Part 2: Choosing The Right Home Exercise Equipment
For Your Home Gym
So what is it that you're after? Is it fitness,
toning, losing weight, or gain lots and lots of muscle? With so
many different home gyms and various exercise equipment out there,
you have an unlimited variation of what exercise equipment to
use in your home gym. If you missed part 1 of our personal
home gym guide, click here.
As I mentioned in part 1, I've been shopping
the market for a home gym for myself. Strictly, home gym usually
refers to those workout stations, but it can also be loosely defined
as any mix of exercise equipment you use in your home. :) I already
go to a gym several times a week, but I kind of wanted to do some
stuff at home. So, I went shopping around. I knew pretty clearly
what I wanted, and ultimately I based my decision on several key
factors, which we'll discuss here, and in part
3: choosing the right exercise equipment for you home gym continued and Part 4: Choosing
The Right Home Exercise Equipment
Choosing A Home Exercise Equipment: Factors
to Consider
Because mass and strength is what I'm after,
a 'conventional' home gym would not meet my needs, so I needed
to get some specific exercise equipment. I knew exactly what I
wanted - a power rack. On top of it,
I wanted to get a set of olympic weights. So did I get it? Nope,
you'd be surprised to find out what I ended up getting. Keep reading.
;-)
Again, here are some factors to consider when
selecting exercise equipment for you home gym:
What are your goals for this home gym, and
what you hope to achieve
Do you have enough room to place it
What's your budget for a home gym
Consider free weights vs. machines - what's
better for you
Consider weights based machines vs band resistance
based machines
Buying a home gym vs. going to public gyms
1) Your goals and what you hope to achieve
from the exercise equipment
Different people has different goals. Mine were
primarily for weight and strength gains. Yours will probably be
different. So the first thing to consider is "what do I want
out of my new home exercise equipment?" Is it weight and
strength gain, lose weight, get fit, or simply just become more
active? Consider these, and you're on your way to determining
what's the best home exercise equipment for your needs.
For example, if you're after muscles and size,
you're probably even better off just going straight to a gym.
If you're after overall physical fitness, buying a power rack
with 300lbs of weights isn't going to do you much good. And if
you buy a total gym hoping to get huge from using it, then you're
out of your mind. Makes sense, right? By the way, I had a
total gym for several years, and you can read
my review on total gym here.
2) Is there enough room for your new home exercise
equipment
If you have a big house, then space is probably
the least of your concerns. But for a lot of people, having room
for their exercise equipment is a big deal, as it was for me.
It's one of the main reasons I didn't get a power rack. Again,
depending on what your goals are, you will need different types
of exercise equipment, be it a sophisticated workout station,
a band flex home gym, or even just a set of barbells and dumbbells.
You gotta make sure you have enough room for whatever exercise
equipment you plan on buying.
Many exercise equipment, or work stations can
go over 10 feet (length and width), so measure out enough space,
including some room for you to get around.
If you're shopping around for a home gym, take
a look at what available from bigfitness. They have a nice selection
and also offer free shipping within the U.S.
