Complete Home Gym

Welcome to our site. Here you will find information on home gyms and accessories.

Work Out at Home

Most people are becoming progressively health-conscious.  Come January 1st of every year, the most common resolution is to get a gym membership and work out 2-3 times per week in the New Year.

Of course, most fail to even get the membership, but the desire was there.

This year, try something different.  Dedicate a small space in one room, or dedicate a whole room, but build a complete home gym in your house.

This idea is not as daunting as it sounds due to so many “all-in-one” options being available.  Whereas in the past, this project may have entailed purchasing 10 different machines (and buying a bigger house or selling a car to use your garage), there are so many complete home gyms available on the market, and all of them have their good and bad points, fans and haters.

There is the popular Bowflex line, and while reviews are excellent, it comes at a considerably expensive cost of nearly $3000, depending on the model.  But the construction is superb, and it’s effective; it’s also backed by a long-time company that honors their warranty.  That said, the machine is large and will take up considerable space in any room.

Another option is the Total Gym models, advertised on the infomercials by Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley.  The reviews regarding this line are good, and the price is downright cheap compared to the Bowflex.  The 80 available exercises seem to work well for most people, and the greatest advantage is using your own bodyweight as resistance instead of actual weights.  This complete home gym is on the more compact side and easily stores when not in use.

If you prefer to avoid “all-in-one” machines, then you can easily build your own complete home gym with the purchase of a few core pieces.  The two main areas that will need to be addressed are cardiovascular exercises, and strength training.

Cardiovascular Exercises

Forget the treadmill or elliptical machines.  Jumping jacks, skipping rope, or jogging completely replicate anything these machines could do.  Cardiovascular exercises are easy to come by without the need of purchasing actual machines, but if you want to anyhow, then elliptical machines are a good choice.

Strength Training

Everything you can do on a weight machine, you can make do with dumbbells.  In fact, weight machines tend to restrict your range of motion and some believe it to be less effective than a good set of dumbbells. 
To build your own make-do complete home gym, you need only three things:

You will need a good quality set of dumbbells, which will run about $300.  The Powerblock Adjustable Dumbbells will cost approximately $350 but come very highly recommended. 

You must purchase a good pull-up bar to work on upper body strength, especially the shoulders and back.  In the process, it also works out your arms and chest.  These pull-up bars are essential in a home gym, and are cheap, at only $30.  Technically, you can use virtually anything as a pull-up bar so long as it can bear your weight.

Finally, a medicine ball will take care of everything else.  You will spend some time learning how to properly use a medicine ball, but it can give you excellent power training and strength training.  This ball stimulates muscles in ways you cannot with traditional exercise machines, and it will effectively pump your heart rate up for cardiovascular purposes.  They are available on Amazon and should run about $40.

The best part of building a home gym is that you don’t have to feel guilty if you don’t get there at a designated time.  If you didn’t wake up early to work out this morning, you can do it when you come home tonight, even if it’s 4 A.M.  If you skip a day, you can easily spend double time working out tomorrow, and if at any point you quit, you can just as easily start again tomorrow without involving contracts or paperwork.

Whichever route you choose, “all-in-one” or piece by piece, a complete home gym is a good investment and perhaps the more realistic resolution for the New Year.