kse101

hey, can anyone suggest some good exercise home gym? i have google it, many machines come out.. but i am here to find some good and effective machine/mini gym with some expert opinion.

i am still finding a main-head/sub head on this forum for discussing about gym machines .. but not getting anywhere .. so lets help me here

Moondogg

Have you got a home gym or are you looking to buy one?

kse101

yes, i am looking to BUY one for my home in uk...

these days i am in pakistan, at my cousin place, here he have a mini home gym, not that good, just normal..

so i have decided to buy one when i'll be back to Uk .. hopefully by next week. so help me in finding good brand name and stuff like this..

Moondogg

dont waste your money, join a good gym instead. that would be my advice

kse101

hmmm i was actually planning to join gym .. will go there for like 1 month .. get some training from a expert trainer there.. n then do these training in home gym ..

that was due to my busy schedule.. i dont think so that i can actually manage time to go gym .. very busy life here dude

rahaas

If I absolutely was limited to a home gym first thing I'd get is the biggest set of adjustable dumbells I could find.
There's a ton of compound movements you could do with them if you are inclined to get innovative. There's a huge safety factor advantage in working with dumbells vs. a Barbell training without a spotter or proper equipment.

Screw the going to the gym for a month. There's plenty of expertise right here on this forum to help you design a program you can do at home on a budget and within your time constraints...just ask.

No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

nni

a bench and dumbells.

if i had the space, a power cage, and a full set of weight. the cage can be adapted for most things.

www.getds.com
www.drivensports.co.uk

plums_jp

Bingo.... best advice today

ON A 24/7 BULK....

Gazhole

nni has got it, a power cage would be the main thing i'd want.

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BLane

+1 - Most home gyms eventually become clothes racks after a few weeks

There a number of good reasons to join a gym..

1) More selection of equipment
2) Environment is conducive to success
3) Eye candy (could be more important to some than others )


The only thing I don't like is the time that it takes to get to the gym. It's only 10 min from my place, but that's 20 min both ways. An hour workout w/ post stretching could be an easy 90min. For the most part, I'm home in 2hrs. Lately I've started to superset stuff to speed things up.

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Ben dur

i cant imagine working out exclusively at home

nor could i adapt my lifestyle around working out at a gym exclusively either

i find that having the ability to workout at home when convenient is very helpful

likewise, having a gym with all the equipment you may or may not be able to afford or even find is very nice aswell
pull up bar
ez bar
O bar
power rack/cage
adjustable bench

and thats really all i would EVER need

in my opinion
if an exercise requires a bunch of fancy machinery, or anything more extravagant than the equipment list

it is likely an unnatural movement

i could be overlooking some
but generally

21
5'11"
~175lbs
8% on elec. analyzer

Ben dur

DB's are always a great sub for BB's

if space/budget allow

21
5'11"
~175lbs
8% on elec. analyzer

Ben dur

having both would be even better

21
5'11"
~175lbs
8% on elec. analyzer

andy_ny

I'm not a fan of those big bulky exercise machines that are really expensive and space consuming. I suggest you can go for resistance bands. I've been using them for 4 months and their quality is great. The results are much better than the gym. My body already looks great!

Merkaba

Great first post there Andy! Welcome to the forums. I'm personally interested, all be it a very small interest, in whether or not you'll actually stick around or if you had monetary interests in your landing on this page and bumping an old thread.

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loakie1974

I have a dipping chining station that folds down into a pool cue case size great for when I used to work away, called a HOTGYM doesnt take up much space, dumbells and kettle bells BUT if i have the money (and the floor space) I would have......
A POWER RACK £229
B 7FT BAR WITH PLATES 25 kgs down to 2.5 kgs (140kgs total) £170
C ADJUSTIBLE BENCH £100

you could buy this in the UK new for around £500 new , I know have looked at what it would cost last night.
the power rack is a well thought of piece of kit and safe to use, the one I looked at had a chin bar built on to it and you could buy for £30 a dipping attachment so you could get a really great all round workout from one.
SQUATS
DIPS
DEADLIFTS
BENCH PRESS
MIL PRESS
CHINS/PULL UPS
personally think its the best SAFEST home gym to own specialy if you plan to train solo / lift heavy
or have a look on ebay there on there all the time


I

DanK

I have a home gym, cage (attachments for dips/pullup handles), oly weights, bench, pretty much the ideal setup... currently it's got clothes hanging off it (err... my wife likes to iron near it and well... space is limitted).

