at home gym...

[Deuce2High]

I'm going for an at-home small gym experience. Freeweights and a utility bench, maybe a bench for chest / incline if possible, maybe something for squats or legs and some sort of cardio machine or some combination of the sort for a good easy balance of freeweights / cardio / and strength training. the room size is a standard bedroom on the second floor of my house and its probably 14x12 or something of the sort. thats not very much room, i was hoping anyone could throw out a couple dimes of advice as to what kind of equipment would best suit the needs of my roomates and i.

[J.Brown]

i have a home gym that i did ALL wrong and now am paying the price.

get an oly bar and a stand. you can do almost anything then.
get a pull up bar.
get a jump rope.
avoid cardio equipment unless you will REALLY use it.
get some spots to get your body on the ground for pushups/situps/burpees. meaning mats or flooring.
if you want dumbells get adjustable ones.
(that is the only good move i made)
get one good bench if you must, but not totally necessary.

my home gym is bike and treadmill both used, but...
powerblock dumbells. good, but expensive.
speed bad and heavy bag. never used really.
big tv and stereo. waste of space.
mirrors. really dumb.
bench. never really used anymore.

wish i could do it over, maybe i actually will.

later. J.

[Efourdee]

If I was planning on putting a home gym together.

Heres what I would get listed by order of importance:

Olympic Bar with Weight Set
Power Cage/Squat Rack
Pullup and Dip Attachments for PC/Squat Rack
Adjustable Bench (Flat, Incline, Military)
Set of Dumbells -Up to as heavy as I could afford.

Just go for a run if you want cardio.

[kyleb]

I have:

Power rack (has pullup attachment)
Olympic bar with weight set
Flat bench
2x5 lb dumbbells and SPRI bands

Would like a full set of dumbbells but haven't had the money to set aside for more workout equipment as of late. I still go to the actual gym down the street to work out as well.

[longbody]

Home Gym #1
Olympic barbell set and a rubber mat (or build a cheap platform if needed). A power rack if you have the dough.

Home Gym #2
A kettlebell or kettlebells

Home Gym #3
A pullup bar and/or some power rings. Both is better.

These recommendations come from Pavel Tsatsouline.

Decide on what kind of work you'll be doing and get your self a book or two. I think Tsatsouline's and Ross Enamait's books are best for doing your own thing at home. Enamait has plans for cheap, homemade dumbbells and all kinds of conditioning/cardio stuff. Tsatsouline has good books on strength using weights or bodyweight.

[cbloom]

I've given up on home gyms. If you work out seriously at all, you want to have access to a full gym. If you just want to do a little workout at home, you can do bodyweight stuff that's plenty hard or improvise some weighting with chains/whatever.

Cardio equipment is pretty much always a huge -EV purchase. Just go run outside or ride a bike, or do tabatas or something, you don't need some big bulky expensive piece of junk.

[Blarg]

Some of the above ideas are good; I'd just like to mention that bands are very good too. Extremely light and portable, yet you can get them at effective weight resistances up to about 200 lbs each. A couple of those and you can be doing deadlifts. Those you need some handles for, which jumpstretch also sells. The smaller bands you can hold in your hand. You can combine them, too, in ways that let you increment the weight from deadlifts down to exercises you'll do with just your thumb. Plus, they are also good for assisted stretching and rehab. You can also use the in combination with weights, including kettlebells, to work on explosiveness and effectively add weight without buying more weights. (This an be a huge moneysaver with kettlebells in particular.) You can get started on a nice set of pairs of all the sizes up to the 200 lb. size for like $150 in total.

If you're even halfway creative, you can figure out all kinds of cool and tough exercises and stretches with them. Or you can just duplicate almost any weightlifting exercise.

[longbody]

[ QUOTE ]
I've given up on home gyms. If you work out seriously at all, you want to have access to a full gym. If you just want to do a little workout at home, you can do bodyweight stuff that's plenty hard or improvise some weighting with chains/whatever.


[/ QUOTE ]

I think gyms are -EV. Even if you spend a ton on a nice Oly set, kettlebells, rack, etc., it surely beats paying a gym membership the rest of your life.
I'm to a point where there is nothing in the gym I even care about, except the hot tub.
Whats at the gym you can't live without?

[Weir]

i have a built in "pull up bar" in my apartment:



i am terrified to attempt to use it though, i think my whole apartment might fall on my head.

[1C5]

hahahah that thing will not hold you.