There's nothing better than a great workout at the gym! My gym is located about a half a mile from my house and is never really that busy, which makes going a breeze. Once I get in the gym I get motivated and usually have a great workout. For other people, however, this is not the case. Their local gym might be quite a hike from home or work. For others, the fees are just outrageous. If that's the situation you find yourself in, then you should just create your own gym at home. If you're motivated enough that you don't need the company of other people to ensure that you give your workout your all, then really all you need is the proper equipment to get the job done. If you can carve out some space to set it up and dig deep into your pockets to pay for it, then you're good to go. Let me give you a quick guide to the best home gym equipment to get in great shape.
What's the most important thing?
Your first purchase if you do decide to set up a home gym is the power rack. This will be your most expensive purchase but one that you will get the most out of. Even when I am at the gym I could easily spend all of my time at the power rack. Any power rack you're considering should have both dip bars and a pull up bar.... outside of those two things you can practically do every other type of compound exercise that can work your whole body. IE….shrugs, bent over rows, squats, lunges, hanging leg raises, bench presses, incline presses, curls, partial presses, military presses, lockouts, and a ton of other exercises.
Once you cross that off your list, you're ready for the second item.
Your next purchase should be an Olympic bar. You want one that weighs in at 45 pounds. That's the typical size so this should be no problem. There's little cost involved here and you can probably pick one up at your neighborhood sports store. The Olympic bar is great for helping you with any exercises that you don't want to do with the power rack.
And then you'll need....
Your next purchase should be an adjustable bench. An adjustable bench really allows you to attack different exercises from different angles. The key is to make sure it can incline - don't worry about finding one that can decline. Or better yet one the inclines in about 5 to 6 different angles. If you make this part of your power rack, you'll be able to use it for your presses as well.
Next you will need Olympic weights to go with your Olympic bar
Picking out how many and how much weight to buy is a little tricky, but here is the way I would go to start. Check out the 45 pound plates. Pick up about four of them. You also need 35 pound plates--two will suffice. When you buy the 25 pounders, choose four of them. You will still need 10 pound plates. I suggest that you purchase a half dozen of these as well. Next are the 5 pound plates and the 2.5 pound plates. Select four each of these. Though there are many types of weights available these days, it's hard to beat the classic round plate style.
Your final piece of equipment will be two dumbbell bars with Olympic handles, probably the most neglected bit of exercise equipment in any home gym.
Using dumbbells at home can be problematic, as well as expensive, but they are an important part of any good home work out routine. What size to buy? Well, they come in 10 pounds. And they work their way up by increments to 100 pounds, which are costly. There are new dumbbells that adjust to whatever weight you'd like with the flick of a dial on the end of the weight itself. I can't believe they charge from $300 up to $500 or more for this contraption. Just pick up a pair of the dumbbells shown in the picture below, add a few weights and you're home gym is nearly complete.
There's just one more thing you need to do:
Find a place in your home with plenty of room for you and the equipment. You need high ceilings so you can do overhead presses and a comfortable floor that has a least some carpet or some type of padding. A basement or a garage is a perfect place. And since music can make the experience that much better, go ahead and wire in a good sound system as well.
I would like to add that for those who want a good cardio element, you should include a treadmill as well. It’s the king of cardio equipment and should be in every home gym. Don't try to pick one up for cheap either - you'll want to spend some money on this.... so get all of the other stuff first and you can make this your last buy.
This was just a quick overview of the best home gym equipment to get in great shape. Stay away from all the fancy equipment and the latest most expensive stuff and just stick to these basics and get in great shape in no time.
Here is an example of resistance band training and all the flexibility is has
