Steves Home Gym Weight Lifting Equipment

Home gym with smith machine, olympic bench, body solid G5S, cable cross over, leg press, barbell, dumbells

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Must Have Home Fitness Equipment

I used to own one of those big pulley system weight machines. It cost me a couple of thousand dollars and was really good quality. I sold it on Ebay for $150 last year.

Now I use low cost equipment and get heaps better results. I can go outside and train, or I can train in front of the television. I can train in the living room and watch the kids at the same time. Or I can pack it all up and take it to the park and train with friends and clients in a different setting. No longer am I stuck in the study. And as I said, the results have been amazing. So what do I use?

First off I would recommend a good set of adjustable dumbbells. You know the ones where you can add or remove weight plates as required. I actually have a couple of sets. One I keep quite heavy for use with leg exercises and one set that I change around a lot more depending on what exercises I am doing. These will probably be your most expensive purchase, but you will use them over and over. There are so many different ways to use them and you can easily work your whole body in any number of ways. Almost any exercise can be done with a set of dumbbells.

Another piece of fitness equipment I use a lot are my medicine balls. There are so many different ways to use medicine balls too. You can get them quite cheap at large sporting goods stores or from the internet. I use a 4kg one and a 6 kg one. I use these in every session with my Personal Training clients and Bootcamps too. They are great to use on your own or for partner work.

One of my most used pieces of equipment is a step. I had a friend build me one from some timber he had laying around. It is about 12 inches high and wide and about 4 foot long. Clients can get on either end of it and step up and down together. It is amazing how much harder they can go with someone else to keep up with. The step combines well with the dumbbells or the medicine ball for step ups, step downs, sideways step ups, lungeing off the box or onto the box or even dips off the side. You can also jump on and off the box or even use it to do push ups with. Put your hands on it to make them easier, or your feet to make it harder. Clients that find it hard to get up and down from the floor, can even do ab exercises on it and it doubles as a bench as well. To improve fitness, a step is invaluable.

Another cheap piece of fitness equipment is the humble skipping rope. Uses are obvious and you will be surprised how hard it is if you haven’t tried it lately. If you persist though, you will improve your fitness really quickly with regular jump rope sessions and they are great for weight loss too.

There are many other inexpensive items to include in your home gym set up. These can include resistance bands which are great to take on holidays and yoga type mats which come in real handy when training outside on hard surfaces. Kettlebells are a great item to have, but they can be quite expensive so search around for them. There are many suppliers on the net. I use them a lot in my training sessions and my clients love them too. There are many kettlebell exercises for either strength development, endurance improvement or fat burning, and they work really, really well.

These are just some of the inexpensive ways to equip your home gym. Don’t be fooled into thinking you need an expensive pinloaded weight machine. All of my clients, not to mention myself, have fantastic results without them.

Starting Out With Home Gym Fitness Equipment

When getting ready to improve our physical fitness level, it’s frequently difficult to go to a public facility.  It is easy to feel self-conscious around individuals who are already conditioned and in shape.  Instead, with the right budget and space, you can prepare a personalized home workout area.  There is equipment available for about any budget and physical fitness target.  We are going to focus on how your budget affects the equipment choices.  It’s important to remind yourself that the investment will result in many personal fitness benefits.

If you have a larger measure of cash in hand accessible and the unneeded space in your house, a Bowflex home gym will fulfill many of your requirements.  Although there are various Bowflex models, none of them are for those on a frugal budget.  The standard model will cost around $600 with the advanced model going up over $2000.  So, before investing, be positive that it is right for you and that you are not paying for functionality you do not need or want.  Bowflex has welcomed positive reviews from satisfied clients.  One of the gains to purchasing a piece of equipment such as this is that you are able to use it for several different workouts such as leg curls and squats.

Another good investment is an Olympic barbell and rack.  These come with an assortment of weights ranging from 5 or 10 pounds up to 30 or more.  Keep in mind that you can invariably buy additional weights as required.  You should also think about an adjustable bench press rack and a squat rack.  A few moderate dumbbells would give you a complete set of home gym fitness equipment.

However, not everyone has the financial resources or additional room in their residence for a complete gym set up, there are some other pieces of fitness equipment that will also work and cost up to $1000.  For a minimum price, invest in an Olympic barbell and a modest selection of dumbbells and some barbell plates.  An exercise bench will also be required along with a barbell rack.  This listing of equipment is more intermediate than novice, nevertheless if you are serious about employing domestic gym equipment to better your fitness you will need this set of equipment at some point anyhow.

If you are on a severely small budget, begin with a couple of adjustable dumbbells and a few assorted weights.  This will assist to get you started.

What Type Of Weight Lifting Equipment Do You Need To Get Started

We’ve all heard many times how important an aerobic or cardiovascular workout is for you health.  It’s good to get the heart rate up and get the blood pumping.  But weight training, sometimes called resistance training, is equally as important.  It will make you stronger, more tone and overall healthier.  With a blend of cardio, weight training and a healthy diet you can look and feel better than you may have thought possible.

When some people hear weight training they think of body building or power lifting, but it is very different.  Weight training is simply using weights to create resistance to strengthen your muscles.  It is done to target muscle groups and to remain tone and in good shape.

Basic Weight Lifting Equipment
Finding the right weight lifting equipment is essential if you want to start weightlifting at home.  But you may want to test a few pieces of weightlifting equipment somewhere, like at your local fitness center, before you invest money.  This way you will have a better idea what you really want before you actually buy it.  The more comfortable the equipment the more likely you are to use it regularly.

There are a few pieces of weight lifting equipment that are pretty much necessary if you are just getting started.  A weight bench and some free weights — dumbbells are the most versatile — are probably the best starter equipment.  With just these things you can start toning your arms, chest, back, legs and abs.  Depending on your goals you may want to get additional equipment but this will give you a good start.

Fixed Weight Dumbbells Or Adjustable Weight Dumbbells
Fixed weight dumbbells are the traditional ones where you have a large set of dumbbells each with a different weight.  Adjustable dumbbells allow you to have one set of dumbbells that have adjustable weight.  So one set can take the place of multiple pairs of fixed weight ones.  Adjustable dumbbells are great if you are short of space, for example if you live in an apartment.