So You Want To Build A Home Gym

I walked into the commercial gym yesterday after a long day of work excited to begin my workout. After warming up I proceeded to the squat rack to start my resistance training workout. I unfortunately ran into a bit of a roadblock. I was planning on starting with some Back Squats but there was a young man in the power rack performing barbell biceps curls with horrible form (a definite no-no!).

I decided to go to Plan B and rearrange my workout only to find that the flat benches were all occupied as well. This trend continued and everywhere I turned the equipment I desired was being used. I was happy that so many people were working out but at the same time I was frustrated that my well-laid plans were spoiled. I learned a long time ago that it is wise to have a back-up plan in place for situations like this so I decided to head home and revert to Plan C, which was my home workout routine.

I have found that having the option to workout at home is essential for people with busy schedules, for others who do not like going to crowded gyms, or for people who need a contingency plan for just-in-case situations (that’s me!). Another reason to have a home gym is that warmer weather has finally arrived and you may be less likely to go to your commercial gym.

I have helped people design expensive, well-equipped home gyms and I have helped others design very cost-effective, space-saving workouts areas. My personal home gym consists of a Stability Ball, 5lb to 95lb Dumbbells, some Kettlebells, an adjustable Weighted Vest, Adjustable DB Handles, Elastic Bands, 2kg to 10kg Medicine Balls, Ankle Weights, an AB Roller, a variety of Exercise Videos, and a minimal amount of space!

Anyone can have a Home Gym and there are many reasons to have one. The following list of questions should help you design a Home Gym that will suit your needs, your space, and your budget!

Questions To Ask When Building Your Home Gym:

The First Step: Ask Yourself Why?

Why do you want a home gym? What will it give you that you do not already have? What is your empowering vision of your ideal physique or athletic accomplishment? What are your short and long term goals? Always begin with a vision of the end results in mind, as this will guide you in your efforts. If you have not developed a vision of what you want to accomplish at this point, then that is the first thing you need to do. Develop a plan of attack for building your body and building your home gym.

Without a plan you might end up disappointed with the lack of results and frustrated that you bought the wrong equipment. Ask yourself what kind of results you expect your home gym to deliver? Is your home gym going to supplement your commercial gym membership (as a contingency plan)? Will you be doing your cardiovascular exercise outside or inside on a machine? Will you be doing stretching, strength training, or both? Is your home gym going to be the only place that you work out? Think about these things when designing your home gym.

I. How much are you willing to spend ($$$$$$$)?

How much do you want to spend, plain and simple? If you are just starting out with an exercise program, you might consider starting small with a simple, yet very effective, pair of Dumbbells. You can perform a full-body workout with a pair of dumbbells, some bodyweight exercises, and with a little knowledgeable of proper exercise technique. If you want to do it inexpensively, hire a knowledgeable fitness professional to design an individualized exercise program that you can do with a pair of Dumbbells in the comfort of your home. I have listed a variety of items that you might consider adding to your home gym.

Equipment Considerations:

A. Cardiovascular Machine

If you insist on performing your cardiovascular exercise routine at home be prepared to spend some money! Be aware, a gym quality treadmill, stationary bike, rowing ergometer, or elliptical trainer is going to cost you. You can buy used or refurbished gym quality equipment for a discounted price and if I wanted a cardio machine for my home this is probably the route that I would take. If you are thinking, “I’ll just save a few hundred dollars and buy an inexpensive treadmill at the mall,” make sure you do some research and ensure that you will buy something that is going to last and that will fit y our needs. I know many people who have purchased flimsy treadmills and regretted it soon thereafter. There are quality treadmills out there you just have to know where to look. I would recommend talking to my friend Bob McKinnon at McKinnon Technical Services (603-644-7539) who knows gym equipment like the back of his hand. He can point you in the right direction if you want to!

