Your Home Gym: The Secrets To Setting Up Your Own Workout Space

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The best thing about an at-home-gym? The savings!

I don't know about you, but I know plenty of people who pay $500 to become a member of a gym or health club, then they pay $30 per week to maintain their membership!

There are a number of advantages to setting up your own home gym. First, once you have amortized the cost of equipment there is no further outlay of money.

Second, you are not confined to any commercial fitness club hours of operation. Third, you don't have to listen to any pulse-pumping music while you exercise!

If you have made the decision to set up your own workout space and learn how to build muscle at home, or better yet, a workout room, you may have some renovations to perform. Before you move in any equipment, you should prepare the allocated area.

The biggest concern should be the flooring. The sub flooring, particularly if it is wood, should be protected. Inexpensive, interlocking rubber tiles are one good answer. A thick, low knap carpet is another.

If you are planning on wall-mounted equipment, you should consider reinforcing the area where you will attach the devices.

A sheet of industrial-grade plywood maybe appropriate if fastened into the studs in the walls.

Once you have your gym room prepared, it is time to acquire and move the equipment into the space.

Many home gyms use a combination of free-weights and cable-and-pulley machines. Another option is a multi-gym; a central core of multiple purpose weight stacks operated from a number of exercise-specific stations on the perimeter.

Other possibilities include multi-gyms from innovators like Bowflex and Nautilus.

Personally, I have no problem with used equipment. If you are on a budget (and who isn't in these economic times), you can conduct a search for your home-gym equipment in the newspaper want-ads, or on internet sites like eBay or Craig's List.

It is possible to find slightly used equipment where the owner forgot his New Years resolutions to get fit after just a few short months. Or you may find refurbished equipment that carries a factory warranty.

It is probably best to stay away from elaborate, electronic equipment like treadmills and ellipticals that don't carry some sort of guarantee or that come from a trusted source. Unless, of course, you have the expertise to evaluate the machine.

You will want the capability of working your entire body in your home-gym. Some basic equipment you will need:

* Free Weights and Pulley-Cable Equipment o Cast iron or rubber-coated weights (avoid the cheap plastic, filled ones) totaling about 300 pounds.

o A straight Olympic style bar.

o An easy-curl bar. o Dumbbells - either a set of pre-loaded ones, or handles to use with the free weights.

o A lat-machine, free-standing or wall mounted.

o Squat Rack.

o Bench Press bench, preferably with an attached rack.

o Weight Storage Racks.

o One or two padded benches.

o A three foot two-by-four for facilitating calf raises and squats.

* A Multi-Gym Set-Up.

o A Bowflex, Nautilus or Multi-Gym from any of a number of manufacturers. o A few free weights, with dumbbells or an easy-curl bar for specific exercises.

For the really budget conscious, you might consider the route I took.

After having set up a couple of workout areas in several garages over the years, I finally decided to invest some time and very little money in building my own racks, benches and wall-mounted equipment.

I sketched some basic designs of equipment in the local fitness club, complete with dimensions and some idea of the materials used.

Then I enrolled in an adult education class at the local community college. The course, Basic Arc-Welding.

For ten dollars per class for using their welding machine and material, I made a set of squat racks, four weight storage racks, a decline-incline bench, a bench press bench and a wall-mounted lat machine.

The material used was angle iron, steel pipes and heavy plywood for the benches. My total cost was about $80 and my time invested was two hours, once-a-week for eight weeks.

I acquired an Olympic weight set and two easy-curl bars from a liquidation sale. I bought two more weight sets from home-gymers who had lost their initiative.

I had more than 700 pounds of plates, five bars (including a six-foot Olympic bar) and several dumbbell sets.

My total investment, include the welding class expense, was less than $300. Today's inflation might double that amount . . . but, maybe not.

If you are looking for a never-fail, fool-proof solution to a simple at home work out, check out: 

http://learnhowtobuildmuscle.com/BenchPress.html

Home Gym Tips And Advice:

1. Treadmills: The Good The Bad and The Ugly
   
   Treadmills can be a great benefit in your fitness program, particularly for cardiovascular exercises with varying resistance. They can also be a huge pain-in-the-(fill in your own invective) if they are not functioning properly.
2. Using Swiss Ball Exercises In Your Fitness Program
   
   The Swiss Ball was actually developed by an Italian plastics manufacturer. It is an inflated, elastic ball available in several sizes from 14 to 34 inches in diameter.
3. Purchasing The Right Home Gym For A Fitter You
   
   For a functional and effective home gym workout, you need a few important pieces of equipment. In this article, I will talk about the main things you should buy for you home gym and discuss the benefits of each item.
4. How To Design And Maintain Your Home Gym Routine
   
   Many people get home gyms and find that they often end up in a corner or the empty bedroom with boxes of stuff piling up around them.
5. Home Gym Workouts
   
   Many people find it hard to workout at home, but others thrive in this environment. The convenience, inexpensiveness, and ease of working out at home is very attractive to people.
6. Setting Up Your Own Workout Space
   
   With all the different types and shapes of fitness equipment on the market these days, it can be very confusing for someone trying to set up their own home workout space.
7. Strength Training And Conditioning
   
   Strength training and conditioning are two very important aspects of building a healthy lifestyle. By improving both your strength and your cardiovascular endurance.
8. 8 Cheap Home Gym Essentials
   
   Cost can certainly be an issue when deciding whether or not to build your own home gym. With so many benefits of having a home gym - no gym fees, convenience, privacy - it is hard not to be attracted to the idea.

Your Home Gym: The Secrets To Setting Up Your Own Workout Space