartment workout disturbs the unit below and names the single highest-leverage fix.

The basis is published ground-reaction-force research and impact-sound limits. Walking lands at roughly 1.0 to 1.5 times bodyweight per step, and running at about 2.0 to 2.9 times, per Nilsson and Thorstensson (1989). On the limit side, Germany’s DIN 4109 caps impact sound at a separating floor near 50 dB, and South Korea writes a legal direct-impact limit of 39 dB(A) by day and 34 dB(A) at night.

Inputs: your floor situation, the time of day, the exercise type, the mat under you, and your footwear. The model assigns a base score from the exercise (static 0, standing band work 1, dynamic floor 2, jumping or running 3), then adjusts it. A dense rubber mat of 10 mm or more subtracts 1; thin foam subtracts nothing, because foam does little for transmitted impact. A session after roughly 10pm adds 1. Going barefoot during dynamic or jumping work adds 1. The score is clamped at zero and read as low (0 or below), medium (1 to 2), or high (3 or more). A ground-floor situation always returns low. The recommendation is chosen by priority, leading with the case where no mat thickness makes the activity safe.

What fits your clear floor zone

This tool takes the clear floor area you can spare and lists which home-gym options fit, naming the binding dimension for each that does not.

The basis is published-typical use-envelope dimensions, in meters, for each option: mat or bodyweight 1.8 by 0.6, resistance bands 2.0 by 1.0, adjustable dumbbells with room to use 1.5 by 1.5, a folding bench with clearance 2.0 by 1.2, a foldable exercise bike use envelope 1.3 by 0.7, and a walking pad unfolded 1.4 by 0.55. An option fits when the shorter side of your zone clears the shorter required side and the longer side clears the longer required side. If you check the box for clearing the space after each session, bulky items that do not stow easily, a loaded dumbbell rack and a bike, are flagged as fitting in use but hard to clear.

Foldability time cost

This tool turns the time a piece of gear takes to set up and pack away into the hours per year you spend on the fold cycle, then names a friction band.

It is pure arithmetic with no invented coefficients. Per-cycle seconds is the seconds to unfold plus the seconds to fold. Minutes per year is the per-cycle seconds divided by 60, times sessions per week, times weeks per year (defaulting to 50). Hours per year is those minutes divided by 60, rounded to one decimal place. The friction verdict is a usage guideline, not a measurement: a per-cycle time of 120 seconds or more, or 10 or more hours a year, reads as high friction; 4 or more hours a year reads as moderate; anything below that reads as low. The thresholds describe how setup time tends to affect whether gear keeps getting used, drawn from the retrieval-friction pattern the storage and foldable-gear guides describe, not from a measured study of any one product.

Home setup vs gym membership

This tool finds the break-even point between a one-time home setup and an ongoing gym membership. It is pure arithmetic with no invented coefficients, and it is currency-neutral.

It takes your monthly membership, sessions per week, one-way commute minutes, commute cost per trip, and one-time equipment budget. Monthly commute cost is the per-trip cost times sessions per week times 4.33, the average number of weeks in a month. Monthly gym total adds that to the membership. Break-even months is the equipment budget divided by the monthly gym total, rounded up to a whole month, shown as a dash if the gym total is zero. Hours saved per year is sessions per week times 52 times the round-trip commute in hours. The three-year comparison sets the gym at its monthly total times 36 against the equipment budget, treated as a one-time cost over a three-year lifespan with no resale value counted. That lifespan is an assumption, and the tool states it.

Equipment dataset scoring

The walking pad and treadmill dataset is a compiled record, not a test bench. Each row is built from a published manufacturer or retailer spec page, and that page is linked from the row itself. Every entry also carries the date the page was read, so a figure that later drifts can be traced back to what the source said on that day. FitVilo runs no lab and times no machines. Where a spec page does not list a value, the field is left empty rather than filled from memory, because a blank is honest and a guessed number is not.

The apartment-fit score is computed from four published numbers, each rescaled to a 0-to-1 range and then clamped. Folded height rewards a flat fold: 14 cm or less scores 1, 30 cm or more scores 0, and heights between fall on a straight line as (30 minus the height) divided by 16. Footprint uses the unfolded length times width in square meters: 0.8 or less scores 1, 1.5 or more scores 0, and the span between is (1.5 minus the area) divided by 0.7. Top speed stands in as an impact proxy, not a noise reading, because faster machines invite running and running drives far more force into a floor: 6 km/h or less scores 1, 16 km/h or more scores 0, and the middle is (16 minus the speed) divided by 10. Weight rewards portability: 30 kg or less scores 1, 90 kg or more scores 0, and the range between is (90 minus the weight) divided by 60.

The four factors carry fixed weights: folded height 0.30, footprint 0.25, top speed 0.25, and weight 0.20. The score is the weighted average times 100, rounded to a whole number. When a source omits a factor, that factor drops out and the remaining weights are rescaled to sum to 1, so a partial record is never penalised for a missing field. If two or more factors are missing, the row is flagged as partial. The row also names its dominant limiting factor, the available factor with the lowest rescaled value. These scores come from published numbers run through fixed arithmetic. They are not physical test results.