B. A Multi-Purpose Home Gym Machine

There are numerous multi-purpose gyms on the market and some are better than others. Chances are, if you turn on your television late at night and flip through the channels, you will be exposed to clever marketing using beautifully sculpted fitness models promising results in six weeks or less if you purchase their machine! Guess what. You can get results without a two thousand dollar machine that will most likely be collecting dust in a year anyway! Why not begin your quest for improved fitness with a modest investment in a pair of Dumbbells? Why not purchase a $20 book on how to get into shape? How about meeting with someone who specializes in coaching people through the process of positive physical change such as fitness professional or Registered Dietitian? Infomercials are notorious for clever marketing and they can be very compelling. Avoid impulsive buying and do some research first before purchasing an expensive multi-gym. I recommend consulting a qualified fitness professional about the usefulness of such a machine, interviewing people who have that machine, and possibly even test-driving one before you make this decision. I have to mention that every Spring and Fall I see countless multi-gyms sitting out on someone’s lawn as part of the annual yard sale. I wonder why that is?
Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar

Home Gyms: Universal vs. Free Weights.

The two most common types of home gyms are universal and free weight home gyms. Universal home gyms can be used to exercise every muscle group in the body, while free weight home gyms are usually less versatile. Universal home gyms on the average are more expensive and take up more space than free weight home gyms. Both universal and free weight models can be the best depending on what the consumer is looking for.

For a household whose members have different fitness goals, a universal home gym is probably the best buy. There are two main types of universal gyms, those that have a weight stack built in, and those that use an alternative form of resistance. The alternative to weights can be long, flexible bows, industrial strength rubber bands, or cables. Both forms of resistance are designed to flow smoothly and help the user avoid any unnatural strain. Care should be taken to ensure that universal home gyms are used properly and the user is not jerking or yanking on the equipment. Improper use could lead to pulled muscles and painful strains.

Both types of universal home gyms have their advantages. Those with weight stacks are often seen as more durable. They are along the lines of what is found in a public gym; however, home gyms with built in weight stacks are also among the most expensive on the market. Prices range from around $800 on the low end to well over $2,500 for a top quality machine. The disadvantages to these home gyms, besides the price, are that they are large, heavy, and immobile.

Universal home gyms that use alternative forms of resistance are less expensive than those with weight stacks. The Weider Crossbow, for example, costs around $500. Home gyms of this type are smaller and lighter than systems with weight stacks. Some alternative resistance home gyms can be compacted to fit in a closet.

Free weight home gyms include some of the best home gyms on the market. They are less expensive, take up less space, and are more traditional than universal home gyms.

A free weight home gym can be very useful for strength and endurance building exercises. There are three main types of free weight home gyms: the weight bench, the power rack and the power cage. One thing that all of these home gyms have in common is that the buyer has to purchase the weights separately. Some people buy more than one type of free weight home gym in order to have more versatile workout options.

A weight bench home gym consists of an adjustable bench, collars, a long metal bar, some dumbbells, a rack, and weights. The user puts the weights on either the bar or dumbbells and secures them with the collars. The bench can be adjusted depending on the type of exercise the user wants to do. A full weight bench home gym can range from a few hundred dollars to over a thousand.

A power rack is a tall structure with a long metal bar and various heights where the bar can be placed. Power racks are good for strength exercises such as squats and lateral lifts. Power racks cost in the range of $500 to $1,000.

A power cage is very similar to a power rack, but it has a more three dimensional structure that limits the forward and backward movement of the user. Power cages on average cost a few hundred dollars more than power racks.

Free weight home gyms, especially weight benches, can be perfect for people whose main goal is to build strength. One problem with free weights is that they can be less safe than universal gyms. It is a good idea to have a second person present to spot the person exercising.

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7 Essential Reasons You Should Have a Home Gym

The home gym is an amazing resource that you should be taking advantage of. Between hectic schedules to the non-sense going on in commercial gyms, home gym training is the safe-haven for people looking to train in a manner that actually produces results. There are many reasons why you should have a home gym and I encourage you to read on as one of these reasons could be very pertinent to your individual situation.

1. Life Gets In The Way: It is always a good idea to have a contingency plan. Sometimes despite our best laid plans, life gets in the way and unforeseen obstacles can interrupt your training schedule. Having a home gym that you can rely on will ensure that you can fit in your training sessions and stay on track despite the uncertainty of life.

