Building Your Own Home Gym
What Equipment You Should Purchase
by Bob Magill
Home gyms are becoming a popular alternative to fitness clubs due to their convenience and relative inexpensiveness. Many regular gym-goers eventually forgo their memberships in favor of purchasing their own equipment. Having your own home gym means that you won’t be wasting time driving to and from the gym or waiting for certain machines to be free. You won’t have to deal with the “egos” that normally come with a lot of fitness centers.
There are a few drawbacks to having a home gym. Firstly, it may be expensive to purchase the equipment although you make it back within a few years of cancelling your gym membership. Second, if you lack motivation, a home gym may make it easier for you to say “not today”. You will need to demonstrate self-discipline in order to make a home gym worth it.
That being said, let’s talk more about what pieces of equipment are ideal to include in your home gym and what you should let stay at professional fitness clubs.
What you should include:
* Adjustable bench – In order to effectively target major upper body muscles, having a good quality adjustable bench is key. You will be able to do all free weight exercises that require either a sitting, inclined, or pronated position for under $200.
* Set of dumbbells – Purchase a few sets of dumbbells to start your gym off. You can always purchase more when you need to. Dumbbells are the ideal way to add tension into your workouts because they require use of stabilizing muscles and are the most efficient at hypertrophy. * An anti-burst stability ball – An amazing little inexpensive piece of equipment, the anti-burst stability ball can be used for a variety of different exercises such as core strengthening or as a make-shift bench for total body engagement.
* Cardio equipment – Choose a piece of cardio equipment (treadmill, elliptical Trainers, or stationary bike) that you enjoy and will continue using. Nothing is worse than spending hundreds of dollars on a piece of equipment that you like to look at, but don’t like to use. While using the same piece of equipment week after week can become monotonous, try searching local classifieds for used pieces of equipment so you can splurge and buy two so you can mix it up whenever you feel like it.
* Power rack – A power rack isn’t the most important piece of equipment, but it definitely can add some much needed variety and strength into your workout. Try to avoid machines that offer isolated exercises such as the assisted pull up machine or the triceps dip. Although they do effectively work the right muscles, these big, bulky and often expensive machines don’t offer the range of exercises that are suitable for a home gym environment.
About the Author
Bob likes to write on various topics and has been doing so for more than a few years. His newest site is http://miniflatiron.org which supplies people with information on purchasing a mini hair straightener.
Tags: home gym