A cage setup takes up as much space as most machines, probably more in a lot of cases since it doesn't fold up (and probably the better machines out there wouldn't fold up either).

I had a Precor S3.21 (or something similar to that name) that I used the crap out of for about 3 years, I eventually traded it in for the oly weights (300 lbs starter set and a weight rack and ez-curl bar), and bought the cage I have now... I have to say in retrospect I have hardly used the newer equipment compared to the machine I had, I'm sure there is more to it than this, but I think the biggest factor was that the machine was much more convenient to use than free weights. I could up the weight 5/10/15 lbs (it was a graduated stack) and switch between a lot of exercises easily, particularly going from bench to mid-row or other alternating exercises, it was a matter of pulling a pin and putting it back in again or squeezing a handle to adjust the bar height, I didn't have to do much other than maybe sit on the bench a different direction or stand up and use a diff attachment for most exercises.

In comparison with the weight set to change the weight I have to squeeze some fairly stiff clamps, on each end of the bar and slide them off, then I have to drag weights around, which is particularly tedious because I am limitted on space and one side of the bar is close to a wall, my own personal setup sucks here but it'd still be a bit of tedious work. Now it's kind of retarded to complain about having to lift weights and stuff while weight lifting... but it takes time and the weights individually aren't that much of an issue, but the time it takes to switch weights on the bar or bar height for a different exercise (you have to unload the bar completely adjust the position and then load it back up) tend to limit the routines possible... most of the time I end up doing a compound movement and mixing in something else that I can do using my ez-curl bar, like bench and military press, other than initial warmups I tend to avoid adding/dropping weight if I can and just do more/less reps unless I completely miss-judge how much weight to use. For days when I am doing deadlifts the cage is just in the way, I take my bar into the next room (where there is more space thanks to not having a weight lifting cage in it) to do them, and usually alternate pullups (off the cage) with deadlifts etc. On the machine I had deadlifts were not practical and squats were bad... to the point I'd have to say I think they are a bad idea to do on the machine (despite the fact the machine had specific attachments etc to do squats with... Maybe it's better for a taller person).

The cage/oly weights/bench setup is supposed to be better based on more stablizers getting used and cost efficiency, but I have to say I don't think that's been the case for me, I think that I might have paid about half the price (with the bigger stuff being used so discounted a fair amount) I paid for the machine I bought new, but I just haven't used the oly setup nearly as much as I used the machine.

I'd love a set of adjustable dumbells, the normal dumbells are pretty handy too but I haven't bought any due to space, but the price tag on the adjustable types is insane to me, I saw a set at walmart and was tempted... the price was a bit high but then I realized oh crap, that price was only for a single dumbell, I'd have to buy two and I think the highest weight was only 53 lbs or something fairly limitted.

Anyway, good luck with the home gym, you are probably better off to go to a regular gym and play around with various home gyms in fitness stores to see what you like, or keep an eye on craigs list and garage sales, no matter what you buy, if you buy it new you paid too much...

Ben dur

an oly bar, sufficient amount of plates

a couple dbs of various weights

a pullup bar and you have 80% of what i use in the GYM anyways




a power rack or cage, and an adjustable bench

there you have it everything you would ever need



pushups
press
inclined press
bench press
skullcrusher
french press
pullups
chins
upright rows
bent over rows
single arm rows
curls
squats
deadlifts
lunges
hacks
ANY OLY LIFT

people put way to much thought into this stuff

if your body needs pullys and cables to do a lift, how functional is that lift?

those muscles exists on every human sense the begining of mankind

if you need special equipment to develop a muscle, or muscle group, then the development of those muscles would look unnatural

21
5'11"
~175lbs
8% on elec. analyzer

CowPimp

If you buy your own equipment, just buy an assortment of devices to do the basic freeweight stuff:

An Olympic bar an necessary weights to accompany.
Dumbbell handles that accept Olympic plates and heavy duty clips.
An adjustable bench.
A pullup bar.
Uprights or, if you can swing it, some kind of squatting cage.

Craig's list is your friend. You can find most of this stuff dirt cheap and practically brand new from people who use it to hang their coats on. That will allow you quite a bit of versatility in your workouts at a much lower cost than some universal system.

The only time it's bad to feel the burn is when you're peeing...

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TwoWalks

Even though, I figure the original poster has already purchased a home gym or has joined a gym, this thread could be a great resource of the next person.

If you have the space purchase a good power rack and adjustable bench coupled with an oly bar and weights

If space is limited get a good adjustable bench and a set of adjustable dumbbells.

TwoWalks
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