2. Home Gym Training Fits Your Schedule: If you have a home gym you don't have to worry about driving to the commercial gym and fitting training into your schedule. Quoting Coach John Davies, "It doesn't make sense to drive 40 minutes to the gym to workout for 20 minutes only to drive another 40 minutes back home!"

By training at home you can also completely avoid the busy times at the local so-called "fitness center." Having your own home gym gives you the freedom to train when you want to train.

3. A Training Environment That You Enjoy: A key benefit of having your very own home gym is that you get to set up a training environment that you enjoy. No need to worry about dropping the weights on the floor a little too loudly and scaring the people doing the machine circuit.

There is also no need to suffer through Britney Spears signing "hit me baby one more time" while performing Squats and no need to stifle your primal yells during your next set of squats so as not to offend others. In your home gym you can play whatever music you like at whatever volume you like. You can put up posters and pictures that motivate you and set up your home gym in a way that is conducive to your Renegade training style.

4. Focus: One key benefit of having a home gym is to avoid the distractions found in most chain gyms. I recently interviewed Coach Dan John and he said the following, "Look. I could train at a chain gym in Las Vegas so that I could look at all of the beautiful girls working out but if I really want to get something accomplished during my training session I will continue training in my garage gym so that I can achieve the results I am looking for."
As someone who is looking to achieve real results you need to focus on the task at hand and training in your own home gym can help you keep your mind focused on hard training. Once you try home gym training you may never go back to training in a commercial gym (if you can help it).

5. Privacy: If you have your own home gym you can train how ever you want and invite whoever over to train with you. You also don't have to worry about dress-code and you can train barefoot without being yelled at. It is also nice not to be stared-at the entire training session and to avoid people hitting on you every time you go to them gym (some people are shameless at some of these commercial gyms!).

6. Save Money On A Gym Membership: Let's face it. Gym memberships can be expensive. I encourage you to calculate how much you spend on your gym membership every year. For some people this total approaches a thousand dollars! Now fast forward ten years and total up how much you have spent on a gym membership.

Wow! That total adds up to a staggering number for some people! The great thing about getting into training that works is that when you develop an in-depth understanding of the key training concepts that knowledge allows you to achieve phenomenal results from the simplest and cheapest equipment. You could conceivably save yourself many thousands of dollars by slowly building up your very own home gym over time. I address what equipment actually has value in my e-book and newsletter available at http://www.HomeGymSecrets.com

7. Train with Intensity: Once you learn how to train in a manner that actually produces results you will become very familiar with intensity in your training. Unfortunately, most commercial gym goers are not.
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What is a Smith Home Gym Machine?

For those of you who wonders what a Smith Machine is, then wonder no more. Ever since fitness guru Jack LaLanne invented the Smith machine, it has continued to become a necessary addition to any gym training rooms.

Rudy Smith a bodybuilder actually took the original design and added further enhancements 50 some years ago, which is why it is still named after him. Smith home multi gyms like power racks, are integral to any personal training equipment of any gym regardless of size.

A traditional Smith Machine uses a sleeved barbell attached to a vertical carriage riding on linear bearings on a frame. The user lifts the weight up and down on the glides during squats and presses.

A Smith Home Gym is basically a Smith Machine built in to a multi home gym.

Main attraction of Smith machines is one of safety. There's no need for a spotter since the bar is prohibited from falling lower than the self-spotting pins. If the weight is too heavy or you lose your grip, the bar won't come down on top of you and cause an accident.

Disadvantages of a Smith Machine

Like any exercise equipment, there are always disadvantages. With a home multi gym, the bar uses a fixed plane of motion and you are limited in the number of exercises you can do. Unlike a power rack, the Smith bar cannot move in a natural arc movement making exercises like curls dead lifts impossible to perform.
Likewise, free weight exercises, bench pressing and doing leg presses are also somewhat limited in mobility hence are disliked by fitness enthusiasts.

How Do You Choose a Smith Machine?

If it is going to be part of a home multi gym, try and get a system that comes with stations such as lat pull downs, press stations and low pulleys. Luckily for you, lots of multi home gyms nowadays comes packaged with a Smith Machine hence the name Smith Home Gym or similar.

The Smith design with linear bearings is preferred. It performs more smoothly and more versatile than one made with bushings. Other features to look for include a 7-degree reverse pitch carriage, built-in plate storage holders, and attachments such as leg developer and preacher curls.



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Smith Home Gyms-A Decent Review

For those of you who wonders what a Smith Machine is, then wonder no more. Ever since fitness guru Jack LaLanne invented the Smith machine, it has continued to become a necessary addition to any gym training rooms.

Rudy Smith a bodybuilder actually took the original design and added further enhancements 50 some years ago, which is why it is still named after him. Smith home multi gyms like power racks, are integral to any personal training equipment of any gym regardless of size.

A traditional Smith Machine uses a sleeved barbell attached to a vertical carriage riding on linear bearings on a frame. The user lifts the weight up and down on the glides during squats and presses.

A Smith Home Gym is basically a Smith Machine built in to a multi home gym.

Main attraction of Smith machines is one of safety. There's no need for a spotter since the bar is prohibited from falling lower than the self-spotting pins. If the weight is too heavy or you lose your grip, the bar won't come down on top of you and cause an accident.

Disadvantages of a Smith Machine

Like any exercise equipment, there are always disadvantages. With a home multi gym, the bar uses a fixed plane of motion and you are limited in the number of exercises you can do. Unlike a power rack, the Smith bar cannot move in a natural arc movement making exercises like curls dead lifts impossible to perform.
Likewise, free weight exercises, bench pressing and doing leg presses are also somewhat limited in mobility hence are disliked by fitness enthusiasts.

How Do You Choose a Smith Machine?

If it is going to be part of a home multi gym, try and get a system that comes with stations such as lat pull downs, press stations and low pulleys. Luckily for you, lots of multi home gyms nowadays comes packaged with a Smith Machine hence the name Smith Home Gym or similar.

The Smith design with linear bearings is preferred. It performs more smoothly and more versatile than one made with bushings. Other features to look for include a 7-degree reverse pitch carriage, built-in plate storage holders, and attachments such as leg developer and preacher curls.

For good deals on home gyms you can go to his website - Smith Home Gyms

Dean loves helping people live healthy and fit. For best deals in Home Gyms go to his blog - Smith Home Gyms


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Weider Home Gym

Everybody needs to stay fit and healthy in day to day life. Mostly individuals like to workout at one's own place and spend quite a lot of effort and thought for getting required equipments at their home gym. Weider home Gyms are designed in such a way that the equipments are present in a number of varieties, durable and can be accommodated in small places. The advantages associated with Weider home gym make it a must buy for every house.

Weider Home Gym-Compact and Concise

Weider Home gyms are specifically meant for comfortable usage and also take care of paucity of space. The bench part of the equipment is flexible and can be wrapped up and kept away when free. Many of their models including Weider Max Weight System, Weider 1120 and the Weider Advantage, one of the widely known Weider home gyms are quite compact and can be compared to the size of the bench.

Let us consider the Wieder advantage having a user weight limit of three hundred pounds whereas the normal resistance weight limit is 240 pounds. However the good part is that one can add an extra two hundred pounds of resistance to the machine.

One has the flexibility of working out almost every part of the body using Weider advantage for e.g. glutes, abs, biceps or other part of your choice. All that is required is a bit of adjustment to the equipment. These adjustments give way to new settings which provide you a new dimension of working out.

There are many advantages associated with these machines which include easy mantling and operation techniques, the comfort factor with which one can perform multiple exercises and their up gradation and low costs. All these are additional to the benefits that Weider home gym provides in terms of fitness and health. One can ensure that one gets a well toned body using Weider home gym.

Larger Weider Home Gyms

Since Weider home machines suit all kinds of individuals falling under different categories of health status therefore there are some large machines produced by them which can be used by professionals as well. The Platinum Weider Home Gym is one such machine which is quite big in size as compared to others and provides you some additional factors which help in providing professional workout.

Platinum weider machine is high-tech in nature. It comes fitted with a digital resistance control apart from the usual cables, pulleys, swivels and cams which give you a never felt before like working out experience. While the natural resistance that it provides is 240 pounds however it can be increased by an additional hundred pounds for further benefits. A user can perform up to an amazing seventy high quality professional exercises using the Platinum Weider Home Gym.

Since they do not cost much especially if one gets them straight from the manufacturer, the Weider home gym make the concept of working out from home quite comfortable. One can get even the high end machines for less than a thousand dollars. All in all, weider home gyms are a must as they are easy to use, affordable and very helpful in achieving your fitness goals. The overall result is a well toned and muscular body.
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Hoist home gym - A Decent Review

Hoist home gym is a wonderful way for a better and healthier lifestyle for the entire family. The best part of Hoist home gym is the fact that irrespective of whether one is a beginner or a professional one can explore the potential of Hoist home gym to train their bodies to achieve muscular and well toned body structure. The Hoist home gym design faciliates its use by people of all categories. Since most of the parts of Hoist home gym are movable and flexible, hence people of all sizes can use it to achieve desired goals.

A number of weights and pulleys are assembled together in a hoist home gym to help you exercise most parts of your body. While some of these are meant to provide workout for your arms, a few changes to them can enable them to tone your leg muscles as well. The same set of weights can be used for working out your stomach muscles. The Hoist home gym ensures that the machine always remains useful to you i.e. one can always reduce or increase the weights on to the machine so that you increase the strength of you muscles as you move up the training program. If a home gym does not allow you to change weights then it becomes useless after you have achieved certain goals.

Hoist Home Gym-Affordable and Quality Product

One can use the hoist home gym to replicate most of the exercises that can be done by using different equipments available at various gyms. All this is possible by just making a few changes on a single machine. Not only it is compact and concise, it can do the task of 15 various machines. While taking a few precautions, one can use it to perform similar exercises as to those which can be performed with free weights at a gymnasium.

One can get the desired results using Hoist home gym. One can utilise its services as whatever time one needs to since it can be placed easily anywhere around the home. One can perform some kind of workout just before your supper and then continue again with it once the dinner is complete. You can feel that your personality changes as you feel fitter and more comfortable. Your clothes fit better and you look good at the sea side as well. Hoist Home gym provides the desired results to improve your body structure and proves to be a boon for all the fitness freaks around all locations.


http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Faulkner

Hoist home gym-A decent review

Hoist home gym is a wonderful way for a better and healthier lifestyle for the entire family. The best part of Hoist home gym is the fact that irrespective of whether one is a beginner or a professional one can explore the potential of Hoist home gym to train their bodies to achieve muscular and well toned body structure. The Hoist home gym design faciliates its use by people of all categories. Since most of the parts of Hoist home gym are movable and flexible, hence people of all sizes can use it to achieve desired goals.

A number of weights and pulleys are assembled together in a hoist home gym to help you exercise most parts of your body. While some of these are meant to provide workout for your arms, a few changes to them can enable them to tone your leg muscles as well. The same set of weights can be used for working out your stomach muscles. The Hoist home gym ensures that the machine always remains useful to you i.e. one can always reduce or increase the weights on to the machine so that you increase the strength of you muscles as you move up the training program. If a home gym does not allow you to change weights then it becomes useless after you have achieved certain goals.

Hoist Home Gym-Affordable and Quality Product

One can use the hoist home gym to replicate most of the exercises that can be done by using different equipments available at various gyms. All this is possible by just making a few changes on a single machine. Not only it is compact and concise, it can do the task of 15 various machines. While taking a few precautions, one can use it to perform similar exercises as to those which can be performed with free weights at a gymnasium.

One can get the desired results using Hoist home gym. One can utilize its services as whatever time one needs to since it can be placed easily anywhere around the home. One can perform some kind of workout just before your supper and then continue again with it once the dinner is complete. You can feel that your personality changes as you feel fitter and more comfortable. Your clothes fit better and you look good at the sea side as well. Hoist Home gym provides the desired results to improve your body structure and proves to be a boon for all the fitness freaks around all locations.